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A sound you hear all the time in Monster Hunter was made with a Japanese schoolkid’s backpack

Casey Baseel May 15, 2021
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The sounds Kamura Hunters hear also include a common vegetable you might have in your fridge right now.

The recently released Monster Hunter Rise is the latest hit in Capcom’s aptly named monster-hunting video game franchise. For the past month-and-a-half, players have been immersing themselves in the sights and sounds of the game’s Kamura Village and its fantastical surrounding wildlands…but it turns out that some of those sounds have some unexpectedly ordinary, and clever, real-world origins.

For example, one of the new creatures debuting in Rise is the Almudron, as seen in this video.

【泥翁竜オロミドロ】
普段は山奥に棲むが、百竜夜行の影響か人里近くへ降り立ちハンターに襲い掛かる。
泥を利用した攻撃を得意とし、身にまとうことで自身を強化。また、尻尾から分泌される溶解液で地面を溶かし、地中に潜り込んだり獲物を足止めする。 https://t.co/YJcFmrUTBe #モンハンライズ pic.twitter.com/CWAgxbRrV6

— モンスターハンターライズ：サンブレイク公式 (@MH_Rise_JP) February 23, 2021

The monster uses its gargantuan tail in many of its attacks, but included in the sounds you hear as it thrashes about is actually the sound of a stalk celery being snapped in half, revealed Monster Hunter Rise’s sound director Kosuke Nakata while appearing on Tuesday’s episode of Kansai TV talk show Chachaire Monday.

But the bigger surprise is that the clanking sound you hear when your character runs or rolls while wearing heavy armor, like at the start of this clip…

【ヌシ・ディアブロス】
「ヌシ」の名を冠した角竜。
まるで嵐に巻き込まれたかのような傷跡が全身に見られ、常に怒りと恐怖に支配されている様子。
角が通常の個体よりも著しく発達しており、突進の破壊力は相対する者を絶望の底に叩き落とす。 https://t.co/G7T9FFV8mn　 #モンハンライズ pic.twitter.com/AtmqHAyjpb

— モンスターハンターライズ：サンブレイク公式 (@MH_Rise_JP) May 8, 2021

…were made using a randoesru, one of those boxy backpacks that Japanese elementary school kids carry.

▼ “Heading out to kill monsters – be back in a bit!”

As Nakata demonstrated, to create the sound of Rise’s armor he stuffed a bunch of random metal objects, such as a small bucket, a frying pan, a length of chain, into a randoseru, closed the bag up, and then gave it a series of shakes in front of a microphone.

俺達は女児用ランドセルの音を聞きながら狩りをしている pic.twitter.com/gKGCyke8ty

— 座人 (@zajinoh) May 11, 2021

The result is complex metallic jangling, entirely in keeping with Monster Hunter’s gameplay and design aesthetic where characters’ equipment is cobbled together from various bits of monster parts and other scavenged components.

▼ Monster Hunter Rise trailer

It’s not all trickery, though. For example, while stalking your prey in the game you can hear buzzing insects as part of the environmental background noise. For these, Nakata just straight-up recorded some of the extremely loud cicadas that appear in Japan every summer, though he did at least record them at the park surrounding Osaka Castle, so there’s still a certain medieval element to them.

Source: Game Spark via Twitter/@zajinoh via Jin
Top image: YouTube/Monster Hunter
Insert image: Pakutaso
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