~Life is Viewtiful~ Part 2

In part one I spoke on how Capcom gave the Ax to Viewtiful Joe and the Anime that came within its wake. This week its Onward to TWO of my favorite games in the entire library of Gamecube games...Viewtiful Joe and the sequel Viewtiful Joe Two.

Viewtiful Joe is an Acton platformer for the Gamecube and the Ps2. The gameplay is that of 3D characters on a 2D, sidescrolling plane. The Cel-shaded graphics were easily some of the most impressive things ive seen visually on the system at the time. Joe's powers consisted of what the game called "VFX" and they helped with fighting and solving the various puzzles throughout the game. My favorite being that the player could slow down everything and fight in what essentially was bullet time. His other powers consisted of zooming in and freezing the enemies in place, and speeding up time making Joe able to throw a furry of punches so fast they catch on fire. In Viewtiful joe 2 you are joined by Joe's girlfriend, Sexy Silvia. She fights with dual guns (which i am totally for) and has two different powers. Silvia can record her last action and replay it three times over, as her other skill is to generate electricity.


Dodging enemies is one of the best parts about these games. A well timed dodge sends the dude you're fighting into a daze,which then you can send them flying into the other enemy on screen to rack up a combo. Seeing that is slow motion is incredibly cool, even to this day considering how old the game is. Viewtiful Joe is an Acton platformer for the Gamecube and the Ps2. The gameplay is that of 3D characters on a 2D, sidescrolling plane. The Cel-shaded graphics were easily some of the most impressive things ive seen visually on the system at the time. Joe's powers consisted of what the game called "VFX" and they helped with fighting and solving the various puzzles throughout the game. My favorite being that the player could slow down everything and fight in what essentially was bullet time. His other powers consisted of zooming in and freezing the enemies in place, and speeding up time making Joe able to throw a furry of punches so fast they catch on fire. In Viewtiful joe 2 you are joined by Joe's girlfriend, Sexy Silvia. She fights with dual guns (which i am totally for) and has two different powers. Silvia can record her last action and replay it three times over, as her other skill is to generate electricity.


Dodging enemies is one of the best parts about these games. A well timed dodge sends the dude you're fighting into a daze,which then you can send them flying into the other enemy on screen to rack up a combo. This became increasingly difficult as the enemies would  sometimes out number you and it would take more than simple dodges to dispatch them. Some of the more common enemies would stop telegraphing their attacks.

Bosses were NEVER easy in the world of Viewtiful Joe. There was no simple solution to defeating them quickly, and much trial and error would go into figuring out how to beat them with minimal damage. This being something i can appreciate about the game, after the tutorial they did not hold your hand (mind you i had a hard time on normal) and the boss rush that they throw at you is one of the most challenging parts of the game.

More or less Viewtiful Joe one and two are the same game, with minor tweeks here and there between the first and second game. Mainly moves that you can do, the fact that you have a partner, and further elaboration on the story. Clover really did not try to reinvent the wheel with this title or the sequels, They presented it as what it was; a traditional sidescrolling beat-em-up. That is the selling point of that game to me. A simple formula with new things here and there to keep a player's attention.

HOWEVER...I cant say that every Viewtiful Joe game was as good. Clover did make not one but TWO "black sheep" games based off of this license, which i will be discussing next time.

For those who have played Viewtiful Joe in some respect what did you think of the games? Would you try to revive  this series for a third main title? Leave a comment!
And as always if you liked what you read make sure to check out my other thoughts on the Viewtiful Joe anime, and the Fate of the Company who created this and other wonderful titles;Clover Studios.

~Ranzignus~