Monster Hunter 4G Coming To 3DS Autumn 2013, Barely A Year Since The Original

Capcom has announced in the Monster Hunter Festa ’14 Finals held today in Tokyo Shinagawa that they are releasing a new iteration of Monster Hunter 4, called Monster Hunter 4G. The game will be released this Autumn 2014.

Details are sparse, but based on what they did in the last generation of the series, Monster Hunter 4G is likely an expansion of Monster Hunter 4. The comparable analogue here is Monster Hunter Tri and Monster Hunter 3G, known in the West as Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate.

Whereas Monster Hunter Tri was made exclusively to fit the Wii, Monster Hunter 3Gwas developed for both 3DS and Wii U, and was a clear improvement over its predecessor in several areas. In fact, the Wii U version of this game should be considered the definitive version, since it’s essentially the 3DS version in full HD.

Still, Capcom saw where the franchise’s strengths lie, and so they opted to release Monster Hunter 4 exclusively in 3DS instead. As of September last year, we know that MH4 has made $ 2.8 million. It’s rumored that Capcom used those earnings to build a new mobile studio.

Monster Hunter 4G also happens to be coming very quickly compared to its predecessors. Whereas MH Tri and MH3 Ultimate has a gap of two years, there will barely be a year between MH4 and MH4G. This could partly be attributed to the ease in making the revision in the same console, vs. adapting from to 3DS / Wii U. Still, we have to wonder how much of an improvement Monster Hunter 4G will be, and most relevantly, how soon before they release it to the West.

You can watch the announcement trailer for Monster Hunter 4G below.