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SOJMonster Hunter · Rise
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What did Monster Hunter Rise change?

It traded World’s weight for speed: Wirebugs put every hunter in the air, and a dog joined the cat.

Monster Hunter Rise launched for Nintendo Switch on March 26, 2021, a homecoming to the portable-first design that built the series in Japan, reimagined with World’s seamless maps. Its signature tool is the Wirebug: a silk-thread grappling insect that slings hunters up cliffs, across gaps, and into Silkbind attacks, making movement itself a weapon.

Rise also added the Palamute, a rideable dog companion beside the series’ Felyne Palicoes, and Wyvern Riding, which lets a hunter puppeteer a wounded monster against its rivals. Its home, Kamura Village, is drawn from traditional Japan, all steelworks and shrine gates, and its crisis, the Rampage, is a castle-siege defence against waves of monsters led by the flagship Magnamalo. PC followed in 2022 and PlayStation and Xbox in 2023; Capcom announced in October 2026 that Rise had passed 20 million copies.

THE RISE TOOLKIT

Built for momentum
Switch Skills
For the first time, core moves in each weapon’s kit could be swapped, a customisation seed that Sunbreak grew into full build-crafting.
The Rampage
Tower-defence quests that split opinion and never returned, but gave Rise its siege identity and its final boss, the storm serpent Amatsu’s predecessor Ibushi.
A Switch showcase
Built on the RE Engine for a handheld, Rise proved Capcom’s flagship technology could scale down without the hunt shrinking, and it sold like a console game.

THE COVER

Key art
Monster Hunter Rise key art, 2021
Rise · Key art · 2021
Magnamalo rears over a Wirebug-swinging hunter and a Palamute: Rise’s cover sells speed, verticality, and the new dog in one frame.
The Palamute’s debut
The dog companion appears on the cover of its first game, masked and armored in the lower corner: a co-star from day one.
Hellfire, drawn warm
Magnamalo’s hellfire is painted as ornament as much as threat, the most decorative flagship art of the modern era.

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