Monster Hunter Releasing on PlayStation Portable Was Key to Promoting the True Essence of the Game

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Monster Hunter Releasing on PlayStation Portable Was Key to Promoting the True Essence of the Game

Capcom’s Monster Hunter series has earned critical acclaim and garnered a massive, dedicated player base in recent years – quickly growing to become their most popular IP to date. Indeed, Monster Hunter has a rich and varied history, with humble beginnings on the PlayStation 2, back in 2004.

The series was then followed by multiple entries, with the PlayStation Portable (PSP) version being of key importance. The ability to play on the go and in cooperative multiplayer changed things significantly, and defined what Monster Hunter is today.

Monster Hunter Freedom Unite’s success can be attributed to the PSP

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PSP | Image Credit: Capcom

Speaking with

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, Ryozo Tsujimoto, the producer of Capcom’s Monster Hunter series, detailed a lot of behind-the-scenes action regarding MonHun and its initial development, and the changes that followed.

Monster Hunter is quite a unique title, and can be credited for being a pioneer of sorts – ushering in the cooperative monster-hunting genre as a whole. While the series used to be quite niche outside of Japan, its shift toward cooperative multiplayer elements has made it a hit overseas too.

Unlike the current Monster Hunter games, the 2004 release was a strictly solo affair – with cooperative elements being added late into the series inception. After all, the infrastructure required for co-op was a lot more expensive (and limited) back then.

Things changed when Sony introduced one of its most successful consoles to have ever been released – the PlayStation Portable, which boasted PS2-like visuals in the palm of your hand. The PSP also came with networking features, allowing for multiplayer, which Monster Hunter Unite took full advantage of.

Also known as Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G in Japan, Unite let players embark on monster hunting with up to teams of four, all with local co-op enabled. After all, players were less likely to join a friend’s game at their house – given the convenience of online multiplayer (which was still a novel concept at the time), and Unite’s success was almost guaranteed.

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As such, Unite’s massive success can be attributed to the series going down the portable route, with the title managing to sell over 4 million copies, which is quite an impressive number.

Ever since, Monster Hunter has featured cooperative elements of some degree in later titles, and this is precisely one of the reasons why people play the series to this day – in addition to its addictive gameplay, of course.

The PSP can be credited for the success of a lot of games

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PSP had a long lasting legacy | Image Credit: Sony

The legacy of Sony’s PSP cannot be emphasized enough. Created by Sony as a bid to enter into the lucrative handheld gaming market (which remains dominated by Nintendo) it was a rather strange experiment that paid off big time.

The PSP was wildly successful, even if it never did manage to topple Nintendo, and left behind a lasting legacy that its user base cherishes to this day. The PSP was home to multiple, high-fidelity games that still remain great to play even in 2025.

However, despite multiple iterations, the PSP was ultimately succeeded by the PlayStation Vita (PSVita), which garnered a mixed reaction from fans, owing to its poor first-party library and ludicrous asking price.

Ultimately, Sony’s handheld division died a slow, painful death and the company is yet to launch a true successor to the PSP to this day, which it is hoped it will.

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