Right out of the blue, a sequel to MFDS has been announced for release this August, titled Monster Farm DS2. This time they've added a special character input system that uses Japanese or Chinese characters for regeneration in addition to the doodles, voice and GBA cart methods.

The most noteworthy thing about it? See for yourself.

Monols, Centaurs, Galis and Panchos, oh my!

Also Nagas.

Here are a couple of magazine scans that feature the game, revealing the new assistant, a strange group of persons, the JP character input system, and other miscellaneous details.

The game's official title is Monster Farm DS2: Yomigaeru! Master Breeder Densetsu (Revival! Master Breeder Legend). It definitely seems like it's going to me much more story-oriented than the gameplay-focused, nigh-eventless MFDS.

News flash: The game will have about 90 new monsters, bringing the total to at least 274.

Assuming all of MFDS' breeds return, and one new one debuts, there will be at least 30 breeds.

The healthiest roster since MR4.

That's nice to know but i still would like to see an American release for the first one =(

I must agree, I wish this was in English, My Boyfriend still wins the "you can't have it if you can't even read it" argument every time. But that picture sure is promising, looks old school! I miss Monster ranching, The Wii takes all my time now... I'm glad to see you are all still keeping up with what I SADLY cannot...and I keep up my hopes for new american (or at least english) games...

I'm pretty sure that if they're going to localize anything, they'll skip the first game and go straight to the second, as it will likely refine the groundwork established in MFDS and add several story elements, which were, like MRA, all but absent.

It's just like there's no reason to play MRA with MRA2 being an improvement in every respect.

WOOHOO.

something else to import. Though I will almost certainly need some sort of translation guide (or actualy make an effort to learn more japanese than the ultra-basic stuff that I remember from high school).

And woohoo on the return of galis, and the kanji input regeneration as well.

Gali's are back! holy crap did this make my day, i hope for more oldies to appear

Official site

What might that book in the middle of the page be? Is that a complete works book? When is it coming out?

The subtitle on the book itself says -
Monster Farm (something) Memorial Pack

Figured out the 'something'

It says Monster Farm Official Memorial Pack

The large text (Below the green boxed text)on the right says "Large Volume" "100 Pages"

I am having trouble without any translation tools, but it looks like the title text on the right side (over the green text box) also says Official Memorial Pack. The small red text in there appears to say something like "Celebrating 10 Years of Monster Rancher"

The green text box says "10 years of the Monster Rancher Series" in there and also says Large Volume Fun Pack.

I am not finding anything that looks like a release date in there yet, but i will peer some more..

Hmm, the only 2 dates I am finding are the Release date of Aug 7 and what appears at the bottom to be the opening date of the official site (it appears to say Early June)

Doh, My bad. It's Memorial Book, not Pack.
I checked Amazon.jp to see if they had it as a future release. No hits on the full title.

The blue bar appears to be an announcement of Pre-orders. I can;t figure out one particular Kanji, so I am not sure.

Yep, complete works book. I'd really like to get myself one of those, especially if it has art for the human characters. I'll keep a close watch on Play-Asia in the meantime.

Is there anything else noteworthy about the game on that page?

Ok, finally got it. The blue portion basically says "Pre-order Campaign now starting up"

I'll see what I can glean about the game itself bnow that I am on my lunch break.

The magazine article is really thick text! Over my head for sure.
However, the article tells me that all the MFDS breeds are back and there are 5 new base breeds added -

Pancho (Never seen him before...)
Kentaurus (Centaur)
Naga
Gali
Monolith (Monol)

Also further on the text input system -

You can make a sentence/word using up to 6 total characters that can be comprised of Hiragana, Katakana, or Kanji.

It seems sort of like a return of the MFA password system, but using handwriting recognition instead. I suppose I will have to make my Kanji strokes much cleaner..

Last thing I think i can figure out is that on the bottom bar of the second magazine page it says that the game is 90% complete and I believe it also says that it will be released along with the Memorial Book (they call it booklet) at the same time.

I should probably note that the article is apparently in Chinese.

But there one monster i don't see that's in almost all of the PS Monster rancher games still... Jells... =(

You may be right about that, GM. There is very little Kana and it seems to be only in places where there are Japanese names. Oi..

wow monols and galis... centaurs too, mr2 monsters must make a comeback :P Sounds real good but I still need a english version for MF DS 1 :(

So, there is no guarantee this comes out in english, correct? What ever happened to it coming to America? Not enough interest. I love the series and hope that this can get it back on its feet.

The first game sold quite decently, despite a cart shortage (Lisa recently informed me of this) which lasted four weeks. 60,000 units is better than any handheld MR game to date.

However, I think they skipped out on a US release for MFDS because they felt that, like MRA, it would be obsolete with the release of a sequel, since it was almost all gameplay and virtually no story, while the sequel would improve the gameply and add a story, which was the case with MRA2. So they likely decided to skip it and consider localizing a sequel. Assuming there's no cart shortage again, which would just be terrible luck, it just might sell well enough for them to begin localization right away.

I can't really disagree with your logic as to why they may very well have skipped MFDS. However, I liked MRA as well as MR quite a bit. Both of which would fall into the same category as MFDS. Yes, MRA2 had more story and improved various aspects. MR2 also had more story and improved various aspects as well. However, that shouldn't be a reason to deny a larger population of a game.

There's a significant difference between MR and MRA when compared to their respective sequels. MR has a unique presentation, as well as unique breeds and training techniques. It also takes place in a different geographical location than MR2.

On the other hand, MRA and MRA2's presentations are identical. They also take place in the same location, and MRA2 features every breed and training mechanic from the original, and adds much more to it. Barring the extra subspecies exclusive to MRA (which are, more often than not, fairly plain recolors) and the ability to assign coaches to light drills, literally everything in MRA can be found and done in MRA2 in more or less the same fashion.

Think of it this way; MR is like a hamburger, while MR2 is like a steak. Distinctly different, and each have their own charm.

As for the handhelds, MRA is like a medium order of fries, while MRA2 is like a large order of fries with complimentary dipping sauce.

There's little reason to play the former when the latter is so very similar in every respect. And with added bulk, no less.

MR2 used the same graphics engine, just made more polished. It used the same battle engine, just made more polished. It used MOST of the same monster, and added a LOT more. It used saved monster from MR1 (you could get them from your save file) and also used characters from MR1 (Holly is there for example). I tend to think they are a bit closer then a hamburger and steak are. Yes, MRA and MRA2 are closer together, but that doesn't retract from my previous statement. I also would prefer to play both. ^_^

But again, I can't really disagree with logic behind the skip. I just would like to be able to play both.

so, anyone have any suggestions for a teach yourself japanese product. (even one that gives enough knowlege to be able to go right into an advance learning course at a night school or something, I ask this because I have been planning to try and learn japanese again, and a game with large amounts of story that seems to only be getting a japanese release is a good excuse to learn)