Monster Hunter (video game)

Monster Hunter
North American PlayStation 2 box art
Developer(s)	Capcom Production Studio 1
Publisher(s)	Capcom
Director(s)	Kaname Fujioka
Producer(s)	Tsuyoshi Tanaka Kenji Itsuno
Designer(s)	Katsuhiro Eguchi Tsuyoshi Nagayama Shintaro Kojima Kent Kinoshita Kouki Fuse Tomohiro Nakai
Composer(s)	Masato Kouda Tetsuya Shibata
Series	Monster Hunter
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2, Wii
Release	PlayStation 2 JP: March 11, 2004 NA: September 21, 2004 PAL: May 27, 2005 PlayStation 2 (G) JP: January 20, 2005 Wii (G) JP: April 23, 2009
Genre(s)	Action role-playing
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

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. It was remade and expanded in Monster Hunter G, which was released in Japan for the PlayStation 2 (later ported to the Wii) and was brought to North America and Europe as Monster Hunter Freedom for the PlayStation Portable.

Much of the game can be played offline through single-player. The majority of the content is in the online section of the game. Only some monsters are found in single-player and the player's rewards are smaller (and less valuable) when they are offline. The goal for players online is not to defeat the most monsters but to reach the highest hunter rank, which is the storyline that is carried out online by non-player characters.