Tokyo Game Show 2026 is here and we are joining in to report our findings about the game demos that some of you may be wildly curious about. And for the session, we managed to secure slots for Monster Hunter Ascendance and Mega Man Dual Override. So let’s go ahead and break down the games that I managed to play.
Monster Hunter Ascendance:
Capcom gave me enough time to take on both missions that were available, where you choose between fighting the new flying Wyvern and Teostra. I took on the Araketa first, since I was curious about this brand new monster that’s not only a flyer, but flies with a flock.
Before even getting to the new monster, I noticed that I’m riding my Seikret on a new map, so I then attempted to get around with the new jet streams that allow them to fly upward. I regret to inform you that this new method of traversal is probably just window dressing for more fixed paths, rather than offering a free form of flying exploration. This was probably done to make sure auto-traversal wouldn’t end up going haywire.
For the two weapons I was able to try out, it would be the weapons of choice that I brandish around: The Charge Blade and the Gunlance. And what we’re really after here are the new functions with the Boost Bracer. It took a few tries to figure out how it actually works, and I probably don’t have all the details because I was figuring things out on the floor while fighting new monsters in-game. But here’s what I’ve got.
You will by default, have one charge of boost ready to use at the start of a quest. Activating boost puts you in a buffed state, allowing you access to additional moves. These moves allowed the Charge Blade and Gunlance to swing faster, charge faster, or even reload instantly. But committing these actions consumes the boost state, which also gradually drains as time goes on.
This makes it perfect for either making an extra aggressive opening move or having explosively powerful attacks in a pinch. Ideal for exploiting enemies with smaller windows where you can attack, like say, a flying wyvern. This covers the flaws that the two heavy weapons I use have, as both of them need a lot of time to actually bring out their damage.
For the specifics of Charge Blade, I noticed that I can load phials instantly, without having to generate charge by striking the monster with the blade. It makes depending on Savage Axe a lot more viable, and I also have access to a new type of Elemental Discharge. It comes out faster, but I’m not sure if it’s necessarily stronger, given it has less hits than a full SAED combo.
When it comes to the Gunlance, you can do your double-wyvernstake combo much faster, which doesn’t really sound like an innovation, but I’ll take it. The more interesting ability is how I can cancel Wyvern Fire into a lunging strike with a reloaded weapon. Earlier trailers also suggested elemental shelling is possible, but I wasn’t able to test this during my fight with Teostra.
These actions also have some movement, which can make them a bit hard to aim when trying to keep up with smaller and more agile targets. But hey, maybe some more time with them will eventually make using Boost functions feel more natural.
I think this also implies that we’ll be dealing with monsters that may require the use of the Boost Bracer, maybe there’ll be DPS windows that are smaller by nature; maybe some abilities will synergize better with the Boost function, or maybe monsters will just die way too fast once everyone starts spamming these powerful abilities, much like how wounding placed regular monsters in a near stun-locked state.
Still, we were only able to test the new weapon functions, and not really meet the new monsters, skills, or world they have prepared for us to discover. I’m still very much on board on venturing into this next chapter of Monster Hunter, assuming it’s not going to burn my video card.
Mega Man Dual Override:
This Mega Man game has given us three ways to proceed against Twinkle Girl’s domain. Either we have a stronger shield, a stronger buster, or a dog. Hardcore fans would probably have gone to recruit Rush, the robot dog. But well, I want to explore the new stuff, so bigger buster gun here we go.
In terms of stage and enemy design, everything felt comfortable and familiar (and at times frustratingly tricky). Position yourself well to dodge attacks, jump at the right times, and you’ll manage to get to the next area. Miss a jump or just get hit enough times, and back to the checkpoint for you.
When you’re choosing buster mode, you can freely activate a stronger buster so long as the function is off cool-down, letting you put up to three big shots instead of the usual single one for every opening a boss or mini-boss gives you. If you are one hit away from going back to the latest checkpoint, Mega Man activates an all-out attack mode letting you unleash a torrent of buster shots over a few seconds. Where right after you’re stuck shooting lemons for an extended period of time, and with a very poor fire rate. So I hope you manage to finish off that boss before that happens.
However, getting defeated might not be so bad, as the check pointing in the game seems rather generous. Not only that, stages are sectioned neatly into three parts, where you can clear each section in about ten minutes. It will help those who are still quite new to the sort of borderline sadistic platforming experience this series could be, and maybe hurt the pride of seasoned veterans at best (me). It makes me wonder if they plan to implement some sort of harder difficulty or make players who are up to the challenge set some speed run records. Still, I do believe that the base DNA of a good Mega Man game appears to be intact here, so this is yet another title for me to look forward to.
That’s it for my Capcom visit for Tokyo Game Show 2026, but it doesn’t finish there. There’s still a bunch of other games that I’ve managed to make time for, but I still need to reserve my energy for the second day. Look forward to hearing more of my raves and rants about this absolutely insane event!