Monster Rancher 4 Strategy Guide for Dreamcast
By Chetflavin
February 08, 2004
chetflavin@yahoo.com
Ver. 1.0

Introduction
	Guess what? That’s right, registration for the spring quarter is coming in two
days and $30 dollars could really help out with the Animation 3 class. Yeah
you're right, if I get it I'll probably spend it on myself or try to impress
some lady but that never works.......ok enough with the awkward jokes man,
people wanna discuss the game! I've been a fan of the Monster Rancher series
from the beginning. I even recreated some characters from in 3ds Studio Max
(four worms and Enki from MR3). So I'm here doing an FAQ for MR4 instead of
doing homework which I really should be doing. Oh well. I hope I beat the
competition to getting this bounty......oh and that it’s helpful to you people
too.

Some Legal Mumbo Jumbo
	As for legal context, I'd like to thank the makers of Monster Rancher 4 for
making a good instruction booklet which I got most of the info for the
Controls. As for who can post this guide on their site, ONLY gamefaqs.com AND
NO ONE ELSE!!!!!!! DON'T EVEN ASK!!!!!!

Table of Contents
Table of Contents
01. Game Introduction
02. Controls
03. Basic Raising Tips
04. Walkthrough
05. Frequently Asked Questions
06. Legal Mumbo Jumbo Reiterated

01. Game Introduction
	Odds are if you're playing Monster Rancher 4 then you are no stranger to the
series. Basically the game has you as the roll of a Rancher who happens to
breed monsters. Sounds pretty cool huh? They even through in the added feature
of using cd's, dvd's, and game discs to create them. You start off at a small
ranch and have to battle your way up the ranks to improve your ranch while also
saving the world in your free time?

02. Controls
	Hmm, this area is kind of tricky because it changes depending on what’s going
on. You save by going to the menu option labeled system and you create monsters
by going to the shrine. For the basics when on the ranch:
L1/R1: Switch monster display (if you're raising multiple monsters)
Directional/Left Analog: Choose commands
Square: Show command Menu
Circle: Show data screen
X: Enter commands
Triangle: Cancel commands

Battle moves are customizable so controls can change. Basically by going into
the monster data screen while on the ranch, cycle to you hit customizing. Here
you'll be able to customize your moves. Anyways here are the controls for when
you're in battle:

L1: Switch monsters (in multiple monster battles only)
L2: Counter mode (this will be explained in the game)
R1: Rotate the skill panel (to see other moves)
R2: Rotate the skill panel backwards.
Directional/Left analog: Moves monster forward and backward.
Square: Use the skill assigned to this button.
Circle: Use the skill assigned to this button.
X: Use the skill assigned to this button.
Triangle: Knocks opponent back.
Select: Displays give up menu.
Start: Pause

All controls and maneuvers are explained during the game so I won't go into
full blown detail. Counters allow you to, like the name suggests, counter your
opponents attack. You can't do this until the game teaches it to you. You
perform it by holding L2 down and then pressing square, X, or triangle. This
basically is chance but if you match up with what the opponent pressed you'll
counter their attack!

03. Basic Raising Tips
	You don't have all the options for training available at first so you'll have
to stick with "good ol meat and potatoes" regular training. Training really
depends on what you wanna raise. A powerhouse, an iron brick, a speed machine.
I recommend focusing on at the very least three of six abilities. Eventually
you'll be given the ability to use training gadgets. Basically these increase
the rate at which your monster gains stats. This of course raises your monsters
exhaustion(more on that later) but can be easily countered with another
training device that relaxes the monster (such as sweet incense). You can buy
these every once in a while and open up new ones to buy from finding tablets on
adventures. These will have new level training gadgets that are more effective
and more stressful. Also as you progress you'll gain the ability to use medals.
These medals allow for different versions of the gadgets to be purchased that
can help your monster focus or even earn money! But enough of that, time to
explain the stats:

Pow: Affects the power of strength-based skills used in battle.
Acc: Increases the accuracy of skills used in battle.
Lif: This is a measure of your monster's health. When this value falls to zero,
you lose!
Def: Affects the damage you receive from your opponent in battle.
Int: Affects the power of intelligence-based skills used in battle.
Spd: Decreases the accuracy of your opponent's skills in battle.

	While raising your monsters the your top priorities are the Tired and Fullness
meters located in the lower right corner of the screen. As the bars fills up,
your monster gets exhausted and hungry. You wanna keep these levels down, that
is to say if you don't want to starve and work your monster to death. What you
feed your monster is very important. Not only does it affect its health but
depending on if the monster likes or dislikes your food will determine how
quickly your monster warms up to you. I think the safest place to schedule
rests and feeding is when the meters fill up half way. Oh yeah the schedule, I
almost forgot about that. Basically the schedule allows you to schedule out
what your monster does each week. Yeah, the explanation was kind of redundant
but so what. Anyways, all you have to do here is figure out if your monster
trains or rests each week. Also this is where you choose which type of training
your monster does. I suggest training three weeks and resting on the fourth but
that usually changes depending on if you battle or go on adventures.
	Battles and adventures add to the exhaustion meter so they can throw off your
whole training schedule. Usually it just means either delaying or advancing the
order in which you had things scheduled. Battles and adventures take place at
the end of each week. Battles can be scheduled from the main menu at your ranch
(calendar) but adventures take place whenever you want. The wear and tear
gained from each event really depends on if your monsters loses its battles or
doesn't make it to the end of the adventure. If you're able to win and make it
to the end, you'll receive less stress then if you didn't.
	During battles, you may notice that your monster doesn't listen to you. The
reason for this is simple. It's a good for nothing know it all brat who doesn't
give you an ounce of respect! This can be changed by how you interact with it.
Every week you'll be able to go up to your pets and well interact with them.
Doing this you'll be given the ability to feed the monster, scold the monster,
or even praise it. Feeding is pretty easy; if its very hungry, you feed it. The
other two really depend on how your monster is behaving. For example if your
monster is sleeping when he should be training you better scold him or else
he'll start slacking off. The same goes for when it's doing good. When it is
following your orders you should praise it. After years of this, it'll grow so
attached to you that you'll be disgusted by how obedient it is. At first you
won't be able to interact many times but as your breeder rank increases so does
the number of times you can interact.
	In order to gain new abilities you have to go on adventures and battle
monsters. The more monsters you battle there, the more experience points you'll
gain. You won't get a move for every time you raise your monsters level,
sometimes you'll get a trait. Some of these traits will allow you to search,
explore, or dig for items in the adventure area. Some even allow you to ride on
top of your monster. In either case it's good to go on adventures to learn new
moves to defeat your foes, so do it!
	That pretty much sums it up. All that’s left is breeding. As you raise
multiple monsters they'll develop friendship bonds. The higher they are, the
more strengths will transfer to the offspring. Whether you freeze the monster
on purpose or the game automatically does it for you when its lifespan runs
out, you have to go to the association to combine them. Yeah that’s right, they
have kids by being fused together. Sounds like a lot of fun huh?

04. Walkthrough
	Honestly, this is a pretty straight foreword game. Raise your rank thru
battles and tournaments along with doing a side story here and there. In order
to raise your rank you have to participate in official tournaments. You can do
this by first having your monster compete in and win three regular scheduled
battles. After you meat that requirement, you'll be able to fight in tourneys
and proceed to newer heights. Sure this doesn't require the good ol' saying of
"follow the path" but I'll probably throw it in there somewhere. Like on
adventures!!!! Whenever you need to go on an adventure, the map for the current
floor your on is always randomly generated. Basically to proceed thru you have
to guess the correct path. If you run into an obstacle no big whoop, just go
back a different way then last time. All that really happens by progressing
down the story line is opening up  new towns to visit, new adventure locations,
new battle grounds, and new monster breeds.

A. New Arrival in Togle (not really called that but you know what I mean)
	You start off with an exceptionally well Garu. You can't shrine your own
monster yet but I recommend raising this one anyways and to start shrining when
you are able to hold more monsters at the ranch. This first couple of months
the game teaches you everything you need to know. They even give you some free
items. You'll learn how to battle, schedule, and feed your monster.
	You're first path to progress is in the ring. Not a boxing ring but you get
the idea. When the game finally allows you to participate, win three regular
scheduled battles to gain entrance to the official tourney. The opposition
should be relatively easy even if you haven’t trained Garu that well. After the
tourney you get you're finally able to raise more the one monster. At first its
only three but eventually it'll move up to five. Anyways for now, lets get back
to beating this game! Eventually after your new add-on, a cave near by will be
exposed. Hmm, don't you just wonder what might be in there? How cool it would
be to go exploring? Well guess what, you get to!
	Exploring pretty much goes the same for every dungeon so I'll explain it here.
Every time you open up a new location to explore, the main goal is to reach the
bottom of the area to face off with a boss. This sometimes might require
multiple descents due to story plots or just your own inept ability to fail!
For your first cavern you'll have to go there about three times, each time
descending to the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th floor respectively. You're first trip will
you will receive your first tablet and your second trip you'll unlock a new bit
of story info. Afterwards someone will stop by your ranch and tell you that
something fishy is going on. All the training gadgets in town are going haywire
and odds are it isn't Old Man Rutherford trying to hid a secret uranium field
by scaring off some meddling kids and their talking dog. Odds are the fiend is
hiding out in the basement of the cave by your house. I guess eventually we
always make enemies of our neighbors. Enough with the petty jokes, its time to
kick some butt! Head down the cave like usual and eventually you'll hit one
gigantic monster. I won't ruin what it looks like but believe me, it's huge.
You should have at least three monsters with you to duke it out with this boss.
If one falls hopefully the other two will be enough to pound this beast into
submission. If you're unable to, that just means your monsters aren’t strong
enough yet. Raise them a little bit more, increase their experience to learn
some new techniques (if you aren’t ready to fight the boss you should choose to
return to the ranch on the fourth floor),  and then challenge him again. After
defeating this brute you'll gain your first new breed of monster. Ain't it
magnificent? Kind of even looks like the boss. Sorry to break it to you but not
all new breeds look like the boss monsters you fight.

B. New Horizons in Ryuwn
	With the that bozo defeated, you'll be able to compete in tournaments again
and raise your rank to C. Upon achieve this rank you'll be given the option to
sail off to the town of Ryuwn. The main objective here is to get into the Ryuwn
league. In order to get it you'll have to visit their Association twice(in
different weeks) because you didn't schedule an appointment in advance.
WHAT?!?!??! He still won't let you in? The jerk! Oh well, guess you'll have to
find some other way to pass the time. And as a coincidence you run into someone
in need of help on your way out. Apparently this lady is as sick as a dog and
the only medicine happens to be some mushrooms that grow only in your backyard.
Well technically its in the 4th floor of the cave in Togle that you've been
exploring so go ahead and hunt those fungi down! Oh, and you might have to
fight some weird looking creature while you're down there.
	Upon returning with the healing mushrooms, you'll be presented with new
features (such as countering and tag battles), a new task, and a new area to
explore. You are charged with the task of finding some junk in the dense jungle
of Kalaragi. You'll probably need to go here about three times too. The first
time you'll find a weird shrine on the 3rd floor. Don't worry, you'll get that
junk on the 2nd trip located on the 5th floor. After this you'll finally be
able to compete in Ryuwn battles! Now if only the association would have
recognized how awesome you are, you wouldn't of had to go thru all of that.
	With all that registration mess done with, it's time to get back on the whole
moving up in rank routine. Beat three regular battles and go for the official
tourney to advance your monsters rank up to B. You should have gotten another
add-on put onto your place allowing you to raise 5 monsters at the same time.
That’s all nice and dandy but who can celebrate that when people are missing!
That's right, and by your recent exploits, you've developed quite the name for
yourself and they want you to rescue them. They're being held on the 7th floor
of the Kalaragi Jungle and odds are, there's a boss there too. Like the
previous boss, wrestle your way down to his level and if he beats you, just do
some training. This boss is a blast from the past, you'll probably only
recognize him if you've played the previous titles.  Upon defeating him you are
rewarded with the breeder rank of B and yet another place to visit! Yippee
hurrah!

C. Big Trouble in Little Torble.
	Seems to me that there might be some hooligans in them there hills of Torble.
Altering monsters with masonry just isn't right! How come PETA hasn't put an
end to this yet? Anyways, visit it and you'll run into some old friends. You'll
also make a new rival as well. However who cares about that, what you should
really do is check out the town's Inn to here some gossip on the problems
plaguing the town. Apparently there's some mischief involving Mocchis. After
finding this out you are plagued with several visitors discussing mocchis and
requesting your presence at the university in Torble for a medal. With this
you'll be visited by two people, the 2nd capable of turning selling you a medal
enhanced training gadget. After that, every week you should visit the Inn
located in Torble till the owner gives you a Mocchi doll. Oh yeah, you'll have
to fight your rival sometime before or after that but don't worry, he's a
pushover. In any case, once you have the doll you should head to Kalaragi
Jungle.
	Treat this like any dungeon expedition and head down tot he 6th floor. Here
you'll find the hooligan who's been causing all the ruckus. If you beat him,
you'll be visited by a special visitor the following week and from that point
on you'll be able to raise Mocchis! Even though that's great you're still not
done here. Now you'll have to start competing in tourneys again to raise your
monsters rank up another level. You'll run into your rival again during the
final round of the tournament. By now your monsters may be getting forced into
early retirement so when that happens, combine them and start raising all over
again. Anyways, beat your rival in that tournament and not only is your monster
advanced to A rank, but you've also unlocked a new town to visit! Huzzah!

D. Revelations in Vizley
	After visiting the town you'll be awarded with breed rank of A. Easy huh? Like
you've probably guessed, from here you'll have to advance your monster to S
rank by doing the same routine as before. These guys are no piece of cake so
make sure your monsters are up to the task. After your monster makes mince meat
out of the competition you'll be able to visit a new adventure area. The
Promias ruins holds many secrets, including one butt ugly boss. The first trip
you have to make your way down three floors to find a mural with shocking new
details! The second trip you might run into a blocked path. In that very room
there should be a switch, looks like a pedestal about the same height as
Phayne(it automatically prompts you for if you want to push it when you walk up
next to it). Anyways make your way down to the 5th floor, you'll hit some mummy
looking mini boss and find a another nice piece of artwork. Finally just one
more trip to take out the ancient regions ugly boss. Well I guess it is
beautiful on the inside but I don't have my x-ray specs on. Defeat him on the
8th floor and you'll be one step closer to beating the game!
	After a week you'll get your breeder rank upped to the Sth level. Also you'll
learn of some heinous wrong doings. Another week will pass and you'll be rushed
off to Ryuwn to see you friends new freak! I'm not going to ruin the story for
you but lets just say the solution lies in Kalaragi jungle. Don't worry, you
only have to descend once this time and it's to the 4th floor. This guy is just
a mini boss so it should be a pushover. Afterwards you even get to breed a new
monster and you'll open up the final chapter of the game!

E. Trials by fire in Kawrea Volcano
	After defeating the Mad Scientist you'll be visited by a friend at the ranch.
He warns you that there's trouble a brewing and it all stems from Kawrea
Volcano! Well you guessed it, you have to explore that baby. However this time,
you only have to go twice! The first time will be down to the 3rd level to
initiate the final phases of the game.
	You learn the history of the current conflict and everyone goes insane all
over the world! All you are charged with doing is saving the world in one final
battle. No pressure right? Well let me just say this, this being the final
battle, that also makes it the toughest. If you haven’t raised some strong 2nd
generation monsters by now you may want to hold off challenging the final boss.
However if you're feeling lucky, head down to the 10th level of Kawrea Volcano
to cower in fear. When you drain all his life, don't get too cocky because it
fills right up. It's all right if you don't beat him the first time, that’s
what the reset button is for. Well upon defeating him you've proven that
justice will always win in the end. Everything is in its right place and the
credits roll........Oh yeah, you can save the game after you beat it to
continue your ranching! Why the exclamation mark you ask? Well a couple weeks
after you beat the boss, you'll be able to shrine the final monster of the
game!!!!! I hoped this faq helped!

05. Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What are combo moves and how do they work?
A: Well basically if you raise more then one monster they'll develop a bond
between each other. When the bond becomes strong enough, in tag matches every
once in a while you'll be given the ability to do a combo move. Basically after
you attack, if you land the hit, the other monster will come in and smash the
opponent one more time. The other variable of this is when you're fighting one
of the several boss monsters with three monsters who share a large bond. It
occurs in the exact same way only all three monsters attack in one massive
move. Which move happens depends on which monster started the attack. For
example when I had a Chaos Dragon, my other two monsters jumped into him making
the dragon double in size! After this he sprayed the boss with a massive flame.
It's a very useful tactic.

Q: What cd's make ?? monsters?
A: for that answer I have to say try all of your discs, duh! But if you want
you could go to "Monster Rancher Metropolis" at http://www.sfdealer.com/discus/
. I hope they don't mind me plugging them in this but they run a great site,
just be sure to read the rules and guidelines before posting. Just look under
Monster Rancher 4 for a whole cd list.

06. Legal Mumbo Jumbo Reiterated
Some Legal Mumbo Jumbo
	As for legal context, I'd like to thank the makers of Monster Rancher 4for
making a good instruction booklet which I got most of the info for the
Controls. As for who can post this guide on their site, ONLY gamefaqs.com AND
NO ONE ELSE!!!!!!! DON'T EVEN ASK!!!!!!

07. Special Thanks
	I'd just like to thank Tecmo for creating a great game, Monster Rancher
Metropolis for providing a great discussion forum for the game, and Gamefaqs
for a site to post faqs and meet great people. Especially one in particular,
Muwhah ahahhahahahhahahahh ahahahhahahahah ha