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SOJMonster Hunter · Frontier, 2007–2019
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What was Monster Hunter Frontier?

A twelve-year parallel Monster Hunter that lived only in Asia, and died, officially and completely, in December 2019.

Monster Hunter Frontier Online launched for Windows in Japan in June 2007, a subscription MMO built on the bones of Monster Hunter Dos. It grew for twelve years: versions for Xbox 360 (2010), PlayStation 3 (2013), Wii U (2013), PlayStation Vita (2014), and PlayStation 4 (2016); renamed Frontier G in 2013 and Frontier Z in 2016; with Korean and Taiwanese servers that opened, closed, and in Taiwan’s case reopened along the way. It was never released in the West, and the Japanese service was IP-locked throughout.

The end was announced on June 19, 2019, the final month made free to play, and all services terminated on December 18, 2019. Producer Teruki Miyashita explained the cause plainly: the ageing Dos foundation had reached its technical limits. Capcom has since said no offline version or sequel is feasible. Frontier’s originals, the venomous Espinas foremost, began emigrating to the main series afterwards; Espinas itself returned in Sunbreak, its first appearance outside the MMO.

Monster Hunter Frontier key art of a hunting party
THE PARALLEL HUNTFrontier key art: a full hunting party from the MMO's own bestiary era. The Asia-only game ran for twelve years, from 2007 to 2019.

WHAT FRONTIER HELD

The lost continent
Two weapons exist nowhere else
The Tonfa, twin fist-weapons, and the Magnet Spike, which slams between monster and hunter on magnetic poles, were Frontier exclusives. They are the only series weapons that are now unplayable history.
An accelerated bestiary
Frontier’s live schedule produced variants and originals at a pace the mainline never matched, including the Zenith monsters, its final evolution tier from 2018.
What survives
With the servers dark and no offline edition, Frontier exists as documentation, footage, and its emigrants. It is the series’ largest lost work.

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