Sorry Nintendo, but I prefer hardcore monster tamer games to the incredibly easy Pokemon. This, in my opinion, is the best monster tamer game currently available in North America. This game is vastly improved over the first in the series, and does many things right that other monster tamer games either mess up or completely omit. The breeding system in this game is second to none. Breeding monsters takes a lot of experimenting to get what you want. There are no rules to how breeding works, you basically have to try it out and see what happens.



Becasue the breeding system is so extensive, this is the only game on the list where catching every new monster you encounter is obligatory. In Pokemon and Digimon, you can almost immediately tell whether any given monster is good or not. In this game, monsters may have hidden bonuses that are not immediately obvious. Since monsters can pass on skillsets when breeding, catching every possible monster and examining their skillset is vital. Another factor that motivates catching many monsters in the difficulty of the game. The game will often put up walls that essentially say "ye shall not progress until you have a monster of a certain power". These walls are common throughout the game, but never feel unfair. Instead, the game expects you to keep on top of catching and breeding monsters so that the wall you will inevitably hit is a good challenge rather than an impossible obstacle.



Another great feature of this game is the huge post-game. After the game is "beaten", you are essentially told that who you defeated was not the true villain, and are told to set out again on a new journey. The post-game quest opens up new, much more difficult areas in the game that provide access to the most powerful monsters. There is a significant difficulty spike here, but the power of the newly obtainable monsters makes it bearable. When you finally defeat the true villain of the game, it is still not over because there are several other challenges that await you including an endgame super boss and a series of increasingly challenging battles against an AI controller monster tamer. Not to mention the vast breeding opportunities that will provide you with extremely powerful monsters to take on these challenges. One could easily spend 70 hours just on the campaign of this game, the highest completion time on this list by far. After every challenge has been exhausted, there is still the goal of obtaining every monster, and breeding your dream team.



Dragon Quest Monsters Joker 2 takes the cake for best monster tamer game because of it's engaging atmosphere, perfect difficulty level, and huge post-game. I would recommend this game to anyone who likes well paced, challenging RPGs with a good sense of humor. If you are willing to commit and have a desire for a more hardcore monster tamer game, this game is the best there is.