Monster Hunter 4 is an action role-playing video game developed and published by Capcom. It is the fourth game in the Monster Hunter series and the second to be released on the Nintendo 3DS.

As with the other games in the series, Monster Hunter 4 has the player take the role of a fresh Hunter that undertakes quests and challenges to hunt dangerous creatures that inhabit various locales. As they proceed through these quests, they will gain various items, in-game money, and other rewards that are used to craft new weapons, armor, additional gear, and health, restoration, and temporary buffing items that can be taken into later quests. The player's character does not intrinsically improve over the course of the game, but their abilities are set by the weapon and armor they carry into the quests, which improve as the player takes on more challenging quests. The game allows the player to use any of the twelve basic weapon types in the game, each having unique battle approaches that the player must master, and can switch between these weapons before departing on quests.