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.

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.

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

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

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

Sunbreaks icons are gorgeous

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.

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.

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

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!

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.

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!

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

Great video! I really enjoyed the breakdown

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

Great video keep doing what you're doing man

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

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!!!!

god i love the tri icons so much

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

Wow ice borne had the cleanest monster icons

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

these icons sure look cool as a pfp

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

Good vid

People dont talk enough about monster icons.

Tri's has to have the best art style

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.

Yo, how did I miss this video lol

Subbed

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

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

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.

First comment yet again! Keep em coming brotha 😎

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.

Man you should have looked at the raths in mhf1

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

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

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

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.