Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX

Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX may retain issues from the past and have a thin story but it's enjoyable monster raising mechanics and unique summoning system remains a joy all these years later.

Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX is a great re-release of two great games. Even with some signs of age, it's worth every minute, and every penny, that you spend on it.

I don't know what I expected from Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX. Never playing a game in the series but wanting to try it out might have set my expectations too high. Monster Rancher is a unique take on a game, it also takes someone who wants to play a unique kind of game to get the maximum enjoyment from it. I don't think that was me, but I can appreciate two well made games, even if they're not my perfect cup of tea. The Nintendo Switch might be the best place for this type of slower paced, menu based game. Overall I enjoyed my time with the games, but not as much as I hoped to.

Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX is a faithful recreation of the PlayStation titles that weren’t available to everyone in the ‘90s. The CD monster creation system has been replaced with a large music catalogue and the ability to fast-forward through battles is a welcome addition as the game can feel very repetitive when you are constantly in tournaments.

The nineties were a truly wild time. Tips were frosted, denim was doubled, and the Spice Girls versus Backstreet Boys debate tore classrooms apart across the world. This era of chaos gave birth to the oddity that is the Monster Rancher franchise, a creature-collecting series focused on breeding and battling monsters torn from real-world CD-ROMs. For the first time in the west, Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX brings the first two titles onto modern consoles.

Visually, you can’t expect too much from this remastered collection. These are PS1 games originally, and the models and backgrounds look fine when you keep that origin in mind. They’re pretty blocky and robotic in how they move, but I find that classic look appealing. I had no performance issues, and the upscaling is fine given what’s being upscaled. The monster designs are great all-around, though the first game has a fair few palette swaps.

The Monster Rancher series returns with the release of Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX. Addictive gameplay and a host of quality-of-life improvements make this an easy option for any eager breeder.

Wow, 1997 and 1999. That’s how long it’s been since the two Monster Rancher games that everyone remembers. I remember as a young lad going over to my friend’s place with a stack of CDs (he had a PlayStation while I had a Nintendo 64) and trying to generate the best monsters we could. Swapping out the disk to summon different monsters was a unique concept back then, even more so now when everything is digital. Even to this day, I can’t think of any games that have done anything quite l...