Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate introduced two incredibly versatile and technical weapons – the Insect Glaive and the Charge Blade – to the series’ mostly traditional weapon roster. Monster Hunter Generations had plans to introduce its own unique weapons.

A quick glance through the Monster Hunter Generations Concept Art Book distributed at this year’s Monster Hunter Festa revealed two unused weapon concepts: the Hunting Hound and Wyvern Boomerang.

The Hunting Hound was a gunner class whose primary weapon was, well, a dog. The dog could have armor made for it (the book shows a design for Kirin’s armor) that would give it unique attacks and behavior. It was also designed to be able to find Monsters based on scent, or climbing to high places.

The player would issue commands in the form of button combos to coordinate different attacks – for example, the book shows you being able to target body parts, like the tail, or focus on breaking horns, and so on. Issuing a “follow the tail!” order would even have the pooch follow the Wyvern into the air! The player could ride it to move about the map faster, and it could be fed to recover health or stamina.

The Wyvern Boomerang looks like an even more developed weapon concept, with combos already designed. The heavy weapon had an overhead attack not unlike the Great Sword, but the diversity is in its throwing attacks and how the player interacts with it in midair. X would throw it straight forward, X+A would throw it upward into the air, and A would be a round-house throw.

Now, for the interesting part – before catching the boomerang after a throw, it looks like there was a mechanic built into it where the player could literally punch it back out into the air towards a Monster. It could even break into two for more advanced combos. This is a nice reflection of The Great Macao, whose motif was boxing – both with its hands and its feet.

Speaking of, the art book also includes original designs for all of the flagship monsters – which I’ll go over another time. For now, you can daydream about having your own dog companion in Monster Hunter Generations.