Everything about Monster Rancher totally explained
is a
video game series by
Tecmo. Starting in
1997, several sequels have been produced. There is also an
anime series based on the video games by the same name.
Story
The world of
Monster Rancher was once a highly advanced technology-oriented civilization. The people of this society were especially skilled at
genetic engineering. Using gene manipulation, they were able to develop special
designer pets and store their
genetic information on stone tablets known as "disks", similar to
CDs. Using these disks, the artificial animals could be regenerated at special
shrines.
However, war broke out between the countries of the civilization. The pets were modified into
biological weapons, and the war of the monsters began. The great civilizations completely annihilated each other, leaving nothing but
relics behind, and much of the world's technology was lost. The monsters were sealed into their mystery disks and hidden away.
Centuries later, as humanity was just beginning to rediscover basic technology, people found the artifacts owned by the so-called "Ancients" and attributed divine properties to them. They also discovered the lost disks and shrines. Using these, monsters were again born. Only through the power of the phoenix could the lost discs be revived back into living monsters.
Thus started a popular new sport, Monster Breeding. Breeders or trainers raised monsters for battle to compete in nation-wide
tournaments to see who could raise the strongest beast.
Games
The series is often compared to
Pokémon, although the two games play very differently. While the
Pokémon games are traditionally collection-based
RPGs,
Monster Rancher games tend to be simulated
animal breeding games. The
genre Monster Rancher occupies is shared by other simulation
virtual pet games such as
Digimon and games based on raising horses for racing.
In the games, one takes the role of a monster
breeder whose goal is to raise monsters to fight in tournaments. The breeder must take it in hand to raise the monster throughout its life, training it, keeping it healthy, making an exercise schedule, and trying to maximize its abilities before it dies of old age (in about 3 to 4 years of simulated game time depending on raising style and monster) or is
retired. Monsters have good or bad morale depending on how they're raised; loyal monsters are more likely to perform
critical hits, while disloyal monsters might refuse to obey commands or not fight at all. Retired monsters can be combined to create more powerful monsters.
Monster Generation
Although not widely popular, the games do have a loyal
cult following, particularly for the most innovative aspect of the series. Monsters from the game can be generated by inserting any CD (and in the
PlayStation 2 games,
DVDs) into the game system.
The characteristics of the monster, such as stats, breed, and traits, are determined by various
integers stored in the game. To generate a monster, a
random number generator is needed to define what characteristics the monster will have. However, because random number generators are only
pseudo-random, players could generate the exact same monster quite often. To resolve this, Tecmo created a CD-reading system that would generate truly unique and random monsters. Discs contain digital information with a different sequence of values. When the game reads ths information, the values found within the discs data are
mapped to the range of integers in the game.
Some CDs and DVDs can be specialized to produce rare monsters. For instance, in
Monster Rancher 4 the
Harry Potter DVD generates a unique owl monster, and in
Monster Rancher 2 and 4 Tecmo's
Dead or Alive creates
Kasumi from the same game. Special CDs called "Pandora Discs" can produce multiple monsters.
In
Monster Rancher Advance and
Monster Rancher Advance 2, the system used for generating random monsters uses character sequences rather than CDs, due to the limitations of
Game Boy Advance cartridges. Certain combinations of characters will determine the monster's breed, sub-breed, stats, and traits.
Passwords found in-game can be used to generate special red and blue monsters.
In
Monster Rancher DS the system is revised to take advantage of the DS's input devises: Monsters can be generated by speaking into the microphone, chipping away at a tablet, or using a Game Boy Advance game inserted into the second slot.
For
Monster Farm Online, The unlock system is changed, players select a monster species you've some form of knowledge of, with the basic pure variants automatically available, and insert a CD or DVD to create their traits. This is so players don't need to find a disc that's unique to one particular territory to get the rarest monsters.
Game releases
PlayStation
Game Boy Color
Monster Rancher Battle Card Game
Monster Rancher Explorer
PlayStation 2
Monster Rancher 3
Monster Rancher 4
Monster Rancher EVO
Game Boy Advance
Monster Rancher Advance
Monster Rancher Advance 2
Nintendo DS
Monster Rancher DS (International Release Date Unknown)
Microsoft Windows
Monster Farm Online (Open Beta (Commercial Release in Spring 2008))
Anime
Monster Rancher was an anime series based on the Monster Rancher video games. It originally aired in Japan on TBS, while it aired in the US on Fox, Fox Family Channel, and the Sci-fi Channel, and on Fox Kids in the United Kingdom. It has a total of 73 episodes and 3 seasons.
Monsters
Trivia
"Monster Rancher" was the title of an episode (season 4, episode 19) of the TV series NewsRadio.
The Monster Rancher games are well-known for containing secret monsters if specific CDs (and later DVDs) are inserted into the console when generating a creature. Several of Tecmo's own products, such as Tecmo's Deception, Dead or Alive, UNiSON and Fatal Frame, are known to unlock some of these monsters, almost always modeled after a character in those games (in these cases, Ardebaran, Kasumi, Doctor Dance and Miku Hinasaki, respectively). The only exceptions are Monster Rancher Advance, Monster Rancher DS and Monster Farm Online, which both don't use key CD unlocking, but do have alternatives to this.
Part of the Monster Farm Online site's bonus material is a celebration of the legacy of the series, with music from the first games in the series.Further Information
Get more info on 'Monster Rancher'.
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