Four hours after the Monster Hunter collaboration went live in Exoprimal, a teammate and I finally managed to face off against the King of the Sky, aka the Rathalos, and to my surprise, the fight was actually really fun.

Regardless of how you may feel about Exoprimal, players can probably agree that 10-player cooperative modes are amongst the best the game has to offer. But this season in Exoprimal brings a rather surprising collaboration, as Capcom has brought another one of their IPs into the game, Monster Hunter that takes advantage of the 10-player mode.

This collaboration offers plenty, with the first noticeable items being the new Exo skins, themed after some of the monsters, and armor in the series.

But the skins aren’t what I want to talk about, even if they fit in nicely with their corresponding Exos. No, what I want to talk about is the main course of this update, the new 10-player Monster-Hunter-themed cooperative mission.

Upon logging into the game, players will notice that the Dino Survival mode now features a monster footprint icon. Joining a match, these prints will randomly appear, allowing players to examine them.

Collecting enough of these ( we don’t know the exact specifics) will activate a new mission type roughly mid game into the match, teleporting everyone on both teams for a new battle. This marks the start of the special Monster Hunter cooperative mission, and like hunting in a Monster Hunter game, Exoprimal works on building up to that special hunt.

In this case, it spawns 2000 Velocipreys from Monster Hunter. You did not misread that; Capcom will really throw 2000 Velociprey at you in what I can only describe as an Earth Defense Force-esque phase of the build-up. Here’s a screen of what I was dealing with.

It’s sheer mayhem, but it’s a lot easier to deal with than it looks. It’s an easy phase overall, not so much to challenge the player, but to get them into the mindset of what’s to come next: The King of the Skies, the Rathalos.

I’m a sucker for Monster Hunter stuff, and it’s one of the reasons why I decided to jump back into Exoprimal. But the one thing I was not expecting is how well Capcom made this fight work within Exoprimal, as it truly taps into Monster Hunter with some awesome mechanics.

Don’t think this will be Rathalos in all his glory, as he’s been toned down from his Monster Hunter counterpart, missing some of his attacks and abilities. But, given that Exoprimal is a completely different game than Monster Hunter, Capcom makes it feel like a true Monster Hunter moment.

Don’t think for a second that the cutback moveset of Rathalos makes this fight any easier, and considering there are ten players instead of the traditional four players from the Monster Hunter games, he puts up quite a challenging battle. It’s an exciting battle that keeps the momentum moving with different phases that the Rathalos will go through, including an enraged phase like in the Monster Hunter games.

It’s not just some poorly done reskin of sorts. This really is a Monster Hunter fight within the Exoprimal game.

A nice touch I wasn’t expecting was that some parts of Rathalos can be broken or cut off. Scales will break from his body in what I can only assume will expose some weak points, while his tail can be cut off just like in Monster Hunter!

During the fight, he’ll zip around the map, shooting out balls of fire and engulfing portions of the map in flames. Eventually, the floor will turn to lava, with platforms rising for players to stand on. This part of the battle can get pretty cramped, with players trying to stay on the platforms and avoid fire.

As an added hazard, parts of the floor will even turn to lava, with the Rathalos lunging toward players to throw them into it.

But the best part comes when the clock ticks down to the last minutes, and Rathalos’ life nears its end. The music suddenly changes from the Rathalos theme into the main Monster Hunter “Proof of a Hero” theme, adding an exciting build-up to the conclusion.

I know it’s a silly idea to see fully automatic weapons and explosives in anything Monster Hunter, but at the end of the day, this collaboration is all good fun. It somewhat reminds me of the time Capcom did a crossover with Konami in Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker, where we saw Big Boss take on the Rathalos similarly. It’s dumb, but you’ll have a good time with it anyway.

If there was a reason to jump into Exoprimal, then this collaboration is definitely it, even if you end up playing for only a short time, the fight is just too fun to miss.