News Article

Nintendo are 'very impressed' with Monster Hunter 3's Graphics

Posted Sun, 02 Aug 2009 by Jamie Giggs

It's all looking pretty sweet

It's all looking pretty sweet

Big N's designers admit that MH3 is visually stunning

It was clear when the first few screenshots of Monster Hunter 3 emerged that the game was stunning, and even Nintendo's best have spelt that out for us. In an 'Iwata Asks' the team behind Zelda said that they really felt the pressure after seeing Monster Hunter 3 in motion; Capcom apparently put everything they had into it, their goal being to make it one of the best looking games on the Wii. Looks like they succeeded.

Iwata also asked MH3 director, Kaname Fujioka about the Wii Remote. Fujioka replied:

“To start off, buttons…” Iwata finished the sentence with “not enough of them.”

Monster Hunter's producer Ryozo Tsujimoto also said that they considered using motion control, but didn’t because players would spend a long time playing the game, and would become tired of all the waggle. News also surfaced that the Classic Controller Pro was thought up halfway through the development process, and was jointly produced by both Nintendo and Capcom.

Monster Hunter 3 certainly looks the part, and hopefully it can deliver a solid gameplay experience as well. Where do you think it fits in the Wii's graphical spectrum?

Source: gonintendo.com.

Tags: Wii, Capcom, Nintendo, Upcoming Games.

Game Screenshots

User Comments

Corbie

1. Corbie United States 02 Aug 2009, 12:54 BST

From looking at screenshots and videos of this game in action, it's clear that it's set the bar a bit higher in the visuals department.

Aviator

2. Aviator Australia 02 Aug 2009, 12:56 BST

Wow. Looks amazing. 1st

Nathan

3. Nathan Australia 02 Aug 2009, 12:58 BST

I don't think so Aviator. Anyway, not too shabby in the still shots, I haven't seen it running, but it's decent for the Wii.

Jockolantern

4. Jockolantern United States 02 Aug 2009, 12:59 BST

It's certainly the best looking game on the Wii to date in terms of how much it pushes pixels. Really raises the bar for the Zelda Wii team; hopefully it brings out the best looking Zelda title to date and one that even rivals Monster Hunter 3 in visual lavishness. Pixels aside though, I find the overall art design of games like Metroid Prime 3, Super Mario Galaxy, Twilight Princess, MadWorld and even lesser titles such as Klonoa, Little King's Story, and Opoona to have more "character" than Monster Hunter 3 appears to have. I'll withhold my final opinion until I actually get to play the game but while the art direction is solidly gorgeous and the pixel pushing is jaw-dropping considering the Wii's hardware limitations, Nintendo's current gen console has certainly seen better games in terms of overall artistic vision.

Not to be a grammar Nazi (although that's exactly what I'm about to be) but the title of this particular article should begin "Nintendo IS," not "Nintendo ARE." There... I said it.

Aviator

5. Aviator Australia 02 Aug 2009, 13:01 BST

damn you corbie

Quimby

6. Quimby Australia 02 Aug 2009, 13:01 BST

I may be a bit spoilt by the fact I havent touched my Wii since we had a fight nearly 9 months ago and I bought a 360, but I remember Shen Mue looking a touch better than this... Mind you I havent seen this in motion yet; just screen shots

Jockolantern

7. Jockolantern United States 02 Aug 2009, 13:06 BST

Shenmue is in no way visually superior to Monster Hunter 3. There are a dozen Wii games (including the ones I previously mentioned) that are superior to Shenmue in terms of pixel pushing and art direction.

The again, I never did care for Shenmue much. ^_~

Firkraag

8. Firkraag Sweden 02 Aug 2009, 13:11 BST

Beautiful for a Wii game, i'm not getting this though.

Prosody

9. Prosody United Kingdom 02 Aug 2009, 13:25 BST

No game is better looking than Shenmue - I can't think of a snigle title that has done more for rendering knitted jumpers and plasters. I actually do believe that Shenmue is an amazing looking game, even today. But then that'll surprise nobody...

Can't wait for MH3, though...

zranoll

10. zranoll United States 02 Aug 2009, 13:27 BST

it looks good but a bit pixely in those pics

Quimby

11. Quimby Australia 02 Aug 2009, 13:42 BST

Just went tot youtube to watch the trailer in action (and then watch a clip of Shenmue lol) and MH3 really didnt excite me at all. SMGalaxy blew me away when I first saw it, so maybe it's something to do with me liking bright colours. Shenmue still wins though...

Objection_Blaster

12. Objection_Blaster United States 02 Aug 2009, 14:28 BST

Shenmue on Wii would be nice...anyway, we all know MH3 is pretty but when can we play it ourselves?

Super Smash Bros. Fan1999

13. Super Smash Bros. Fan1999 United States 02 Aug 2009, 14:46 BST

Soooo beatiful. An wonderful-looking Wii game, wouldn't you agree?

Koto

14. Koto United States 02 Aug 2009, 15:33 BST

the graphics are really high-up the bar,the Zelda team has some stiff competition if they wanna make better graphics

Bensei

15. Bensei Austria 02 Aug 2009, 15:44 BST

Hopefully it's good since it will be one of the first games on a Nintendo console to aks money for Online play

Relevant Latty

16. Relevant Latty United Kingdom 02 Aug 2009, 15:49 BST

If Nintendo say that it looks better then what they are currently doing, then that's very good news to Capcom but...

1) Shouldn't you be worried if you created something only for someone else to outdo you with something better?
2) Does this mean the start of 3rd Party titles selling well since it has the gameplay and graphics to match?

I'm not bothered about graphics though. I just hope it's worth the money and time they put into it. This "should" encourage others to follow. :)

Cferell

17. Cferell United States 02 Aug 2009, 16:12 BST

i guess by now devolpers are learning how to use wii right

Bahamut ZERO

18. Bahamut ZERO United States 02 Aug 2009, 16:34 BST

Now this can be mistaken for a 360 game. I find it funny that HVS were specifically trying to make it look like a 360 game and failed, Capcom just wanted this to look good and achieved HVS's goal :P

I'm addicted to MHFU, and I can't wait for this game. And a tip for MH n00bs:

Start with the longsword, it's very easy to use. Don't use the S&S like the game says, it's only good for pros.

Egg miester

19. Egg miester United States 02 Aug 2009, 16:42 BST

i love the graphics but i am staying out of the shenmue/mh graphics thing i am to much of a fan of shenmue i even spent 90$ to get imported eu shenmue 2 and a disk to brake through region block

ATRUEZELDAFAN

20. ATRUEZELDAFAN United States 02 Aug 2009, 16:45 BST

Shouldn't it be Nintendo IS Very Impressed....

Giggsy

21. Giggsy United Kingdom 02 Aug 2009, 16:54 BST

@ ATRUEZELDAFAN I believe its either.

Dicesukeinuzuka

22. Dicesukeinuzuka United States 02 Aug 2009, 16:55 BST

Wow I thought this was for PS3 when ever I heard about it on Gamespot or another site, lol and the pictures do look alittle pixelated but still looks good.

motang

23. motang United States 02 Aug 2009, 17:15 BST

Hopefully, this bar would something for all 3rd party, 2nd party, and 1st party games would shoot to beat it!

my_point_is

24. my_point_is United Kingdom 02 Aug 2009, 17:42 BST

hopefully this should be a sign of things to come.
a bit of time and effort goes to show that you can get good visuals from a low spec machine.
besides, as time goes on, games do seem to look better when developers have gotten more experience with a consoles hardware. the games towards the end of each consoles shelf life look and play better than their earlier counter parts. eg, super mario bros 1 vs super mario bros 3, or super mario world vs donkey kong country.
so i`m glad things are moving in the right direction.
also, is it me, or do you think capcom and sega are the only developers other than nintendo actualy trying to push the wii`s hardware limits?

SUPERZELDAMAN

25. SUPERZELDAMAN United States 02 Aug 2009, 17:49 BST

wow purty graphics :)

pixelman

26. pixelman United States 02 Aug 2009, 17:52 BST

Ehh they're OK. I'm sure they look better in motion, but I still think the Wii is better suited to more stylized art styles.

aaronsullivan

27. aaronsullivan United States 02 Aug 2009, 18:22 BST

Impressive for the Wii doing the realistic-muddy look. In a couple years it will age as badly as all those types of visuals. When you ape reality, the differences become more and more pronounced over time as tech gets better and better and it starts to just look bad. Abstract stuff ages much better. I can still go back to Yar's Revenge on the Atari 2600 and it works on every level, including visuals. It's a bit painful to go back to the mud that is Ocarina as much as I respect and love that game. Just sayin'.

On the other hand, if you don't care how a game ages over time, it doesn't matter worth a hill of beans. :)

Oh, and to me, HD (higher resolution) makes it ALL better, abstract or not. :P

P.S. Fun trumps all visual comparisons.

Dicesukeinuzuka

28. Dicesukeinuzuka United States 02 Aug 2009, 18:31 BST

yeah, I think that Red steel 2 will age well if it keeps the same graphical style.

Man with a hat

29. Man with a hat Finland 02 Aug 2009, 19:02 BST

Now lets hope that other studios start produce quality games.

pixelman

30. pixelman United States 02 Aug 2009, 19:12 BST

@aaronsullivan: Yeah, you know what they say: Cleanliness is next to godliness. A good example is Wind Waker - it still looks awesome half a decade later.

Pablo17

31. Pablo17 United States 02 Aug 2009, 19:16 BST

I think this game looks fantastic and I will be buying it as soon as it comes to the USA.

WolfRamHeart

32. WolfRamHeart United States 02 Aug 2009, 19:26 BST

Nice article there Giggsy! Keep up the good work!:)

Chatham

33. Chatham United States 02 Aug 2009, 19:40 BST

Being someone who has played the game (and demo)... I have to say... This is THE BEST LOOKING WII GAME EVER (Just remember, this game was originally designed for PS3, then moved to Wii with very little shortcuts taken)

Chatham

34. Chatham United States 02 Aug 2009, 19:41 BST

@Pixelman
You have no idea... Look up vids.

Giggsy

35. Giggsy United Kingdom 02 Aug 2009, 19:43 BST

WolfRamHeart Thanks man.

Sean Aaron

36. Sean Aaron United Kingdom 02 Aug 2009, 19:48 BST

The game does look awesome, but I'm not sure if it's something I'll be interested in content-wise. I'd have to think if they're bringing this game over to other territories then the CC Pro has to come over as well -- how about as a pack-in?

wiiboy101-LESTAnerLUFBRA

37. wiiboy101-LESTAnerLUFBRA United Kingdom 02 Aug 2009, 19:55 BST

NOT ENOUGH BUTTONS TOTAL BS,,MORION LEAD TO TIREDNESS TOTAL BS....

PROOF tilting ur wiimote and nunchuck doesnt reqiure waving and moving you simply swish and tilt at ur wrists.....

motion doesnt mean waving

lack of buttons BS..
d-pad counts as 4 buttons,A button,B trigger thats 6 buttons,,c button,z button NOW I COUNT 8 BUTTONS secondery play buttons -&+ buttons thats now 10 BUTTONS,

right add motion tilt wiimote and press buttons IV JUST DOUBLED UP EACH BUTTON FUNCTION ABILLITY.....

dont make things up nintendo,capcom

THE TRUTH....

classic pad pro was developed so psp/ps2/ps3 owners would migrate to wii and be at home with the controls....

CAPCOM/NINTENDO DONT BLOW SMOKE UP MY ASSSSS

Machu

38. Machu United Kingdom 02 Aug 2009, 20:10 BST

I'll be buying this on Day 1, sometime next year. :(

Can't wait to go hunting! :D

beastman93

39. beastman93 United States 02 Aug 2009, 20:14 BST

Will most def be pre-ordering this game. I need a humongous RPG for the Wii that isn't Dawn of the New World. :P

AlexSays

40. AlexSays United States 02 Aug 2009, 20:15 BST

Hey guy with the weird user name and the obnoxious comment right above Machu...

He's right, the Wii remote doesn't have enough buttons. And the ones the remote has are so spread out, it's impossible to reach each one in a timely manner, like with a standard controller.

Not sure why you have such a strong emotional attachment to the Wii remote, but a lack of buttons has been a complaint for a long time.

Oh and your "truth" is nuts. Nintendo is focused on the billions of people without gaming consoles, not the few million that already have a 360 or PS3. That's common sense forya.

buffalobob

41. buffalobob Mexico 02 Aug 2009, 20:16 BST

I have seen clips on youtube and well I can't give a proper verdict because of YT quality..but the huge environments, scenarios, characters and animations look great. Is rare to see Nintendo THAT impressed by a 3d game so I bet is something to take in mind.

buffalobob

42. buffalobob Mexico 02 Aug 2009, 20:23 BST

@alex - the only ones complaining are the wiihaters (both gamers and developers). I don't see why the lack of buttons is a problem. On the contrary I have always seen the EXCESS of buttons a huge problem since 2 generations ago. The pointer and the motions can do more and better.

AlexSays

43. AlexSays United States 02 Aug 2009, 20:24 BST

So Nintendo and Capcom are Wii haters?

These are the kinds of comments that make my head hurt.

geek-master

44. geek-master United States 02 Aug 2009, 20:40 BST

what do you do in monster hunter?

AlexSays

45. AlexSays United States 02 Aug 2009, 20:43 BST

You hunt monsters.

Google not work on your operating system?

buffalobob

46. buffalobob Mexico 02 Aug 2009, 20:51 BST

no <.< that's not what I meant. You said that it was a problem by some long time but the only ones that pointed that were people that hated the wiimote (like the morons from Epic). I never saw Capcom's comments above as complaining, just pointing one of the issues when moving the franchise to the wii but it seems they did found out a way. capisce? ;P

AlexSays

47. AlexSays United States 02 Aug 2009, 21:17 BST

So other people point the issue out, and they're complaining... But Capcom and Nintendo point out the issue and it's okay?

No. A few people all over, Wii lovers and haters alike, have noticed there is a lack of buttons on the Wii remote.

This isn't anything new. Just ordinary people were castoff as "haters" for pointing out the problem before Nintendo themselves.

There's not a lack of buttons

The company that made the thing disagrees.

Sean Aaron

48. Sean Aaron United Kingdom 02 Aug 2009, 21:33 BST

There's not a lack of buttons; rather a lack of creativity on the part of game designers. I cannot recall the number of Playstation games I owned that used eight buttons, but I suspect the number was somewhere in the vicinity of ZERO.

I will say that if Monster Hunter on the PS2 does use a lot of buttons then it's conceivable that porting would have been challenging for them, so using the CC makes sense.

TwilightV

49. TwilightV United States 02 Aug 2009, 23:06 BST

From what i'm reading here, he's likely quoting what people tend to say, not stating it.

Ren

50. Ren United States 02 Aug 2009, 23:46 BST

Basically what they're implying is that they'd rather not resort to waggle in place of some buttons and it's true mapping buttons to the d-pad is a stretch for regularly used items, but it can be done.
Also true about creative, ergonomic, button mapping, though, as Sean said; I think it's silly to use more than a couple items at any given moment - it just makes more sense to have one/two main weapons at a time (kind of the Zelda system of a separate items screen). It's really is only die hard gamers that feel they're entitled to like 8 items under a different finger at a time. (cough - Alexsays- cough).

Anyway, I feel like we've seen these same stills for like a year or more, why do they look so impressive now? I just want to see the thing in action and get it over here to play, already. I think it's ridiculous how long we've waited for localization, not to mention the previous 2 games.

BB Thrilla

51. BB Thrilla United States 03 Aug 2009, 01:02 BST

@beastman93: if u want a big RPG get tales of graces! 70+ hours of gameplay WITHOUT sidequests!

Adam016

52. Adam016 United States 03 Aug 2009, 01:25 BST

I think the Classic Controller Pro was a good idea.
I can't wait to get my hands on this game!

beastman93

53. beastman93 United States 03 Aug 2009, 01:43 BST

@BB Thrilla I'm aware of Tales of Graces and hope to get it. Also, most Tales games say they take 70+ hours to get everything, but I always end up completing them in around 45 hours. ;)
Whereas the Monster Hunters series is known quite well for having VERY long playtimes. :)

SUPERZELDAMAN

54. SUPERZELDAMAN United States 03 Aug 2009, 01:51 BST

Im pre orderinng scribblenauts :D
I loved the legend of zelda windwaker :D :D

AlexSays

55. AlexSays United States 03 Aug 2009, 02:34 BST

Waggle isn't accurate enough to replace a button and with your way of counting, the PS3 controller has four more buttons.

Not only does it have more, but the buttons are all in very close proximity to each other.

Pick any two PS3 buttons and then pick the d-pad and 2 button and you should come to a sudden realization.

No 360 fans, I'm not leaving you out of all the fun, I just don't have a 360 controller to count buttons on.

kirstpo

56. kirstpo United States 03 Aug 2009, 03:29 BST

The graphics are pretty good for the Wii, but the environments are sparse.

Mickeymac

57. Mickeymac United States 03 Aug 2009, 06:49 BST

Yes, it is very visually impressive, just as the PSP entries in the series were some of the best looking games on the PSP. Congratulations, at least it won't make my eyes melt. I just hope the "not enough buttons" problem doesn't screw up the controls...

Sean Aaron

58. Sean Aaron United Kingdom 03 Aug 2009, 07:38 BST

@wiiboy101-LESTAnerLUFBRA: Yeah, it's pretty clear between the colour scheme and design of the CC that there's marketing being done towards PS3 owners in Japan; I doubt Nintendo cares much if they end up only owning Monster Hunter 3 as long as they buy the console!

MH3 can also be purchased packed-in with just the CC-Pro in white or black as you like.

chunky_droid

59. chunky_droid Australia 03 Aug 2009, 09:47 BST

I have faith Capcom can handle the amount of buttons on the controller, Iwata sounds like he knows it's a problem.

I agree there isn't many buttons on the Wii remote, but the only games I play that need more buttons use the classic controller anyway so to me it's a non-issue.

HiroshiYamauchi

60. HiroshiYamauchi Brazil 03 Aug 2009, 16:41 BST

This game does look impressive and the controls are great, there's no need to worry about it.
Now, about waggle, which i think is a somewhat pejorative term, those who says the Wii Remote isn't accurate enough don't knows it well (overall, mostly are users in this case) or are lazy when working on the controls (developers). The combo Wii Remote + Nunchuk has at least 4 fast access buttons (A, B, C, Z), which i think is more than needed in any action game, other commands like inventory access or pause can be easily performed by the other buttons. I can't see a point to complain about the Wii controls.

retro_player_22

61. retro_player_22 United States 06 Aug 2009, 19:29 BST

Look impressive, I am surprised Nintendo was impressed by the game too. Hope this convince them to update the graphics in Monado before its release as well.

motang

62. motang United States 08 Aug 2009, 00:10 BST

Hey Nintendo I am expecting nothing less than this game for the next Zelda and as well as Monado!

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