In the latest Iwata Asks feature, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata mentioned that after seeing the graphics of Monster Hunter Tri, the Zelda team became pressured into reaching the bar Capcom had set for graphics capable on Wii.

I can tell Nintendo’s staff has really been galvanized by you. I can tell they feel like you did what they hadn’t yet. Looking at the graphics objectively, I feel like the game’s visuals are one of the representative examples of what can ultimately be done with Wii. I think it has placed the Zelda team under a considerable amount of pressure.

While I definitely dig the graphics of Monster Hunter Tri, I can’t help but feel they look kind of blurry on an HDTV (whereas something like The Wind Waker looks clean and vivid even on HD televisions with component cables). I just hope that Nintendo puts some extra time and effort forward into using higher quality textures that look great even when up close. The Wii has considerably more disk space and power than the GameCube, so we know it’s technically possible.