Today's game on display from our physical collection is Monster Hunter Portable 3rd for the PlayStation 3!
Monster Hunter Portable 3rd is a unique entry in the Monster Hunter series. Despite being considered a fan favorite, it was never officially released outside of Japan. Instead, content from the title eventually made its way West through Monster Hunter Generations on the Nintendo 3DS and Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate on the Nintendo Switch. Even without a official localization, anyone familiar with the series can play through it with few issues without knowing Japanese, making it an easy import—especially the PlayStation 3 version.
The Third Generation
The game itself is built on the foundation of the third generation, Monster Hunter Tri, but unlike the previous two portable titles, it offered its own distinct experience. Featuring a Japanese-inspired hub town complete with hot springs, redesigned maps that removed Tri's controversial underwater combat, and a broader roster of monsters, it felt like a more complete package in many ways. Similar to previous entries, players could easily spend hundreds of hours on the game, and the portability of its original release made it a perfect title to just pickup and play.
Although the PSP release lacked native online multiplayer, fans could use the PS3's Adhoc Party application to hunt together online. Sadly, I missed out on joining those hunting groups back when they were all the rage on Capcom's official Capcom-Unity forums, but that didn't stop me from sinking countless hours into playing it solo once I was finally able to obtain a copy.
Importing the PS3 HD Remaster
I actually purchased the PlayStation 3 HD version not too long after finishing Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate. After completing nearly everything 4U had to offer, I was still hungry for more Monster Hunter, and it only made sense to pick up the one entry in the series I didn't own yet. Nowadays, it's easy to find fan-translation patches for the original PSP version, but playing the Japanese PS3 release unpatched worked out just fine for me.
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