SDCC 2016: ‘Monster Hunter’ Panel Offers Insight Into Future DLC And Things That Can Kill You
Capcom hosted a Monster Hunter panel at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con with a focus on the recently released title, Monster Hunter Generations. The event was moderated by Tristan Corbett, the Monster Hunter Brand Manager at Capcom. Joining him were two very special guests, Yasunori Ichinose and Shintaro Kojima, Generations’ Director and Producer, respectively. 
The discussion quickly dove into upcoming DLC, the first highlight being the Okami-themed armor set for Felynes.
There are many collaborative DLC in Japan and with Generations releasing there first, many DLC have already been made available to Japanese players. However, this DLC is exclusive to players in the West. It was a sort of amusing concept, given that this Felyne-specific armor is based on Okami‘s Amaterasu, a goddess in wolf-form.
The creation of this DLC sparked a poll amongst the development team: “Which is better, cats or dogs?” In the end, cats won. Kojima-san remarked that neither himself nor Ichinose-san participated in the poll.
The second DLC discussed also featured a Felyne-only armor set. The Mega Man set is particularly special because much of the Development team were fans of the series. A trailer was shown highlighting the set and it was noted that the armor will have different color skins depending on what attacks the Felynes use (they couldn’t go into more detail than that). The color change was akin to Mega Man switching weapons and gaining different abilities based on the bosses he defeated.
It should be noted that, as in previous Monster Hunter titles, all DLC is free.
The panel then moved on to how the game’s monsters are designed. The first monster they mentioned was Amatsu, whose mention earned quite a bit of applause from the audience. The monster is an old favorite from Monster Hunter Portable 3rd, a game for the PSP that never saw a release outside of Japan. Its concept is based on the snake-like dragons found in Eastern mythologies.
Amatsu’s eye color changes and chest glows when it enters its “enraged state.”
Amatsu has the ability to fly because its body is filled with gas, which allows it to float. Its fins are used to navigate in the wind. The concept was inspired by kites. Monster designs sometimes draw inspiration from animals. In Amatsu’s case, it was the Leafy Sea Dragon.
Amatsu uses water-based attacks in which water shoots from its mouth. The animation is based on explosive chemical reactions.
The gear that can be forged from materials found when carving Amatsu’s corpse are based loosely on Shinto ceremonial garb. The majority of the armor sets created from “big boss monsters” are bulky but Amatsu’s set does not because it did not fit Amatsu’s image.
The second and final monster discussed at the panel was Nakarkos, a monster that made its debut in Generations. It was inspired by the idea of a dragon zombie. The team pointed out that zombies do not exist in the games’ world and that the concept was strictly for design purposes. Nakarkos is actually a monster that covers itself in the bones of others.
The initial design was more lizard-like but another designer changed it to a cephalopod/kraken-like creature.
Nakarkos’ design fit well with the Jurassic Frontier, a location new to Generations.
Two different armor sets can be crafted from Nakarkos’ materials. The pair are based on the concept of the heroes and villains of American comic books. The “villain” sets can be seen above.
And here are the “hero” sets.
The panel finished off with a trivia contest in which attendees guessed panelists’ favorite weapon class. Those who guessed correctly won a poster signed by Ichinose-san and Kojima-san plus some Japanese badges.
