Whenever I write anything about Monster Hunter, whether it's here or for RPGFan, I use the word "flagship" maybe twice per paragraph. It's an important word within the MonHun fandom, so let's talk about it.
Over 19 years, Monster Hunter has had 16 main-series released games (including a few handheld games with debatable main-series status) with a 17th coming soon, on June 30th, 2022. Monster Hunter started out as a cult game with a small, dedicated following, but blew up in popularity Japan with the second PSP game, and blew up in popularity worldwide with the first PS4 game. Now, Monster Hunter is one of Capcom's biggest series, and it really boils down to hunting increasingly stronger monsters to obtain increasingly stronger equipment.
But today I want to talk monsters. The creature designs of Monster Hunter are superb, and crucial to Monster Hunter's success. Part of the series' appeal is that the monsters you're hunting are huge, cool, intimidating boss battles with a significant escalation of challenge. Unlocking hunts for new monsters, learning their patterns, improving your skills, and eventually overcoming the odds comprise the key gameplay loop in Monster Hunter. And it's fantastic.
But why am I here? Why write a list ranking Monster Hunter monsters when I did so over four years ago? That list was written in advance of Monster Hunter World's release, but now I'm four years deeper into the series and I've played a lot more. But more importantly, I'm super excited for the upcoming Sunbreak and have been speculating WILDLY about what monsters might appear in it. Which brings me to the word "Flagship."
(Not a flagship monster, but maybe it should be?)
Capcom uses the term "Flagship" to signify something prominent or representative in their game materials, including Monster Hunter. A flagship monster is typically a monster that appears on a Monster Hunter game's cover, features prominently in the story, and is the "main monster" for that particular game. Flagship monsters are always cool as hell and one of the best monsters debuting in that game, with few exceptions.
Flagship monsters are often the likeliest candidates to make it into future games and I personally don't mind that, because basically all of them are great. So naturally, when one of my favorite game developers categorizes something about their game as such, my silly brain wants to analyze and sort it. I love Monster Hunter's monsters; Capcom designated exactly twenty of them with a specific higher status; I love ranking things; you see where this is going.
So why twenty monsters, when there are seventeen games to draw from? Well, it's complicated. Monster Hunter Freedom for PSP is a port of Monster Hunter G for PS2 with a few adjustments, and shares its cover monster with its older siblings. Monster Hunter Generations has a whopping four flagship monsters, as the main thrust of its storyline is that four villages are threatened by four new species. Its expansion, Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate, has two flagship monsters, one central to the game's story and another representing the endgame Deviant monsters. 17 games, minus 1, plus 3, plus 1 equals 20. That's how the math works out. Here's the list, including one honorable mention (of course).
Sollosi's Top Twenty Flagship Monsters in Monster Hunter
I almost went weird and included a monster from Frontier or Stories as an honorable mention, but I haven't played enough of either to have a sound opinion on monsters unique to those games. But I have strong opinions on Rajang, my favorite monster in the entire series. As a mammalian Fanged Beast that hunts wyverns and even Elder Dragons on its own, to me Rajang represents savagery. A solitary predator that's better at hunting than you. I was terrified of fighting Rajang back in my Freedom 2 playing days, but now the monkey minotaur is more like a rival that I can never, ever underestimate. Rajang may not be an official flagship monster of Monster Hunter, but it's the flagship monster of my heart.
Monster Hunter G introduced color subspecies to Monster Hunter, fourteen of them to be specific, and advertised that new development by having the new true blue Rathalos as its cover monster. Sometimes monster subspecies are genuinely interesting new takes on a monster, but other times they are just a color change accompanying an increase in power, speed, and/or HP. Frankly, I wish there were fewer variants in these games, and while I wouldn't call their inclusion "lazy," I always prefer more new monsters. Azure Rathalos finishes last.
I'm not playing fair here. Malzeno isn't out yet, as Rise Sunbreak isn't releasing until June 30th of this year. Therefore, I can't judge the Malzeno hunt, tone, behavior, equipment, or really anything at all other than its visual design and roar (which are both really cool). So Malzeno lands here on a technicality, but hey at least it's not just a color palette swap.
Diablos was in every Monster Hunter game from 2004 to 2015, but was mysteriously absent from Monster Hunter Generations for 3DS. Perhaps as an apology, the Switch expansion to Generations celebrated the return of the Triceratops-like wyvern by introducing a brutal Deviant Diablos that's one of the hardest hunts in series history. Deviant monsters are unique to Monster Hunter Generations and its expansion, as bad motherfuckers with unique features that represent most of the endgame challenge in those games; Bloodbath Diablos is presented as the leader of the Deviants. A blazing-fast, hyper-aggressive monster with explosive steam frequently blasting from its body, Bloodbath is an intense lategame boss beloved by many... but I haven't hunted it yet (I'm only in the middle tier of quests in Generations Ultimate). Thus, it lands near the back of the list.
This ranking is even more unjust than Malzeno, because Veklhana has been available to hunt since Iceborne's release in September of 2019; I just haven't gotten there. After investing an indecent number of hours into World in the first half of 2018, my monster hunting curbed and I never got too deep into Iceborne. But from watching videos and some other research, I must admit that Velkhana is a beautiful ice dragon and its weapons look fresh as fuck. Maybe if I ever decide to play through Iceborne, just to experience those exclusive hunts, I'll give Velkhana a second look. But right now, I can't rank it higher than this in good conscience.
Kushala Daora was one of several Elder Dragons introduced in Monster Hunter 2, after the series creators resisted putting many dragons into the first Monster Hunter. They allegedly wanted Monster Hunter's world to feel like a genuine prehistoric ecology, populated with monsters that could feasibly exist in the real word and "not be just a dragon hunting game." Well, Monster Hunter has evolved into its own unique thing, probably more fantastical than its early designers intended; I wouldn't call it "just a dragon hunting game," but Daora is certainly a dragon I've hunted a lot. An Elder Dragon of wind with scales resembling sheet metal, Kushala Daora has a great look and cool equipment, but is an annoying fight in most of its appearances because of its excessive wind pressure and unwillingness to fight on land. Kushala Daora isn't even among my favorite MonHun dragons, so it finishes on the low side.
Here is where the ranking got legitimately difficult, because the top fifteen are all monsters I really, really like. Any of the top fifteen could be someone's favorite monster in the entire series and I wouldn't be surprised in the least. Capcom always makes sure their flagship monsters are cool and impactful. That's a long-winded way of saying I think Astalos is great, and another week it could've landed in my top ten flagship monsters, but the competition is stiff. I really like the lightning bug wyvern and will definitely craft either his thunder lance, hammer, or both in Sunbreak, but it doesn't rate terribly high today.
Brachydios loses points for me only having hunted it a few times (all in low-rank MHGU hunts), but gains them back for kicking my ass. I'm not sure I love the bulbous protrusions on this popular brute wyvern, but I definitely appreciate the furious punches and follow-up explosions in its moveset. The slime that Brachydios secretes from its arms and head explodes after a short time and also easily sticks to hunters, which is gross and cool in a way perfectly fitting Monster Hunter. Brachy is a pretty challenging midgame fight that blasts to new heights with its Raging Brachydios variant, but while I enjoyed my short time hunting it there are at least thirteen flagship monsters I like more.
The horned, spiked, winged Elder Dragon that harasses the player throughout Monster Hunter World and its Iceborne expansion, Nergigante is a gameplay wall that forces players to learn proper defense and to target a monster's breakable points, or die trying; I overcame that wall after some trials and tribulations, and doing so was damn satisfying. Nergigante also confers really strong dragon-elemental weapons from its materials, just before the story has you hunt down four *other* dragons to wrap up World's main story. The spiky exterior is admittedly a little extra, but I loved Nerg's story role in World, and breaking off all of those spikes only to see them regrow into stronger ones is pretty dope.
"Fire-breathing tyrannosaurs with a giant blade tail" is certainly a concept that sounds like it was written down by a middle school-age boy, but Glavenus makes it work. Seeing Glavenus grind that tail against the environment and its own fangs for massive fiery sword strikes is awesome, and the fight itself is fun as Hell(blade). Glavenus debuted as one of the four Generations flagships and was brought back for Monster Hunter World: Iceborne, but not Rise. I'd be open to another Glavenus cameo in Sunbreak.
In a ranking where I only consider visual design and the boss fight and not nostalgia or how iconic a monster is, Rathalos is probably five spots lower. But I can't do that to Monster Hunter's original flagship monster, so as a compromise Rath lands in the exact middle of the list. A classic, but somewhat basic fire wyvern design, the Rathalos is an early to midgame hunt in every single Monster Hunter game, and over time has gotten a bit more complex, with more airborne tendencies in battle and two starring roles in the Stories RPG series. But hey, even if he's basic, the king of the skies looked great in 2004 and is still the signature monster of the entire franchise. I don't love-love Rathalos, but I also mean no disrespect.
Seregios was introduced in the fourth-generation games to be a stylish new rival to Rathalos, with a similar silhouette but very different behaviors, and the end result is pretty great. Seregios has razor-sharp horns, claws, and scales, which it can rattle like a shaking suit of armor, and moves around on all fours instead of upright when on the ground, making Steve seem more like a wild animal than the more rigid Rathalos. And Seregios also scores points for its equipment, with self-sharpening weapons and armor. I love this golden girl and really hope it comes back in a main-series game soon.
The favorite monster of MANY hunters that began their careers in the third generation, Lagiacrus is Monster Hunter's original Leviathan (basically any marine reptile that isn't bipedal on land), but even out of the water is a very cool long-necked lightning crocodile. Lagi thrived much more in Tri and 3 Ultimate, as those are the only two games in the series with underwater combat, but despite never playing either game I still enjoy Lagi quite a bit, whether it's hunting it in Generations Ultimate or admiring it in 3 Ultimate videos from afar. Lagiacrus is a great design with a storied history within Monster Hunter, and that's more than enough for me.
After experimenting with quadrupedal wyvern designs in the second generation, such as a few monsters with underdeveloped wings as forelegs (more on those later), the Monster Hunter team introduced an entire new category just for Zinogre, Fanged Wyvern. The thunder wolf wyvern's four-legged movements equally communicate dog and dragon, and I bet the developers wished they had introduced this term sooner, because Akantor and Ukanlos ain't flying anywhere. But Zinogre's unique movements (the backflip tail slam! The spinning dive! The STRUT!) and unique look make me SO disappointed that MHP3 never released in North America. At least Zinogre has appeared in almost every game since, because it's an undeniably dope fanged flagship.
Is it a little weird to describe a dragon (or Leviathan, as it were) as "beautiful?" Depends on the circumstances, I guess, but Mizutsune is pretty as fuck. This graceful river monster can generate bubbly foam to slip and slide smoothly around any battlefield, and has a unique silhouette and appealing coloration. The sakura-themed armor and weapons that you craft from Mizutsune materials were a perfect fit for Rise's Kamura Village, and I'll happily upgrade my Mizu weapons to master rank in Sunbreak.
Valstrax is a medium-sized Elder Dragon combining visual interest elements of a diving falcon and a supersonic aircraft (really). With dragon energy streaming out of Valstrax's wings like jet engines, divebomb attacks like a crashing meteor, and a theme song that's as epic as any in the series, Valstrax represents the weirdest excesses of Monster Hunter creatures. It's also absolutely dope as hell and a high-risk, entertaining hunt. A "Crimson Glow" variant of Valstrax arrived in Rise as DLC, and it's one of the best battles in the whole game.
Wrapping up the six (!?) flagship monsters from MonHun Generations and its Ultimate expansion, Gammoth is unlike any other monster in the series, as a giant woolly mammoth Fanged Beast with a skeleton that's larger than many Elder Dragons. I love hunting this ornery pachyderm. I love the furred armor sets, the ice stomps, just about everything about Gammoth. Fanged Beasts are my favorite monster family (i.e. Rajang way higher on this list), so naturally the only flagship Fanged Beast rates very highly for me.
You never forget your first. Tigrex is the flagship monster of the first Monster Hunter game I played, and a few early missions have you tiptoeing around a wandering Tigrex searching for unrelated items, but Tigrex's deceptively simple moveset (roar, screaming charge, spin, leap, bite) perfectly communicates hunger and aggression. Tigrex's striped body and dinosaur face communicate its obvious portmanteau, but the real "thing" about Tigrex is getting over your (justified) fear of that screaming charge and taking it on directly around the end of the game. It took me months, maybe years to get there, but now I'M the one comin' for dat ass. Tigrex is top-tier.
The 2021 model of tiger-inspired wyvern is a hell of a hunt. Magnamalo is a Fanged Wyvern inspired by Siberian tigers, samurai armor, and the Japanese folkloric underworld, and goddamn is it cool. Exploding violet will-o-the-wisps, flying shoulder charges and tail attacks, and a low growl that is threatening as hell; Magnamalo is scary, intense, and violent. Although made less-challenging than its famous demo version, Magnamalo is still a major threat among late-game Rise monsters, and its blast element weapons and unique Hellfire status make it stand out among the many great Rise designs.
Capping off an unusual trend of three vaguely catlike monsters in a row, Nargacuga's Monster Hunter wyvern approximation of a black panther is one of my all-time favorites. Leaping in a zigzag pattern, spinning and tail-whipping in different directions (but telegraphed by which direction the Narga leans), and chaining these actions together while enraged (with glowing red eyes, even), make Nargacuga one of the most stylish, agile monsters in the series. Narga is always a mid-game monster, but it's one of the first monsters a player encounters with superior speed and evasion, even carried into its weapons and armor (high critical hit rates and boosts to evasion). The ninja-jaguar-flying-wvyern is an all-time classic.
An adolescent Elder Dragon whose shedding scales cause nearby monsters to go berserk, Gore Magala is pure menace. The act of shedding is putting the young dragon through a great deal of pain, and while hunting Gore hunters experience the tantrums of a young dragon firsthand. The folded wings of Gore Magala hang off it like a cloak; the dragon's move set is charged with crackling black dragon energy; and the story of Monster Hunter 4 pits dragon against hunter multiple times before the game's dramatic finale against a fully grown new cryptid. For its fabulous battles in the fourth-generation Monster Hunter games, for its unparalleled story spotlight, and for being the edgiest edge lord in Monster Hunter series history, Gore Magala is the best of the twenty Monster Hunter flagship fiends.
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...at least until I hunt Velkhana and Malzeno. Ha, that was a long one, and for that I apologize. I've been writing this off and on for two or three weeks, but it wasn't slow or laborious; it takes very little prompting for me to get excited about recent Monster Hunter. I'm THAT excited for Sunbreak on June 30th. Regardless, I hope you found this big dumb list entertaining or illuminating. Happy hunting!
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