GameCyte

Your days of lonely train commutes are officially over — at the 2008 Tokyo Game Show, Capcom confirmed that Japan’s smash hit Monster Hunter Portable 2G is coming to the U.S. and Europe in Spring 2009.

Dubbed Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, the PSP title will feature a staggering 500 hours of gameplay, 400 missions, 1500 weapons, 2000 armor sets, four player adhoc co-op play and — if we’re not very much mistaken — online multiplayer via the PS3’s new Adhoc Party connection.

What’s that? You’ve never heard of Monster Hunter Portable 2G? Join us for a brief history lesson and discussion of how appropriate the game’s new title might be, just after the jump.

For all the flak Capcom receives over their seemingly scant support of the PlayStation Portable, it could easily be argued that — in Japan — the company is the PSP’s greatest asset. On a chart of the PSP’s all-time best sellers, Capcom’s games rank #1, #2 and #4 — and all three are Monster Hunter.

In the three years since the series hit PSP, these titles have sold nearly five million copies in Japan alone, with fully one-half that number from the latest entry, Monster Hunter Portable 2G. Chalking up nearly 700,000 copies in its first day at retail and reportedly disrupting national productivity in the process, the game has shipped 2.5 million units since its March 27th release. The game is often credited with single-handedly boosting Japanese PSP sales; it took four months after the game’s release for the Nintendo DS to finally reclaim the Japanese hardware sales throne.

Now, it’s completely possible that in the United States, none of this will matter. A lot of the credit for the games’ success has been attributed to the Japanese infrastructure — in a small country where a large part of the population engages in a lengthy train commute, the idea goes, the adhoc social experience Monster Hunter provides is phenomenal. In a recent interview, game producer Ryozo Tsujimoto also discussed how word-of-mouth contributed to the game’s popularity. In the US, however, reviews for both prior PSP titles (Monster Hunter Freedom and Monster Hunter 2nd) were decidedly mixed, with most calling out the lack of an online mode.

But though we may not currently have the infrastructure to enjoy the title, there’s every chance that by Spring 2009, Sony will have provided its own — the PS3’s Adhoc Party mode. Though as-yet unconfirmed by either Sony or Capcom for overseas release, both have announced that the game will be retroactively compatible with the new infrastructure service in Japan… and a late August survey asked the UK and France what they thought of the technology’s inclusion in a game called Monster Hunter Freedom Unite.

Even with internet play, Monster Hunter might still not become become a social phenomenon in the States — but perhaps, united with our European and Japanese neighbors, we’ll finally be able to understand why the game commands such a vast audience abroad.

Here’s the European press release:

Japan’s most successful PSP title, Monster Hunter Portable 2G, is heading to Europe this coming Spring. Renamed Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, this latest installment in the epic Monster Hunter series delivers over 500 hours of gameplay spanning some 400 missions. Add in previously unreleased monsters, weapons and missions and you have the biggest Monster Hunter game to date.

Using the Ad-Hoc connection players can adventure with up to three friends for a savaging multiplayer hunting party. From devising the strategy to executing the attack, players will need to work together in order to hunt down the ferocious beasts and progress through the wide range of quests on offer. Players will be rewarded for their use of deep fighting combat systems, encouraging them to seek out the more experienced hunters and team up in order to learn from their experience.

Even in single player mode Hunters won’t be alone thanks to the introduction of the new AI Felyne feature. Accompanying players on quests your furry ally will helping them battle monsters and gather extra resources.

Features:

• The biggest Monster Hunter title to date with over 500 hours of gameplay
• Huge variety of character customisations including 1500 weapons and 2000 armour sets
• Players can form a team of up to 4 players through Ad-Hoc play and experience the multiplayer social gaming phenomenon
• Media Install option where players can save the game to a memory stick, allowing the game to load from the memory stick and UMD simultaneously for faster loading times
• AI Felyne companion who will accompany players on quests and gather extra resources. With the ‘felyne casting’ feature players can share their companions with other players, transferring data using the PSP’s sleep mode.
• Fans of the series can transfer their data from Monster Hunter Freedom 2

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