Suezo, Ducken, Baku, Hare and Colt of Monster Rancher 2, PS1

I spent days going through my parents’ extensive CD collection, excited to see who was locked away in each one.

I would stay up way past my bedtime, training and going to tournaments and exploring the wilderness with them. Even though none of them ever got through S rank, I would reward them for a good job after every fight because I loved them.

I froze them when they got old, with a glimmer of hope that there was some way to bring them back young and healthy… but mostly, I just never wanted any of them to be gone forever.

Monster Rancher 2 is one of my favorite games of all time.

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Knight and Baby of Guardian’s Crusade, PS1

In this RPG/virtual pet mashup, the monster fights alongside its caretaker! That’s so much cooler than making it do all the work (though I’m not sure Knight himself would agree with that).

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Mimitchi, Masukutchi, Ginjirotchi and Babytchi of Tamagotchi

Monster Week rolls on!

I always felt a twinge of shame, bringing a new Tamagotchi into the world right after letting the previous one die of neglect, but I did it. So many times… poor Babytchi!

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Ellie and Chomp of Monster Tale, Nintendo DS

Monster Week continues with the stars of a really cool Castlevania/pet raising simulator mashup where cookie eating is part of the gameplay! There are so many other evolutions Chomp can turn into, but this big green fella is my Chomp.

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Kuribute and Bek of Pokémon Diamond, Game Boy Color

Waaaait a second… this isn’t Pokémon! But that’s okay! nomarios is all about the monsters that aren’t of the Pocket variety this week!

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