Looking For Monster Games!

[Juiceshmuice]

I adore the vibes of oldschool fictional ecosystems in videogames, I've loved my way through every pre-2010 monster hunter and pokemon, and am looking for some more recommendations that grab that kind of strange alien biology vibe! I've been looking into DQM, Monster Rancher and Digimon, but more ideas are always welcome, thank you!

 

[Evaccaneer Doom]

Monster catching games, huh? Might as well consider the original Pokemon, Megami Tensei. I mean that quite literally, Megami Tensei is the first (true) monster catching game ever. The franchise lives on as Shin Megami Tensei, and going down the grapevine, you've probably heard of the spinoff franchise of the spinoff franchise, Persona.

And on an unrelated note, also play Cassette Beasts!!!

 

[CG4R12I4N]

Bakugan
Fossil Fighters
Master of the Monsters
Jade Cocoon duology
I know there are many more, but these are the ones that came off outta my head right now.

 

[TheMariox]

Medabots
Ni no Kuni DS
MeiQ labyrinth of dead (trash but I appreciate some things of it)

 

[UnDubious]

The Last Bible is a Shin Megami Tensei spin-off series with a more standard fantasy setting. If you want to try the first game, play the Game Gear version. It's much better than the GB version we got back in the day - that one had a translation so mangled you couldn't tell what was going on, plus the GG version looks a lot better and plays faster, which you will be glad for. It's a decent game on the GG.

 

[LightningmanEXE]

Shin Megami Tensie 4
Shin Megami Tensie: Strange journey
Shin Megami Tensie: Devil Survivor Overclocked

Try any of these 3ds games, if you like it, you'll know. I personally believe all 3 are excellent places to start, as well as much of the best the series has to offer. Expect a good challenge, addictive collecting, and a solid narrative in each.

I will admit 4 is a little harder to start due to it's slightly inverted difficulty curve, but I'd argue it explains it's mechanics far better than 3 did.

You can always try some other thing, but I would beseech you to start with one of these.

 

[Juiceshmuice]

Loved all the recs! Ni No Kuni 3ds was lovely, but I think I may have tore through it a little quickly. SMT 1 and 4 are both in my possession now, and fossil fighters is something I already had. I am glad, thank you to everyone for the recs!

 

[thanonyx]

Nexomon and Nexomon Extinction but just letting you know they were originally mobile games and boy does it show.