How a Pink T-Rex Opened my Eyes to the World of Monster Hunter
I never knew I could fall in love with a giant pink t-rex with snot dribbling out of his nose.
But then I played the Monster Hunter World demo.
For weeks my husband and his friends had been talking all about the new Monster Hunter game coming out. While I listened and admired the pretty artwork he showed me, I didn’t have any intentions of playing the game. At most I thought that I might pick it up when he wasn’t playing and have a few adventures of my own. I’m sure me and my little feline friend would have a great time but I did not think that the game would stick with me. It seemed so different from Mario Kart or Rune Factory (two of my favorite games) that I didn’t think I’d actually like playing it. I thought that it would be a nice game to sit back and watch while my husband took down all these nasty monsters. Nothing more than a pleasant distraction from the occasional mundane Monday.
It was a pretty average Saturday morning when he downloaded the demo. I cleaned the kitchen, all the while listening as he battled one giant lizard after another. I’d peek my head in every now and then, just long enough to see what this pukei pukei thing actually looked like or what new environment he was in. All in all, nice little breaks between cleaning.
Eventually, it happened. My husband took a break and asked if I wanted to give the demo a try. I have to admit I was pretty interested by this point. Plus, this would be the perfect break before moving on to the other chores of the day.
I picked up that controller and didn’t put it back down for hours. I was sucked in from the very beginning.
First, I spent way too much time picking out my preset Palico (spoiler: I choose the mean looking one). After that, it was time to choose a weapon. My first choice was dual blades (which to be fair, still look like a lot of fun) but everything changed when I picked up the hammer.
(I haven’t put that glorious hunk of metal down since. Don’t think I’m serious? Screenshot for proof below.)
It wasn’t the first few fights that grabbed me. Pummel a giant iguana so hard it yarks up it’s breakfast? No biggie. Give that colorful lickitung such a thrashing that it losses all it’s taste buds? Best tell Meowskular Chef to keep the soup warm cause I won’t be long. These fights were fun but weren’t a challenge. Thoughts of towels sitting in the dryer started to rise to my mind’s eye and I was about to put down the controller.
Except I had time for one more fight. Or, so I thought.
It was like the other fights in the beginning. Find the tracks until the glowy bugs catch on to the monster’s stank. Then it’s only a matter of following the green glowing bug road to your quarry. Only this time, I didn’t kill my target.
Anjanath, this giant snotty pink T-Rex, annihilated me.
There was no shock the first few times. It felt more like, “Ah, finally. This must be where they actually level up the monster a bit for you to fight. Can’t be much harder than that mud ball I splated in the desert.”
It finally started to sink in after what must have been the tenth failed mission.
How I fought the other monsters was not working on this freaking jurassic park wanna-be. I dodged and he would spew fire all over me. I’d try to get a mount only to land in teeth or get a tail swipe to the face. I learned what it’s like to fear the sound of a train right before your body gets squashed between a rock and a nose ridge.
Thoughts of towels and cleaning flew from my head as fast as Anjanth could toss me on that buggy, carted away by cats. The one interaction outside of the game that I remember during my back to back duels with the pink mucous menace is when my husband started laughing after I yelled at the screen “I had PLANS today!”
Slowly, steadily, I began to see progress. I started to die less often. I was fighting him for longer periods of time and I even started to get him to his nest. I knew the time was coming when Anji’s reign of terror would end and I was beyond ready for it. My hands were sweaty and cramped, the sun was much lower in the sky, and my sweet patient husband had sacrificed his Xbox so that I might continue my crusade.
It was time to end this.
I used everything I had learned to get that monster back to his nest. As the beast lay sleeping, I set down two large barrel bombs, planted a lit one right next to them, and jumped out of range. The bully jolted from his slumber, stunned and writhing on the ground as brain cells leaked from his ears.
And I had no mercy left within me.
I big banged that bad boy until the words I had been longing to see for over 3 hours finally covered the screen. Never had I wanted to see “Main Objective Complete” displayed across our tv so badly. I’m sure there was yelling and celebrating of finally ridding the world of the great pink menace. What I remember the most is the joy of finally beating Anji for the first time. As I un-cramped my sweaty fingers, there was a huge grin on my face. One of accomplishment and of having had a great time.
I can’t tell you how many times it took me to actually beat the pink bucket of snot, but I do know one thing. When Monster Hunter World came out we didn’t buy one copy; we bought two. My husband and I have spent so many hours playing the game together and have enjoyed every minute of it. Whether we get our butts handed to us by a giant horned bull dog on crack or spend time taking out our resulting frustrations on an inflatable glutton lizard, I can say with 100% certainty that this has been a great game for us to play together.
And there might be a giant pink t rex with a sinus problem I have to thank for that.
Have you played Monster Hunter World yet? If so, what are some of your most memorable moments playing the game? I’d love to hear all and any stories from my fellow hunters!
Until next time, Happy Hunting!
