Capcom explains why it brought back Monster Hunter Stories

In a recent interview, Capcom spoke about the decision to bring back the original Monster Hunter Stories. The game just came to new platforms last week, including Switch.

Famitsu caught up with producer Yoshihiro Akira to talk about the updated version. When asked about why Monster Hunter Stories was brought back following its original 3DS launch, he shared the following:

“The support we received all over the world from players enjoying Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin, released in 2021, was a big part of it. And with the 3DS online store ending service, it became harder to play the series fully in order, so we decided to port it to the current generation.

In order to encourage the series to be played fully in order, or even to allow players who had played before to do so again, we fully voiced the game in English and Japanese, as well as making a ‘Museum’ of things such as production materials and BGM tracks.”

Since Monster Hunter Stories first came to 3DS, bringing it to new platforms wasn’t straightforward – especially since there was now only one screen to work with. Regarding porting difficulties, Akira shared the following:

“The process of porting an older game and getting it to work on current platforms takes a lot of time. Development began with programs carefully reading the source code. From the system standpoint, the biggest problem was the user interface. The 3DS version has two screens, including a touch screen, whereas the smartphone version was also made with touch controls. Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin which was playable on the Nintendo Switch, PS4 and Steam, had a base that could be used for this reconstruction.

As for things that were easy, one area was the selection of what artwork to add to the ‘Museum’ as additional contents that I mentioned earlier. Thankfully the archive from that time was still well-kept, so we were able to add artwork from the development process, and to allow people to fully immerse themselves in the world.”

The original Monster Hunter Stories is out now for Switch worldwide. Check out our review of the new version here.

Translation provided by Simon Griffin, SatsumaFS, and Philip Proctor on behalf of Nintendo Everything.