Some pretty Monster Hunter art, not related to the trademark

It's off to the rabbit hole for those that feel inclined as pre-Nintendo Direct rumours swirl around the web. Having look at the apparent leaks we're not fully comfortable on their accuracy or whether it's something that should even be shared in the first place; yet an actual trademark is hard to ignore. If you don't want to know what it's called, you probably shouldn't have clicked on this and should definitely not read further. For those that are interested, read on.

Rather like with Pokémon Sun and Moon it seems that trademark listings have squeezed out ahead of a potential reveal. This one was dug up by NerdLeaks - filed today, it's for 'Monster Hunter Generations'. Filed by Javier Ungria López, if you search 'Monster Hunter' at this link you can see that this representative is listed for previous franchise trademarks by Capcom, though this is the first in quite a few years.

As for what 'Generations' could be, a sensible suggestion is that this could be a localisation of Monster Hunter X (Cross) for 3DS; that would be no surprise as it's been hugely successful in Japan and Capcom will surely want to build on positive Western momentum from Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate.

Of course, trademarks don't guarantee games, so this is marked as a rumour - nor do we see this as a smoking gun at this stage for the supposed broader Direct 'leaks' on the web. If they're proven right then it'll be interesting, but we've had many, many of these leaks that turned out to be wrong. This trademark does exist, though, that much can be said with some confidence.

Are you hoping that this is a cue for Monster Hunter goodness in the upcoming Nintendo Direct, or do you think it's unrelated and nothing to get excited about? Let us know in the comments.

[source nerdleaks.com, via neogaf.com]