Monster Hunter is an action role-playing video game developed and published by Capcom for the PlayStation 2.

The first installment of the Monster Hunter series, it was originally released in Japan in March 2004, in North America in September 2004 and in Europe in May 2005.

Armors, weapons, and other items are created from the remains of slain monsters by carving off their horns, scales and bones, as well as from mining for ores in the field.

Event quests are not vital to a hunter's success in the game, but are a useful way to gain experience and to obtain some rare items.

Blademaster weapons can also be of a certain element, be it fire, water, thunder or dragon as well as status effects such as poison, stun or sleep.

Combining ingredients to make items such as healing potions or traps for monsters is a very important feature.

Success is dependent on many factors, such as rarity of the items to be combined and amount of "combo books" a player has on hand or even certain armor skills.

Monster Hunter was a part of an initiative from Capcom's Production Studio 1 to develop three network focused games on the PlayStation 2.

Both Monster Hunter and Resident Evil Outbreak eventually sold a million copies each.

[5] "After more than 3 years of online service, the external company providing server hosting for both Resident Evil: Outbreak and Monster Hunter has decided to exit the PlayStation 2 online business altogether, with no possibility of outsourcing either the service or the technology.

It was later ported to the PlayStation Portable in Japan and released in America and Europe under the title Monster Hunter Freedom.

A major paid expansion, Monster Hunter Rise Sunbreak, was released worldwide on June 30, 2022, for Nintendo Switch and Windows.