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Monster Hunter Stories may have only arrived in Europe and North America in September, but it's been available on the 3DS in Japan since October 2016. It's perhaps with that in mind that some surprising news out of Japan actually makes sense - the game is now available for iOS and Android in the country.

Pocket Gamer reports that there's a free demo option, or you can get the full thing for £12/£13, which is a fair bit cheaper than the recommended retail price for the 3DS version. This is far from the first time we've seen major titles arrive on both 3DS and mobile while costing more on Nintendo's handheld - a recent example for this year is Level 5's Layton's Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaires' Conspiracy. Capcom itself has brought various major games to both dedicated portables and mobile in the past, primarily through the Ace Attorney series.

This one is a bit of an eye-opener, arguably, because of the scale of Stories. It's a meaty RPG, one we enjoyed a lot on 3DS, so it'll be intriguing to see whether it wins over much of an audience on mobile. Monster Hunter Explore was Capcom's previous smart device title for MH, which blended the main series style with more accessible mechanics to support touchscreen controls.

Will Stories come to mobile in the West? That potentially depends on whether there are any agreements between Nintendo (which published the 3DS release in the West) and Capcom to prevent a mobile version arriving so soon after the portable's iteration. Those using iOS can in theory access the game via a Japanese account, of course, but that's not an option on Android.

In any case this is one of the most intriguing mobile releases from Capcom in a little while, albeit not all will be pleased to see a full 3DS game flogged at a much lower price on smartphones and tablets.

[source pocketgamer.co.uk]