How did Japanese hunters play together before online Monster Hunter?

In person, mostly, and then through one of the strangest bridges Sony ever built: a PS3 pretending to be the room you were standing in.

For most of a decade, multiplayer Monster Hunter in Japan meant ad-hoc: the PSP’s local wireless mode, four hunters in physical proximity, no internet involved. The gathering hall was a real hall. Parties formed in fast-food restaurants and on station platforms, and the social ritual around the game became as famous as the game itself.

Sony eventually built a bridge. adhoc Party for PlayStation Portable launched in beta on October 30, 2008: a free PS3 application that tunnelled a PSP’s local wireless through the console’s wired internet connection, so ad-hoc games could be played online. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (Freedom Unite) was the first title it supported, and for many Japanese players it was the service’s entire reason to exist. North America received adhoc Party in November 2009.