Osaka-based Capcom is making a concerted attack for Japanese consumers’ attention at this year’s Tokyo Game Show, and Monster Hunter 3 on Wii is inevitably leading the assault.

The franchise’s migration from PSP to Wii is having no detrimental effect on the assembled Japanese media’s enthusiasm for monster hunting: queues on the second business day of TGS are stretching to require hour-long waits.

It’s interesting to note that Monster Hunter 3’s dominating presence is at the expense of any further plugging of Capcom’s PSP Monster Hunter games, which seems to indicate that (for now) Capcom is completely focused on ensuring the first Wii Hunter game is a hit. All signs here indicate that objective is realistic, with the game looking accomplished even at this stage – the underwater sections playable at TGS look thoroughly excellent and the locals appear mesmerized by it all. Capcom will be Nintendo’s best friend throughout 2009. 

On the opposite corner of Capcom’s booth is the equally significant Resident Evil 5, playable on both of its target formats and in both single-player and two-player co-op modes. The queues for zombie action are ‘only’ long enough to merit 40-minute waits, but the public open days (Saturday and Sunday) will undoubtedly see far longer lines of punters.

There’s more zombie action in a surprisingly small area of the Capcom booth, where Dead Rising on Wii is looking a bit like a smoother (and even dafter) No More Heroes kind of thing – waving the Remote to a swipe foes with a deadly blue umbrella is just one of its charming ploys.

Also on Wii and looking similarly impressive, although for very different reasons, is Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom. This new 2D fighting game is styled in the traditional way – a discipline Capcom has honed to near-perfection – and it plays as well as could possibly be expected when using the Wii’s Classic Controller (hint to Capcom: players will need a proper joystick to get the most out of this arcade-to-Wii conversion). Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom launches in Japan this December; but the relatively unknown-outside-of-Japan school of Tatsunoko character will likely prevent any Western release. Which would be a shame (and, on this showing, all the more reason to import).
 
Street Fighter IV is also playable on Capcom’s booth, but there’s no word on finalised release dates for its console ports of the year’s hottest fighting coin-op.

Capcom’s loyalty to the PSP, which has benefited the developer so greatly throughout the rise and rise of Monster Hunter Portable, appears to be faltering slightly. Only period PSP action game Sengoku Basara Heroes providing evidence of Capcom’s until now strong support for the format.

On the whole, though, Capcom’s TGS line-up is a remarkable show of consistency, with quality apparent in all of its new titles.