Monster Rancher (series)

Monster Rancher
The Monster Rancher logo of Monster Rancher 4, the eighth game in the series. Most titles use a similar logo.
Genres	Life simulation role-playing game
Developers	Tecmo GRC (secondary)
Publishers	Tecmo UFO Interactive (secondary)
Platforms	PlayStation, PlayStation 2, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo DS
First release	Monster Rancher November 30, 1997
Latest release	My Monster Rancher December 15, 2011

Monster Rancher, known in Japan as Monster Farm (モンスターファーム, Monsutā Fāmu^?), is a series of life simulation role-playing video games created by Tecmo (now Tecmo Koei). The series currently consists of fourteen games across different video game platforms. In addition, the series has been adapted into an anime.

Before the world's continents broke up into pieces, a huge disaster hit the world. People prayed to God for help, and God created new life forms. However, new life forms brought new troubles, so God became exasperated and sealed them in "disc stones". Many years have passed since then and God entrusted the humans with the secret of "disc stones". Today people still continue searching for these missing "disc stones" to unlock the lifeforms within.

It is said that the "disc stones" are almost impossible to find among the ancient ruins. It is said that one monster is trapped inside each one. One day a group of workers excavating the ancient ruins happened to dig up one of these mythical disc stones. The worker who first discovered a disc stone took the disc to the Monsters' Temple. There the priests, using the ancient methods, unlocked the monster inside the disc stone. In a place where ranchers and monsters coexisted peacefully, the battle of the monsters began! As time passed these monster battles became extremely popular, and monster breeding became the standard pastime of the land. Eventually disc stones were found around the entire world. Now ranchers across the globe come together and enter battle.

Monster Rancher is often compared to Pokémon, though the two series play differently. While the Pokémon games are traditionally collection-based RPGs, Monster Rancher games tend to be simulated animal breeding games. The genre Monster Rancher occupies is shared by other simulation virtual pet games, such as Digimon, and games based on raising horses for racing, like in the Gallop Racer series, also by Tecmo.