I’ve played my Nintendo Switch (based on my play time of The Legend of Zelda) for a little over 50 hours at this point, and I have to admit that I absolutely adore the device.

Is it perfect? Nope. Is anything? Maybe Bloodborne.

But as my time in Hyrule seems to be coming to a close, I’m beginning to look forward to the other franchises — both announced and unannounced — which will be coming to the Switch with near-certainty in the next few years. One of those titles is Monster Hunter, a series which has been Nintendo-exclusive for some time now.

After having played a lot of Monster Hunter 4U, and then playing a lot of Generations, I am extremely excited about the prospect of a new Hunter game on the Switch, and decided today to brainstorm some ways the series could make the leap to a more powerful, HD console — beyond just making the environments and characters look better.

A more open, interesting world

While previous Monster Hunter games have taken place between village hubs, where hunters pick up contracts to complete (anywhere from collecting 5 herbs, scaling a dangerous mountain to infiltrate a wyvern’s lair to steal it’s egg, or to finally facing down the beast itself), to the various segmented field areas in which the game largely takes place.

These areas are made up of several interlocked areas, each with entrances to adjoining sections of the map, in which the hunter must track, trail and eventually slay his or her prey. This way of breaking up the action — if a monster leaves an area you are free to recuperate and prepare before following it through the loading screen — has been highly effective on portable systems, but one wonders if it would be as successful on a more powerful system.

An example of a traditional map in the Monster Hunter series

It may be time for Monster Hunter to adopt a more ‘open-world’ structure.

Perhaps, as in all previous games, players are dropped into the game in a village where they learn the ins and outs of hunting, gathering and surviving. From here, they can pick up contracts which designate an area in the surrounding region where the task will take place — the rough region a monster was last seen, for example.

Players would have to make the trek to the area, where they would then be able to complete the mission.

As you complete missions, you would then be able to move to a new village, with a new surrounding biome and set of tasks for you to enjoy. Whether these mini open worlds are all interconnected (think the distance between villages and areas surrounding them in Breath of the Wild) would likely depend on memory limitations, but considering what The Legend of Zelda has accomplished I’m hopeful it’s possible.

This could also allow much more of the lore of the series to be told through environmental storytelling. Finding secret areas which no one has seen in years, which means they aren’t likely to show up in missions, could help unravel the history of the surprisingly interesting and deep world these hunters inhabit.

Secrets such as these could be entirely optional — if one player wishes to explore, and the other wishes to hunt, there shouldn’t be anything stopping them from doing so apart from their resources and their time.

A trek to a long forgotten Wyverian ruin atop a mountain, or deep in the jungle, would likely be a far more lengthy endeavour then simply stepping outside the village to hunt some Maccao — but the rewards would, and should, be far greater. Perhaps incredibly rare gathering spots or monsters which don’t show up anywhere else on the map could be positioned there to reward the player both brave enough to set out and strong enough to conquer.

Since the Switch is both a portable and home console, it easily translates to both short and long play times, enabling you to choose what you wish to accomplish in the game given your current situation.

Barufaruku, an elder dragon, in Monster Hunter XX

Monster variety and behaviours

In the months leading up to each iteration of Monster Hunter series veterans tend to discuss one of two things — what will be returning from older titles, and what will be added.

Since, in these titles, the story of the game isn’t what necessarily drives the player progression, it is important for the players to know what is in store for them in terms of gameplay — be it a new weapon, new monsters, or perhaps the return of their favourite creature from a previous iteration.

A part of me believes this is partially due to system restraints, with the series having been released on the (now-somewhat-ageing) 3DS system for the last couple of years, in which the titles are some of the most robust and visually appealing of the catalogue.

Cutting monsters to make room for new ones is likely a matter of making space on the cartridge, though it is equally possible the team simply does not want veteran players to be facing the same monsters every game.

One of my favourite things about Generations, after all, was that rather than facing the Jaggi variety of creatures in the opening hours you are exposed to newer creatures initially, allowing series newcomers and veterans to begin on a somewhat even playing field.

I would love, however, for a possible Switch release to be far more ambitious in the monsters it presents to the players — potentially having far more monsters than any game before it, both old, current and new.

Nerscylla hunts Gypceros and wears it’s skin — it’s pretty awesome, I know.

While there are many players who have been playing since the PlayStation 2 titles, there are many more who have not, and who would see these older enemies as a new threat — while older players would be able to relive their childhood memories of facing down creatures that are no longer in rotation.

Going hand in hand with this is the ability to create more advanced A.I. for the creatures — since they could, theoretically, always exist in the open world and not just be dropped in depending on what mission is currently selected.

Having to sneak past a cave you know is home to a troublesome Khezu on your way to an objective, or running into a Nerscylla, after hunting a Gypceros, dragging it’s webbed body back to it’s lair would be fantastic — especially if you could intercept and end up with carves off of both creatures.

Moments such as this, if created thoughtfully, could create even more personality and life to the monsters. It’s amazing how much the team have been able to do with the limitations of the 3DS hardware in mind, and I’m personally extremely interested to see what the next Monster Hunter can bring to the table.

More open co-operation

Monster Hunter games are, arguably, best when in a coordinated team of four hunters. While my time with the series has mostly been spent solo hunting, there is a large fan-base of hunters who get together on a weekly basis to hunt larger and larger foes, becoming more and more powerful together as a result.

Glavenus from Monster Hunter Generations

If anything should be improved by the move to the Switch, it is the series online functionality. The ability to — through a weird voice chat app on your smart device — actually speak to your teammates could mean the difference between victory and defeat in the middle of an intense battle with a T-Rex with a sword for a tail.

Additionally, through using that same smartphone app, it could be easier to ‘party up’ with a group of friends and plan what missions you are planning on doing, or give someone an opportunity to say, “Hey, I saw some ruins off to the east of the village while hunting yesterday, want to go check them out?”, in the hopes of attaining rare minerals and resources to attain a new level of gear.

Ultimately, these are just a few ideas that could become a reality through a Switch release of a Monster Hunter title. I can only hope that, in the mean time, they decide to port Monster Hunter XX.

I guess, really, I just want to see Felynes in HD.