Yes, we all know Monster Hunter has a large presence in Smash with Mii Costumes in
4, Rathalos and MH music in
Ultimate, the boss Diablos in base
Infinite, and Kamura Village as a DLC stage. For many, the main aspect of the Monster Hunter series is, well, the monsters and that makes sense. Some of these creatures are downright amazing such as a formiddble glutton Deviljho aka "The Pickle" to the serene and mystic Kirin to the iconic flagship monster, Rathalos. While Monster Hunter did not get its start on a Nintendo system, it has a notable presence with
Monster Hunter 3 (Tri) being made available on the Wii (which was my first entry into the series) as well as an enhanced port for the Wii U and 3DS,
Monster Hunter 4 for the 3DS, and
Monster Hunter Rise for the Switch. In addition,
Frontier Z for the Wii,
Generations for the 3DS and Switch,
Stories for the 3DS, and
Stories 2 for the Switch. This comes to a grand total of 7 titles, 3 of which were mainline games. The only downside is that the Switch did not get a
World port which is downright one of the most successful if not successful
Monster Hunter game to date. In addition, it seems
Wilds will not be coming to a Nintendo console but that has yet to be seen.
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Now, why should we include a Monster Hunter rep?
While Monsters are indeed the stars of the show, it's the humans who truly do all of the work. Players would play as the Hunter who would have access to a wide assortment of weapons that change how the character plays. This would create an ever-changing playstyle that is flexible yet dependable. In addition, by taking advantage of mechanics found in
Rise, we could have more access to other options such as Wirebugs. Moreover, bringing finally a playable fighter from a series that has a deep history in
Smash seems like the right move for our first technical DLC fighter. While maybe not the most inspiring, hype-inducing, or even risky inclusion; it makes 100% sense.
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Why the Summer Festival?
Monster Hunter has lots of different terrains and habitats but some of the most common ones are jungles and tropics. Plus, we do dinosaurs all lived in dense, steamy jungles right? In addition, some of the armor has a certain tribal look to it which also ties in the series of the topics and summer.
What does Monster Hunter Bring to the Table?
Well, we already have a stage so we probably don't need a second MH stage unless we wanna look toward
World. This leaves our stage option for this festival to something else entirely. A huge influx of Spirits in a separate Spirit Event would be called for plus additional Mii Costumes that would run coincide with this festival and be made available afterwards. I would rather see a Monster Hunter Festival with the monsters roaming about randomly personally but I can take this as well.
Now, one issue I often see is a character winning and no one submitting content. Some of the highest number of character content we got was Crazy Dave, Zangreus, Jill, Dr. Eggman, Red, and Ratchet. These were characters that all had a wide number of options in their movesets that allowed for more ideas to be included. With Crazy Dave, it was plants. For Ratchet, it was guns. For Dr. Eggman, it was minions and for Zagreus, it was boons. More straightforward characters don't often get moveset submissions like those that are more gimmicky. I mean, that allows me to craft the moveset for them which is a win-win for me as I enjoy that process and fully embrace it but I also like to see thread involvement and activity.
That is why I believe that the
Hunter can bring forth lots of submissions because they would have access to a wide assortment of weapons and that is not even taking into account the ability to "capture" monsters and control via Wirebugs or pals such as the Palicoes and Palamutes. In addition, for alternate costumes, we could just do armors.
I mean, look at the weapons we could include. Each weapon has its own unique mechanics as well which makes the Hunter even more versatile:
Sword & Shield
Dual Blades
Great Sword
Long Sword
Hammer
Hunting Horn (this would have awesome applications for a personal or team buffer move)
Lance
Gunlance
Switch Axe
Charge Blade
Insect Glaive
Bow
Light Bowgun
Medium Bowgun
Heavy Bowgun
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Why Vote for Hunter?
We already have some amazing submissions with some of my top wants being up there (Toad, Gran/Djeeta, Bub & Bob, Kasumi, etc) but I feel, while awesome, the moveset creation and character-building session will become stagnant without much activity. I feel that adding the Hunter wouldn't only make sense for both our festival and for Smash as a whole to finally bring a character representative that surely needs one but also to create an engaging and active character creation process.