Capcom most certainly had a good showing at this year’s WonderCon. They were not only celebrating Dead Rising: Watchtower— which you can check out in our interview with the movie’s stars here— but they were also there to celebrate the success of Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate with a panel that featured two very important men that worked on the game. Those men being the honorable Kaname Fujuka and Ryozo Tsujimoto. With no hesitation, we made our way to the panel to get you guys the word on what these brilliant folks had to say. The panel was broken up into three different sections: epic monster encounters, special collaboration content, and a quiz portion.

The first section was dedicated to discussing what they considered to be “epic monster encounters.” If you have played the game at all, then you know that there are tons of different monsters, most of which are large and furious. The epic monster encounters were described by Mr. Fujuka as battles that are different based on the size of the monsters and the location they are fought in. An interesting nugget that was dropped here was that most hunters have yet to even reach some of these encounters despite the game being out for a good while now. The first monster discussed was the Dah’ren Mohran. This encounter was recently unleashed into the world as a DLC mission in which you battle on a Sand Skiff. Since the Dhah’ren Mohran is gigantic, they added many weapons like the gong and canon to the skiff, just to give hunters the advantage needed to take down the giant creature.

Then there is the Gogmazios– possibly the largest, fiercest monster in the whole game. His mission is actually not even accessible unless you reach the highest hunting rank, G3. Gogmazios is a giant dragon-looking monster that has some pretty powerful attacks and oozes black material which is essentially tar. Again, since it is an epic monster encounter, the battle takes place on a special stage called “The Battlequarters.” This stage gives the hunter many weapons to play with, and some that are exclusive to the encounter like the “Track Canon” and the “Demolisher.” Kamane Fujuka explained that the “Track Canon” is a normal canon that sits on a track and can be loaded with up to ten canon balls to produce an extra powerful blast. It can move along the track to different positions on the map and using this movement is important so that the beast doesn’t hit you. It could also be linked up to the “Demolisher.” By hooking this giant canon up to the “Track Canon,” it creates a powerful attack that does loads of damage. Unfortunately, it’s usability is limited, so you need to be strategic when utilizing it, especially since missing is very possible. This lead to the next discussion about the trap that’s used to hold the giant down. Using the trap will hold the Gogmazios in place for a few seconds, allowing you to get a better shot at him.

A short clip was shown to give a better look at how all of these added mechanics influence the ways that you can approach these battles. Kaname Fujuka joked that the whole battle wouldn’t be shown, and if we wanted to see what happens in victory, we would have to do it ourselves. We wouldn’t have it any other way.

What was so interesting was hearing the thought process behind each stage creation. Each battle ground has all the tools needed to the aid the hunter in his or her attack, but they are neither easy to use nor so overpowered that it makes the fight a breeze. They don’t just create an area and throw in the monster. There is a reason these stages are shaped as they are and include certain weapons.

For the next part of the panel, Ryozo Tsujimoto took the mic to discuss special collaborations. We were shown three different collaborations: Square Enix, Nintendo, and Capcom. Each one featured gear for the hunter and their felines. They all looked great and fit the Monster Hunter universe quite well. In particular, the Link gear made a lot of sense because the game includes a weapon type that features a shield and sword just like our hero in green. The Capcom gear included the following Palico costumes: Dante from Devil May Cry, Blanka and Chun-Li from Street Fighter, and Mega Man. Each one also had their own sound effects straight from the corresponding titles. They look adorable to say the least and should provide a lot of fun for fans.

Mr. Tsujimoto even gave a little insight into how these collaborations come about. For example, the Square Enix additions came about because of a discussion at dinner. He went on to discuss that most of the ideas to collaborate with others comes from someone within the developing team thinking an idea is “cool.” He mentioned that they are all fans of franchises like Mario and Zelda since they grew up with them, and so they wanted to find a way to make them a part of the Monster Hunter universe. It was also important to give fans the tools to create their own character and show it off.

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Capcom most certainly had a great Wondercon showing, which catered to fans of Monster Hunter– some of whom showed up cosplaying Felyne explorers from the game. The Caravan from MH4U was also on the show floor, selling all types of gear that you can see for yourself in the gallery below. Pack your best gear and let us know in the comments section if you have faced some of these epic monster encounters and whether you won or lost. Happy hunting to all!