During one of her many trips to Japan a few years ago, my best friend and now translator here at oprainfall picked up a Japanese 3DS. Specifically, she grabbed the limited edition Brachydios model released with Monster Hunter 3G. As the both of us have been rabid Monster Hunter fans since Tri, we naturally downloaded Monster Hunter 4 from the Japanese eShop as soon as we could. Yes, we were one of the 1.75 million gamers who bought the game in its opening week.
We plan to use our copy of Monster Hunter 4 to write three things: a preview of the game discussing new features and the two new weapons, a review of the game, and a series of articles discussing the brand-new monsters to be found.
This article is the first of that last objective. We won’t be writing about monsters like the Velociprey, which is found in 4 and in previous generations (excluding 3 Ultimate); we’ll only be writing about the all-new monsters, subspecies included. Updates will be irregular; entries will be written as I get to each monster and feel comfortable enough with it to write about it. Think of this series as a place for new monster information, both in and outside of battle.
Today, we will be discussing the Aruserutasu, the first new monster you’ll face in Monster Hunter 4. Before jumping into it, here’s our translation of the Hunter’s Notes on this beastie:
Known as “The Breaker Beetle”, the Aruserutasu is a medium-sized flying rhinoceros beetle.
It primarily attacks using aerial combat, and when on the ground uses quick movements. It is necessary to take caution, particularly when it raises its horn, as it will quickly follow with a fast charge attack. If it charges into a wall, its horn will become stuck inside it.
The Aruserutasu is a male Neopteron. I haven’t gotten to the female yet in-game, but man, she looks nasty. The Aruserutasu is fought even before the Great Jaggi; whether or not it’s easier than the Great Jaggi is debatable, but it’s really not all that difficult.
Before going into battle, bear in mind that the Aruserutasu is weakest to lightning. Only one part of its body its breakable, and that’s the giant orange-and-green spike protruding from its head.
At the start of the battle, the Aruserutasu will be in the air, where it likes to charge at you from a distance. If it’s hovering out of reach, move away from the ledge to draw it in. I generally have to do this quite a bit, as it likes to stay where I can’t reach. It also has a tendency to shoot out three green blobs that afflict defence down, much like the Qurupeco from Tri. If you can get it to charge into a wall, it’ll get stuck there, leaving it open to attack.
If you hit it enough or drive it to the point of exhaustion, the Aruserutasu will drop out of the air for ground combat. It’s pretty easy to hit here, and it’ll use its claws and pincers a lot more than it did in the air.
Keep an eye on the Aruserutasu’s abdomen—it’ll shrink when it’s out of stamina. At this point, it’ll scuttle off to find a dead Kelbi to munch on. When it’s low on stamina, it’s unable to fly, or shoot green blobs, for that matter. It has a rather irritating habit of going to sleep on a wall out of reach, but that’s easily solved in Monster Hunter 4, as a good whack with your carving knife will knock it down to the ground. Yes, you can attack monsters while climbing in this game.
That’s it for the Aruserutasu. Next time, we’ll be covering the Kechawacha, a new form of Pelagus. Until then, happy hunting!
Thanks to Jodie Langford for her translation skills.
Images were taken from the Aruserutasu page on the Monster Hunter Wiki.
