Monster Hunter 3 (tri-)

Description

Monster Hunter 3 (tri-) casts the player as a hunter supporting Moga Village, a small seaside settlement threatened by monsters and natural disturbances, with single-player quests centred on village restoration and hunting in surrounding regions. Its defining feature was underwater hunting, allowing hunters and monsters to fight in full 3D aquatic spaces. Tri also reworked the series’ ecosystem and weapon design.

The game returned to its roots with improved monster behaviour, predator-prey ecology, and equipment variety. It introduced the Switch Axe, a transforming weapon that shifts between axe and sword forms, while also refining older weapon types and reducing the weapon roster compared with some previous entries. Single-player included the Shakalaka companion Cha-Cha, who supports the hunter with dances and mask-based abilities. The game also offered a local split-screen arena mode for up to two players on one Wii, while the main four player cooperative hunting experience was tied to online play. In Japan, the Wii online mode required purchase of Monster Hunter 3 hunting tickets with Wii Points. For North America and Europe, online play was provided free of charge. Servers were shutdown in all regions across the 2013 calendar year.

Monster Hunter 3 (tri-) is important because it was originally planned for PlayStation 3 before Capcom shifted development to Wii due to HD development costs. It became a major Wii third-party success and was later expanded into Monster Hunter 3G in Japan and Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate internationally for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U.