Hehehe. Well, surprisingly the 30 fps rate is more stable on the demo than I expected. As this gets a bit more polish until release, it seems to get the hardware not beyond it's limits. Which still leaves some user made Dragon Quest Builder 2 levels as ridiculous hardware killers.

From the graphical standpoint, yes I think the game looks incredible. I like the great animations on the monsters. I think they overdid it a bit with the effects. If in four player multiplayer all the players and their pets are attacking with advanced weaponry, you basically cannot see anything anymore, as all is effects.

It's one of the only games built from the ground up for the hardware that pushes a semi-realistic art style, so it's tricky to compare as most of the system's graphical top dogs are either cartoony (Mario Odyssey, Luigi's Mansion 3, etc) or games from more powerful hardware where just the fact that they still look recognizable and run decently is an impressive feat. (Doom Eternal, Witcher 3, etc)

I haven't played the demo myself, but from watching footage online it definitely looks like it makes good use of the system's processing resources. The monsters look fantastic and while the environments aren't quite up to the same level, there's not a substantial enough difference that it's jarring. It's also worth noting that even in this pre-release demo, it's already running at a smoother framerate than World on base consoles.

I'll have to play the final game myself to give a definitive opinion, but at this stage I think it's fair to say that yes, it's giving the Switch's chipset a good push.

On a technical level, it is certainly pushing harder than a number of other games on the Switch. However the thing to remember is that this game is designed specifically for the Switch to begin with. Limitations and workarounds are taken in consideration from the start, leaving you with a much more impressive result than a more demanding game being downscaled as a result. The art direction of the game helps a lot as well.

However I don't think it is a pusher like say Witcher 3 or DOOM Eternal is on a technical level. MH Rise looks and runs great, maybe even looks better than games that are pushing the Switch to its limits. But I think that has more to do with Switch being the primary platform moreover how much it is actually pushing the console.

Overal, I think Hellblade still holds the title ofnthe most realistic game of the Switch

Hm, I get what you're saying and it's an interesting point. Does "pushing" a system only entail hitting a system's limits to the degree of practically overheating the thing? Or can it also be using a system as efficiently as possible, while still being a graphical showcase? The thing is, neither RE Engine (which Monster Hunter Rise is running on) nor iD Tech's engine are inherently made for a system like the Switch. The game was obviously always developed with the Switch in mind though, which gives it a huge advantage. But stuff like this would discredit most Nintendo releases, which I don't know, think is a bit ridiculous. 

I don't really disagree that the Witcher 3 and DOOM Eternal push the Switch to it's limits, and thus I guess they'd be better "hardware pushers". But I also think that's a little unproductive. At that point it's basically a war of "which game is less optimized than the other for the system" - because they certainly don't look better despite being a lot more taxing on the hardware, even with 4 player online co-op with multiple monsters on screen (which I have seen, and almost tested just with 3 players instead of 4). 

Monster Hunter's ability to sell hardware is limited to local multiplayer audiences. I can't see anyone buying it for a single player or online play experience, as Monster Hunter local multiplayer is a 10/10, but only a 6 or 7/10 with single or online.

The single/online audience will be people getting it to add to their collection if they've already got everything they want and can't think of anything else. In the West and American markets, most of the local multiplayer crowd will have already purchased one for Mario Kart, but I can see at least a few who would have waited until this one came along. The major thing holding it back is the fact that many office-spaces have closed down or see limited use, instead favouring work from home.

In Japan, the local multiplayer market is a lot larger, and Monster Hunter has a substantial base there, in the millions. I'd guess the level of overlap with Mario Kart fans is substantially less, and so many people in Japan should be buying for a proper Monster Hunter - while World did sell well, home console is not a proper platform for the best experience with the game.

Monster Hunter is a very popular game online.

I highly doubt the audience for Mario kart and monster Hunter have huge overlap anywhere in the world. They have literally nothing in common in any way at all. Even the local multiplayer is completely different with Mario kart being about competing with friends while Mon Hun is about teaming up with friends. 

lol, people are still going to read "hardware pusher" and comment on sales. I'd say change the OP to say is Monster Hunter "Hardware taxing?" or "Pushing the Switch to its limits"

The handheld local multiplayer is the key element of importance. Any office space where there are gamers, they will play Mario Kart, and these are the people who will buy a system for Monster Hunter.

I am sure many play monster Hunter online, but as I mentioned, the game is significantly more fun and satisfying playing local multiplayer. This is where it differs from being a simple game you buy to add to your collection for a system, and a game you’d actually buy a system for. 

I have changed it. I have not written "its limits" because it sounds to me that we would be discussing about the absolute 100% of the Switch, which we will probably never see.

I often wonder what could we see today on for instance, a N64, if a strong dev company would develop a real big game using the knowledge and dev tools of today, to make run something on the console that we could not imagine in 2002... Or if we had never gone over the 5th gen but kept optimizing dev tools and codes until today to really reach 98-99% of the N64, PS1 and Saturn.