This game involves raising, fighting, and breeding monsters. The main character is never seen on screen and never talks to anyone directly. Instead, all of the dialog and action is done by the trainer's assistant Colt and her toucan Joy. The player chooses their actions and choices through menu options. Tournaments, from which money, items, and fame can be earned, are held throughout the year. However, only by winning an IMa Official Cup, four of which are held each year, can breeders and monsters earn higher ranks. As a monster's rank increases, it gains access to higher level tournaments. Monsters begin life knowing a small number of moves that can be used in battle, with more learned through training. To perform a move, a monster must expend some “guts,” which regenerate constantly during battle. Each move can only be performed while within a particular range of an opponent, and from close range monsters can knock opponents back. Besides the monster types you can unlock from the beginning, there are many more which you can raise. There are three different ways in which to unlock new monster types for raising: plot events, expedition, and errantry. The most common way these new monsters are given to you is by the gain of an item, which when used to combine monsters, will produce this new type. After that happens, CDs will now be allowed to produce monsters of that type.
Story
The story of Monster Rancher 2 is largely non-linear with story events happening only after certain requirements are met. The story begins with the main charactergoing to register to become a trainer, it is there when Colt appears as the trainer's new official assistant. The "end" of the game is when a monster is able to beat the Big Four when this happens a video about the history of the monsters is shown. A monster who has beaten all four of the S class tournaments can then go on to compete in a special match for champion monsters like itself. It is important to note that Monster Rancher 2 happens in close time proximity to Monster Rancher 1, but on a different continent, because of this there is a special battle between the player and the assistant from the first game, Holly. This event takes place every four years, much like the Summer Olympics, and the player's monster has to be of certain rank to gain entry to. The event is called the IMA vs. FIMBA meet and always takes place in the last week of August. The player must win the preceding entry tournament first, which always takes place in the last week of July, respectively. Defeating the Major 4 tournaments and the Legend Cup does not unlock all of the monsters in the game. There are different steps to take to unlock each main breed monster.
Reception
The game received "favorable" reviews, albeit slightly less than the original game, according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of 32 out of 40.
