Monster Hunter Stories suddenly appeared on the Japanese Google Play Store several days back, with the game being advertised as a full-fledged port of the original title for the Nintendo 3DS. Capcom has yet to officially announce the release which it never revealed was even in the works, with this particular product launch strategy not being the Japanese company’s usual M.O. Due to that state of affairs, it’s still unclear whether Monster Hunter Stories is meant to be released in the West and when that might happen if it is. The game is priced at approximately $15 and doesn’t appear to contain any ads or in-app purchases.
Capcom has been intensifying its mobile gaming efforts in recent years, having opened a new division dedicated to portable platforms in mid-2016 and subsequently tasking it with bringing a wide variety of its popular franchises to Android and iOS. The same unit presumably worked on the Android port of Monster Hunter Stories which looks identical to the 3DS original. The game itself was an unlikely candidate for a mobile port seeing how it’s a relatively new release that hit Nintendo‘s portable console just last year. The somewhat casual nature of the game does make it more suitable for mobile platforms than a traditional Monster Hunter title, with this particular creation being a Marvelous-made spin-off with streamlined action sequences and a larger focus on creature and equipment management. The game is 2.5GB in size and only supports the Japanese language option, according to initial user reports.
Capcom doesn’t appear to be using the Google Play Store’s native geotargeting capabilities as anyone can access the game’s Android listing below, though Monster Hunter Stories appears to only be available on select devices sold in Japan which the developer is presumably identifying by their model numbers. While the game can theoretically run on operating system builds as old as Android 5.0 Lollipop, finding a 2015 smartphone or tablet capable of running it may prove to be a challenge, depending on the quality of the port. In case you own a compatible device, you’re able to purchase Monster Hunter Stories for Android by referring to the banner below.