I know, it’s been exactly two weeks since the official release in Japan but I was a bit hesitant at first to start hunting again. But Monster Hunter was just too much fun on the Wii U, so I couldn’t possibly ignore the new release. Back in June I already wrote some words about the series itself and why I’m just a sucker for Monster Hunter. The only reason why I was hesitant to buy the game immediately at release was was the language barrier. I know, モンハン isn’t exactly the game where you need to understand the language but it’s much easier when you can actually read the stuff you’re looking for to craft new weapons and armor. And Monster Hunter is quite the Kanji heavy game. It’s a tough one, but doable if you’re using the right resources.
“A game dev in Japan” is hosting the site Versus City where he explains some new functions of the game. A good read if you want some knowledge beforehand what changed in the series and especially if you don’t understand any Japanese it’s good to know what these new parts actually do and how they work.
If you’re desperately looking for some basic menu translations, bordersdown has you covered. They did a great job of translating each menu together with some nice explanatory pictures. Well done and probably the biggest help for any non Japanese-savvy hunter out there.
Maybe you do understand some Japanese but all these blurry kanji on the 3DS screen are sometimes hard to read. Especially when it’s crucial to know what you exactly have to hunt and search for. But there is a solution for this. The Japanese Monster Hunter 4 wiki. Just check out the Quest list. Translating some unknown Kanji shouldn’t be a problem on your PC.
Ok fellow hunter, this is just a short one. Hope this was helpful for some of you. And remember: The Japanese Nintendo eShop accepts foreign Credit Cards. Happy Hunting.
Note 25.07.14:
Monster Hunter 4G the updated version of the really awesome MH4 is just around the corner and finally got a release date (10.11.). Of course all these tips above will apply to 4G as well. Nothing will change with the basic principles of the games and even most of the menus will remain untouched. So don’t worry if you think about importing.
