Best Monster Hunter Games Of All Time

@ReaderRagfish would probably check this list out, but we all know he's just gonna keep playing Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate

Personally, I prefer 3U and Generations over 4U (yeah, I know, what a heresy), but the list looks solid and #1 spot makes sense.

Nice list
but I'd like to hear your opinion on why, objectively, MH4U is better than MHGen?

4U would be #1 for me...

@Spectra I agree with you here. I adored Stories, but I think its place as a weird spinoff tends to rank it lower in a listing discussing more traditional Monster Hunters... But man if I don't love the game and wish it had done better! (Kills my dream of a MHStories 2 for Switch sniff)

I actually agree with 4U being above Gen here... a bit reluctantly because I find Gen to be more enjoyable, but I think 4U was an objectively better game. That said, it's not really fair to compare Ultimate versions to base versions, so... the only thing I can think of is that it had an actual story, more clear progression, and some killer end-game content that Gen didn't get until XX/Ultimate came around.

Stories for me.

@NewAdvent Same. 3U was my first MH game and I do really miss the underwater fights. Though I played on Wii U and couldn't imagine playing on the 3DS. Wish they would have come back for GU though.

I have tried a few times to get into Monster Hunters. My first purchase was on the PSP. I hated it. Then when it came out on the WiiU I played the demo and still could not get into it. I love Monster Hunters Story. It is a marvelous game.

Freedom Unite on PSP was my first Monster Hunter, and I never really got into it. Then it was 3U on 3DS, which I had a lot more fun with than FU. Then it was 4U, which I really love, the controls felt much more fluid than the past games and I love that you can now jump and mount the monsters.

4U is the latest game in the series I’ve played to date, but I should be recieving my copy of GU tomorrow. I’m really looking forward to it!
Sometime when I’m feeling over done with GU, I will play World. The reason I want to play GU before World is because World is supposed to have many QOL improvements that make the game a much smoother experience, so I imagine it might be hard to go back to the old style after playing World.

Huh. In terms of personal preference, I definitely would've changed the list to Gen -> World -> 4U/GU -> 3U; though I generally agree with the list here. Sidenote, are these going to be happening every time a new game of a relatively large series is released? Because I feel like that could get boring really fast.

I agree with this list only because monster hunter had been a series that keeps evolving, just like the monsters you fight. It has only gotten a little better with each installment. From blah to greatness over a couple generations, no wonder why it’s capcom best selling game. I’ve only played the Nintendo installments as well.

4U, 3U, GU then World. Nothing beats 4U.

Its a hard choice between 4u and generations (switch) but those are the 2 best for me by far. World is good too but I like the original series more.

@Bobb Thanks! Our feeling is that Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate did more to push the franchise forward than Generations did at the time, so it ranks higher.

I can agree with the top 5, but I can't agree with number 6. I don't think it's right to just leave a blank space there, I mean, Tri wasn't that bad.

I'm playing both Worlds and Generations Ultimate at the moment. It's hard to say which game I like more. Both have their own greatness and flaws. World hasn't been very challeging so far and the gameplay feels less skill based than Generations. Plus Generations has more monster content. On the other hand Worlds has the visuals I've always hoped for and seems to be more up to date with the times... Well I'm just happy with all the Monster Hunter goodness.

@Wanjia Perhaps you differ, but I play MH to fight monsters. By that measure alone, GU is the best MH out there. Yeah, QoL is nice, but honestly, some of the QoL changes are a bit unrealistic:

Unlimited item box access while on the hunt? Don't need pickaxes to mine? Pfft. Back in my day...we had to transport our eggs uphill BOTH WAYS THROUGH THE SNOW!

Not versed on the Monster Hunter series sadly. Although if those guides are well known for missing info or missing a game. I wonder which one it is this time?

If you treat those NL guides as a game of whats the missing game rather than actual content, then those guides do the job nicely.

4U is still 1# for me, it was the game that got me into the series and made me a fan. I would rank World in second because how much it improved in QoL changes and Freedom Unite in third.

GenU (XX) and Gen(X) are fun but i wouldn't put them on my top 3, probably on 4th and 5th respectively.

Before I clicked on this I thought: "All the PlayStation ones will be in the bottom half of the list. All the Nintendo ones will be in the top half of the list and the number one spot will be the most recent Switch one." With the exception of World, I was pretty much right.

@Dr_Awkward Right there with ya XD Nice visuals are nice, but when the game is about hunting monsters, ya kinda want the monsters to be diverse, yeah? Especially since the combat itself isn't that different between GU and World (speaking on the feel of most of the weapons, provided you find a style/weapon combo you like... which in theory makes the combat of GU more diverse, too).

Like, no loading screens and being able to heal while on the move, etc, imho isn't objectively better, just different. I think people brush off the loading screens because they're, well, loading screens and loading screens are boring, but being able to bounce out of a zone in an emergency (since you can't heal off of the environment and you stand still while using items) helps. It's not that one method is better than the other (outside of personal preference I guess), it's just different.

No loading screens? Logically you'll want environmental aid and being able to use items on the go because you don't have as many safe spaces to hide in.

Loading screens? You can take a breather as needed, and are more stationary otherwise when using items. All that does is set up a different type of strategy! You have to be more mindful of where you decide to plant your butt to heal instead of just moving around constantly. ^^

So yeah, I wouldn't even necessarily call the open world and items-on-the-go a QoL improvement, just a different approach to the style of the game. It's more fluid, but it's not necessarily objectively better.

@Haywired I'm not going to say that there's probably not some bias in here somewhere like there is with everything, but I think MH is an odd situation because each game did actually get progressively better (on the whole) and the games saw a swap onto Nintendo platforms in the middle of 3rd gen. So, naturally, the Nintendo ones will be higher on the list.

As for why GenU is higher than World, that's up to debate because they're both different enough to make ranking them largely up to personal opinion. But with GenU's significantly larger amount of content at the sacrifice of only graphics and some QoL improvements (many of which are controversial), I don't see a problem with it edging out World here.

@Haywired The amounts of salt here are unrivaled. As @Spookypatrol puts it, the reasoning behind . this is because Monster Hunter games progressively moved from Sony to Nintendo consoles, and of course they will improve over time.

As for why GenU is higher than World, I don't really think it's up to debate considering this is a top-games list from a Monster Hunter Fan's perspective. For Veterans that have been playing Monster Hunter since the PS2 era, GenU is almost like a love letter to it's fans. It packs such an absurd amount of content that it's unreal. Think about it like Monster Hunter's equivalent of Smash Bros Ultimate (Everyone is here).

And like with Smash, I'm fairly certain the next Smash title after Ultimate (if we get it) will be some kind of major overhaul of the series. And while newcomers will probably prefer the new title over Ultimate, Veterans will always prefer the game which better represents the entire series. And in that case, it will be for quite some time Smash Ultimate (Generations Ultimate)

Actually....
Only Monhun Nikki : Poka Poka Airu Mura DX 3DS that caught my interest.

@Anti-Matter It kills me every time that FromSoftware developed that. They needed to do something cutesy after Demon/Dark Souls and Bloodborne XD

@sgarcia-dev
If you think I'm salty because World wasn't number one or whatever, then you'd be dead wrong. I've never played World and, as a Nintendo only gamer, may never play it, but you'd have to be blind to not see what's going on with all these lists/guides. Clue: the latest Switch game that needs pushing will usually be number one (with a link to buy it).

@Anti-Matter ...? Are you actually insulted? I'm sorry

@Haywired All these lists? All of them? The other lists were for Zelda, Mario and Metroid - be pretty tough to find a non-Nintendo game at the top of those run-downs. And the most recent Metroid game was certainly not at the top of the list. Think you're looking for an agenda here.

As for Monster Hunter, there were plenty of critical responses from die-hard fans about a perceived dumbing-down of the game. Personally, I have no doubt that I'd prefer World to MHGU (I've only ever played MHFU before), but I'm not going to quibble with a subjective list from a Monster Hunter fan that puts a traditional title near the top.

I played 3U the most by far! The Console + 3DS cross-play made it fun to play at work between the WiiU and everyone's 3DS.
I played 4U next most, then Generations.
I didn't try world and have mostly lost interest in MH.

@FoxyGlen Thank you for the reply, Glen. Your point makes sense. I like MHGen better, but yeah, it feels like yet another expansion, while 4U did new stuff

@Spookypatrol I think less or the lack of loading screens is objectively better. That's a fact. No one likes sitting around waiting.

@anti-matter dude what is wrong with you?

@Krull
Well there have been four lists so far:
Zelda: Switch game
Mario: Switch game
Metroid: hasn't been a Switch game yet, so ineligible, but had MP4 come out, definitely would've been number one.
Monster Hunter: Switch game
Seems there's a bit of a pattern at least.

Again, regarding this one, to reiterate I'm not some butthurt Monster Hunter World fan. I've never played it, don't own non-Nintendo consoles. But would this list have been made before MHGU came out, where (given that it's currently at no.2) they would have had to put World at no.1? No, definitely not. So there's clearly something at play (it's to sell Switch games).

In regards to the shilling, yes. This is common with fanboy sites. Just like Nintendo Power was back in the day. They woukdnt even acknowledge the existence of M rated games for a period of time. I remember they never covered Conker's Bad Fur Day. One day it just stopped existing. They even changed their rating system from 0-10.0 to 5 stars. Probably because Perfect Dark was their highest rated game ever, and it was rated M. After that, surprise every Nintendo game is 5 stars. I unsubscribed shortly after that, and when I kind of lost interest in the GameCube and got an Xbox. Looking back though it was a good system, just not the best for who I was at the time.

What's odd is that even people at Nintendo play the other consoles and recognize other great games. In Dec of 2001 everyone at Treehouse was playing Halo. Not Melee. But the fanboys are more Nintendo than Nintendo themselves.

@Trajan I mean I agree no one likes waiting, but I meant more that there's some merit to loading screens in that you can take a breather and strategize differently. I definitely think there are better ways to have the same effect without actual load times (maybe little crevasses to hide in or something?) but I was more debating that as a whole package the strategy you get from the load screens isn't inherently worse... I mean I guess apart from the literal waiting for it to load bit, but at least the loading is really zippy.

Pretty sure G Rank was in Freedom Unite first, and the sheer amount of content in Freedom Unite blew Tri out of the water (lul) in my opinion until 3U's release. Otherwise I agree with most of these!

It's always weird when people immediately call the latest entry the BEST VERSION EVAH.

Wait a few months and see how you feel about it then.

My 3 was my first foray into the mh universe and then 3u was great as I agree underwater battling was awesome and I miss it world is ok of a game but I'm used to the style of the portable or Nintendo side of games.

My kids and I all really enjoyed Stories. My son wanted Lego style dragon toys just so he could recreate the whole Rider/Monstie partnership so we got him a bunch of Megablock toys.

A NINTENDO SITE RANKING GENERATIONS ULTIMATE HIGHER THAN WORLD LMFAO

I have played 3, 3U, 4U, Gen, World and am currently playing GenU.
I would rank them:
1. 4U
2. World
3. 3U
4. 3
5. Gen
(Gen U not included, since I haven't played it enough to rate)

@Bobb
I can only speak for myself, but I don't like Generations as much as the other games for multiple smaller reasons.
The biggest points probably being
Maps weren't as good (kinda meh collection of maps from previous games...)
Story being even less of note then in previous titles (MH was never a game with great story, but at least in the other games I mentioned there was something...)
Building up on story: Characters. (Some characters from previous games, but they didn't really do anything with them...)
Some minor changes in combat for some weapons (Not really a problem and every single one by itself not even noteworthy, but still)
...
All in all, to me, the other MH games I listed simply had a better over all package. Not at all saying Gen was bad or anything, of course. Also this is highly subjective as well.
MH4 especially was just great in every way, nothing to nitpick here.

Only played a few of these games, but MH4U is still easily my favorite. Absolutely fantastic game.

Stories is honestly a better game than Generations or GU. Hunter Arts and styles are fluff content. And having to travel back and forth between 4 different villages is a pain. And its even worse in GU since they added the Hunter's Pub AND the Soaratorium.

Basically, generations is quanity over quality. I'd rather have less but more refined content. The arts and styles are halfbaked mechanics at best

This is like reading Smash Bros Brawl reviews from back in the day.

BEST SMASH BROS EVER

Now I can’t stop singing that song! Made me smile seeing you reference it.

“Is it a monster, is it a monsterrrr!?”

I tried out a demo for this series at one point, but I just wasn't able to get into it. It still catches my interest from time to time, but unfortunately other games usually win out.

@Spookypatrol: No harm done. Anti-Matter is a bit...clears throat sensitive to mature-rated titles. I would term that a bit of an overreaction. Most of us generally don't mind them.

FWIW, welcome to Nintendo Life!

3u on Wii u was the best by a long shot!
MHGU doesn't even have voice chat so should never be in the top 3

While I think MH4U is technically a better MH game than MHGU, it's also in 240p stuck on a small handheld with a limited button set without rumble, and I and most others already played it start to finish.

Whereas Gen Ultimate is in 720p on a large, sexy handheld with rumble and a full button set, it also docks to the TV in 1080p with a regular controller, or can be played in tabletop with detached controllers anywhere in the world. And, it has way more content as a celebratory title, and some QoL additions MH4U did not have.

So ultimately, I think MHGU is the best overall MH experience ever released aside from World, and even then, is actually better in many respects, or rather, it has advantages that World does not offer (like console/handheld/portable console play and multiple controller options, more content, etc.)

4U > GU > G > 3U

Never could get into Monster Hunter. I played it on the Wii, on 3DS and recently tried the demo on Switch, but it isn't a series for me.

@Anti-Matter
NEVER ever post a picture of this cutesy game again, that's very insulting to me!😡... 🙄

@Switch_will_fail
The arts and styles are definitely not half baked, they are extremely well thought out, unique additions to the gameplay approach. Basically all of them are completely different from each other, are completely balanced with movesets, and the 86 different combinations of weapon and style is an immense range of variation. Not a single one identical.

You may not prefer them, and that's fine, but they're not half baked. Best of all they're completely optional, so if they dont suit you, just run guild without arts. Although Idk why anyone wouldn't dive in to all 6 of the styles with open arms. Adept is crazy fun but demands skill, valor is very risk reward, aerial is just super fun, striker is great for going heavy on arts, and alchemy is just a weird, awesome buff style.

@Bobb As an "Ultimate" game, it simply had more content (Low, High, and G-ranks as opposed to just Low and High). It had a decent story, while Generations had one that was much more cobbled together.

...That'd be my guess, anyway.

These lists seem to put a lot of emphasis on which games were more "groundbreaking" or "pushed the series forward" etc. (like how Twilight Princess ranked below Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks for that reason...) In fact, you even explicitly state this. So in that case, how come the first game in the series always ranks so low? I mean, you can't get much more groundbreaking than... the first one!

Also, given this criteria, wouldn't that put World above Generations Ultimate? Surely World is more "groundbreaking" and "pushed the series forward" more than Generations Ultimate, which is just an enhanced port of a game that already appears on the list (so isn't even the most groundbreaking Monster Hunter Generations game)? Did you go against your own criteria just to make sure the Nintendo one went above the non-Nintendo one?

Look, Gen Ultimate is fantastic, but it is not better than World.

@Switch_will_fail Rock paper scissors are better than Hunter styles and arts? LOL

Generations ultimate/XX better than worlds? No way. But I guess it’s either due to this being a nintendo website or MHGU being the newest one.

@JaxonH No, they are not well thought out. Striker is basically guild style but slightly different and gives you an extra hunter art. They pretty much nerfed mounting in generations so that you have to play aerial if you like mounting, that entire style is contrived. And the new styles remove core components of existing weapons. Like removing the Longswords spirit combo and removing the charge blades ability to....charge. like, what? It's called the CHARGE blade for crying out loud.

And I get that they're completely optional, but I dont think that alone justifies their existence. Did Super Mario Odyssey really need 800 moons? Did Breath of the Wild really need 900 korok seeds? No, they didn't. It's just filler content. It's just something to put on the box

Stories interests me most. I’ve just downloaded the demo. See how it goes.

No way is Generations Ultimate better than World. I don't care how many more monsters or G rank quests there are, it's smoked by World in every other way. The gameplay improvements in World make every monster Hunter before it seem archaic.

@iLikeUrAttitude Rock paper scissors is timeless

@SuperWeird World is a really great game, first Monster Hunter I've really enjoyed playing personally, even though I tried the PSP and Wii games.

@Haywired To be honest, if we're talking about innovation the list would probably have had 3, 4, and regular Generations as the top 3 (not necessarily in that order).

MH3 (Tri) would have gotten in for it's more dynamic map design (areas felt more connected especially when you were jumping into water only zones)and water combat. Also, introduced new weapons (Medium Bowguns plus customization and Switch axe). The port also added Slime/Blast status.

MH4 would have gotten in for introducing different altitudes and making combat feel more 3 dimensional. It also introduced two weapons types (Charge Blade and Insect Glaive) and new status effects/mechanics (Bleed, Mounting, Virus).

Generations would have been there for changing the fundamental combat system with its style options and hunter arts (it's also the reason why it gets a lot of flak). Also, one new weapon type with playable Palicoes.

There's no reason to really force it to have Gen Ultimate as number 1 when there are other more deserving selections from an innovation standpoint. In fact, I'd say it'd work better if they went the innovation direction as it would result in more natural, shutout.

Personally, I liked 3 most since it felt like the environments were better connected and things like water weren't an afterthought (though the combat underwater could have used some more work). Every game after 3 has either removed water entirely or just used it as a way to travel between zones.

Best reviewed monster hunter in the West is MH: World. Enough said.

I’m going to be honest here, I was very sceptical about World but after 70 hours I must say the quality of life changes are omnipotent. Have only 3 hours in GU so far so I can’t really have an opinion there but I still prefer Tri over World.

@Agramonte To be honest here, Ocarina of Time and Soul Calibur are the best reviewed games of their respective series in the West as well. A lot of people would also argue that those games were overhyped and have inflated scores.

@Spookypatrol You shouldn't apologize to dumb things. You did nothing wrong.

@Anti-Matter. Ridiculous, unfair demand, and no, I don't want another explanation about how you just like cutesy games and can't stand adult games, YOU ARE THE ONE WHO NEEDS TO MODIFICATE THAT INTOLERANT BEHAVIOUR. The comment section of this site is usually nice, and you know that his reply was no exception. I don't want to be rude a(nd I'm not, this is serious advice), but if it's that unbearable for you, you need professional help.

About the article, Monster Hunter Stories is my favourite, followed by 4U.

@Switch_will_fail
Alot of people enjoyed those moons. Alot of people enjoyed those Korok seeds, and a hell of a lot of people enjoy the styles and arts. They're not "filler content" when they're literally not filling anything.

The styles add spice to the gameplay, and that's much appreciated. Completely additional options above and beyond. Removed movesets ste fantastic, because it balances the styles. If you want a certain move all the time, run guild. But other styles are built around balance. You earn alot of your moves. Fill the valor bar and get your fadeslash, etc.

@roy130390

Oh, i wasn't mad about Monster Hunter.
I was Fine with Monster Hunter series.
Until someone made a joke about Cutesy of rated 18+ titles (Not about Monster Hunter).

If Nintendo Life are going to start putting articles across several pages, then I'm going to start using adblock.

@Wanjia I was very disappointed with World's armor and especially the weapon designs. Very lazy and odd, considering this is not the first MH game by any means. I also want more set bonuses if they're not going to have you get all pieces in order to get skills. There are several changes I would make to both World and GU.

MH3U on the Wii U is still the best one overall. Mounting kind of ruined some of 4U for me, together with the bad chat options, but it had some really good monsters. MHXX (GU) is good, but I don't really like the new weapon tree system.

For me, World is by far the best. It's not just the quality of life changes but the weapon mechanics are so much better and more finely tuned in World than in previous entries. MHGU is great, and I'm really enjoying going back and playing this game but MHGU has Lao-Shan Lung which is the worst hunt in any game, yes, even worse than Zorah Magdoros. Also, MHW is still being updated and gets better with each addition. <edit> Of course the #1 game is going to be the one that is advertised all over the site with an Amazon link under it's description... come on.

@Switch_will_fail But extremely repetitive

@Anti-Matter The reply of my favourite Monter Hunter game wasn't to you alone, it was to the article, and no, sorry but then people will keep confronting you, you aren't doing poop against the games dude, you are being rude and annoying to people. If you keep it, you are pretty much bullying people. Seriously, many others and I respect your stuff, but people don't have to treat you like a special child and if you keep it, then I'll keep posting you adult stuff everytime you reply like this to another person. Learn so manners dude, I'm not asking if you want to stop, I'm telling you to stop.

Oh and as @Ooyah said, you know nothing, you are just showing ignorance and intolerance. I'm perfectly fine with you not liking these games, it's the way you react and behave against others that is absurd and unfair.

The fact that it has every monster from the series in it is enough for me. 90+ of them.

@Tyranexx Ha, thanks... I've been checking this site for at least a couple years now regularly, but I figured it was about time I join into the comments section every once in a while; last thing I intended to do was to offend anyone or come off as someone rude. That all said...

@Anti-Matter Not to offend you further because I really didn't come onto here to immediately make enemies, but I will point out, if you are going to be so vocally against mature-rated games, it would make more sense to be against the companies who develop them, not just the games... Which means no Poka Poka Airu Village, or any Capcom title for that matter considering they make Resident Evil, etc...

I respect your decision to not play them yourself, but I can't say I respect your crusade against them for people who do enjoy them. They are not bad, dangerous, or useless, and in a lot of ways can actually assist in anger management and stress-relief. The reality is, you may not like them or find them fun, but a LOT of people do, and half the world's population didn't turn into mass-murderers because they played Dark Souls. I know nothing I tell you will change your view and that's... well as fine as it can be, but it's also not fair to get yelled at out-of-the-blue because I made a harmless comment. I am sincerely sorry that it was not harmless to you, but I will not stay quiet any longer now that I know that this is an issue that has occurred with others as well.

@roy130390 Thanks... I think I was more shocked and confused about the situation. Like I mentioned above, I'm new to actually commenting here and usually don't follow the comments closely enough to remember any individuals, so being chewed out for mentioning a game made me take a step back. I really, really don't like jumping into comments sections to just end up pissing someone off... I try my damnest to not be toxic, even if at times I can get a bit argumentative. So... yeah. Guess this was a weird surprise/introduction to the comments section.

@Spookypatrol welcome to Nintendolife.

I've got a buddy who loves the series but I have never played any myself. It's always seemed interesting but hearing about people dumping hundreds or thousands of hours into a single game scares me... And this is coming from an avid JRPG fan who doesn't mind 100-200 hour long games. But for me, that is the extreme. I've only ever dropped 800+ hours into Pokemon. But that doesn't really count, as the vast majority was just breeding for shiny Pokemon while watching Netflix or Youtube.

@1UP_MARIO Gonna be completely honest, what with the weirdness going on the last few posts, I can't tell if you're being bitterly sarcastic or not, but I'm gonna say thanks either way, haha!

@Spookypatrol
Oh, sorry if i was mad by your joke last time.
Well, pardon of my temper.
I'm easily to get mad by those inappropriate things.
Btw, i'm fine with Capcom.
I like Classic Street Fighter, somewhat interested with Monhun Nikki & Monster Hunter Stories.

And Welcome to Nintendolife.

@Heavyarms55 It depends on how much of a completionist you feel like being, really. I think I spent about 300-400 hours in 3U and was able to complete just about everything, and I ran a similar number (more like in the 400s) in 4U and only really have a couple monsters left that I never unlocked. But that was with me being really obnoxious about completing all of the single player stuff, too.

If you're a massive completionist, yeah, you'll be sinking several hundred hours (not too hard to break 1k) into it, but you can just as easily see "everything" in just a few hundred hours... "just" I guess, heh.

That all said, GenU specifically is the biggest in the series when you consider the sheer number of monsters alone, all of the different Deviant unlocks (15 difficulty levels, oh boyy), the massive amount of event quests, arena quests, and single-player content... sooo... yeah this one is definitely a big undertaking if you want to see everything!

@Trickbaby14 Well... almost every monster... Rip Gigginox, Qurupeco, Hypnocatrice, Gogmazios, Dalamadur, Shen Gaoren, Yama Tsukami, Gobul, etc etc...

Buuuuut really I don't think anyone can be upset about the comparatively-few left out when the roster is so huge otherwise XD

@Heavyarms55
Don't let that put you off. They're probably referring to how much time they played multiplayer, which is obviously a potentially infinite amount of time for any multiplayer game. The main single player campaign is usually around 50 hours or so. Still a very long game obviously, but not overwhelmingly so.

I started off with 3 on the Wii. Not a huge huge fan of the series but I do enjoy it. I need to go back to World and pick up the latest game on Switch.

World is better in every way. Really.

It has only the mechanism of its isolated and not necessary online hub structure to make it feel less social than it is.

Give me a new one with those foundations and with all the other hunters showing up where I am even when not hunting and there is no contest.

Also, the seamless online structure of world is best anyway. And the monsters...

Love monster hunter, really want to lie generations ultimate, will try it a few times - but really, world is where it's at.

Generations Ultimate ranked over World? On a Nintendo site? You don't say!

@Spookypatrol No problem, welcome to Nintendolife

@Anti-Matter nothing is inappropriate. That would be AO rated games, which basically don't exist. Just interactive porn at that point.

I had only been a bystander for Stories, and the generic story and characters really grinds that game to a halt, talking so long to muscle through the drawn out scenes and railroads the game for such an extent of its runtime. My boyfriend was a bit annoyed at MHGU distributing MHS guild card backgrounds to all players, as he's robbed of even wearing that badge of honor having suffered through it.

For you guys saying that World is undoubtedly, objectively better than GenU, consider the following things (incoming wall of text):

What World has over GenU:

1) Graphics - The graphics are a lot nicer, models are way better, textures are way better, lighting is more realistic, etc... The color palette and art direction is more up to personal taste (I'm not personally big into the more desaturated, less colorful scheme they went with, but I admit that the models and textures, etc, are objectively better.)

2) Quality of life - While I could make an argument that some of these features are only questionably better, they are still important to note because many of them do make the game feel smoother. Gathering on the go is nice, being able to grab everything from your end quest material window is nice, moving and using items is... well I discussed earlier why this isn't an objective good necessarily, either, just different, but let's chalk it up to better for the game, anyway, for my argument here... and there are several more QoL improvements I can't really get into in a reasonable post, but you World players know what they are.

3) Interactivity - With the environment, and monster - to - monster. While I personally think the environment and monster interactivity is more fluff than actually groundbreaking (everything you can do in the environment you could do with items in past entries, they're just presented a little nicer here, and monsters fighting each other is a nice way to get a little extra damage on them and watch a cool fight, but the novelty wears off), it is a nice presentation that does add to the "living, breathing world" feel.

4) Always online - Kind of a positive and negative I feel but, this is up to individuals. Being always online means you can use the nifty flare feature to call in friends whenever, which is nice.

5) Scaling monster difficulty - Again, a positive and negative. This is more intuitive across all party sizes, but it also removes the ability to intentionally challenge yourself by doing a multiplayer hunt as a single player... player. Being able to jump into Guild hunts designed for parties of 2-3 (or even the events designed for 4) is a really big deal to some people, myself included.

5) "Open World" - While not true open world, the lack of load screens on individual maps definitely help the maps be more impressive in scale and complexity and make the game feel more fluid since you're not interrupted by load screens. Above I explained why having different zones (via the load screens) isn't an inherently bad thing, but it is true that the format World uses is much more fluid.

6) Story - While some people don't care too much about it, it's undeniable that World has a better story than GenU... mostly because GenU has no story. This doesn't affect the gameplay, but for some people it does add motivation to play the game.

7) No gunner/blademaster equipment split & swapping gear on the fly - This is a very nice feature, and one I do hope continues (the lack of gunner/blademaster split) because it is a bit tedious to be grinding for different equipment types. That said, it's not a huge difference when you probably want a different set of skills for your different weapons, anyway, so you'll probably end up building more than one set regardless. Either way though, I do think this was a good change.

8) Tutorial - World has the best tutorial for any MH game. That's pretty objective.

What GenU has over World:

1) Monsters - This is the key selling point here, and one that I think should not be underestimated. In a game about hunting monsters, monster variety is a HUGE factor in replayability and enjoyment. GenU has nearly 3x the monster roster of World which is nothing to scoff at, and even if World continues to get new monsters via DLC, there is no realistic way for it to triple its roster (or even come close) by the time we see Gen 6, or even Gen 5 on Switch.

1a) Another notable thing about the monsters is that in addition to just having a larger number of them, they are MUCH more varied in type. World suffers from having too many dinosaurs and dragons and not really much else. GenU offers the best of past generations and newcomers, ranging from owls to crabs to bears to insects... you name it, it's probably in GenU. Because they're so varied (and there are even monsters on skeletons not present in World), they fight very differently to one another, which is another problem World has. Due to Capcom having to reduce cost in order to lessen the impact if their huge gamble did fail, they reused not only skeletons like mad, but also animations. Several monsters are built off of Rathian, for example (Legiana, Paolumu, Pukei-Pukei), meaning that the already relatively small monster count feels even smaller when you consider that many of the monsters are extremely similar to one another.

2) Equipment variety - More monsters means more gear, and more gear means more build variety. (Also GenU has a far superior transmog system cough) There's not one end-all equipment set in GenU, meaning you have freedom to experiment. (Atal-Ka is the closest thing to an end-all set, and even then there are sets that are better than it for certain things; Atal just makes it easier to get certain charm skills.) This means you're not really playing the game to build the unequivocally best set of gear, and kind of lose your way after that. You have freedom to invest in several sets of your choosing, each one fitting to your playstyle (and being visually unique for all you fashion hunters out there).

3) Map count - While World has more sprawling, more seamless maps, GenU's map count is nothing to scoff at, either. It boasts an impressive 27 maps, bringing nearly all the ones from past titles back and adding a couple new ones, too. So, while the maps may not be as big, they are considerably more varied.

4) Arts/Styles - this one is (for some reason) controversial, because a lot of people complained about them. That said, Guild Style exists in order to retain the original gameplay feel, so the other 5 styles just add variability to weapons, which I can't wrap my head around why that would ever be a bad thing. All of the styles are well-balanced (although like with anything, certain styles are better for certain weapons) and add a lot of flavor and customization to your weapons along with the arts. In fact, certain attacks introduced by styles were added into the base attacks of World's weapon changes (ie aerial dual blades' spin attack was added to World's DB kit). The point I'm making here, though, is that the extreme customization and variability that arts and styles bring to weapons is quite literally a gamechanger (love or hate), and something that Capcom did right by retaining the Guild style to not force change down someone's throat who didn't want it. But for those of us who like the variety, it is extremely welcomed!

5) Prowler mode - An additional "weapon" type on top of everything else is definitely notable. Whether you play it or not, Prowler is a nifty, non-fluff feature that gives the already huge weapon variety of GenU an additional edge. Adding a new, balanced weapon type in a game where weapons and monsters are the most important features is a definite positive in my eyes.

6) Difficulty - While difficulty does not make for an inherently better game (although I'd argue that in this case it does make for a better Monster Hunter game), the fact that GenU is not only inherently more challenging than World, but also gives players the option to take on quests solo that are scaled in difficulty for multiple players is pretty huge.

7) Portability / local play - The importance of these features are subjective, since, especially in the west this isn't as key as it is in other parts of the globe... but considering GenU has this + online play means it is an undeniable benefit when you consider the mass of people whom this does affect positively. Whether you care about it or not, other people do, and that adds to the quality of the game.

8) Content, content, content! There is just so much content! I have only scraped the surface here of the amount of content GenU has, but it is a very meaty game, and that really is something worth considering.

Other notes:

-> While GenU's "tutorial" is a little better than previous entries, World does blow it out of the water here. That being said, with the breadth of resources for GenU out there, putting in a little extra research isn't too hard, and once you know what you're doing, the meat of the game is what matters. World is better for newcomers, but GenU is strong for returning players, so I can't really chalk a better tutorial as making for a better MH game, even if it does make it a better game for new players.

-> Yes, we know GenU is "clunkier" than World and more difficult to initially get into, but once you are into it and get used to the jankiness, (which a lot of people do get used to, if they weren't already from previous titles) there is just far more to do and see.

-> Having worse graphics and being less intuitive does NOT put a nail in the coffin and make something a worse game. A lot of people consider Ocarina of Time to be a far superior game to Breath of the Wild, even though BotW undoubtedly looks a lot nicer and is smoother to play. Quality-of-life is a big benefit to any game, yes, but in a situation like this where QoL is effectively all it has over past entries, it becomes much blurrier to determine which is a better title.

Final thoughts:

I could make this post significantly longer, but I'm going to cut it short here... The whole point I'm trying to make is that World is NOT a definitively-better game than GenU; they both have a variety of positives and negatives, and ultimately many people prefer one over the other. If World was an objectively better game, there wouldn't be such a community divide over preference (and it is a HUGE community divide, especially now that the honeymoon period for World being the new, shiny thing is starting to wear off).

Is World a better game than GenU? I don't know, maybe it's a better "game." But calling it a better Monster Hunter game is a very hard sell.

@Wanjia But I can say the oposite, that World is not Gen Ultimate. It's missing G-rank Only has around 30-ish monsters, which made it super boring at the end of the game. Event quests are limited unlike Gen ultimate where you can do them whenever you want. Most weapons on World look the same as you upgrade them, while gen ultimate has countless of different weapon visuals. Styles/Arts are gone in world, which gave everybody unique ways to hunt a monster, even if players all used the same weapon they can approach it differently. I can play as a prowler in Ultimate unlike world where im limited to my hunter only. See what I mean..some qol differences that world gives me doesn't make up for all the loss it has to Ultimate. People want Grank in World, but I doubt that adding a higher tier difficulty would make up for all the things that are wrong with it. World is my least favorite out of 5 monster hunters ive played so far.

I played last night. I was actually very impressed with the visuals. Maybe it's just me, but they seem much better then the 3DS.

@Spookypatrol You make some good comparisons but for me the main reason I play these games is the combat and World is the best in terms of actual combat and allows for deeper combat strategies and has a higher skill ceiling. I'm not going to list all the weapon/combat improvements for every weapon, but I'll just say it's better. There, I proved my point.

@MisterMan I will say, I know the base weapons are supposed to be smoother to play in World, but I will disagree on the higher skill ceiling part. Maybe compared to Gen, but definitely not compared to GenU. I think the differences in combat feel do come down to personal preference, though, so I can't really debate against you if you feel like the weapons, well, feel better to you, but my argument was more that World isn't objectively better, not that it isn't subjectively better/worse for individuals.

Plus, half of combat is the monsters, not just the weapon feel. You can have a great-feeling weapon, but if you're fighting against a small roster of monsters (especially a small roster of similar monsters), the benefit of a nice weapon is going to get tired out really quickly.

Arts, styles, an additional weapon outright (Prowler), and a larger monster roster mean that combat is considerably more varied... so whether or not you like the feel of the weapons in World more, it doesn't detract all that much from the actual variety that GenU has.

And that all said though, again, if you like the feel more of World, then that's completely fine; it is subjective at that point.

Edit: On the note of combat strategies, though, I'll also disagree with you there. The vast number of art+style combinations in GenU outright allows for more combat strategies. Wanna run heal-support charge blade? Sure. Wanna run DPS Prowler? Alright! Wanna run bomber Palico, or Tank-taunt hammer? No problem!

@pigwarts5ever I started with 3U on 3DS and didn't find any problems with underwater combat. You can easily swim around by using the camera, along with the Target Cam feature (L, Type 2 for me).

@Wanjia WanjiaWed 29th Aug 2018
Good Lord the bias in this ranking. Everyone knows that Ultimate can't hold a candlestick to World! There's no sense hiding that... The game overhauls and refines some of the clunky systems that have been present in the series since the beginning, such as gathering and introducing an improved tutorial, and it removes loading between zones. It also introduces SOS allowing for emergency assistance from other players, which has proven invaluable to me in learning the ropes.

Yes, Ultimate is a fine game and I'm thoroughly enjoying it, but it is not World. Its redeming factors are it's nostalgia, upgrade graphics from the 3DS versions, and expanded hunting list, but this does not compare to the QOL improvements in World. If Ultimate had been updated with the QOL improvements in World, then I'd agree 100% with this since it'd be a seudo-next gen hybrid.

Alright, first let me say that I totally respect preferring World. I love world, but I don't think it's that wide of a margin. Let me go point by point:

1. Okay, so you talk about the clunky systems such as gathering, tutorials, and loading zones. First off, in GenU the gathering is the same (Holding the button to gather). Only real difference is the need for pickaxe's and bug nets, which isn't clunky, just different. Maybe tedious depending on you.

2. The tutorials, as far as I know, is the same as well. The only big qol improvement in world there is the training grounds behind your house. I love that, but it's not a game changer.

3. Loading Zones: I know I'm in the minority with this, but here me out; I love the open worldness of World, but I kinda miss zones. The zones allowed the map to be far more diverse, as not everything needed to be connected. It also allowed you to cover much more distance, as it was off screen. The Dunes in GenU is a perfect example of this, as you are traveling huge distances, but off screen. Makes the map seem bigger than it is.

4. SOS flares are fantastic, not gonna lie, but they messed up the Gathering Hall in turn. Nobody ever goes there, and creates a much less social experience, which is ironic considering the strives they've taken in making it MORE social. But I do love SOS flares.

I think World is an amazing game, but I don't think the QOL improvements that it brings make it a better game than GenU. I love both to death, but GenU just offers more, and isn't big enough of a divergence to be hindered.

4U remains my favorite. I've sank almost 800 hours into that title. Portable 3rd HD, 3U and Gen U are following closely.

@Spookypatrol This sums it up. between MHG and MHGU I've more than a 1000 hours and I still play the game because of the insane amount of content and the variety to the gameplay that styles and arts add.the online community is really good and healthy on the switch. I would argue that MHW might be a better game because MH didn't have a big change like this since the PS2 However, I couldn't pass 100 hours and that's a shame. I think remaking MHGU to look and feel like MHW but keeping all the gameplay as it is would make a way better game than MHW.

I'm not going to comment about the story because the best thing capcom did was to remove the plot from a monster hunter game. don't get me wrong I love deep stories in my games when I play nier or the witcher but not monster hunter. It just stands in the way of HUNTING!!

For me, it's a tie between FU and 3U. Some of my favorite maps are in FU as well as the QoL features like bug catching, farming, Trenya's adventures, mining, and dragon material collecting all in the farm area. 3U for the underwater combat and all the stuff it improved on the original 3. Only major gripes I had with that one was the removal of the day night cycle and bowgun customization.

My fave by far is Monster Hunter Tri G Ultimate X Generation re;Hunted World 4 - Definitive Anniversary Day 0 Edition.

It's a shame that MHGU might well be the last Monster Hunter game on a Nintendo platform. At least until the Switch 2 or whatever.

Hopefully that doesn't come to pass but all evidence seems to point that way.

MH3U, at first I had a love-hate relationship with it, but with time I realized that this game is really really great. This is the only MH game I know that has Water mechanics, at first I wasn't too much of a fan of it, but after I got into it I noticed that it was making the game much more diverse and I started to really like it. I put around 400 hours into it and it left an unforgettable impression on me.

MHW (Iceborne): The immersive graphics, new weapons, improved fighting and story make this game a one of a kind experience. There are many details in the game, much love was put into it, it's more than a worthy sequel that also grew to my heart very much. I'm around 300 hours.

I can't talk about MH4U or MHGU, I never played them, but graphically they somehow look a tad worse than MH3U to me. I've heard they added quite a content and interesting play styles though.

If I had to decide which MH is best I would say I can't, the two that I've played offer a very similar, yet also at times different experience, both games are very polished for the times at which they came out.

3U and Generation Ultimate are my picks. Haven't played World that much, but it felt pretty accessible.

Who put this list together?
It should be....
1st Rise
2nd 3U
3rd GenU

"list of best MH games ever"

Puts a game on number 1 that has yet to come out.

1. MH3U
2. MHGU
3. MHFU
4. MH4U

you cant just toss Rise on because its new and shiny

Where is MHW Iceborne and since I haven’t really play Rise, Iceborne is my favorite but time will tell if Rise changes that

1 MHWI
2 MHGU
3 MH4U
4 MH3U
5 MH Stories

@gojiguy I think they actually can because, unlike the rest of us, NL has actually played Rise.

Reading some of these old comments is funny. How dare people have a different opinion! And the people accusing Nintendolife of ranking Generations U over World "because it's on Nintendo". Couldn't I accuse people ranking World as their favorite just because it's on PlayStation and not on Nintendo? 🙃

Maybe people just have different tastes, just a thought.

@River3636 I say give world and rise a try. They are no where near as clunky as the previous entries. I started with world and tried to get into the older ones and I just couldn't

I put the most time into MH4u. My fave. New one looks great too.

As a fan of the series since MH Tri I don't know how to feel about MH4U being as low as it is. Among the games I have played I would rank them like this. VERY excited to see where MH Rise lands for me, but until it gets an expansion similar to Iceborne I feel like it won't be higher than MH3U to me.

7. Monster Hunter Generations
6. Monster Hunter Stories
5. Monster Hunter Tri
4. Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate
3. Monster Hunter World/Iceborne
2. Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate
1. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate

Lmao. Just like last time, but even worse.

pats MH4U on the shoulder "Ya did good, kid."

@Spookypatrol MH Stories 2 comes out this summer on Switch.

You know a "best of" list is silly when you have to include different console versions of the same games to pad it out.

I haven't played Rise to give a proper opinion but the fact it lacks a proper Endgame and much of the content its going to get in the next 2 or so years means i wouldn't put it top. Right now GU is the ultimate MH game as it has the most monsters, gear and locations plus Hunter Arts and playable Palico's, yes its brutal for newcomers but for MH fans its the most complete entry in the series with nearly every Monster of note plus G-Rank and all the Black Dragon's.

@Anti-Matter

If silly comments get you that riled up, just ignore the comments section altogether. We all have different opinions and beliefs, but there is no excuse for not keeping it civil.

Has to be monster hunter world for me, such a massive game and the graphics are beautiful compared to the rest. Was the first monster hunter I fully invested in.

I'm hopeful rise can be something special aswell but with a file size of 6.6GB I have my doubts

@Trajan I can tell you if a Sony fanboy website ranked all the Monster Hunter games the games on Nintendo systems wouldn't even be on the list.

I wouldn't be surprised if Rise will become my favorite as well. It has the modern touches of world without losing the feel of the originals and being more open on top of it.

I have a fondness for Tri, 2 player from one wii was a brilliant touch to encourage your mates to get it and a feature completely missing in all future home console versions. 3U had more content and was improved by the second screen functions (customisable too), i enjoyed playing the same hunter on Wii U then 3DS, another great feature.
Generations U had the extra moves and monster count (alot of filler though).
4U and World are lovely on the high frame rate mode (that pushes for 60) and they really show off the animation quality in those games. Also 4U in 3D was beautiful in motion.
I don't have a favourite as they all have elements i enjoy.

@Spookypatrol had no idea that was from software. Wonder if it’s just as hard as the souls games.

Happy to see the author acknowledge that GU is a better game than World - cause it is.

Super excited to see Rise at no. 1 just a few days before release. Gonna be a blast of a weekend!

@sgarcia-dev
"Think about it like Monster Hunter's equivalent of Smash Bros Ultimate (Everyone is here)."

Yeah, well... they forgot my favorite monster Jhen Mohran! :/

"So, is this recency bias rearing its ugly, monstrous head, or is the fact that Monster Hunter Rise sits in the number one spot simply the natural result of video game sequels becoming more refined and satisfying with each iteration? Well, obviously we believe the latter".

Well, the justification for putting Generations at number 1 ahead of the more innovative World when the list was initially made was because you were apparently "traditionalists" and "purists", so it seems you only believe the latter when it suits you.

@Haywired Um... no. If Glen and Gavin were "traditionalist" or "purist," Rise wouldn't be at the top of the list. I'm a traditionalist, and I HATED Rise for how much of the old survival-genre features were cut. Rise is much more DMC and much less MH than most of the other games in the series.

After having played Rise my order would go a bit differently now

4U = GU > Rise > G > 3U

Once sunbreak comes out and we get a lot more content and G Rank I expect to enjoy Rise alot more.
And hopefully this article will be revisited again when it does.