So apparently Tecmo has very recently announced that they'll be localizing Monster Rancher DS in March 2010. Here's a link!

https://www.destructoid.com/tecmo-s-again-and-monster-rancher-ds-coming-march-2010-154734.phtml

Credit for the find goes to someone from a board I frequent.

It dosn't say anything about this on the Tecmo website.

I haven't looked into it a ton, thus the "apparently". Destructoid's never steered me wrong before, though.

It's on Joystiq, too. https://www.joystiq.com/2009/11/10/tecmo-dates-again-dusts-off-monster-rancher-ds/

Ok, I'll try to find more on this.

It is on https://www.siliconera.com/2009/11/10/again-and-monster-rancher-ds-two-cing-games-from-tecmo-coming-next-year/ this site too. I'm starting to think this may be true.

Oh. My. God. This would be awesome! Please don't turn out to be fake..

Destructoid, Joystiq and Siliconera are reputable sources, and the announcement came from Cing themselves, so this is definitely true.

Looks like we're back in business.

This is amazing! I've been waiting for english MRDS, GREATLY looking forward to this, yes I shall support MR :D

This is cool. I'd like to point out that Agetec is NOT involved.

Actually, they don't really specify which MFDS game is being localized, but, my guess is that it would be the second one.

Anyway, start saving up for it now! This HAS to sell well here.

BTW, I see a picture of a Suezo on the joystq site....

The Destructoid link shows a picture of the box art. Apart from the new English logo, it's identical to MFDS2.

Good times!

Sifting through the screenshots on Joystiq, I managed to find out a few things:

-The game is definitely a localization of MFDS2.

-BOMBA stands for Borgan Monster Battle Academy, presumably Association also.

-The assistant's English name is Cleo.

-The lab admin's English name is Pharma.

-Abisu's English name is Abyss.

-The monster count is the same, 272.


I can't remember off-hand, but are those book entries the same as the ones in MR4 or Evo?

that's great. Do you know why. It means we Americans finally get to work for Ms. Claire. Thanks for deleting my posts, Lisa, because they were false anyway. They were coming from my friend at school. I'll refresh him on the situation. Soon, Ms.Claire, you'll have me and my sister to work with. Remember this, BOMBA stands for "Borgon Monster Battle Academy." The lab lady's name is Pharma. I don't know the meanie's name, because the screenshots call him Cleo. I'm guessing he's referring to Claire, or the Monster in the screenshot.

Oh man, it's the second one? That's even more awesome! (I heard it had many improvements over the first) I can't wait, I definitely will save up for this one.

Dang, I guess I'll have to get a DS now. This is really cool.

Hold on - will this support online play, aka tournaments that won't involve ancient hardware like the dexdrive?

I am quite happy about this, for obvious reasons. Maybe now I can drag GoldenBoy back into the MR universe.

MRDS will have both local and online PvP battles.

Yes, you'll be able to play via DS online pretty much anytime you want, granting that someone else is online to play against you. And, there's local wifi play as well. (IIRC, you need to be within 200 feet of the other player for local wifi to work)

Sweet. :)

I am thinking that chat would actually be a good way to meet up with opponents in advance.

I'm not quite certain about letting people post friend codes on the board. It seems like a good idea, but, then, they will still be there 6 months later...

Plenty of video game message boards already do this, so it couldn't hurt to give it a try.

We could always make a temp thread in the MRDS section where people could post their FCs then copy them to a more permanent location. Members could also post personal updates in that thread if their codes changed for whatever reason.

A matchmaking thread would probably be too taxing and costly, so the chatroom would be the best place for people to meet up and organize battles.

I guess I need to keep an eye out for sales on any model of Nintendo DS (I occasionally see DS Lites for $100). I'm not going to rush out and grab one, but if I see a price I can't refuse, this game looks like it would make it worth while.

Judging from the screen shots, it looks like a lot of the best MR elements are there (and also that the graphics might be a little choppy, but that's not why I play MR).

It actually looks quite good for a DS game. Screenshots for most 3D games on DS don't do them justice.

If you don't own a DS, I'd wait for more word on whether this game will have DSi enhancements or not.

I've played a DS, so I know what it can do; and I've seen better looking screen shots than that. What I was getting at, though, is that how good the screen shots (or even the game to an extent - so long as it doesn't hurt my eyes) look isn't a big deal. I'd still rather play MR2 and MRA2 over anything else right now, and they're not the sexiest games by current standards.

Also, I didn't know that the DSi could make any significant difference. I haven't been keeping up on it. That the DSi XL is scheduled for Q1 in NA leads me to believe that the DSi will see a price drop though, so that could be fortunate.

There are only a handful of DSi-exclusive games out right now, most of them in Japan. Since games that use DSi's exclusive features can't be played on a normal DS, I doubt they'll change much.

Woo! This is great news.

Who knows, maybe I'll buy a copy for myself, and another as backup.. and maybe one for my friends. XD

Yesss I work at gamestop in Toronto part time of course, and I got this preordered the moment the sku came into the system. $29.99 with be the Canadian gamestop price.

It's super-cool to hear the game is in the system! Thanks for the pre-order, every one is critical. I'm going to run around this weekend and reserve several copies at various places.

Since you pre ordered it, do you happen to know the offical release date?

The release dates in the system work like this: If it says it's coming out on the 1st of the month, then it's always a guess. It says Feb 1, 2010 which means Gamestop is guessing for Feb release, but I'd stick to the March release date that is stated by all the sources in this thread. Can't wait for some good ol' MR during the commute to Uni :P

I tried to pre-order it today but it wasn't in the system at my local GameStop, or online.
I guess I'll have to wait for now.

Meanwhile I'm thinking about going to some online custom item place and see if I can make myself a Monster Rancher bumper sticker. Just will have to figure out what to put.

I normally don't do Bumper Stickers but for my favorite game series, I can make an exception.

Interesting. Looks like the Canadians have different computer info.

A good manager WILL take your money, they have a generic sku for pre-orders without a sku. The trick is to remind them later to convert the pre-order over when the real sku shows up in the system.

Just out of curiousity, any idea what Font they use for that cover?

Font for the cover? Check the links in this thread, you'll find a picture of the DS game cover. I've been creeping MR vids on youtube and spreading the word of American release and to pre-order :P