Those aren't particle effects in the screenshots. There are likely some incorporated, but for the most part they appear to be traditional texture based effects (if you look closely at some of the screens you can even see  the polygon edges where the texture bends, though that wouldn't be any kind of issue in motion). The particle effects infamous is famous for are made up of hundreds/thousands of tiny sprites (which can obviously be very taxing), though it does incorporate traditional texture based effects too. They just aren't the focus.

You're right though, they do look great. Easily the most visually appealing part of what they've shown of Pokken.

No one's excited for XCX because it's a graphical master piece, dude.

It looks more technically demanding to me than the Pokken screens with their two (admittedly great looking) characters in a small and not so high res environment.

Yeah I'm sure he's kidding, curl.  He... has to be.

Suicune is genderless. And it looks better than ever in those screenshots.

I wish a WIi U version would be released.

I think there are a lot of completely necessary compromises being made to make that game possible on the Wii U, and I don't think that the same can be done with Pokken simply because the arena is smaller. We've seen the best graphically looking fighting games on similar hardware, and the results don't even come close. The in game models look as detailed as the character art, dude. At 60fps. I'm not buying it.

...I mean, I'm buying it. Like I'm... purchasing... I just don't believe it. You get me.

Seriously. Spam my profile with "I told you so's" if Pokken looks anywhere near this good if it comes out on the Wii U. I would gladly eat crow on this.

But I know I won't.

It's pretty clear you don't know what you're talking about, but it's understandable as it seems you're not the only one.

These graphics are pretty easy for the Wii U as explained above: Only two fighters that don't have a very high polygon count. They look detailed because of the texture work, the normal mapping and the specular reflections. Also, the visual effects (judging from this and from the gameplay shown on Famitsu the other day) look like rather simple 2D flashes and sparks, and not even at a high resolution at that. Add to that the simple environmnet, no actual grass, low-res terrain, etc.

It looks cool because the style and art, not because of its technical features.

Downgrades don't necessarily confirm the system couldn't handle it; its a different architecture, isn't it? I'm pretty sure the arcade board isn't based on the Wii U CPU/GPU.

And while the shading and texturing is excellent, it still doesn't look beyond what we've seen in Wii U titles like Trine 2: Director's Cut or the Art of Balance remaster.

Well the character models are really the only truly demanding thing we have here.  The ground textures are nice, but not superb.  Folliage meshes are sparse and not too detailed.  The particle effects, Zekkyou already explained.  Also, the restriction in terms of what is being rendered (small arenas, small area around it being rendered).  All these things allow the hardware's power to be focussed on only a handful of aspects that can be pushed a lot farther.  I doubt this game will need much of any downgrading to go on Wii U.  Probably a 720p resolution.

...Then why don't other games look this good with similar hardware? If I'm wrong, I'll gladly admit it, but it's not like these guys haven't made fighting games before. If this game looks this good, why haven't any of their other fighting games on similar hardware even come close? It's not like Pokemon particularly lends itself to more realistic art design.