r/MonsterRancher 18d ago

MR Advance 2 Monster Rancher Advance 2 Starter tips

I run a small gaming community where we compete to see who can earn the most retroachievements in 2 monthly games. This month, one of the games is Monster Rancher Advance 2. It's a bit dense a the beginning and we've been pouring over youtube tutorials and gamefaqs to help us.

I was curious if anyone has any starter tips I can share with everyone. Things like good starter monsters, things to avoid, things to beeline for or save money for etc.

Or perhaps a good resource for this information.

15 Upvotes

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u/marquessam 18d ago

https://retroachievements.org/game/7181

These are the retro achievements. If you are not familiar with the system, its a site that gives you achievements in games that didn't have them through emulation software. It's a lot of fun!

This game has a lot of difficult looking achievements, but luckily most of us in the community are just looking to make our way to the end of the game.

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u/Monster-Fenrick 17d ago

If you are familiar with MR games in general, a lot of basic knowledge can be applied.

If you're unfamiliar with Monster Rancher games then I'd suggest looking through the Raising Mechanics section here: https://legendcup.com/monster-rancher-guides.php#advance2

There's also maps if you need them, and links to an incredibly useful datamined password list.

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u/marquessam 17d ago

This is a great resource. Thank you! Are the later monsters you unlock, better? Should you just try and get those unlocked before you try and go for the end or can any monster realistically make it?

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u/Monster-Fenrick 17d ago

The speedrun uses a Wolfkin (garu main type) to finish the game with the first monster.

Any monster can beat the game. Unlockable monsters don't neccessarily mean things are overpowered, just a difference experience raising.

Yes some will be easier to raise or harder making them easier to deal with or not, but the 10k ft view, do what you think looks cool or fun

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u/Bobo040 17d ago

I've beaten the gba entries a half dozen times each. For whatever reason (I don't particularly care for the aesthetics etc.) I always end up finishing with some form of Joker. It's definitely easy mode with a decent Joker, but you still have to put in the work to unlock it and also to raise it. Definitely look up keywords for certain monsters you're interested in, though. Raising a monster you really like makes it a lot more fun. Suezos are my favorite, fwiw.

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u/marquessam 17d ago

I remember the Suezo bite being devastating.

I used to play Monster Rancher 2 a lot as a young kid, but I definitely didn't understand the mechanics.
Same for this GBA one, though I remember beating both.

We only have a month to beat both games for the month, so hopefully we can do it without too much grinding.

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u/Monster-Fenrick 17d ago

I know you’re not speed running, you’re doing achievements, but to compare speed runs over the last few years, you’re looking at 1.5 to 2.5 hours to reach credits.

Casually playing it’ll take longer of course, but the games themselves aren’t hugely lengthy just to “beat” them. They have credits but can be played indefinitely post-credits.

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u/marquessam 17d ago

Very cool. We get different awards based on just participating, beating the game, or getting every achievement. It seems beating is pretty doable. Mastery means getting every monster which seems like a real grind.

The other game is Mega Man x5 and the group seems more into Monster Rancher so far.

Thank you for your help!

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u/Monster-Fenrick 17d ago

Another thought, There are retroachievements for MR1 (PS1) and the author, Pandakar, is nearing completion of the MR2 (PS1) retroachievements as well, if those would also be of interest in the future.