Monster Hunter Tri G, revealed for 3DS in this week’s Famitsu, is an upgraded port of Wii‘s original Monster Hunter Tri. Game director Kaname Fujioka spoke to Famitsu about its new features.
“The entire game has 3D support, but basically it’s not a game designed to rely on 3D. You can hunt all you want without having to concern yourself about 3D, so you’ve got the option to play the way you like there,” said Fujioka to the magazine.
“However, the new portside area we’ve made for the game was created with an eye for 3D visuals — giving it more depth, placing objects on top of each other, and other concepts to make the 3D more prevalent. It’s been a fun development cycle, but working with 3D has also given us a surprising amount of stress, so hopefully people turn on the 3D the first time they play!”
The bottom screen will have an assortment of functions helpful for hunting, according to Fujioka.
“The bottom screen will have a panel with assorted useful functions for hunting; you’ll be able to tap on things to use it. There are several types of panel, too, so you can choose which one you’d like to display and play like that.”
Capcom producer Ryozo Tsujimoto added: “There’s a target camera panel that, if you turn it on when you’re in the same area as the target monster for the current quest, the camera will turn you toward the monster whenever you reset it.”
Speaking briefly on the right slide pad peripheral, announced alongside the game, Fujioka said: “It feels really good holding it in your hand, and its center of gravity is toward the front, so controlling it is a breeze.”
In Monster Hunter Tri G, Blakydios, a Brute Wybern type, is the key monster.
“Brute Wyverns up to now were largely seen as charging monsters,” Fujioka commented. “A lot of them didn’t use their front arms very much. As a result, we put a lot of that sort of thing into this monster, making its arms a lot larger and capable of punching things. It also headbutts its enemies, so it’s got a pretty straightforward fighting style, but when it punches, it also releases this sticky material on the ground that gradually builds up and explodes over time. Blakydios’s moves are pretty simple, but it’s spewing this goo all over the place, so players have to a close eye on their positioning at all times.”
As for weapons, there are twelve types, according to Fujioka.
“There will be 12 types,” he said, “filling out the set of genres we’ve introduced up to this point. All of the weapons will be operable in the underwater areas, too. The bowgun in Tri had a lot of customization skills, but that weapon’s going to be streamlined a bit and divided into ‘light’ and ‘heavy’ categories. The bowgun has a lot of new features nonetheless, though, so I’m hoping bowgun users run it up to the G level and get to check all of it out.”
Thanks, 1UP.