The Evolution of Monster Icons in Monster Hunter

[@bonaquador]

Corrections: - The original Monster Hunter actually had a different icon set, with higher resolution icons that containted more detail, but more of less conveyed the same appearence as the future portable entires and generation 2 - I forgot to mention that most icons I picked in the generation 4 section, came from Monster Hunter Generations, and not 4 Ultimate. They more of less contain the same icon set, just a different monster roster.

[@SwaxGuy]

Man you dissed my boy lasagna come on

[@xemiii]

I really love how the Monster Hunter icons are able to so cleanly condense the complicated monster designs down to such striking and readable iconography. I've also noticed the general similarity some have to old Meso American art, and that just makes me like them more.

[@enriquegarcia2790]

It's honestly the only respectful representation we've had from, just about anybody so yeah thank you, I love them too.

[@thechugg4372]

What I love even more is that, for the casual inhabitants of this world, these icons are the only thing they will ever see of those monsters mythical beasts

[@taciturne4432]

I remember buying every single monster infos in mhfu, reading the description and staring at the monsters icons for hours

[@GodOfWheatRiceBall]

I like how you can find an old Rathalos symbol (MH2) on some of the Everwood walls, it shows how far its history has come.

[@rhyno6264]

I love how every aspect of Monster Hunter has so much thought put into it. Everything seems to mesh together beautifully in every entry.

[@ABIADAB]

istg monster hunter is one of the very few ip that gets better at every sequel

[@floodtamer]

@@ABIADABin the weirdest way i feel like it gets better whenever you play a new game oorrr when you go back to previous ones it still gets better

[@Evan-mt7bc]

I think the Tri icons were going for a Pacific islander vibe. Huge outlines is pretty standard for stuff like tattoos and sail markings but they look a little too clean for me to definitively say that's the inspiration, it's just the vibes I get. If they wanted something very traditional they should have added some scuff like in Rise and I can imagine them going hard on that if they ever do a Tri remake or a successor to Tri with the pacific islands vibe.

[@Colton42-d7b]

Sunbreaks icons are gorgeous

[@Dradix35]

Very cool video on a little talked about topic. I liked your presentation and editing as well. Would like to see more MH content in the future! My personal favorite Icons would have to be either Gen 1/2 for the nostalgia and roughness of the art style, Gen 3 for its uniqueness, Gen 4 because I love pixel art, or Gen 5 for its clean readability and yet still stylised depictions. Ah god damn, I love 'em all!

[@newtonmarques1271]

The icons are really good in each game, I remember when the elder dragons didn't get icons. When you would see a elder dragon quest with a question mark you knew that quest would be an adventure The 5th gen gave us great adventure quests in world

[@NepuRhythme]

It makes sense that the icons change through the generations, because these are the same monsters but in much more different environment which their body requires them to evolve/change to adapt to it in order to survive.

[@Lutyrannus]

Actually, 1st and 2nd gen don't entirely share the same icon set! For example, the Raths are different in MH1 & MH2

[@bonaquador]

Darn, you're right. A bit embarrising on my part.

[@maxlancaster579]

Nice video! I’ve always had a soft spot for the original icon artstyle, where it didn’t reveal everything about the monster from first glance. Made it very interesting to hunt them and see how they differed from how I imagined!

[@thegoldenaegis]

As of today, we now have a look at the icon for chatacabra in wilds. It goes back to the icon styles of older gens. In my opinion it looks like the icons in 3U

[@bonaquador]

@@thegoldenaegis oh, right! I even watched that video, but I didn't notice the new icon. Thanks for pointing that out.

[@TMatti]

Dunno why but I absolutely love the Icons of MH, just like the renders, maybe because they manage to show the aspect and personality of a complex creature in just one image. Thanks for speaking about this topic +Online you can find some fanart of Rise icons in world style and vice versa, they are absolutely stunning

[@imsirnootnoot]

Tri's has to have the best art style

[@ViolacTrough]

7:04 Great now I can’t unsee Uragaan ripping a fat one…

[@RuneSeoui]

The one thing I despised about Rise's monster icons is how the loading screen would spoil every single new monster. Fucked up my first playthrough.

[@athos9293]

I always thought the wings on Rathalos' gen 1 icon were his back spikes

[@Payne_1]

Great video keep doing what you're doing man

[@theratraider9357]

"sake of ecological balance" me who has, one several occasions, hunted a monster simply to try out a new weapon type or weapon upgrade:

[@dfcho]

Maccau in Gen 4 jumpscare

[@davidperdue7541]

Great video! I really enjoyed the breakdown

[@anton6495]

Man you should have looked at the raths in mhf1

[@caosin3667]

The icons in wilds might have a more egyptian like artstyle, i think I mean , most of the footage we got was of desertic like region

[@naciabell7903]

Say do you think you could do a retrospective on Elegy of madness for AQW ? There isn't a video around that goes into the entire storyline due to how dense it is and easy to get lost if you miss one paragraph. It would beamazing to have one vid that finaly covers the whole thing.

[@bonaquador]

Sure can. The script has already been written.

[@naciabell7903]

@@bonaquador Oh nice! glad to hear and im greatly looking forward to that!

[@naciabell7903]

@@bonaquador Sorry for 2 post. But it's one of thebest AQW stories in my opnion. It's just. Very difficult to get the whole story due to it being so densly written. So im very happy to hear that your doing this!

[@michaeldeleon8970]

Wow ice borne had the cleanest monster icons

[@kingofflames738]

Nothing ever beats tri's icons. Such a shame 3U used portable 3rds.

[@Nomad-bl4yw]

Subbed

[@mllohrma]

I always have a favoritism towards the original more blocky style rather than higher graphics for some reason

[@Armbrust210]

Great topic, though i do feel it's presented very opinionated and speculative. But i can see how it would've been more difficult to produce otherwise

[@francesstrong9152]

Is all that can fit in a square are good Which is why I don't play rise

[@spacewhalemilk]

Am I the only one who despises the rise icons? I really liked the game but those icons are atrocious. To be fair, they are more consistent. There are just a few that really bug me, like diablos.

[@Yugioh.Mobilenetwork.Schmomels]

me too

[@magnabueno5360]

I really like them, but Basarios, Pukei Pukei and Royal Ludroth are victims

[@spacewhalemilk]

@@magnabueno5360 Yeah, overall they are good but the ones they f*cked up are really f*cked up. I forgot about basarios.

[@thechugg4372]

​@@magnabueno5360Basarios deserves to know what it's like to be the victim for once, damn rock!

[@Caprikyzer]

Diablos legit has the best one though?

[@meechmuncher1302]

I HATE RISE’S ICONS

[@strategos21]

Wow, this was an incredibly well put together video. The monster icons have always been, well, iconic to the franchise and I love to see them get the attention they deserve

[@datboichrist9876]

I absolutely love the MHRise icons, I was never a big fan of the mosaic stamp-like designs from the older generations, they were always kind of ugly to me and in some cases completely unreadable, even in world most were misses more than hits for me, where as the new ones are easily readable and manage to fit so much of the monster's character into the small designs, as my first game and introduction to the series I really didn't know what I was getting into half the time, but the icons were almost like a prelude to what I was facing. Personally I like this current style, and I know they wont be using the same Japanese style for Wilds but I hope they ditch the weird mosaic stamps and keep the "hand drawn" aesthetic.

[@thenadei9477]

The Barioth icon you showed was from Stories I believe, not 4 Ultimate. Its second appearence was for Generations Ultimate/Double Cross.

[@CanadianAdim]

It's a shame you only used the PSP icons for Gen 1 and 2 as they have less detail put into them.

[@midnightboshi]

Very Good video! Incredibly made with a lot of really good opinions! I'm definitely subscribing for more! I will say one correction: Is that Barioth is not in Monster Hunter 4 ultimate. The icon is from GU! Other than that small error AMAZING VIDEO!!!!

[@magnabueno5360]

People dont talk enough about monster icons.

[@IMLEECHBOYMF]

No matter the generation its always fun to try and guess what the monster looks like compared to the icon when you hunt it, at least for me lmao

[@goth-_-880]

these icons sure look cool as a pfp

[@Sylvr-evolved]

it sure seems that that is your opinion, based on your pfp

[@lentencraft]

god i love the tri icons so much

[@Smexbi]

Going from Tris icons to 3Us pixel icons was really bad. I get it's pixel art because it's easier to make out on a smaller screen, but they should have imported the Tri icons for the HD version on WiiU.

[@thetexanpilot5301]

First comment yet again! Keep em coming brotha 😎

[@abeltotallynotdnsclientors5054]

Yo, how did I miss this video lol

[@canadaman112]

Good vid

[@geomy7]

3 Ultimates icons will always have a special place in my heart because it was my first monsterhunter game and because they were more cartoony it was always kind of exciting to see how the actual monster would look especially for cases like gigginox or rathalos because I just couldn‘t fully imagine how the icon would translate to gameplay and I also thought they looked very nice