How Monster Hunter Helped Me Be A Better Dad

It’s weird to think that a video game called "Monster Hunter" helped me be a better dad, but it’s true. I’ve been a gamer for as long as I can remember. My dad, bless his heart, didn’t know what he was getting himself into when he gifted me a Nintendo Entertainment System when I was 6-years-old. It came with the original Super Mario/Duck Hunt game. Do you remember that one? I was hooked ever since. Gaming has been a big part of my life, even helping me overcome depression in 2008.

After I became a dad in 2016, my gaming habits understandably slowed down. However, a few years ago, the Nintendo Switch helped me rediscover my love for playing video games. I noticed that my son started watching me whenever I’d find a spare moment to play a game. It was fascinating to him. At first he’d only watch, but then I’d let him hold the controller and I remember watching his eyes light up when he moved the characters across the screen for the first time. It was probably the same face I made the first time I held that, now ancient, NES controller.

In the beginning, the games he and I played were simple ones. Games like Super Mario, Astro’s Playroom, or Kirby. But once he got a little older, he saw me playing a game called “Monster Hunter Rise” and he told me he wanted to have his own copy of it.

“Are you sure? It’s a REALLY hard game.” I told him.

“Yes,” He said, “It looks like fun.”

As a long-time fan of the Monster Hunter series, I can wholeheartedly tell you that it’s a grueling type of game. You’re going to lose. A lot. But little did I know, the whole experience would help me form an incredible bond with my son. The likes that no other game, real life or video, has been able to do.

 For those who don’t know, Monster Hunter Rise is part of a series of games where you assume the role of a hunter. The entire gameplay loop is you going into a world, slaying a large monster, then using its parts to create better armor and weapons.

The absolute best part about my son’s obsession with the game is the quality time it’s helped us have together. Monster Hunter can be played alone, but it really shines when you team up with your buddies, working together. In the newest game, Rise, you can team up with up to 3 other players online to fight these monsters together.

I won’t sugar coat it -- when Beckham, my son, and I started playing the game last year, he was awful. Once he found out that I wasn’t kidding about the game’s difficulty, he was understandably intimidated by the creatures we fought. They’d knock out his character in 1 or 2 hits. However, over time, and with LOTS of teamwork, Becks went from being a hesitant hunter, to now being the first one to head straight into battle and come up with strategies to defeat some of the games more formidable creatures! He didn’t quit, because each time we’d fail a mission, I’d remind him that we can do hard things.

Also, his confidence has grown, not only within the game, but in real-life too! I’ve seen him be more assertive, creating strategies to tackling objectives in his everyday life. It’s been wild, as a parent, to see, but I love it! Another important life skill is independence, so watching him apply it within the game and beyond has been really fun to watch. The game has been a safe place for him to experiment, make mistakes, and learn from them.

Having and creating all these memories with my son makes me wish my dad played games with me. Unfortunately, my dad wasn’t a gamer. Monster Hunter Rise has been more than just a video game for my son and me; it’s been a way to bond, grow together, and learn. We’ve celebrated our victories and learned from our losses.

If you’re trying to come up with ways to connect with your kid, maybe give this incredibly hard game a chance. Of course, there’s treasure at the end of each mission, but the REAL treasure will be the moments your share with your little one.

Video games have been around since the early '50s fore fronting early technology. This advanced software became revolutionary as it impacted millions of homes.

The origin story of video games dates back to 1952 with Cambridge professor, A.S. Douglas, who created what we know as Tic Tac Toe, according to History.com. We later learn of the sports video game, Tennis for Two, created by American physicist, William Higinbotham in 1958. The video game resembles playing Tennis where two players hit a ball over a net back and forth.

Fast forward to the late '70s when at home gaming systems became a hot commodity. Britannica states that in 1977, Atari released a new and improved video gaming console called Atari 2600. This gaming system allowed customers to play different game cartridges in full color and sound. In the early '80s, Atari released an improved version of the console called, Atari 5200. This system changed the directory of fun, convenience and luxury for video games.

The video game industry is worth over 90 billion dollars today. The evolution of video games have since migrated from their initial launch on computers. Video games are now easier to access than ever before. Customers can download games on their mobile cellular devices and travel with them wherever they go.

Companies like Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft are always trying to outdo one another to release the latest and coolest software. The most recent released console systems are as follows: Nintendo Switch - OLED from Nintendo, PlayStation 5 from Sony and Xbox Series X from Microsoft.

To celebrate video games in all their glory we thought we would find video game bars in Las Vegas that evoke nostalgia. From Mortal Combat, Frogger, Pac Man and even Mario, these video games will never go out of style. Some of the video game bars below are not suited for children as some of them serve alcohol. Go beat the high score of your favorite classic video game!

Serves alcohol.

Serves alcohol.

Serves alcohol.

Does NOT serve alcohol.

Does NOT serve alcohol.