Monster Rancher

Monster Rancher
Also known as: Monster Farm (JP) Developer: Tecmo Publisher: Tecmo Platform: PlayStation Released in JP: July 24, 1997 Released in US: November 30, 1997 Released in EU: December 9, 2021 This game has unused music. This game has debugging material. This game has regional differences.

To do: Is the hidden music track from one of Tecmo's horse racing games?

Monster Rancher has a rather unique mechanic where the player must use other CDs to get new monsters. Then, these monsters are used for raising, breeding, and battling.

Hidden CD Track

Track 2 of the CD contains this crazy techno music. This is likely a filler track borrowed from another game.

Animation Viewer

Contained on the game's disc is a PS executable named ANM3DCHK.EXE, which would have allowed developers to see 3D animations. To boot this program, you need to change the BOOT parameter in SYSTEM.CNF to load this executable instead.

MODEL SELECT

This is the first screen upon booting the executable. This menu can be controlled with the D-Pad, and pressing Circle switches the next page.

Menu Text	Explanation	Notes
MAIN	Select 3D model.	When selecting "BORNFIRE", "CANDOL", "ICE", or "ICE DUMMY" on this menu, the viewer freezes.
SUB	Select the texture for the 3D model.
MON GLOW	Changes the monster growth parameter.
MON FAT	Changes the monster fat parameter.
STAGE	Select the background.
WAPPEN	Select a patch.
TYPE	Select the model type; IKUSEI (育成; Growth) or BATTLE.

3D Check Screen

Displays the 3D check screen after the load screen. It can do as follows:

• D-Pad to move camera around the screen.
• Square/Circle to rotate the camera.
• L1/L2 to zoom in/out.
• Triangle/Cross to increase/decrease ANIME NO.
• Start to switch to STILL MODE/AUTO PLAY. STILL MODE stops the animation.
• Select to switch to CONFIG MODE.

CONFIG MODE

CONFIG MODE can change the background used for the viewer. Press Select to switch the first screen.

Menu Text	Explanation
GROUND	Enable/Disable show background.
COL RED	Background color.
COL GREEN	Background color.
COL BLUE	Background color.

Regional Differences

Japan	US

The background art in the title screen is zoomed in and focused on with a flare, removing the emblem on the right. The resolution is slightly higher in the US version. The copyright statement also has a different font.