Product Details

• Actors: Andrew Francis, Janyse Jaud, Scott McNeil, Maggie Blue O'Hara, Brian Drummond
• Writers: Michael S. Harbour, Tom Putnam
• Format: Animated, Color, Dubbed, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Section 23
• VHS Release Date: March 14, 2000
• Run Time: 75 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6305790779
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #65,848 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Sony PlayStation Monster Rancher fans, prepare to enter the game world! In this animated video, Genki wins a Monster Rancher tournament, receives a "Monster 200X" CD-ROM as a prize, slips it into his player, and is magically sucked into the Monster Rancher world. Bragging to Holly that he's a game expert, Genki facilitates her escape from the Black Dino Squad. Holly reveals Moo's plot to conquer her world and describes her quest to defeat Moo by finding the mystery disk that contains the Phoenix. Genki inserts his own CD-ROM into the shrine and it unlocks not the Phoenix, but a cute, perpetually hungry little monster he names Mocchi. In "I'm Mocchi," Holly's magic stone leads the foursome deep into a forest amid a terrible storm in search of another mystery disk. When Genki, Holly, Mocchi, and Suezo come to a fork in the road in "Guardian of the Disks," they are told to beware of the enigma that lives in the forest ahead. Guided by Holly's stone, they persevere and discover a graveyard of old disks guarded by a friendly stone monster named Golem. When Golem defeats the evil blue Gel army, Genki and Holly invite him to join their continuing quest to release the Phoenix. This video--and TV series--bears marked resemblance to the Pokémon series and, although slightly less skillfully animated, it is sure to appeal to a whole generation of gamers and animation fans. Parents concerned about violence should, of course, be vigilant. (Ages 5-10) --Tami Horiuchi

From the back cover

Monster Rancher Vol. 3

At last we meet the evil Moo! Now aware of Genki's plans to stop him, Moo orders the powerful Pixie to send her gang of Black Hares after Genki and his friends. Then, our heroes discover the secret behind Holly's magic pendant and the terrible history of Moo's very first attack. Finally, Genki and the group must work together to build an Iron Bird to fly over the bottomless Heaven's Canyon and escape capture by Captain Kudo's fearsome army. Get ready for the most exciting Monster Rancher Adventure yet!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Monster Rancher! A Great Anime!, September 16, 2000

By 

Kevin T. Rodriguez "The Movie Wizard.com Revi... (Citrus Heights, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Monster Rancher - Let the Games Begin (Vol. 1) (DVD)

Okay, so mabye this show *IS* like Pokemon and Digimon combined, but like those other shows, it starts out the same go's on a compleatly different and fun plot! Plus I think it should be noted that this is the first show that actually shows the Playstation in it!

1. In The Begining (5/5)

In this episode we find out that Genki wins a special CD-ROM from a "Monster Battle" contest (This WAS called something else in Japan) at the beginning of the show! But for some reason this CD-ROM disk pulls him into the game! To make matters worse, he came at a point where Moe (The bad guy) is capturing goodies (Good guys) and turning them into baddies (Bad guys)! But the funny thing is, no one know why! Later durning a mystery disk transfer (The unlocking of whatever monster was trapped in that thing) one of the dino guys says that Moe will find his old body!!! Not alot, but we at least something to get us to watch episode two. After unlocking Mocchi from the mystery disk ours hero's travel to the next adventure! Not bad for the first episode!

2. I'm Mocchi (4/5)

Not to much happens in this episode. Genki and the others find an old couple living outside the forrest in a cabin. Feeling tired and hungry they ask if they could stay for the night. The couple really love Mocchi (And Mocchi loves them) and spend all night with him playing! They explain how they never had a chance to have children with the war that's been going on, so they treat monsters as if they were their children! The next day the gang go to the temple to unlock another monster and decide as a thank you to the couple, they give the monster to them to take care of!

3. Guardian Of The Disks (5/5)

The gang stumble upon a garden with nothing but mystery disks! Problem is that they're all dead mystery disks because they were killed by Moo and his men! But the guardian of the disks Golem tells them if someone were to find the Phonix (I don't know if I'm spelling that right) all these disks would dissapear, and all the monsters would be restored into good healthy monsters! But the garden gets attacked and Golem must defend the place! After defeating the dino's Golem decides to go with Genki and the others!

Over all not bad! The story doesn't really start to pick up till later on in the show, but this is a great show none-the-less! Highly recomended!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Monster Rancher, April 24, 2002

By 

Michael Regan, from the Centre of the Univers... (Ottawa, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Monster Rancher - Let the Games Begin (Vol. 1) (DVD)

I must say, I originally thought this series would be yet another Pokémon/Digimon clone. I was wrong. This series teaches the fundamentals friendship along with the obvious good versus evil. The best part about Monster Rancher is that is actually a 'closed' story line with a great conclusion. Not all of the episodes are available for purchase yet, but they are worth collecting.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It *is* like Pokemon and Digimon, June 13, 2000

By 

Daniel Van Der Werken "A Fat Old Man" (Scotia, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Monster Rancher - Let the Games Begin (Vol. 1) (DVD)

But it's still a terrific DVD. A young human boy from Earth (Genki) is transformed to another world. In Digimon, humans are "digitized" into a digital world. Genki travels with another human, Holly, and a bunch of monsters. In Pokemon, Ash travels with humans and his "poket monsters". In Digimon, the humans travel with their Digimons. In Digimon, they fight evil. In Monster Ranger, they fight the evil Moo. Monster Ranger monsters do not transform like Digimon or evolve like Pokemon, but they are stored in "mystery disks" and converted to monsters at a shrine. Pokemon monsters are stored in Pokeballs. I don't see how you can't make the comparison to the other "Mons". Sure it's another "Mon" type show, but it's different enough and fun enough to make any seven year old happy to watch it. Mine enjoys the show.