Monster Rancher DS

There are two primary methods for creating monsters: drawing pictures in the Magic Field using the touchscreen, and reciting an Incantation using the microphone. Other methods include combining two existing monsters to create a new monster as well as an additional unrevealed method.

New to the combination process is the "-ish" or "modoki" monster, a glitch monster whose purpose is to give you a monster when you attempt combinations that are not in the game, and appear as a light blue untextured version of the normal model, and appear as the last monster in each monster's entries in the monster encyclopedia, using the ???-subtype normally used by special monsters.

The way you make money, and gain ranks, is by having your monster fight in tournaments. In a fight, your monster starts with a fixed amount of guts, which is basically energy to spend on the moves they know. You can control the monster yourself, or let them fight on their own as they do when they get into a battle in the wild.

Moves can be done in one of three ranges. You can move forward or backward on the battlefield to toggle between the ranges. If you get in very close, you can also push the opponent away from you.[1] A major change from the previous games is that you are able to use the touchscreen to move your monster forward or backwards, as well as to order it to attack.

Various monsters which have been left out of previous games since Monster Rancher 2 will be making a return including Monol and Gali. There are currently 272 monsters known in the game, including the glitch type monsters.

The main breeds are Abyss, Beaclon, Baku, Centaur, Color Pandora, Dragon, Ducken, Durahan, Falco, Gali, Golem, Hare, Henger, Joker, Lesione, Mew, Mocchi, Monol, Naga, Ogyo, Pancho, Phoenix, Piroro, Pixie, Plant, Suezo, Tiger, Xenon, and Zan.