Highlights

  • Monster Hunter Wilds taking inspiration from Pokemon elements would show a smart evolution for the franchise's open-world debut.
  • Introducing new monsters based on Zacian, Zamazenta, Lugia, and Xerneas could bring fresh excitement to Monster Hunter Wilds.
  • Adapting Pokemon like Zarude, Stakataka, and Deoxys into Monster Hunter could offer unique challenges and endgame content for players.

Across Pokemon and Monster Hunter’s decades-long lifespans, both franchises have built massive global audiences that return to enjoy their monster fighting and capturing time and again. Even the series’ themselves have taken notice of one another's fame, with Monster Hunter Stories spin-offs incorporating more turn-based RPG and monster-raising elements. The upcoming Monster Hunter Wilds also seems to have drawn some inspiration from a recent Pokemon title, though it's unclear if Monster Hunter Wilds is directly referencing it or just arrived at the same conclusion.

After players spent Monster Hunter Rise riding Palamutes, Monster Hunter Wilds decided to introduce a new mount. This appears to be a small bird wyvern able to run on two or four legs, as well as glide through the air. Fans quickly noticed that MH Wilds’ mount resembled Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's boxart legendaries Koraidon and Miraidon, even sharing most of their traversal options when ridden by players. Copying one of Pokemon's first open-world features is a smart idea for what may be Monster Hunter’s own open-world debut, but perhaps even more interesting is how that opens the door to MH Wilds adapting other legendary Pokemon.

Red from Pokemon over the plains from the trailer of Monster Hunter Wilds
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Monster Hunter Wilds should introduce players to many new monsters, and the Kanto Pokedex is full of ideas that could translate well.

Zacian and Zamazenta

The boxart legendaries for Pokemon Sword and Shield, Zacian and Zamazenta, would work just as well in Monster Hunter as Scarlet and Violet's. Specifically, they could be Palamutes again, just specialized in using Longswords or a Canyne-exclusive shield weapon. It's unknown if Monster Hunter Wilds has retired Palamutes, but they could be worth keeping just to see this obvious crossover.

Lugia

Speaking of obvious crossovers, plenty of Monster Hunter and Pokemon fans have already noticed that Lugia looks great in both. Its body shape is ideal for Monster Hunter's wyverns, and fanart emphasizing Lugia's scaly hide looks exactly like a Monster Hunter creature. Complete with weather-altering abilities and a tendency to sleep underwater -- all traits that Monster Hunter’s Elder Dragons have already shown -- Pokemon Silver's mascot legendary could easily be transplanted into Monster Hunter Wilds.

Xerneas and Yveltal

A lot of boxart legendary Pokemon are ideal for Monster Hunter, but with creatures already similar to some of them, like MH World’s Zorah Magdaros paralleling Groudon, it would be more interesting to give Pokemon X and Y's atypical Xerneas and Yveltal a chance. Xerneas would accompany the moose-like Banbaro as another Large Monster-class deer, and a bird wyvern with Yveltal's colors would immediately stand out as keyed to the deadly Dragon Element. Their abilities could involve spreading or absorbing bioenergy like Xeno’jiiva, making them ideal Monster Hunter story fuel.

Zarude

Monster Hunter already has several ape-like creatures, most prominently the recurring Rajang, but the Mythical Pokemon Zarude offers a fresh twist on the concept. Very few Monster Hunter marks manipulate plant life, with Monster Hunter World's Leshen crossover from The Witcher being the most notable example. Zarude would keep the concept believable within Monster Hunter Wilds’ realistic aesthetic, using the vines around its limbs as whips and rope swings to keep hunters away, and keeping itself in the fight with Jungle Healing.

Stakataka

Edging into the stranger monsters usually found in Monster Hunter side games, the Ultra Beast Stakataka could be adapted with some lateral thinking. A Monster Hunter foe composed of many small insectoid neopterons, temnocerans, or carapaceons linking their tough shells together is an interesting concept that hasn't been used yet. Only a single new large temnoceran species, the Rakna-Kadaki, debuted in Monster Hunter’s fifth generation, so Stakataka could become one of MH Wilds’ standout newcomers.

Deoxys

Not even the most bizarre monsters lost to Monster Hunter's history can justify full-body shapeshifting in Monster Hunter’s relatively grounded setting, but MH Wilds wouldn't need to cross that line to adapt the Mythical DNA Pokemon Deoxys. A monster baking or flash-freezing material onto itself in different shapes could allow it to transition between Deoxys’ Normal, Attack, Defense, and Speed Formes. Monster Hunter Wilds could make a great endgame fight out of the alien Pokemon, just as long as it's willing to take some creative liberties to get there.