The demo has finally come after all this time! It has two monsters on it (Lagombi and Plesioth). As well as access to 12 different weapon types to try out.

The only thing lacking is a basic tutorial / controls overview. For veteran hunters this is not a problem, but this game is in a situation to expose a whole new group of people to the Monster Hunter franchise. It would be a bummer for people to be turned off before even giving it a chance because they struggle with the controls.

The best advice I can give to new hunters trying this out, is try a few different weapon types. They all play extremely differently and will drastically change your game experience. You might be a big fan of something like Dual Swords because you feel more mobile. Or you might like the slow but powerful attacks of a Great Sword. Another tip of advice would be to take it slow and steady. Wait for your opportunity to attack and be conservative. Once you figure out the monsters patterns, then you can capitalize on those opportunities. If you charge in and button mash...chances are you will have a bad time.

Happy Hunting!

"We want new players!"

Demo of Plesioth.

@indiefinch: Literally just started playing! I'm kinda disappointed the demo doesn't have Circle Pad Pro support, especially as mine arrived today. Also do you have any weapon recommendations for me? I've put a few hundred hours across an English translation of MHP3rdG and MHF2 and started off as a Dual Blades guy, but by the end of 3rdG I was probably 60% LS and 40% GS. I feel like I should try something different (I think I used HuntingHorn once) and I've always liked the look of the GunLance, but I usually play solo because none of my friends were into the game and hence have stayed away from ranged weapons generally. Hopefully I should have people to play MH3U with so that might change, and daaamn that SwitchAxe looks dope.

Can't believe I just got time up on the Lagombi... too much meat cooking ahaha. Was about to kill it too.

EDIT: Trashed the Lagombi with the GS, wasn't even using charge attacks, just wailed on him. Then went and tried Plesi with LS. Dafuq I timed out on Plesi too? Is the LS in the demo really weak or some shit? I beat the crap out of Plesioth, yet he didn't die. I got so many hits in cause he just kept standing around doing nothing on land. It almost seemed broken. Yet even with all the free hits he didn't die. No idea.

@morbid_coffee: Yep, I kind of wish they would have thrown in a Great Jaggi or something as a low tier monster for people to train on. Lagombi is pretty decent once you learn the controls...but I really don't see new people taking the time to battle the Plesioth.

@chavtheworld: I really enjoy the Switch Axe, it was my favorite weapon in MH Tri. Tonight I am going to mess around with the ranged weapons a bit. I did take down the Plesioth earlier today, it didn't seem too too bad...I think I did it in around 10-15min. Try giving the Dual Swords a try on him, the type in the demo is electric and I believe the Plesioth's weakness is electric. Just hug his feet the best you can to avoid his tail spin and whenever he does the water spray just go nuts on him. Also work in any traps / bombs if you get the opportunity to.

Ugh, this just makes me want to buy a Wii U sooner rather than later. I'm holding out for a bundle, though....soon...

How is this on 3DS? Does it control well and look nice?

The 3D is really sweet, when I turn it off it just feels so much less immersive. There's a real depth to it, like things in the distance seem sunk back into the screen, it's cool. Other than that, the graphics are on par with the PSP I'd say. I don't have an XL so it seems like a lot of visual information cramped in a small space, but at least it's crisp enough.

Control wise it works pretty well, stupidly the demo doesn't support the Circle Pad Pro, so I've been using default controls. One thing I say is a must is change the lock on camera to be double tap L to focus on the enemy, instead of single tap. On single tap the latency between hitting the button and the camera going is killer, double tap is instant. Plus it stops you from accidentally holding L to change your items instead of moving the camera. Underwater is tricky, but this is also my first time doing that.

I'll definitely give the axe a go then! You're right those dual blades are electric, and that is Plesi's weakness. I got him limping real bad with em but ran out of time again. I could easily kill him if I had half an hour, I think what's getting me is the underwater stuff. Never played Tri so never done it before, and it just costs me so much time. On land I absolutely wreck the guy (does help I know his moveset well), but as soon as he's underwater he's always fifteen miles away from me and I can't hit him much at all. Nearly killed him with the GreatSword too, but time up as I was landing what could have been the killing blow.

Damn you Plesi!

Hello fellow hunters! Happy to see some buzz here for the demo's today. It's nice to finally see MH in higher resolution. I've downloaded the demo on both platforms but I've only had a chance to play it briefly on the WiiU. I'll be honest, the shoulder bumpers didn't feel so awkwardly placed until I played MH3U, other than that no real complaints.

Yeah, the demo doesn't really present the game to new Hunters very well. Luckily I was introduced with Tri and the tutorial missions helped out exponentially. I'm curious to see how the demo is received by curious WiiU players.

I played the demo! My hand immediately went to claw position before realizing that doesn't work anymore!

:(

Played the demo earlier and I really enjoyed. Really like Long Sword. Going to play the demo again for sure. Also before I get the actual game, going to do a little research on the basics of the game.

Always wanted to try these games, but never got around to them. This will be my first MH game.

The best way to get into Monster Hunter is to play with, or along side people who know what they're doing. Like us.

I hated Freedom Unite when I tried getting into it alone, but then a friend pushed me in the right direction and MH become one of my favorite franchises.

This is a rough demo for someone who hasn't played one of these before. No tutorial and I couldn't see a control scheme anywhere. But I read some tips and it seemed pretty fun. Only have a 3DS but it seemed very playable.

@morbid_coffee: Any good MH sites out there that I should check out?

@jjor64: I used to use monsterhunter.wikia.com when first learning how to play. Has a bunch of weapon trees, where to find specific items for crafting, strategies for fighting boss monsters, etc. I haven't checked it in forever so I don't know how much they have on Tri Ultimate, but most of the stuff from the original Tri section should still apply.

@morbid_coffee: Cool. Thanks. Trying the 3DS demo right now and I can tell that I hate using the D-Pad/Touch Screen to control the camera.

I just played the Wii U demo using the Switch Axe and really liked it. This is the first time I've played a Monster Hunter game so I timed out on my first attempt, but once I got the hang of the controls I had a pretty good time.

I briefly looked at the 3DS version as well, seems nice but kind of tricky to play without Circle Pad Pro support, is that going to be in the full version?

Anyway I like these games so far, I'll probably pick up both on launch day.

@jjor64: A really good resource is the MyFairHunter podcast done by Roy from Kotowari.org. He teaches his gf to play Monster Hunter without her knowing anything. http://myfairhunter.com is the site. He also wrote a book specifically for new hunters coming into the game. It should be on that site or over on his personal site, kotowari.org.

The worst part of this damn demo, is that we still have another 4 weeks until it is released.....

Alright, played with the dual swords a bit and I think I'm going to go for one of the heaver weapons. I don't like the feeling that my hits are doing barely any damage and—with the switch axe—I can get enough mobility for my liking.

I just recently found my old PsP and downloaded Munster Hunter there. I really enjoyed it but just couldnt get into the controls. So i was stoked to play this on my 3DS with the circle pad pro. Sad that the demo doesnt support it, but the full game will, wont it? Definately looking forward to playing it.

@indiefinch: @bamsaidthelady: You can find controls and weapon attacks in the digital menu in the home screen.

Just got done with the 3ds demo. Killed the Lagombi 3 times as LS, S&S, DB. Been awhile since I played MH Tri (also my first MH), but I seemed to recall all the inputs within the first attempt. Took a lil bit to figure out how the lock-on system worked, but got the hang of it. Its a nice alternative to a traditional lock on, but can be a bit hard to aim swings properly.

Now the Plesi... good lord. I tried first with the S&S. Got timed out. Tried again with Hammer (my favorite class from MH Tri) and managed to beat him with seconds to spare. I was afraid I was going to get timed out during my chase back to his lair. Those underwater controls... they're not good.

But mann, iunno if I would want this game on the 3ds. Between fighting the controls (only the underwater portion was a trouble really) and the craziness they came up with for the whole online thing (rather how there is none unless you go through the wiiu)... its kind of a hard sale. Also I played Tri already on the Wii, I don't think I want to play it again. I'm ready for MH4... on a console or Vita. Speaking of which, going back to MH combat after playing a shit ton of Ragnarok Odyssey, tis a different beast. Hard to say which I enjoy more though. RO's combat is a lot of fun and fast paced with insta-blocks and dashes/air-dashes. You still have to be patient and wait for tells and then attack, but not as much as would in MH games.

I found the lock on camera to be pretty good - as long as you go into the controls menu and on the second page set it to Type-2. That way, single tap rotates behind you and double tap rotates to the monster. The double tap makes the rotate to monster happen instantly, and stops you from accidentally holding it and bringing up the item wheel. On single tap for monster there's a huge delay. Using that I can play competently (although not as well as with the old PSP claw) without touching the D-Pad or touchscreen.

Can't wait to use the CPP in the full release. I will be very upset if the demo not having support means they are going to remove it from the full game...

Fighting Plesioth underwater is god damn near impossible without a CPP. It's even worse that he goes on land for maybe all of 1 minute before deciding "lol nope" and jumping back underwater.

They managed to take one of the most obnoxious fights in the francishe and make it worse.

I didn't have a clue what I was doing to begin with. I've never played a Monster Hunter before and I didn't know I had to follow the monster on the map to kill it. I guess it was a monster... and I was hunting it, makes sense.

Without a second stick and using the D-pad to control the camera I found it really irritating. Getting caught on doorways/entrances I kept being knocked into different zones or the giant snow rabbit would just slide away in the middle of me slashing endlessly at it. The demo gave me absolutely no idea what I was supposed to be doing. As something I was once curious about I have almost zero interest now. I'm sure that people into Monster Hunter will go nuts for it, but the demo shouldn't be trying to sell the game to those people.

I didn't even kill the giant snow rabbit, it seemed like it was going to take like a year to kill so I switched it off.

Plessy underwater tips... Dive deep... then just auto target the hell out of Plessy. It will be easier to swim to him when you are deeper.

Also don't use slow weapons under water. It's hard to hit with them. Go for DS... Works like a charm if you stick near him and wail.

Plessy isn't even close to the difficulty of Lagia.. Easy pickins for me.

They should have put the Bear and one of the early bosses rather than Bunny and Plessy though. New people will get pummelled even by the Bunny. Even if it's a yawnfest for a vet.

And well.. why bother with Underwater when the barebones handheld can't handle it. I think the dual analog Vita would have been perfect for the job.