monster hunter rise Director Yasunori Ichinose recently sat down with the Japanese magazine Nintendo Dream To share some information about the development of the game. The game actually began its development back on the 3DS, with a small team experimenting with modifications to Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate.
The same part of the discussion also gives insight into how the situation with COVID affected the development.
Looking back, when did all this start, when did the process of development begin?
Echinose: In interviews I said it was four years ago, but given how much time has passed since then, I think it’s closer to six.
Development started six years ago?
Echinose: Before Rise I was in charge of Monster Hunter Generations, but its updated version, Generation Ultimate, was left to a different director. At the time, Mr. Sujimoto* stated that he wanted to make a handheld Monster Hunter for the Nintendo Switch, and development began to move in that direction. I was often called upon to assist with Generation Ultimate, so instead of an outright start to development, Rise began with small-scale movements among a small group of people.
*Capcom founder, Kenzo Sujimoto
Was it always the plan to bring the game to the Switch?
Echinose: We didn’t have any development hardware at the time, but that’s what we had with Nintendo. Generation Ultimate development was in full swing, so there were only three people on the first team: me, the chief planner, and a programmer. We didn’t have a development kit, and used a 3DS instead. We tested the wirebugs and mechanics that had been working since the project’s inception by revising Generation Ultimate.
You mentioned that the period of development was six years. Has any recent event affected the development around the world?
Echinose: The game’s post-development fiscal year was heavily affected by COVID, which is when the game went on sale. The company was unable to operate for about two months, and we urgently needed to experiment with what we could do from home. We had meetings, recordings and video chats, and in that sense, the work we did has changed a lot. This was around the time the voice actors were also recording, and disappointingly, a week after Mr. Kumoyuki called for things to be delayed, when a state of emergency was declared. The schedule changed dramatically, and while we had everything reshuffled, we were still able to launch in March as originally planned. The staff worked incredibly hard to get this out the door, but it all came together at the last minute.
Monster Hunter Rise is currently available on Switch. Its expansion, Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak, is also out now.
Translation provided by Jarope on behalf of Nintendo Everything.
