Koei Tecmo has announced plans to release Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX in celebration of the series' 25th anniversary. The release is scheduled for this winter.
Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX Review – Noisy Pixel
The Monster Rancher series never quite reached the same heights as Pokemon, but did spawn five mainline titles between 1997 and 2006. It even spawned a number of spin-off games and its own animated series. To celebrate its 25th anniversary, Koei Tecmo announced re-releases of the first two games for the Nintendo Switch, iOS devices, and Steam!
While not quite the pop culture behemoth that Pokémon proved to be, Monster Rancher set itself apart with its focus on upbringing and training. Instead of RPG-style battles and environmental exploration, you spent more one-on-one time with your creatures to help them improve. Tournament battles were more about earning money to expand your ranch than becoming famous, and your monster’s confidence was essential to its performance.
Koei Tecmo's announcement video doesn't reveal much beyond some in-development Switch footage and a mention that monsters are being "rebalanced." There's also the matter of the series' popular disc "scan" feature, which allows you to insert CDs to discover more monsters. While Koei Tecmo didn't specify how it plans to handle this in the re-releases, it's likely that it will utilize an online CD database, much like the Japanese versions released in 2019. According to Nintendo Enthusiast, the games will simply let you choose an album from a list of over 500,000 items and pull monster data from it.
