A lot of Monster Hunter fans, including those more inclined toward the older entries, dismiss this game as a withered old fossil, something to pry at with curious fingers but ultimately leave in the dirt where it belongs. Not I.

I came to Monster Hunter at a youthful age, piddling around in Monster Hunter Tri with basically no clue what's going on. I hit a wall on Barroth and only much later managed to progress, but by then, 3 Ultimate was on the horizon. It was then that I became completely hooked on Monster Hunter. Most of my time spent was totally alone, though I did have extensive experience in 3 Ultimate and 4 Ultimate multiplayer. To this day, I consider myself almost exclusively a solo Monster Hunter player, and judge the games as such. Eventually seeking new territory, I traipsed over to Freedom Unite without much in the way of expectations. I was blown away. The struggle, the triumph, the absolute madness of that game inspired me, and I had a blast. The older design philosophy certainly resonates with me; I don't want too many conveniences, I want an ample supply of unfair, janky, ludicrous bull to overcome. I want money to feel earned and valuable, I want inventory space to matter, I want meaningful and impactful decisions to make in regard to my preparation before a fight and my arsenal. There are monsters that a Greatsword is really going to struggle with, fights that better suit a Longsword or the Dual Blades. I don't want an even playing field, I want to persevere, to survive. Anyone who's fought a Plesioth knows exactly what I'm talking about. The guy's like 30 feet tall, so weapons that can consistently attack high might have an advantage. He spends a million years just swimming around, wasting your time, so you'd better bring sonic bombs. You must assume that around every corner, after every moment, a hipcheck is coming. And when you conquer that beast, the feeling of victory is immeasurable. Through these challenges, these inconveniences, Monster Hunter becomes a game of patience, of strife, of survival.

In no entry is that more true than in Monster Hunter 2004.

This game goes whole-hog, full-blown, heavy-metal. It's serious. This is not a joke. Yian Kut-Ku will kick your butt like it's got something better to do, Gendrome will not face you without a swarm of Genprey backing it up. An area full of Bullfango poses a greater threat than the Cold War. The slightest miscalculation, the most minute of mistakes, and the bombs drop. Your pickaxes break instantly and you will never, ever have enough money. It took a vast, concerted effort to craft my first armor set, and each piece felt like I'd climbed a mountain. It's such a thrill to play a game that actually wants to challenge you - truly challenge you, not just with difficult tests of reflexes or complex strategic situations, but genuinely test your will, your drive, your desire to succeed despite the world being against you. I just spent two hours trying to beat Rathalos. Each time, I thought I had him on the ropes. But there he goes, flying around, wasting minute after minute after minute. Every time I thought I was just a few slices away, he persisted, and my mistakes and poor preparation finally exhausted me. I have to go to bed tonight knowing the taste of failure. But that flavor is best followed up with a dessert of vengeance.

Ask yourself; when's the last time you truly felt the spark in you to overcome adversity?

This isn't some Dark Souls game where rolling makes you invincible, where every challenge is surpassed with a momentary test of reflexes. This isn't a game where your skill alone carries you, either; you need to work. You need to get on your knees and pick up 3 Blue Mushrooms before finishing that quest, or else you're gonna run out of health juice. Don't wanna do it? Don't feel like it? Well then. When Rathalos decides to pay you a visit, I hope those 4 Herbs are good enough to last you through the poison.

This is Monster Hunter in its truest form. The most streamlined incarnation of this series' beautiful mechanical systems. This is Monster Hunter, but you are an actual monster hunter. Not some moneybags superhero swimming in mass-produced Mega Potions.

Attacking with the analogue stick kinda sucks though. 7/7

A common criticism is that the controls are bad. And while this is true, i think the controls work fine in the context of the game. The monsters move-sets are very basic, they charge, they bite, they swipe they're tails or they hip-check you. This means that keeping track of the monster even with the awkward controls is not that hard.
With that benig said, Monster Hunter 1 has some other problems. The small monster usually represent a bigger threat than the big monster, which is just silly. Your inventory space is quite small. The camera on some zones just didn't work. And the grind required to advance in the city is just absurd.
But despite all this problems, this game still has moments where the monster hunter gameplay shines, moments where the game is actually fun. It just happens that this moments not always occur and most of the times you're forced to deal with the frustrating part of the game.

The game was pretty unique and fun





Then I got into high rank

Revisiting this through the fan-restored Online server has been a blast. MH1's Online mode always mystified me when I was little. "You're telling me there's ALLLLLLLL this stuff I'll never get to see? What the hell!"
Oh sweet 10 year old me, you're not gonna believe this.

The game itself is fine. It's Monster Hunter in its rawest form; extremely rugged, no quality of life whatsoever(you don't even get a "Sort" feature. It's that bare.), very little variety in terms of monsters/equipment/movesets, monster attacks can just start without any windup, the list goes on. We're far away from MH becoming Capcom's highest selling game of all time, and a couple years ago, I'd say MH1 is an interesting starting point to visit if you're curious about how the series started out, but not worth spending too much time with.

However, with the Online mode revival, you can fully immerse yourself in that atmosphere of early online gaming in consoles, and that's where MH1 REALLY shines. Playing this through my Steam Deck, away from my PC and Phone, communicating with other players in-game without Discord or any other external app felt really special. I finally got to live the fantasy that my 10 year old self used to cook up in his mind.

That said, ranking up online is obscenely grindy; instead of completing Key Quests in order to rank up, you need to obtain Hunter Rank Points. Problem is, the amount of HRP required for future ranks is pretty damn high(15000 points to go from HR15 to 16, for example), and when HR15 quests give you at most 500HRP... Yeah. Combined with the lack of quest variety, you'll be doing the same thing over and over to rank up.

It's still super fun though, and I'll definitely chip away at that HRP grind over time. PLEASE visit mholdschool's website/Discord server if you're curious about this game at all.

Weapon Mained: Greatsword

After giving this one another glance before moving on to MH2, I can understand what people see in it. This game is essentially the unrefined bones of something that could be truly great, and I do have to respect the amount of work and love the devs must have put into this title back then.

I learned to enjoy a lot of what the game offered, from the analog stick attacking which was surprisingly intuitive to use, to memorizing exactly what gathering point will give me what. There was a lot to learn when it came to getting into the mindset of a Hunter like the game encourages, and it truly was a fun time when it came to learning how to properly take on a new foe.

While I enjoyed my time in Kokoto, I can't say it's all roses. For a first game the amount of unique monsters made for the Village Quests, out of just three monster skeletons, is admirable. They're of course not all winners to fight, a few of my most disdained being Basarios, Plesioth, and of course the highlight himself, Rathalos.

Maybe one day I'll come back to Monster Hunter 1 and enjoy it even more, but it'll likely be through Monster Hunter G, which I've heard is the distinctly better way to experience the 1st Generation of Monster Hunter these days.

I only had access to the village quests, need to play through the Japanese version to get the full experience with the online using Monster Hunter Old School's private servers.
A interesting conversation about instant gratification in video games could be made here, especially comparing this to World and Rise. I'm not gonna do it though, maybe another time.
I find myself with the urge to play it more despite the intense frustration it caused me. Patience is the name of the game, and it gives quite a different experience to any of the other newer games in the series.

It is an undeniable act of God that this game managed to sell enough to spawn a franchise. This isn't just the roughest of gems, this is a gem that cuts your spirit with its abrasiveness. You'll accept this game for its faults, refuse to give up, and do your best to continue - then the game will sucker punch you with some of the most tedious bullshit rng ever created when every iron pickaxe you spent good zenny on breaks in a single strike, and with not even a single piece of ore to reward your efforts. This game has a soul, it knows you're playing it, and it absolutely despises you with every continued second.

For what its worth, its pretty good, as a first try its mindblowing. So much of this game's design decisions still exist in modern MH, specifically the balance of inventory item limits, which have been virtually untouched since their inception in 2004. Once you get over the more simple nature of combat, small monsters, and controls, you get a very enjoyable singleplayer experience. The online however, is painfully grindy, in the worst way; aimless points to progress, which automatically drops this game down an entire star for me, as mindless grinding is never a good idea. The worldbuilding and dialogue of this game are pretty great, and the theming of this generation is very unique, and hasn't been replicated in full by any other MH game since. Go play MH Freedom instead if you want Gen 1 MH.