Koei Tecmo has announced that the Monster Rancher series is finally making a comeback in the west with the launch of Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX, a compilation release that's headed to Switch.

As you've probably guessed, the new release includes both Monster Rancher 1 (1997) and Monster Rancher 2 (1999), all in conjunction with the series' 25th anniversary. The last time we were treated to a Monster Rancher game in the west was when Monster Rancher DS launched for the – you guessed it – Nintendo DS in 2010. Although even then it only arrived in North America, skipping Europe entirely.

"In celebration of the magical series’ 25th anniversary, Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX brings the wildly popular simulation games to modern hardware where players raise their own monsters and train them to compete against other eccentric creatures in combat and tournaments. With hundreds of different monster types, each with their own skills and abilities, every Rancher will be able to raise and train monsters that are a perfect fit for their personality and play style."

This special new release will arrive on 9th December 2021 – if you haven't already checked it out, make sure to watch the video above which includes a message from Kazumi Fujita, Executive Producer of the series.

When the bundle launches on Switch later this year, you can expect to find some features that were never present in the games' original western PlayStation releases such as additional save slots, Freeze slots, Monster Hall of Fame slots, a memo feature, and a high-speed mode to play through the game at a faster pace.

Do you have any fond memories of the Monster Rancher series? Will you be checking out this compilation release? Let us know with a comment.