Over the years, Monster Hunter has been a title that gives Capcom the excuse to celebrate their other franchises, as well as team up with other game properties like Nintendo’s Metroid, Legend of Zelda, or Star Fox just to name a few. Monster Hunter World is continuing that trend of adding content related to other games with their latest Mega Man Palico gear, after already having Ryu armor from Street Fighter and Aloy from Horizon Zero Dawn.

For starters let’s talk about how to acquire this new armor. Loading into Astera there will be a notification message talking about a new Mega Man collaboration being available as well as a new event quest called “A Rush of Blood”. This is the quest we’ll be doing to get the new gear. As a side note, there’s also a new arena Challenge Quest called “Gale & Fangs Slay Event 1”, which will be available until May 24th. Of course the Spring Blossom Festival is still going on too, which has a ton of event quests repeated in case they were missed when they were active before as well as a new armor set and a powerful Greatsword designed by a community member in a contest.

So, back to “A Rush of Blood”, which is a clever pun for Mega Man’s trusty red dog sidekick. This quest can be found under the events of any quest board, quest counter, or the Handler and takes place in the Arena. Now, because of it being an area fight, hunters will want to visit the Canteen to get food bonuses, as there is no where to get a meal once the quest begins. Bring a weapon that you’re comfortable fighting Odogaron with, because we’ll be taking down one small one and then one large one. The goal is to hunt both of them, which also means that capture can be used. As with most hunts, you can bring three other hunters into the action.

As far as the actual fight goes, Odogaron are known for their speed and their bleed attacks. Bleed will steadily drain health unless the player crouches. This can be quickly taken care of by crouching and not moving, but it will heal slightly while moving. One could also bring some Astera Jerky or a Sushifish Scale to heal it quicker. This is also a High Rank quest, so be prepared to take some damage if your defense levels are low. Bring Bleed Resistance skills if it really becomes a problem. The smaller Odogaron will be the first monster to spawn, while the larger one will come into the back half of the arena later.

While I rarely use it, I found that using the lock on for the smaller Odogaron to be particularly helpful. This allowed me to stay close while avoiding attacks. I also used the faster Dual Blades with my new Blast set to do a ton of damage quickly with the ability to get out if needed. Be wary though, this little guy can still cart a hunter, especially if they’re cocky.

If targeting specific weaknesses are needed, Odogaron are weak to ice weapons the most, but thunder is almost as good and is more common. These monsters are also really susceptible to paralysis, with everything else being two star aside from poison, which has one star. The place to target is the head, as it’s weak against all weapon types.

Now, if for some reason both Odogaron get in the mix, a hunter could throw up the divider wall by pulling the lever in the arena. It can take some timing, but if things get hairy it’s not a bad option. From there taking down the smaller one by sticking to the front half of the arena is the easiest option. This also ensures that all the carves can be gotten before staring down the next one. Because the larger Odogaron spawns at the back half of the arena, there is a handy slope that can be used to pull off slide attacks. Greatsword in particular has a great slide attack that also looks cool and can get mounts.

Once the quest is done, the hunter will get Mega Man tickets as a reward. It takes three Mega Man tickets to make the armor, which can be found by going to the smith, hitting Forge Palico Equipment, and then going to Full Armor sets. To get the Mega Buster, that’s in Standard Equipment towards the end of the list; it takes two tickets to forge. At the most, the hunter will have to run the quest five times, but occasionally one will get several tickets for beating the quest. Using a voucher on the quest seems to help those odds.

While this also changes the Palico buddy to be a voxel styled Mega Man, it also changes the music depending on what weapon type is being used and adds a whole slew of classic sound effects. Fun and nostalgic!

Now, for some fun, one could actually run a full Palico Rally gear set with Wide Range to provide buffs while the Palico does all the fighting. This can actually create a companion that can (eventually) take out most monsters in the game. It takes a while compared to just hunting as usual, but it can be a lot of fun! The quickest way to do this is by equipping the Faux Felyne helmet for level 3 Palico Rally and then slotting in some Meowster Jewels, which also seem like a common item. If there are enough Meowster Jewels, one could even slot in a full stack to whatever equipment.

April 26th is the last day to pick up this Palico armor and weapon. Although, this doesn’t mean it’s gone forever, it’s not a bad idea to go ahead and do the quests. They don’t take long, nor are they super challenging. 

Maybe one day we'll get to revisit being a Palico. Prowler mode would be weird in Monster Hunter World, but could make for some really fun times.