New Monster Rancher game for Nintendo Switch lets you raise Ultraman kaiju

Koei Tecmo’s Monster Rancher series of life-simulation RPGs used to be something of a big deal. The mechanic of creating monsters from CDs, which players could load into the PlayStation and then store in their memory, was unquestionably cool. More than 10 Monster Rancher spinoffs and sequels have been released since the original 1997 release on PlayStation. Except for the Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DXIt will be released again in 2021. The series was largely forgotten over the past decade.

Monster Rancher, thanks to Ultraman & Bandai Namco is alive again. This new game will allow players to raise, breed, battle Ultraman kaiju and bring them to the Nintendo Switch.

This game will be released in Japan only at this time. Ultra Kaiju Monster Farm. Monster Rancher, also called Monster Farm in its native country of Japan is the name for Monster Rancher. Koei Tecmo and Nintendo revealed Ultra Kaiju Monster Farm during the Japanese-language version of Tuesday’s Nintendo Direct Mini presentation, showing off a clever spin on the franchise that will appeal to fans of watching giant monsters beat each other up.

Ultra Kaiju Monster FarmUltraman evils such as Zetton or Gomora will be available for players to raise. (The game’s reveal trailer shows a new monster that blends Zetton and Gomora’s appearances.) The kaiju buddies will be fed, trained, and entertained by the players.

The players can take their kaiju to battle and face off against other kaiju. Similar to the original Monster RancherUltra Kaiju can be generated by players using in-game tools. NFC cards can be used to generate monsters for Switch users.

Ultra Kaiju Monster Farm seems unlikely to make its way stateside, but given increased global reach of Ultraman, thanks to a new live-action movie, a Marvel Comics line, and an ongoing Netflix series, we’ll keep our fingers and our arms crossed.