Recent scans of this week’s Famitsu Magazine reveal the new, 13th weapon to be introduced in Monster Hunter 4.  Above is the teaser image Capcom dropped last week, and here is the weapon, which in Japanese is called a Souchuukon:

There are two main components to the Souchuukon:

• Staff: The purpose of the staff is to deal damage through quick blows from about a medium range — about the same as a Long Sword I’d say.  One end has a blade, the other appears blunt.  Based on the scans it looks like all melee attacks are dealt with the bladed end, suggesting this weapon does predominantly cutting damage.
• Insect: Here is where things get interesting.  In addition to holding a staff, your character will begin each quest with a bug resting on their shoulder.  Once you encounter a monster, you can target it and let your trained insect go and extract some… extract from the monster.  This extract is brought back for the hunter and provides them with a boost based on the extract’s color.  Here’s a look at your friendly insect awaiting orders:

And here is a breakdown of what boosts the different extracts provide your hunter:

(Wow, this is much easier to read after my nearly 200 hours of Monster Hunter Portable 3rd)

• White: boost in movement speed
• Red: boost in attack
• Orange: boost in defense
• Green: boost in recovery speed

I wouldn’t be surprised if only certain Souchuukon are capable of extracting certain colors.  Alternatively, they may be able to extract all 4 colors, but the color is dependent on the host monster.

For the most part the scans only highlight all of the returning weapons and their “jump” attacks.  Jump attacks are executed by running off of a raised platform, and pressing attack while mid-air.  All 13 weapons have a jump attack animation.  The otomo Airu, or felyne comrade system has returned allowing the hunter to be accompanied by two felynes (and a big insect if you so desire).

The Souchuukon is certainly an imaginative weapon.  While I would be interested in trying it out, it sounds just a tad too unconventional for me to be interested in really mastering it.  I already foresee hardcore players only being interested in the Souchuukon’s red extract boost, which seems to be the most applicable…  Capcom has publicly stated that there will be a demo of Monster Hunter 4 at this year’s Tokyo Game Show.  Players can battle either a Great Jaggi, the new Kechawacha, or a Tigrex.  I would wager that we’ll see a video of the Souchuukon in action right around that time.