Ah, I remember pushing my parents to a shop that was ridiculously outside of a city that we just happened to be visiting. Got the last copy of 4U. Put like 50 hours in that weekend
@@alderwield9636 I haven’t played that one since it was Japan exclusive, so I wouldn’t mind if this got a proper remaster too and like you said with a proper G rank expansion.
We need an HD remaster of 4U. Nothing gets changed, just the model and map quality, and giving it a home on more consoles. Replaying this masterpiece with beautiful graphics on a big screen would be amazing. All I ask is that voice acting is left out.
@@SharyK-_0 Only thing with that is that some things like cutscene skip and the world map are locked to touch screen functions. Also the 3DS screen isn't 16:9 so it doesn't fill.
@@D1ab0licalYou can use the touch screen with your mouse if you’re emulating, or as a normal touch screen if you’re playing on something like a steam deck. Also, the map isn’t exclusive to the touch screen. You can move it to the top screen if you want to.
@CaptainEffort I know that, it's just annoying having to take a hand off the controller every time you wanna use it. Also I mean the fast travel map, not the area map.
@@D1ab0lical Ohhh yeah you’re right, I forgot about the fast travel map. You’re right, it’s a little annoying. Not a huge deal tho imo. I’ve actually been emulating it on the Steam Deck myself and it completely resolves that issue tho.
Mh4u was my first game in the series. I played the demo countless times because it had no play limits and it was super fun. i still remember how when i first fought nerscylla i super scared because i have a massive fear of spiders and than she slowly became one of my favorite monster in the entire franchise. I sadly had to sell my copy in order to buy gen, but with the 3ds closing i was able to buy the game for $5
4u was my first monster hunter game too. Online friends was begging me to give it a try but it didn’t appeal. But finally in June 2015 I bought it after getting off work 6 in the morning. Let me tell you , since then I’ve loved monster hunter. Importing Japanese monster hunter games (X, XX 3ds, XX Switch.) good times
Man 4U is such an amazing game. I remember that permanently enraged Chaotic Gore you find in the wyvern nest when he does the ground slam attack the ground gets angled & messed up, & when he rams the ground again it gets even worse, the fight gets so chaotic (pun absolutely intended), it's so memorable & to this day I rarely ever see such a mechanic implemented in a game.
Not just the best Monster Hunter but one of the best games ever made i love this one so much I played it from 2014 to 2020 and manage to make 17 full relic armor sets It's a game that will always be in my heart since I even find the love of my life playing this and I'm so grateful for that It didn't turn out how I would like to but i will never forget that
Man... I remember when I first got MH4U. It was by complete luck, my first monster hunter. When I was young, I wanted some more games for my 3ds since I really only had mario kart 7 and 3d land. I remember just going into a store and seeing this game with a dark dragon on it and thinking "holy sh*t, thats the coolest thing ever". I must have stared at that box art for what seemed like ages on the way home. Long story short, it became my new favourite game/series and to this day, the games that I always spend the most hours in. To think, this all happened because of a simple impulse buy, something I never do anymore.
LOL same here man. i was a little kid looking for a new game on PSP, and saw monster hunter freedom 2 on the shelf. no internet, had no idea what it was, but it had a cool dragon on the front and it said it was 4 players. me and my brother impulsive bought them and it became our favorite series of all time. funny how those things happen
I had braces for 5 years and got MH4U when I got my first major mouth surgery. I remember sitting in my living room unable to talk or really eat, but happy on my 3DS beginning my 4U journey I have so many good memories attached to this game. It’s the one mh that I really grinded through. Final HR was G Golden 492
I remember watching my older brother playing M4U on his friend’s 3ds fighting a Zamtrios, and I thought it looked so cool. We both bought the game, and I’m glad we did. We’ve spent countless hours hunting together, and leveling up guild quest like Teostra and S. Magala.
My first mh game was world, and after the kulve taroth dlc, I decided to get 4U, and that is when I truly fell in love with the series. The 3DS MH titles are the best in the franchise imo. They are charming, Goofy, have cool monster designs and interesting gimmicks, the weapons aren't too complicated yet are satisfying, The maps are fun to traverse, music is great, I can go on about how much I love 3U and 4U and how I think those games got the MH formula down to perfection. I cannot wait for MH6, and I hope they bring back some of what made these games special for me, my one wish is to bring back the heal flex, I feel like the slow moving heal is too easy to execute, takes too long, and just doesn't have as much risk, the flex just makes finding an opening to heal feel so much more rewarding please Capcom.
Disagree, only the absolute tiny minority likes the old gen aids and cancer and artifactal difficulty like the gay flex. Most people love the QoL changes, pls Capcom never go back 😊
I didn't play the game in its heyday, but I bought it last year when I was getting into the series. Upgraded from my old 3DS to a New XL just for it and I still play it even after the online multiplayer has been shut down. It's just so peak.
4U is the MH game I've put the most time in. I just can't get into World, Rise is okay, 3U is fun but... GU is in second as Gen was my first MH game. Now I have to get back to my CB playthrough of 4U.
Before watching the video, I'll just say this: 4U was my first experience with Monster Hunter. When I was around 9 or 10, I got an email from Nintendo offering me a download code for the 4U demo. I told a friend about it, because they said I could get a code for a friend too, and he apparently knew about MH beforehand, because he said it was a really cool game that we should definitely play. So we played the demo, and I was instantly sold on it. I bought the game when it released and played it for about 200 hours, only making it as far as early High Rank with my insect glaive because I did not know how elemental resistances and skills worked. Sadly my friend never bought the game. Fast forward to very recently and I've started playing the game again with my brother, but it just doesn't feel the same. I think it's most likely because I'm so used to regular game controllers now, that playing on a 3DS just doesn't seem to do the game justice. I think I may try to emulate it at some point, to see if I can't get that classic MonHun feel again.
42:50 just noticed this little bit here, but it is NOT illegal to play games on emulators. it is only illegal to steal the roms off of websites, but using the ease of 3DS modding, and simply dumping the copy of the game and dlc yourself is 100% legal. no matter how hard Nintendo’s trillion dollar legal team try, it is simply not illegal to play your own copy of the game on an emulator, and it should be encouraged for games like MH4U or 3U that have had their servers nuked. the real problem with 4U emulation is that Citra is a fucking beast to run, due to 4U lacking a native “3D off” toggle in the settings, resulting in it running like absolute dogshit on any computer not spec’s out decently.
4u was my 2nd old world game and my 4th MH game. It might be my favorite of all of MH. It has a special place in my heart mainly because if the satisfying combat, awesome roster, and high difficulty.
I recently setup the 3ds emulator for pc while also transferring my saves and am playing 3u and 4u again on pc which also has online functions and resolution upscaling
the dream for old monster hunter accessibility for me would be a "monster hunter classic hd collection", with mhf, mhfu, mh3u, and mh4u in a collection for consoles and pc. maybe some texture upscaling, but nothing else. other than that, while technically it existed in 3rd gen through charm mining, i did feel that the endgame systems of 4 and 4u were kind of the start of the "endless rng grind-a-thon" that im still mixed on. on the one hand, more stuff to do, but it does feel slightly hollow to do the same quest over and over again for the slight chance of a reward. i definitely agree that the lack of gimmicks (aside from maybe mounting being too easy) makes the game great. i dropped iceborne halfway through the update cycle because of clutch claw. overall, 4u is definitely a worthwhile experience, especially for the village story. personally i still prefer 3 ultimate, the moga village is just a nice place and some of my favorite monster designs.
For the "mh classic collection" idea, I think it's be cool if the collection would give you the ability to transfer your hunter across the different games, so you can start with the first game then end up with the same hunter in 4U, maybe even allowing your hunter to bring their equipment with them while maintaining HR throughout.
4U will always have a special place in my heart. I grew up playing the ps2 and psp games but 4u was my first experience playing with friends. I’ll always remember getting a hunt in during lunch
I remember playing mhfu, and saw the trailer for mh4, and saw how cool the IG and CB were in that trailer. I could dream of playing mh4 but really cant because I dont have 3ds. Years later after I got my first 3ds, I played mh4u with only IG and CB. Still my favorite MH of all times
You are a hunter who is thrust into dangerous hunts in order to eliminate threats. No village to protect. No elder crossing to solve. No rampage to prevent. This is what I love about MH4U. The game portrays hunters as special class operators that are sent out on missions to hunt. It's so cool!
MH4U was my first introduction to the MH series. I now know that MH isn’t really known for its story (barely) but 4U felt like it had a story and the whole Rivalry with the Gore Magala where both you and the monster grow stronger over time. It was cool. Going to different villages was really cool as you got access to new items and crafting. The subspecies thing was amazing but ever since 4U, the new MH games felt lackluster when climbing the ranks because in 4U (just like stated in the video) had the subspecies be stronger or a variant version of monsters you’ve already hunted. It was cool seeing not only you progressing but it felt like the monsters were “evolving”. It helped they had different weaknesses, different resistances, and different weapons/Armor. The newer games don’t really have that and basically just “fight this again” whereas in 4U, everything is getting stronger not just you. 4U just holds a special place in my gamer world
Fantastic video. This is like *the* video that 4 ultimate deserved, and it's never too late. The only MH I replayed (2nd time in Japanese ver), with combined 3x the hours of the next longest MH savefile, its story & pre-endgame progression is miles ahead of anything they have made since. Literally hours of things I can share, but your video is already so spot on so only this: there is a reason why endgame hunts in this game had a level of replayability never seen again in the series, I'm talking about combined 1000s of rajangs+zinogres+deviljho etc. before getting bored, and that was popular. The secret lies in 4U's "turn based" combat once you settle in, the real diversity in approaches that different weapon mandates, a level of "getting better" and feedback from it, that GenU, World, Sunbreak didn't have. Never had hopes for a remaster, since Capcom. But oh it's one of those wet dreams of the decade I don't even want to entertain the ideas.
*Me with a physical copy of 4u* :D I first played the 3u demo and sort of bounced off it, and then I got my hands on the 4U demo and obsessively played it - excitedly telling my Dad about the monsters I fought and how fun they were, only for him to buy the full game for me a week later. Being the first time I got a gift outside of my birthday, I was thrilled and never put it down for a week straight. I remember spending 40min hunting black gravios with the rathalos cb due to not knowing how elemental resistance worked.
I still have 4U, was the 1st game that got me playing Monster Hunter thanks to a friend letting me play his a little, While Rise/Sunbreak made me happy since i felt the series was gonna be ended at Gen Ultimate and i'm glad they added 1 more because man i did a LOT in Rise when it came out, way before i got the expansion
Got it on my birthday when i was 9 or something and it changed my entire life, i spent 4000 hours in mh4u and i just love this game, i played it for 7 hours every day back then without any breaks and i just love it
It's interesting that the reason you disliked MHGU is exactly the reason why i really loved it. It's a treat for long time fans that have been playing since gen 1. I was quite ecstatic when i fought Zinogre, a 3rd gen monster in the jungle, a 2nd gen map, or just seeing old 1st gen map rendered in 4th gen style of graphics, it's a nostalgia bait and im happily gobbling it up
Oh no I actually really like GU. It's my third favourite Monster Hunter game actually. It's just there's aspects of the game that I feel 4U does better and make me enjoy it more. I still really like playing GU.
Damn good watch. I'm already playing it on my Steam Deck because I dumped the data from my physical copy and this makes me wanna play it even more than I already am
I disagree with your section about saying 4u has no gimmicks. Shortly after that segment you talk about wystones and the gripes with coating timers. It would be better stated as a more grounded gimmick that super flashy switch skills or tenderizing and slinger.
Even mounting was, at the time, effectively a gimmick. The only reason we don’t consider it to be one now is because it was well received and stuck around.
I credit this game as my favorite game of all time. Getting that gold crown and rainbow armor set was worth the hours I put in. Such a special game. Great video! Thanks for the trip down memory lane!
I remember getting 4U the summer before high school and putting 1200 hours into it. This game is a must for anyone that hasn’t tried. I played almost the entire game alone and had a blast
Ah my first Monster Hunter game, this game quite literally had an impact on my life and helped make me many friends I still have to this day. Glad I stuck with this franchise and made even more memories
Thank you for this. Never in my life have I put more time into anything, other than maybe my career now, than mh4u. I love this game so much and meticulously 100 percented this game enjoying every single second. I hadn’t thought about it for years until I found my broken 3ds in a drawer cleaning out my childhood bedroom with the game card still in the slot. I immediately went on yt to find out if anyone was still thinking about this game and found you. This was such a great nostalgia trip. Keep it up
I started with MHF2 and had like 2000 hours of playtime in it (when combined with my MHFU playtime after that released). So that game will always have a special place in my heart. But I might have to agree with you on this. MH4U is such a well-made game.
These games hold such a special place in my heart, and 4 Ultimate will probably always be my favorite. I loved your analysis of it and I agree wholeheartedly that I would want to see a remaster!
The peak of the series imo, would love to play it on modern consoles, playing it on 3Ds kinda hurts my hands after extendet periods of playtime, wich keeps me from playing this game more...
It's actually incredibly funny and sad that out of all of their franchises Capcom is so incredibly bad at preserving Monster Hunter while we've gotten remasters and ports of many of their other franchises to modern consoles and PC. MegaMan (even Battle Network), Street Fighter, Devil May Cry, etc. But Monster Hunter has only ever had HD re releases or ports to other consoles for a couple of games in the series over it's lifespan. Basically just 3 Portable and Freedom getting console releases and 3U having a 3DS and Wii U release. It's very sad.
Yeah, agreed. Seems like Capcom gives them the freedom to decide for themselves if they wanna rerelease/-make/-master them. And they don't feel like it's best for the series, unfortunately. I'd like to add though, how Monster Hunter G was actually ported to Wii in Japan. Double Cross ofc also came to the switch. And the stories games, while spinoffs, are also now on numerous plattforms, as is Rise. Even World saw a PC release so... they're just reaaaally selective, sadly
@@Armbrust210 Rise is also a more modern release. Generally modern released games are multiplatform so there was an expectation going in for Rise to be multiplatform. Even just as far back as MH4 there was no such expectation, especially for a game released on the 3DS. Also keep in mind that the Wii release of Monster Hunter G was not only a promotional thing for Tri (it was released with a demo for Tri) it was also only 4 years after the release of G on PS2. For it's time that's about analogous to World and Rise getting PC Ports a couple of years after their launch.
Because before world, monster hunter was barely making any traction outside of Japan and Japanese typically prefer mobile platforms. Pretty easy to see why there hasn't been a push to remaster these games.
@@mcgruber The Generation 4 games all sold over 4 million units worldwide. Even if we're to assume that about half of those are from Japan (which is far from fair considering we're talking worldwide vs 1 country) that's still over 2 million sales outside of Japan for each Generation 4 entry for games that only released on one platform. That's a success by any metric.
@@765craven4 The west makes up, at most, 1/3 of sales and 4U was the first game to surpass 1 million sales in America/Europe. World has close to 40 million sales Worldwide. We are talking about 2 completely different levels of success. We are also talking about a game designed for a portable system utilising 2 screens. Emulators now still run PCs hard due to the 3D functionality incorporated. Completely different compared to something like DMC or Street fighter.
Like many others, I bought the 3DS/Wii U monster hunter games, havent gotten to try them yet but hopefully this week I’ll get to it. Also, I think its interesting that 3U and Generations made it to both handheld and consoles while 4U never got a console release, kinda bummed about that personally
3U sold much better on the 3ds than the Wii U because that console was a flop and handhelds are more popular in Japan, which is probably what led to 4U being 3ds only. As for Generation, the expansion in Japan was releasing same time as the Switch which probably motivated a switch port. By the time they localised it for western audiences as Generations Ultimate the 3ds was on its way out, so they only translated the switch version.
I still have my 3DS copy and play it whenever I'm travelling. This game introduced my favourite monster in the franchise in Nerscylla, and for that I'll be forever grateful. Fingers crossed she makes a reappearance in Wilds.
Mh4u was the start of my monster hunter journey and I absolutely love it, I wish I could play it again soon, and I hope that one day capcom will realise how good of a game it was and take ideas from it and put them into the next monster hunter to come
Strangely my biggest issue with MH4U is that the game feel too big for a portable system. It would be amazing if gets a HD port to Switch but its also my bias as I always preferred the Portable games.
From its new monsters/subspecies to locations to mechanics (frenzy, guild quests, wyporium), 4U has remained the peak of MH quality for me even a decade later. Having subspecies in High Rank/Expeditions was the best thing they could have done for game progression, by the time Apex Monsters were introduced I would have lost interest if the monster variation in HR wasn't done so well. Compared to other MH games I found myself farming triple as many armor sets cause the roadblocks on the first playthrough were interesting enough to make me reconsider how I fought each monster. Even with how much I played this game I'd still buy a remaster. Great retrospective!
I tried the demo and wow charge blade feels really good it’s not as complicated. The long sword doesn’t have any counters or helm breaker and that was the main thing I enjoyed so for mh4u I’m be a charge blade main never thought I’d ever say that
MHWI and MH4U are tied for my favorite MH game. I like more the overall gameplay of MHWI, I like the investigation quests as they make quest variety potentially infinite (while MH4U suffered from low quest variety in G-rank), the events were amazing, I very much prefer the optimized Guiding Lands as an endgame compared to the Guild Quests from MH4U and Safi'jiiva, Iceborne Raging Brachydios, MR Kulve Taroth, Iceborne Alatreon, Iceborne Fatalis and AT Velkhana were the most fantastic hunts I experienced. The technical jump from MHGenU to MHW is something the series really needed. Only one thing (well two, the bits on sticks weapons) prevents Iceborne from blowing out of the water MH4U: the tenderizing mechanic, which I consider to be even worse than the heat gauge of GL in MHGen. Thanks goodness the last update made this annoying maintenance less frustrating. IMO, Capcom should do one final update were the tenderizing mechanic goes away entirely and the hitzones are rebalanced to their World values/tenderized values, something which would be easy to do and would remove the biggest stain on an almost perfect game. MH4U was the second MH game I played and it was a lesson in humility. My first MH game was MHFU and I did it 100% solo. I expected MH4U to be a walk in the park, only to be obliterated in HR and G-rank. The monsters moved so fast while hitting almost as hard as in MHFU, and much harder for Lv140 monsters. I would consider this game to be the hardest MH overall. Gore/Shagaru Magala are my favorite flagship monsters and I remember the first time I fought Gore for real: "Ok, I fought this guy two times already, I know how to deal with wait? What is he doing with his wings?" Gore pulls out his feelers, the area goes dark and I get destroyed by Gore Magala. The frenzy virus mechanic is IMO the best abnormal statut and the best "super state" for the monsters. Apex was very good (and scary) too, but going a bit too far with the immunity against the elements and the super armor. MH4U introduced IG and CB, my two favorite weapons since (and they were really OP in this game) and the augment system (too bad you could not roll back and get refund). Many of my favorite monsters from MHFU returned (Akantor, Ukanlos, Rajang), this was the first time I fought Zinogre and Deviljho, the monsters who made me put Evade on all my sets. Gogmazios (an XXL Shagaru Magala trading the frenzy virus for tar) is IMO the best MH final boss. An excellent game overall. My only issue was the relic armors/weapons, no night version for all the maps and the Volcanic Hollow being the same map than the Sunken Hollow (even if it was justified in the story). A 5th gen remake of MH4U would be a blast and hopefully, MH6 will be a spiritual successor of MH4U.
I'm going to add one more on to the story part here. At least for me, the whole aspect of being part of a traveling caravan made it feel like you were part of a ragtag family. Traveling and completing hunts supported by each other for the prosperity, success, and survival of the group. Add the Ace Palico on top of everything, a true ace. Generations had me feeling like some underappreciated tourism agent until the airship researchers came by. World made me think it is a 'chosen one' story after I started to question what everyone did until I showed up, more so after meeting the Admiral. Rise got me feeling like my hunter was of something he should be invested in as a member of the village.
i remember doing a 7th grade project about our interests at the time and i legit said monster hunter and gore magala in the class as if everybody knew what i was talking about 😅 many years later it is still a game i look back at and realize how far i came as a hunter 😎😎 (and a person 😭)
Only just watched this video and just gotta say the impact this game had on me is so large that I have my original box displayed on my shelf so I can see it every day
MH4U was my first MH game, which made me love the franchise so much I remember encountering hunters in the hub, I love the tavern like hub and seing it bring so many memories And for those that played during this golden age, 3 words... "Je suis monté" - Me, a former french insectglaive main (I traded the baguette for a baguette launcher, I now play LBG) I hope that the new MH games are going to be less arcardy : - No special moves and skills, your own skils are what will decide you fate, having special moves and skills to get out of dangerous situation where you should be punished isn't great, in Rise if you get hit, the second you touch the ground you can just wirebug away from danger, it shouldn't be like that - Makes preparation and strategy a thing again, it is part of a hunt to take the good item with you, to organize them, same with strategies, I used so much of my time creating item loadout to be effective for the type of gameplay I want to play - Make us search the monsters (use World system to find hints but remove the bugs so that YOU have to search and think) - Make monsters hit harder, not be more tanky, it gives more challenge, health tank are just boring at some point while fighting a monster that can kill you in a matter of a couple hit but that can also die more or less quickly can makes a battle more fun - Bring back gunner armor, yeah it means farming two times more for a full set, but they could improve things like when crafting one piece of armor, you get both the blademaster and gunner, same for amelioration, this or they allow of to carve the monsters 2 times more and get more rewards overall (because getting like 4 scales out of a monster bigger than a house is bull****), playing gunner was also pretty dangerous and required skills, because of less defense, one hit and you're out (unless you used evade +3 and became untouchable, that thing is so good ngl) but on the other hand you could attack from range, which made things fair (and now that we can even fire on the move, having as much armor as a blademaster make things too unfair)
Not too familiar with Resident Evil release cycles, but MH is basically a yearly thing. Game, expansion, New game, expansion, New game, expansion and so on. I don't think there's space for a new remaster there
i am playing right now 4u with my friend and we are figting in like the 6 aged text quest after dalamadur this game is so fun and the combat feel so nice in the sense that when i win i feel that i cluch it with skill , my favortie of the saga 100%
I miss the sheer variety of monsters in 4U, from low rank and all the way to G gold crown there was always something new to fight. I still remember my favorite armor sets in that games was an Artian X set and a molten tiggy set, the artian set looked cool and the molten tiggy one had speed eating and earplugs making it very agile in most fights.
I prefer this game's combat over the gen 5 games way more. In 4U, the weapon distinction is way stronger, and the pace of combat feels much more deliberate. I actually have to pay attention to the monsters movement instead of just doing everything on reaction. The older games feel like a hunt while the newer games feel like an action game, which is ironic considering the opposite is true about almost everything other than the combat. My ideal Monster Hunter would be one that plays like 4U with the endemic life, open maps, QOL, and ecosystem of Gen 5. I also feel like preparation was more important in 4U than Gen 5. I think something was lost when they expanded the base camp in World to include cooking weapon and full inventory management. Also, they need to stop giving every single weapon a counter.
Even 4 Ultimate's approach to difficulty is better. Sure you have some janky and frustrating fights like Furious Rajang, Ukanlos, and some of the apexes, but for the most part the game is highly challenging but fair, once you understand what is going on. Iceborne on the other hand just jacks up monster HP to a ridiculous degree, then asks you to use the clutch claw to deal with it, a mechanic that feels absolutely awful to use, especially because the constant spamming from monsters prevents you from even using it most of the time, so fights last an excruciatingly long amount of time. 4 Ultimate is just peak Monster Hunter and it's not even close.
It's crazy how much it's not even a contest for 4U/4G being THE best game in the series. -Extremely memorable and charming npcs, making the story all the better -Some of the best new monsters as well as a fantastic ensemble of returning ones -Incredibly well paced Low/High/G rank progression -Great implementation of new mounting mechanic(though it definitely can be cheesy at times) Outside of the new weapon balance oopsies that was CB/IG and some other minor hiccups(some frustrations with Apex monsters), it's really hard to top it. I say that as someone with a heavy bias towards third gen. WE ARE THE ONES TO GET IT DONE!
@Vladorac I said technically for a reason it feels like something that should have stayed in like 4's jump attacks. and mounting(think that was added in 4)
38:54 After seeing the flat zones of Rise/SB i don't think this is even a issue. This is a cool feature which allow us to see plenty animation/interaction that monsters have with their environment. At least that's my opinion
Hell yeah. If they released a switch port I'd ditch every other game in a heartbeat. I've put nearly 1000 hours in that game alone and would GLADLY go for another playthrough.
4U is so thoroughly my favorite monhun and this was a treat to watch. Between it's perfectly realized gameplay- the best of the old school variety, to the plethora of challenge content (THAT WAS REWARDING AS HECK TO DO!), and just, so many things a comment can't concisely contain- the game just really is my favorite monhun. Fantastic work on this :) The caravan remains my hunting family forever Iceborne forever because of what clutch did to the game. Ice is great, but I would do anything to return to base World and I can't because of how Clutch was retroactively added to the game. Resent that damn thing. It was fun for a week, then all the issues, the lack of organic phases to combat because everything is enraged 100% of the time because of clutch, the tenderizing nonsense affecting so damn much of what you were doing- It's all been said. I just hate the dang thing. I platinumed World excitedly and with a smile on my face- poured so many hours into it loving every second. I burnt out on and haven't even hunted all the post-launch monsters in Ice because I was entirely dead on the adjustments made by around Rajang's addition. Good game. Whole-heartedly believe that because I loved playing Ice. But man.
I'm really glad I started on 4U as opposed to World. Going from 4U, Generations then World really emphasized World's biggest flaw, the variety and size of its monster roster.
I must contend with what you said about guild quest rewards, as it's quite reductive and perpetuates the same misinformation that came as a detriment to the game's online community: Any elder dragon except for Kirin, any monster that has an apex state, and even some of the higher tier subspecies is a good target for farming the best available relic rewards, and the difference between each one is so minor that it shouldn't concern anyone who is even slightly bothered at the thought of only hunting Rajang on repeat. This is largely a case of an imagined burden, and it was quite sad seeing many of my entirely valid quests have an extremely high failure rate only because the players joining simply didn't have much (if any!) exposure to those monsters at that point.
To end my comment on a more cheerful note I'll say that I love MH4U and it's my favourite game in the series for many reasons, but especially because it nailed atmosphere, visuals, and gameplay in a crisp and non-overbearing way like no later title in the series has managed to replicate so far.
I know you said it's only legal to play on 3ds, so I'm guessing you don't agree with emulation, but I figured I'd make this comment anyway. MH4U emulated is *by far* the best way to play. Being able to play at a modern resolution with a full controller makes this imo a perfect MH game. There's also a community driven HD texture pack that overhauls nearly every last texture in the game, and is still being updated to this day. Imo this effectively turns emulated MH4U into the remaster you want Capcom to make (barring gameplay fixes/changes ofc). The work they've done is incredible and they deserve all the praise in the world. PS: I've been playing 4U on my Steam Deck and it runs absurdly well. Seriously it's like the game is running natively.
The world/4gu comparison makes me hyped about mh6, to see if already passing to the new graphic advancement lets them have a better roster and get the best of both worlds
MHW being my first game in the series since I didn’t have a DS idk if I can go back to previous games just because I know it’ll be missing all the QOL updates that are in MHW & MH Rise that’s the only thing stopping me from going back
Honestly, there are only a few big differences. 1. Generally a little more methodical. Like, no attack canceling, no rolling backwards, no moving while healing, etc. It might feel weird at first, but take it slow and you’ll get used to it. 2. Preparation is more important. No restocking at camp, or switching weapons. You’ve got to start the hunt with everything you’ll need. This one’s pretty simple. 3. Combos. The game won’t automatically craft stuff for you, so you’ll have to learn recipes for stuff like potions. But if you’ve played World enough you’re probably comfortable with crafting anyway, so this isn’t a major change. And that’s really it. There are other things, like limited pickaxes and beignets, but tbh they’re so cheap that this isn’t as big of a deal as it sounds. Imo if you got into World, 4U’s an easy transition.
I Absolutely love 4U and it's tied with world for my favourite game in the series but i'd REALLY caution against calling it the "best" game. There is no best monster hunter game - and a lot of 4U fans ignore the plethora of the games issues, such as poorly balanced weapons, terrible map design and questionable endgame design
Honestly I agree, all the entries have their own reasons to play them, none are objectively better or worse than any other. But I can’t help having a preference, and 4U is easily my favorite.
I have a feeling that Wilds will be similar to 4U. I don't like emulation but I'm now playing 4U and I'm amazed of how they handled the traveling aspect of the game where you travel from village to village.
just want to remind everyone that MH4U is $3 on the US eshop till the 27th. If i was able to gift games i would totally gift it to as many people as i could.
while not quite the same as the later games, I'd argue that jump attacks/mounting and the very effective charge blade and insect glaive are very much 4U's own combat gimmicks
To me, MH4U is the peak of the franchise because it FEELS like the most MH game out of all Monster Hunter games that I've played (since Freedom Unite). I don't know how else to say it and I don't know how to properly explain it with words, but I am sure a lot of people would agree that everything in this game, from the presentation and gameplay, through the world and it's characters, to the minute details like how they introduce new monsters and the specific brand of MH humour, it all just feels... right. It feels proper, and it feels Monster Hunter. What helps also is that the world building in this game is done extremely well. I don't think any other game, even World, has managed to sell the player on it's own setting this well. The game also has so much soul and character it oozes it at every corner, something that I feel the newest games (especially World) has lost in favor of making a more bland and easily digestible product. Something that Rise tried to fix a bit but didn't fully succeed, 4U remains the golden standard for that to this day.
Great video. I love a lot of the points brought up. However I felt I needed to point out that at some point(around the 36min mark), it was brought up how 4U had no gimmicks, I kinda disagree. Every MH has added mechanics and gimmicks. Some stayed in the series, some were only in their original game. 3 had monster exhaustion, 4u had mounting, etc. All in all awesome video. I especially liked the in depth discussion over the post game of 4U, specifically what it does well. Not to mention the similarities and differences 4U holds with many other MH series games.
My first game in the series was World, and while I was planning to play 4U next, I stumbled into Stories (which btw I hope you make a video on in the future). I don't prefer it over World, but as a first experience into the previous generations I enjoyed it very much, and it offered freshness on many fronts. I look forward to playing Stories 2, just as much as I look forward to playing 4U, especially after this video.
This is absolutely my favorite monster hunter game. The story was the best to me. We had a rival in a monster, a proper rival. A first encounter that was a simple clash where we are just confused as to what we ran into. A few more encounters of escalating proportions including rescuing a top class hunter team out of a massive forest, keeping it from doing what it wanted to them for the 2nd or 3rd time. All culminating in a victory in a kill of it only to find out that we didn't kill it and it's worse than ever. The final battle comes and we find out this shiny scale thing the caravan guy has is a scale from an adult one of that guy and he's all grown up when we thought him dead. We come into his home and he swoops in for a sneak attack and when that doesn't work he stares us down before jumping up and showing us what he is now and challenging us to a fight properly. I still remember my time playing this as my 4th game and getting chills fighting Shagaru Magala for the first time. We've never had a rival and I've never gotten that feeling since and I've chased it in this series since then. I praise this game when I can to my hunter friends who didn't play it and have to advocate that this is worth playing.
Ah, I remember pushing my parents to a shop that was ridiculously outside of a city that we just happened to be visiting. Got the last copy of 4U. Put like 50 hours in that weekend
I bought it on complete impulse. I didn't even like the demo. But it was quite cheap in stores and a lot of people said it was good. Changed my life.
50 hours in one weekend? Long weekend or bad at math?
@@Trinandrhino From Friday afternoon to Monday morning
@@guillermomunoz3422 so you didn't sleep for two days straight, yeah ok. It's ok to exaggerate but keep it balanced.
i remember receiving 4 Ultimate as my 14th birthday present - along with Skylanders Trap Team.
Honestly, I would not mind a remaster for both 4U and 3U, respectively to tie us in before MH6.
3U is good but if I had to choose between either of them, it would be 4U all the way.
What about giving portable 3rd a G rank expansion💀
@@amedeo1098 i would ditch every other game i currently playing for a remaster of p3rd with g rank
@@alderwield9636 I haven’t played that one since it was Japan exclusive, so I wouldn’t mind if this got a proper remaster too and like you said with a proper G rank expansion.
@@alderwield9636 but I need a strong pc to run this especially 4U, but I’m stuck with my laptop. So someday.
We need an HD remaster of 4U. Nothing gets changed, just the model and map quality, and giving it a home on more consoles. Replaying this masterpiece with beautiful graphics on a big screen would be amazing. All I ask is that voice acting is left out.
You can do that on citra emulator
@@SharyK-_0 Only thing with that is that some things like cutscene skip and the world map are locked to touch screen functions. Also the 3DS screen isn't 16:9 so it doesn't fill.
@@D1ab0licalYou can use the touch screen with your mouse if you’re emulating, or as a normal touch screen if you’re playing on something like a steam deck.
Also, the map isn’t exclusive to the touch screen. You can move it to the top screen if you want to.
@CaptainEffort I know that, it's just annoying having to take a hand off the controller every time you wanna use it.
Also I mean the fast travel map, not the area map.
@@D1ab0lical Ohhh yeah you’re right, I forgot about the fast travel map. You’re right, it’s a little annoying. Not a huge deal tho imo.
I’ve actually been emulating it on the Steam Deck myself and it completely resolves that issue tho.
Mh4u was my first game in the series. I played the demo countless times because it had no play limits and it was super fun. i still remember how when i first fought nerscylla i super scared because i have a massive fear of spiders and than she slowly became one of my favorite monster in the entire franchise. I sadly had to sell my copy in order to buy gen, but with the 3ds closing i was able to buy the game for $5
4u was my first monster hunter game too. Online friends was begging me to give it a try but it didn’t appeal. But finally in June 2015 I bought it after getting off work 6 in the morning. Let me tell you , since then I’ve loved monster hunter. Importing Japanese monster hunter games (X, XX 3ds, XX Switch.) good times
You're Lucky Monster hunter on ps2 was Mine 😂
@@HollowRickMonster Hunter Dos and G were masterpieces, better than MH4U imo.
On top of the wyporium you can in fact bully plesioth with the palico island and eventually unlock green plesioth which gets you it's armor.
Man 4U is such an amazing game. I remember that permanently enraged Chaotic Gore you find in the wyvern nest when he does the ground slam attack the ground gets angled & messed up, & when he rams the ground again it gets even worse, the fight gets so chaotic (pun absolutely intended), it's so memorable & to this day I rarely ever see such a mechanic implemented in a game.
Not just the best Monster Hunter but one of the best games ever made i love this one so much I played it from 2014 to 2020 and manage to make 17 full relic armor sets
It's a game that will always be in my heart since I even find the love of my life playing this and I'm so grateful for that
It didn't turn out how I would like to but i will never forget that
Man... I remember when I first got MH4U. It was by complete luck, my first monster hunter. When I was young, I wanted some more games for my 3ds since I really only had mario kart 7 and 3d land. I remember just going into a store and seeing this game with a dark dragon on it and thinking "holy sh*t, thats the coolest thing ever". I must have stared at that box art for what seemed like ages on the way home. Long story short, it became my new favourite game/series and to this day, the games that I always spend the most hours in. To think, this all happened because of a simple impulse buy, something I never do anymore.
Haha that's a great story
LOL same here man. i was a little kid looking for a new game on PSP, and saw monster hunter freedom 2 on the shelf. no internet, had no idea what it was, but it had a cool dragon on the front and it said it was 4 players. me and my brother impulsive bought them and it became our favorite series of all time. funny how those things happen
Freedom Unite was an impulse buy for me, browsing the PSP store. It changed my life and the way I approach difficult games.
I had braces for 5 years and got MH4U when I got my first major mouth surgery. I remember sitting in my living room unable to talk or really eat, but happy on my 3DS beginning my 4U journey
I have so many good memories attached to this game. It’s the one mh that I really grinded through. Final HR was G Golden 492
3U/4U Remake or Remaster is truly needed.
A remake isn't even necessary. The games hold up, they just need to be placed on modern platforms.
@@HeavyWings Yes, a remaster is just fine, but maybe with a few QoL additions, like the object sets for 3U.
It's my favorite game of all time. To this day it is what I play 90% of the time I play video games.
I remember watching my older brother playing M4U on his friend’s 3ds fighting a Zamtrios, and I thought it looked so cool. We both bought the game, and I’m glad we did. We’ve spent countless hours hunting together, and leveling up guild quest like Teostra and S. Magala.
My first mh game was world, and after the kulve taroth dlc, I decided to get 4U, and that is when I truly fell in love with the series. The 3DS MH titles are the best in the franchise imo. They are charming, Goofy, have cool monster designs and interesting gimmicks, the weapons aren't too complicated yet are satisfying, The maps are fun to traverse, music is great, I can go on about how much I love 3U and 4U and how I think those games got the MH formula down to perfection. I cannot wait for MH6, and I hope they bring back some of what made these games special for me, my one wish is to bring back the heal flex, I feel like the slow moving heal is too easy to execute, takes too long, and just doesn't have as much risk, the flex just makes finding an opening to heal feel so much more rewarding please Capcom.
I agreed on the flex, it was an unnecessary change gameplay wise.
Disagree, only the absolute tiny minority likes the old gen aids and cancer and artifactal difficulty like the gay flex.
Most people love the QoL changes, pls Capcom never go back 😊
@@ExtremeHardcoreGamer World wouldn’t even exist without the old gen fans
@@ExtremeHardcoreGamer this is just not true because most people haven’t touched the series out side of 5thgen
@@ExtremeHardcoreGamer it's okay broddi It's fine to have an awful opinion but never share it publicly like that for a character execution hoorah
Still play it on 3ds to this day.
Yup, I emulate it and play online regularly
I didn't play the game in its heyday, but I bought it last year when I was getting into the series. Upgraded from my old 3DS to a New XL just for it and I still play it even after the online multiplayer has been shut down. It's just so peak.
4U is the MH game I've put the most time in. I just can't get into World, Rise is okay, 3U is fun but... GU is in second as Gen was my first MH game. Now I have to get back to my CB playthrough of 4U.
Before watching the video, I'll just say this: 4U was my first experience with Monster Hunter. When I was around 9 or 10, I got an email from Nintendo offering me a download code for the 4U demo. I told a friend about it, because they said I could get a code for a friend too, and he apparently knew about MH beforehand, because he said it was a really cool game that we should definitely play. So we played the demo, and I was instantly sold on it. I bought the game when it released and played it for about 200 hours, only making it as far as early High Rank with my insect glaive because I did not know how elemental resistances and skills worked. Sadly my friend never bought the game.
Fast forward to very recently and I've started playing the game again with my brother, but it just doesn't feel the same. I think it's most likely because I'm so used to regular game controllers now, that playing on a 3DS just doesn't seem to do the game justice. I think I may try to emulate it at some point, to see if I can't get that classic MonHun feel again.
2023 and still regularly playing this shit👌🏼
I love how much personality the palicos has in mh4u, gotta replay this masterpiece game again!
Would be amazing if they release ALL the MH titles on the switch
Very happy to have the three 3DS MH games on cartridge.
42:50 just noticed this little bit here, but it is NOT illegal to play games on emulators. it is only illegal to steal the roms off of websites, but using the ease of 3DS modding, and simply dumping the copy of the game and dlc yourself is 100% legal. no matter how hard Nintendo’s trillion dollar legal team try, it is simply not illegal to play your own copy of the game on an emulator, and it should be encouraged for games like MH4U or 3U that have had their servers nuked. the real problem with 4U emulation is that Citra is a fucking beast to run, due to 4U lacking a native “3D off” toggle in the settings, resulting in it running like absolute dogshit on any computer not spec’s out decently.
There’s a cheat you can use to disable 3D, if you want. It helps performance a ton.
4u was my 2nd old world game and my 4th MH game. It might be my favorite of all of MH. It has a special place in my heart mainly because if the satisfying combat, awesome roster, and high difficulty.
I recently setup the 3ds emulator for pc while also transferring my saves and am playing 3u and 4u again on pc which also has online functions and resolution upscaling
the dream for old monster hunter accessibility for me would be a "monster hunter classic hd collection", with mhf, mhfu, mh3u, and mh4u in a collection for consoles and pc. maybe some texture upscaling, but nothing else.
other than that, while technically it existed in 3rd gen through charm mining, i did feel that the endgame systems of 4 and 4u were kind of the start of the "endless rng grind-a-thon" that im still mixed on. on the one hand, more stuff to do, but it does feel slightly hollow to do the same quest over and over again for the slight chance of a reward. i definitely agree that the lack of gimmicks (aside from maybe mounting being too easy) makes the game great. i dropped iceborne halfway through the update cycle because of clutch claw. overall, 4u is definitely a worthwhile experience, especially for the village story.
personally i still prefer 3 ultimate, the moga village is just a nice place and some of my favorite monster designs.
I think the RNG endgames are here to stay, specifically because Rise didn't have one and it ended up being a major point of criticism.
For the "mh classic collection" idea, I think it's be cool if the collection would give you the ability to transfer your hunter across the different games, so you can start with the first game then end up with the same hunter in 4U, maybe even allowing your hunter to bring their equipment with them while maintaining HR throughout.
4U will always have a special place in my heart.
I grew up playing the ps2 and psp games but 4u was my first experience playing with friends.
I’ll always remember getting a hunt in during lunch
I got into Rise, and I very excited to play through the MH games on the 3DS for the first time
I remember playing mhfu, and saw the trailer for mh4, and saw how cool the IG and CB were in that trailer. I could dream of playing mh4 but really cant because I dont have 3ds. Years later after I got my first 3ds, I played mh4u with only IG and CB. Still my favorite MH of all times
Im literally playing this game on citra emulator android 3 days ago and i got the full set of Tetsucabra. Will continue playing it.
Tetsucabra is the set I always go for too, good choice!
You are a hunter who is thrust into dangerous hunts in order to eliminate threats. No village to protect. No elder crossing to solve. No rampage to prevent. This is what I love about MH4U. The game portrays hunters as special class operators that are sent out on missions to hunt. It's so cool!
MH4U was my first introduction to the MH series. I now know that MH isn’t really known for its story (barely) but 4U felt like it had a story and the whole Rivalry with the Gore Magala where both you and the monster grow stronger over time. It was cool. Going to different villages was really cool as you got access to new items and crafting. The subspecies thing was amazing but ever since 4U, the new MH games felt lackluster when climbing the ranks because in 4U (just like stated in the video) had the subspecies be stronger or a variant version of monsters you’ve already hunted. It was cool seeing not only you progressing but it felt like the monsters were “evolving”. It helped they had different weaknesses, different resistances, and different weapons/Armor. The newer games don’t really have that and basically just “fight this again” whereas in 4U, everything is getting stronger not just you. 4U just holds a special place in my gamer world
Fantastic video. This is like *the* video that 4 ultimate deserved, and it's never too late.
The only MH I replayed (2nd time in Japanese ver), with combined 3x the hours of the next longest MH savefile, its story & pre-endgame progression is miles ahead of anything they have made since.
Literally hours of things I can share, but your video is already so spot on so only this: there is a reason why endgame hunts in this game had a level of replayability never seen again in the series, I'm talking about combined 1000s of rajangs+zinogres+deviljho etc. before getting bored, and that was popular. The secret lies in 4U's "turn based" combat once you settle in, the real diversity in approaches that different weapon mandates, a level of "getting better" and feedback from it, that GenU, World, Sunbreak didn't have.
Never had hopes for a remaster, since Capcom. But oh it's one of those wet dreams of the decade I don't even want to entertain the ideas.
So, it's the Dark Souls 2 of MonHun?
I'm glad I have an actual hard copy of this game 500+ hours and I haven't finished it. Gotta go back to it ♥️
I'm currently replaying that game and I did not realize as a child how great this game is. Might become my favorite
*Me with a physical copy of 4u* :D
I first played the 3u demo and sort of bounced off it, and then I got my hands on the 4U demo and obsessively played it - excitedly telling my Dad about the monsters I fought and how fun they were, only for him to buy the full game for me a week later. Being the first time I got a gift outside of my birthday, I was thrilled and never put it down for a week straight. I remember spending 40min hunting black gravios with the rathalos cb due to not knowing how elemental resistance worked.
I still have 4U, was the 1st game that got me playing Monster Hunter thanks to a friend letting me play his a little, While Rise/Sunbreak made me happy since i felt the series was gonna be ended at Gen Ultimate and i'm glad they added 1 more because man i did a LOT in Rise when it came out, way before i got the expansion
Got it on my birthday when i was 9 or something and it changed my entire life, i spent 4000 hours in mh4u and i just love this game, i played it for 7 hours every day back then without any breaks and i just love it
It's interesting that the reason you disliked MHGU is exactly the reason why i really loved it. It's a treat for long time fans that have been playing since gen 1. I was quite ecstatic when i fought Zinogre, a 3rd gen monster in the jungle, a 2nd gen map, or just seeing old 1st gen map rendered in 4th gen style of graphics, it's a nostalgia bait and im happily gobbling it up
Oh no I actually really like GU. It's my third favourite Monster Hunter game actually.
It's just there's aspects of the game that I feel 4U does better and make me enjoy it more. I still really like playing GU.
Funny thing when I saw that you posted this video I couldn't stop laughing because I just started a new file on my 4U cartridge 2 weeks ago
Damn good watch. I'm already playing it on my Steam Deck because I dumped the data from my physical copy and this makes me wanna play it even more than I already am
They put so much effort into this gem and it shows. Great video.
I disagree with your section about saying 4u has no gimmicks. Shortly after that segment you talk about wystones and the gripes with coating timers.
It would be better stated as a more grounded gimmick that super flashy switch skills or tenderizing and slinger.
Even mounting was, at the time, effectively a gimmick. The only reason we don’t consider it to be one now is because it was well received and stuck around.
Literally the first quest is a gimmick quest. Older MH fans be delusional asf I stg
I credit this game as my favorite game of all time. Getting that gold crown and rainbow armor set was worth the hours I put in. Such a special game.
Great video! Thanks for the trip down memory lane!
I remember getting 4U the summer before high school and putting 1200 hours into it. This game is a must for anyone that hasn’t tried. I played almost the entire game alone and had a blast
Ah my first Monster Hunter game, this game quite literally had an impact on my life and helped make me many friends I still have to this day. Glad I stuck with this franchise and made even more memories
Thank you for this. Never in my life have I put more time into anything, other than maybe my career now, than mh4u. I love this game so much and meticulously 100 percented this game enjoying every single second. I hadn’t thought about it for years until I found my broken 3ds in a drawer cleaning out my childhood bedroom with the game card still in the slot. I immediately went on yt to find out if anyone was still thinking about this game and found you. This was such a great nostalgia trip. Keep it up
I started with MHF2 and had like 2000 hours of playtime in it (when combined with my MHFU playtime after that released). So that game will always have a special place in my heart. But I might have to agree with you on this. MH4U is such a well-made game.
These games hold such a special place in my heart, and 4 Ultimate will probably always be my favorite. I loved your analysis of it and I agree wholeheartedly that I would want to see a remaster!
Finally those hours of pain for making a good image without the logo were worth it
The peak of the series imo, would love to play it on modern consoles, playing it on 3Ds kinda hurts my hands after extendet periods of playtime, wich keeps me from playing this game more...
It's actually incredibly funny and sad that out of all of their franchises Capcom is so incredibly bad at preserving Monster Hunter while we've gotten remasters and ports of many of their other franchises to modern consoles and PC. MegaMan (even Battle Network), Street Fighter, Devil May Cry, etc. But Monster Hunter has only ever had HD re releases or ports to other consoles for a couple of games in the series over it's lifespan. Basically just 3 Portable and Freedom getting console releases and 3U having a 3DS and Wii U release. It's very sad.
Yeah, agreed. Seems like Capcom gives them the freedom to decide for themselves if they wanna rerelease/-make/-master them. And they don't feel like it's best for the series, unfortunately.
I'd like to add though, how Monster Hunter G was actually ported to Wii in Japan. Double Cross ofc also came to the switch. And the stories games, while spinoffs, are also now on numerous plattforms, as is Rise. Even World saw a PC release so... they're just reaaaally selective, sadly
@@Armbrust210 Rise is also a more modern release. Generally modern released games are multiplatform so there was an expectation going in for Rise to be multiplatform. Even just as far back as MH4 there was no such expectation, especially for a game released on the 3DS. Also keep in mind that the Wii release of Monster Hunter G was not only a promotional thing for Tri (it was released with a demo for Tri) it was also only 4 years after the release of G on PS2. For it's time that's about analogous to World and Rise getting PC Ports a couple of years after their launch.
Because before world, monster hunter was barely making any traction outside of Japan and Japanese typically prefer mobile platforms. Pretty easy to see why there hasn't been a push to remaster these games.
@@mcgruber The Generation 4 games all sold over 4 million units worldwide. Even if we're to assume that about half of those are from Japan (which is far from fair considering we're talking worldwide vs 1 country) that's still over 2 million sales outside of Japan for each Generation 4 entry for games that only released on one platform. That's a success by any metric.
@@765craven4 The west makes up, at most, 1/3 of sales and 4U was the first game to surpass 1 million sales in America/Europe. World has close to 40 million sales Worldwide. We are talking about 2 completely different levels of success. We are also talking about a game designed for a portable system utilising 2 screens. Emulators now still run PCs hard due to the 3D functionality incorporated. Completely different compared to something like DMC or Street fighter.
Played only a bit of 4u, but the quest complete theme still sticks in my head.
Like many others, I bought the 3DS/Wii U monster hunter games, havent gotten to try them yet but hopefully this week I’ll get to it. Also, I think its interesting that 3U and Generations made it to both handheld and consoles while 4U never got a console release, kinda bummed about that personally
3U sold much better on the 3ds than the Wii U because that console was a flop and handhelds are more popular in Japan, which is probably what led to 4U being 3ds only.
As for Generation, the expansion in Japan was releasing same time as the Switch which probably motivated a switch port.
By the time they localised it for western audiences as Generations Ultimate the 3ds was on its way out, so they only translated the switch version.
I bought this game yesterday. I just reached the second village and I'm really enjoying it so far
I still have my 3DS copy and play it whenever I'm travelling. This game introduced my favourite monster in the franchise in Nerscylla, and for that I'll be forever grateful. Fingers crossed she makes a reappearance in Wilds.
Mh4u was the start of my monster hunter journey and I absolutely love it, I wish I could play it again soon, and I hope that one day capcom will realise how good of a game it was and take ideas from it and put them into the next monster hunter to come
Strangely my biggest issue with MH4U is that the game feel too big for a portable system. It would be amazing if gets a HD port to Switch but its also my bias as I always preferred the Portable games.
From its new monsters/subspecies to locations to mechanics (frenzy, guild quests, wyporium), 4U has remained the peak of MH quality for me even a decade later. Having subspecies in High Rank/Expeditions was the best thing they could have done for game progression, by the time Apex Monsters were introduced I would have lost interest if the monster variation in HR wasn't done so well. Compared to other MH games I found myself farming triple as many armor sets cause the roadblocks on the first playthrough were interesting enough to make me reconsider how I fought each monster. Even with how much I played this game I'd still buy a remaster. Great retrospective!
I tried the demo and wow charge blade feels really good it’s not as complicated. The long sword doesn’t have any counters or helm breaker and that was the main thing I enjoyed so for mh4u I’m be a charge blade main never thought I’d ever say that
MHWI and MH4U are tied for my favorite MH game. I like more the overall gameplay of MHWI, I like the investigation quests as they make quest variety potentially infinite (while MH4U suffered from low quest variety in G-rank), the events were amazing, I very much prefer the optimized Guiding Lands as an endgame compared to the Guild Quests from MH4U and Safi'jiiva, Iceborne Raging Brachydios, MR Kulve Taroth, Iceborne Alatreon, Iceborne Fatalis and AT Velkhana were the most fantastic hunts I experienced. The technical jump from MHGenU to MHW is something the series really needed. Only one thing (well two, the bits on sticks weapons) prevents Iceborne from blowing out of the water MH4U: the tenderizing mechanic, which I consider to be even worse than the heat gauge of GL in MHGen. Thanks goodness the last update made this annoying maintenance less frustrating. IMO, Capcom should do one final update were the tenderizing mechanic goes away entirely and the hitzones are rebalanced to their World values/tenderized values, something which would be easy to do and would remove the biggest stain on an almost perfect game.
MH4U was the second MH game I played and it was a lesson in humility. My first MH game was MHFU and I did it 100% solo. I expected MH4U to be a walk in the park, only to be obliterated in HR and G-rank. The monsters moved so fast while hitting almost as hard as in MHFU, and much harder for Lv140 monsters. I would consider this game to be the hardest MH overall. Gore/Shagaru Magala are my favorite flagship monsters and I remember the first time I fought Gore for real: "Ok, I fought this guy two times already, I know how to deal with wait? What is he doing with his wings?" Gore pulls out his feelers, the area goes dark and I get destroyed by Gore Magala. The frenzy virus mechanic is IMO the best abnormal statut and the best "super state" for the monsters. Apex was very good (and scary) too, but going a bit too far with the immunity against the elements and the super armor. MH4U introduced IG and CB, my two favorite weapons since (and they were really OP in this game) and the augment system (too bad you could not roll back and get refund). Many of my favorite monsters from MHFU returned (Akantor, Ukanlos, Rajang), this was the first time I fought Zinogre and Deviljho, the monsters who made me put Evade on all my sets. Gogmazios (an XXL Shagaru Magala trading the frenzy virus for tar) is IMO the best MH final boss. An excellent game overall. My only issue was the relic armors/weapons, no night version for all the maps and the Volcanic Hollow being the same map than the Sunken Hollow (even if it was justified in the story). A 5th gen remake of MH4U would be a blast and hopefully, MH6 will be a spiritual successor of MH4U.
Mh6 needs to be a spiritual successor of mhw. I feel like that’s what’s going to be the best for mh moving forward
Let’s be honest, WI is mid
@@saturnringer267it should be the successor of 3U
How bout mh6 be its own game?
I'm going to add one more on to the story part here. At least for me, the whole aspect of being part of a traveling caravan made it feel like you were part of a ragtag family. Traveling and completing hunts supported by each other for the prosperity, success, and survival of the group. Add the Ace Palico on top of everything, a true ace.
Generations had me feeling like some underappreciated tourism agent until the airship researchers came by. World made me think it is a 'chosen one' story after I started to question what everyone did until I showed up, more so after meeting the Admiral. Rise got me feeling like my hunter was of something he should be invested in as a member of the village.
i remember doing a 7th grade project about our interests at the time and i legit said monster hunter and gore magala in the class as if everybody knew what i was talking about 😅 many years later it is still a game i look back at and realize how far i came as a hunter 😎😎 (and a person 😭)
Only just watched this video and just gotta say the impact this game had on me is so large that I have my original box displayed on my shelf so I can see it every day
So are you telling me I need to go buy a 3ds and buy this game within the next 3 days?
MH4U was my first MH game, which made me love the franchise so much
I remember encountering hunters in the hub, I love the tavern like hub and seing it bring so many memories
And for those that played during this golden age, 3 words...
"Je suis monté"
- Me, a former french insectglaive main (I traded the baguette for a baguette launcher, I now play LBG)
I hope that the new MH games are going to be less arcardy :
- No special moves and skills, your own skils are what will decide you fate, having special moves and skills to get out of dangerous situation where you should be punished isn't great, in Rise if you get hit, the second you touch the ground you can just wirebug away from danger, it shouldn't be like that
- Makes preparation and strategy a thing again, it is part of a hunt to take the good item with you, to organize them, same with strategies, I used so much of my time creating item loadout to be effective for the type of gameplay I want to play
- Make us search the monsters (use World system to find hints but remove the bugs so that YOU have to search and think)
- Make monsters hit harder, not be more tanky, it gives more challenge, health tank are just boring at some point while fighting a monster that can kill you in a matter of a couple hit but that can also die more or less quickly can makes a battle more fun
- Bring back gunner armor, yeah it means farming two times more for a full set, but they could improve things like when crafting one piece of armor, you get both the blademaster and gunner, same for amelioration, this or they allow of to carve the monsters 2 times more and get more rewards overall (because getting like 4 scales out of a monster bigger than a house is bull****), playing gunner was also pretty dangerous and required skills, because of less defense, one hit and you're out (unless you used evade +3 and became untouchable, that thing is so good ngl) but on the other hand you could attack from range, which made things fair (and now that we can even fire on the move, having as much armor as a blademaster make things too unfair)
Je n'ai pu jouer que la démo de ce jeu, mais effectivement l'Insectoglaive était excellent :) Ce stéréotype me fera toujours délirer
You know gunners still have less defense than blademasters, right?
I love Portable 3rd and Freedom Unite the most
But 4U was amazing, i was blown away with what they did on the 3DS
i love 4U, but once you are a gunner in World is pretty hard to come back
Capcom making remasters of RE.... They should make a remake of MH4U.... And it will break World Sales numbers like crazy.
Not too familiar with Resident Evil release cycles, but MH is basically a yearly thing. Game, expansion, New game, expansion, New game, expansion and so on.
I don't think there's space for a new remaster there
I still find it weird how they are addicted to remaking/remastering resident evil yet don't do much with monster hunter.
@@_Tzer Monster Hunter only recently got popular, though. Resident Evil for a long time has been their most profitable franchise, until MH: World.
@@TornaitSuperBird kinda funny cuz i found monster hunter 4 ultimate addicting compared to resident evil.
i am playing right now 4u with my friend and we are figting in like the 6 aged text quest after dalamadur this game is so fun and the combat feel so nice in the sense that when i win i feel that i cluch it with skill , my favortie of the saga 100%
I miss the sheer variety of monsters in 4U, from low rank and all the way to G gold crown there was always something new to fight. I still remember my favorite armor sets in that games was an Artian X set and a molten tiggy set, the artian set looked cool and the molten tiggy one had speed eating and earplugs making it very agile in most fights.
I prefer this game's combat over the gen 5 games way more. In 4U, the weapon distinction is way stronger, and the pace of combat feels much more deliberate. I actually have to pay attention to the monsters movement instead of just doing everything on reaction. The older games feel like a hunt while the newer games feel like an action game, which is ironic considering the opposite is true about almost everything other than the combat. My ideal Monster Hunter would be one that plays like 4U with the endemic life, open maps, QOL, and ecosystem of Gen 5. I also feel like preparation was more important in 4U than Gen 5. I think something was lost when they expanded the base camp in World to include cooking weapon and full inventory management. Also, they need to stop giving every single weapon a counter.
Even 4 Ultimate's approach to difficulty is better. Sure you have some janky and frustrating fights like Furious Rajang, Ukanlos, and some of the apexes, but for the most part the game is highly challenging but fair, once you understand what is going on. Iceborne on the other hand just jacks up monster HP to a ridiculous degree, then asks you to use the clutch claw to deal with it, a mechanic that feels absolutely awful to use, especially because the constant spamming from monsters prevents you from even using it most of the time, so fights last an excruciatingly long amount of time. 4 Ultimate is just peak Monster Hunter and it's not even close.
It's crazy how much it's not even a contest for 4U/4G being THE best game in the series.
-Extremely memorable and charming npcs, making the story all the better
-Some of the best new monsters as well as a fantastic ensemble of returning ones
-Incredibly well paced Low/High/G rank progression
-Great implementation of new mounting mechanic(though it definitely can be cheesy at times)
Outside of the new weapon balance oopsies that was CB/IG and some other minor hiccups(some frustrations with Apex monsters), it's really hard to top it. I say that as someone with a heavy bias towards third gen.
WE ARE THE ONES TO GET IT DONE!
The only issue with 4U was french Insect Glaive users. JE SUIS MONTE!
36:20 3u/3 has swimming Technically a gimmick since it never appeared before it or since.
@Vladorac I said technically for a reason it feels like something that should have stayed in like 4's jump attacks. and mounting(think that was added in 4)
one of my fav games ever, and still playing online today :)
38:54 After seeing the flat zones of Rise/SB i don't think this is even a issue. This is a cool feature which allow us to see plenty animation/interaction that monsters have with their environment. At least that's my opinion
The thing about the slopes/ledges is that they aren't always bad. But then they are, they're awful
Played 4U last night on citra servers. Still people playing surprisingly after all this time.
I was watching this video while grinding out guild quests in 4u lmao
I love every entry in this franchise, but there’s something about 4u that makes me play more then any other game besides sunbreak
Hell yeah.
If they released a switch port I'd ditch every other game in a heartbeat.
I've put nearly 1000 hours in that game alone and would GLADLY go for another playthrough.
4U is so thoroughly my favorite monhun and this was a treat to watch.
Between it's perfectly realized gameplay- the best of the old school variety, to the plethora of challenge content (THAT WAS REWARDING AS HECK TO DO!), and just, so many things a comment can't concisely contain- the game just really is my favorite monhun.
Fantastic work on this :)
The caravan remains my hunting family forever Iceborne forever because of what clutch did to the game.
Ice is great, but I would do anything to return to base World and I can't because of how Clutch was retroactively added to the game.
Resent that damn thing. It was fun for a week, then all the issues, the lack of organic phases to combat because everything is enraged 100% of the time because of clutch, the tenderizing nonsense affecting so damn much of what you were doing-
It's all been said.
I just hate the dang thing. I platinumed World excitedly and with a smile on my face- poured so many hours into it loving every second.
I burnt out on and haven't even hunted all the post-launch monsters in Ice because I was entirely dead on the adjustments made by around Rajang's addition.
Good game. Whole-heartedly believe that because I loved playing Ice. But man.
Base world > iceborne is a very unpopular opinion. Iceborne is the best mh experience out there
I'm really glad I started on 4U as opposed to World. Going from 4U, Generations then World really emphasized World's biggest flaw, the variety and size of its monster roster.
I must contend with what you said about guild quest rewards, as it's quite reductive and perpetuates the same misinformation that came as a detriment to the game's online community: Any elder dragon except for Kirin, any monster that has an apex state, and even some of the higher tier subspecies is a good target for farming the best available relic rewards, and the difference between each one is so minor that it shouldn't concern anyone who is even slightly bothered at the thought of only hunting Rajang on repeat.
This is largely a case of an imagined burden, and it was quite sad seeing many of my entirely valid quests have an extremely high failure rate only because the players joining simply didn't have much (if any!) exposure to those monsters at that point.
To end my comment on a more cheerful note I'll say that I love MH4U and it's my favourite game in the series for many reasons, but especially because it nailed atmosphere, visuals, and gameplay in a crisp and non-overbearing way like no later title in the series has managed to replicate so far.
I know you said it's only legal to play on 3ds, so I'm guessing you don't agree with emulation, but I figured I'd make this comment anyway. MH4U emulated is *by far* the best way to play. Being able to play at a modern resolution with a full controller makes this imo a perfect MH game.
There's also a community driven HD texture pack that overhauls nearly every last texture in the game, and is still being updated to this day. Imo this effectively turns emulated MH4U into the remaster you want Capcom to make (barring gameplay fixes/changes ofc). The work they've done is incredible and they deserve all the praise in the world.
PS: I've been playing 4U on my Steam Deck and it runs absurdly well. Seriously it's like the game is running natively.
Definitely gonna check that out. Rise/sunbreak turned out disappointing for me and 4U always holds first place.
The world/4gu comparison makes me hyped about mh6, to see if already passing to the new graphic advancement lets them have a better roster and get the best of both worlds
The new mh will probably be made based on mhw:I’s direction
4U was the perfect balance of new ideas and simplicity. The tipping point for the series in this regard, in my opinion.
It's the spitting image of "juuuuuuuuust right".
This game is not just the best in the entire Monster Hunter franchise but one of the greatest games of ALL TIME!
MHW being my first game in the series since I didn’t have a DS idk if I can go back to previous games just because I know it’ll be missing all the QOL updates that are in MHW & MH Rise that’s the only thing stopping me from going back
Honestly, there are only a few big differences.
1. Generally a little more methodical. Like, no attack canceling, no rolling backwards, no moving while healing, etc. It might feel weird at first, but take it slow and you’ll get used to it.
2. Preparation is more important. No restocking at camp, or switching weapons. You’ve got to start the hunt with everything you’ll need. This one’s pretty simple.
3. Combos. The game won’t automatically craft stuff for you, so you’ll have to learn recipes for stuff like potions. But if you’ve played World enough you’re probably comfortable with crafting anyway, so this isn’t a major change.
And that’s really it. There are other things, like limited pickaxes and beignets, but tbh they’re so cheap that this isn’t as big of a deal as it sounds.
Imo if you got into World, 4U’s an easy transition.
I would only re-play the old games with an anlog-controlled camera.
Then do that. Emulate it.
I Absolutely love 4U and it's tied with world for my favourite game in the series but i'd REALLY caution against calling it the "best" game. There is no best monster hunter game - and a lot of 4U fans ignore the plethora of the games issues, such as poorly balanced weapons, terrible map design and questionable endgame design
thank you for being one of the only reasonable people
Honestly I agree, all the entries have their own reasons to play them, none are objectively better or worse than any other.
But I can’t help having a preference, and 4U is easily my favorite.
I have a feeling that Wilds will be similar to 4U. I don't like emulation but I'm now playing 4U and I'm amazed of how they handled the traveling aspect of the game where you travel from village to village.
The CC says dollar murder for dalamandur had me dying😂
just want to remind everyone that MH4U is $3 on the US eshop till the 27th. If i was able to gift games i would totally gift it to as many people as i could.
while not quite the same as the later games, I'd argue that jump attacks/mounting and the very effective charge blade and insect glaive are very much 4U's own combat gimmicks
To me, MH4U is the peak of the franchise because it FEELS like the most MH game out of all Monster Hunter games that I've played (since Freedom Unite). I don't know how else to say it and I don't know how to properly explain it with words, but I am sure a lot of people would agree that everything in this game, from the presentation and gameplay, through the world and it's characters, to the minute details like how they introduce new monsters and the specific brand of MH humour, it all just feels... right. It feels proper, and it feels Monster Hunter.
What helps also is that the world building in this game is done extremely well. I don't think any other game, even World, has managed to sell the player on it's own setting this well. The game also has so much soul and character it oozes it at every corner, something that I feel the newest games (especially World) has lost in favor of making a more bland and easily digestible product. Something that Rise tried to fix a bit but didn't fully succeed, 4U remains the golden standard for that to this day.
MH4U is amazing. Not only is it my favorite Monster Hunter, it's also my favorite video game of all time.
I literally did not return to monster hunter until i heard rise sunbreak had mah boi skipped out on world went back to it tho it's p fun so is rise.
I love Sunbreak, and World is also pretty decent.
Great video. I love a lot of the points brought up. However I felt I needed to point out that at some point(around the 36min mark), it was brought up how 4U had no gimmicks, I kinda disagree. Every MH has added mechanics and gimmicks. Some stayed in the series, some were only in their original game. 3 had monster exhaustion, 4u had mounting, etc.
All in all awesome video. I especially liked the in depth discussion over the post game of 4U, specifically what it does well. Not to mention the similarities and differences 4U holds with many other MH series games.
My first game in the series was World, and while I was planning to play 4U next, I stumbled into Stories (which btw I hope you make a video on in the future). I don't prefer it over World, but as a first experience into the previous generations I enjoyed it very much, and it offered freshness on many fronts. I look forward to playing Stories 2, just as much as I look forward to playing 4U, especially after this video.
This is absolutely my favorite monster hunter game. The story was the best to me. We had a rival in a monster, a proper rival. A first encounter that was a simple clash where we are just confused as to what we ran into. A few more encounters of escalating proportions including rescuing a top class hunter team out of a massive forest, keeping it from doing what it wanted to them for the 2nd or 3rd time. All culminating in a victory in a kill of it only to find out that we didn't kill it and it's worse than ever. The final battle comes and we find out this shiny scale thing the caravan guy has is a scale from an adult one of that guy and he's all grown up when we thought him dead. We come into his home and he swoops in for a sneak attack and when that doesn't work he stares us down before jumping up and showing us what he is now and challenging us to a fight properly. I still remember my time playing this as my 4th game and getting chills fighting Shagaru Magala for the first time. We've never had a rival and I've never gotten that feeling since and I've chased it in this series since then. I praise this game when I can to my hunter friends who didn't play it and have to advocate that this is worth playing.
9:52 get those ankles broke