The Best Nintendo Game Every Year 1983 - 2024
4. 2021 - Monster Hunter Rise
Whilst Monster Hunter had been lowkey kicking ass for years, it wasn’t until 2018’s World that it truly exploded. The pressure to follow it up was immense, and the excitement among diehards for Monster Hunter returning to the Nintendo was palpable.
The Switch had plenty of great titles, but it was missing the kind of action game that players could really sink their teeth into (or their axe, or sword, or lance, or bowgun, or glaive...)
It might seem daunting at first, but when Rise clicks it does so beautifully. The game has an incredibly gradual difficulty curve, meaning that newcomers to the series won’t even notice how far they’ve come until they look back. It also means it’s easier than ever to experiment and find your ideal weapon style, with each one intuitive to pick up and plenty of depth for those who stick with it.
Perhaps Rise’s biggest improvements come in the form of control and traversal. The Palamute mount makes everything speedy and the Wire Bug gadget offers verticality and the ability to ride enemy monsters into battle.
The Switch’s ability to go handheld might make some developers feel as though they should make their games piecemeal and easy to digest in chunks and, whilst Rise is certainly snappy, it has a mind-boggling amount of content and depth.