Life is Viewtiful!
- JP release: 26th June 2003
- NA release: 7th October 2003
- EU release: 24th October 2003
- Developer: Capcom
- Publisher: Capcom
- NGC Magazine Score: 90%
- Mods Used: Widescreen Code
The second of Capcom’s five big exclusive GameCube games, although Viewtiful Joe got ported to the PS2 a year later (interestingly, the appearance of Nintendo’s ROB is left in the PS2 version). It’s a side-scrolling beat-’em-up where Joe has to enter a film to save his girlfriend and stop the villains from escaping into the real world.
On top of various kicks, punches and dodges, Joe also has VFX powers which are the cornerstone of the game’s combat. He can slow down time, make everything fast and “zoom” into the action (which can be combined with slow and speed to give you more options). These powers can also be used to manipulate the world itself, making floating platforms raise and fall and some other neat affects. I really enjoyed the use of puzzles in this way, and it’s great to be able to use the combat mechanics for more than damaging opponents.
While I initially found combat to be incredibly good fun, I found it got extremely tiresome by the ending. Part of this is that enemies have a lot of health, and it’s not consistent either, the same enemy types can take a different number of hits. What didn’t help me was the health bar on bosses, which use multiple layers, sometimes of similar colours, so I wasn’t sure I was even causing damage a lot of the time. For some bosses, you can have the main tactic figured out and just have to repeat it countless times. I went for the “Adults” difficulty and ended up wishing I’d gone for the extra easy difficulty contained in the Japanese re-release.
Still, Viewtiful Joe is a lot of fun, and if you’re good at these games, you probably won’t encounter the main kind of problem I did. I do really hate the lack of consistency in enemy health (it felt ridiculous to me for some of the later repeat big enemies), but then the game also throws different objectives at you within sections of the level to help mix it up. It also encourages replaying with even harder difficulty modes and extra characters to play as.
Fun
Some of the puzzles, or rather tasks required of you, can be frustratingly difficult at times. Not in an old school way, but purely because the way in which you have to accomplish many of the tasks can seem illogical. In essence, there’s just too much to do, and concentrate on . And, to top it all off, failing the tasks often means that you have to start again at the beginning of a section, and fight your ay back.
But these really are minor problems, and the sheer audacity, manic intensity and superlative execution of he game as a whole, undoubtedly compensate for any misgivings we may have had.
Geraint Evans, NGC Magazine #84
Remake or remaster?
A remastered collection of the Viewtiful Joe games would be great, perhaps add a super easy option for people like me.
Official Ways to get the game
There is no official way to get Viewtiful Joe.
Europe
Japan
North America
Germany
Japan – Revival Edition
GameCube Games by Date
2002: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2003: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2004: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2005: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2006: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
Bonkers that we haven’t gotten a VJ Remastered collection yet. Would probably do very well for itself on modern consoles.
Fire Leo is utter BS. Stopped my playthrough dead, and I was playing on Kids difficulty…
Still, I like to think with more experience of this kind of combat, (All three Bayonettas and Hi-Fi Rush has to mean something, right?) I’d be able to take it on and finally get this game off my unfinished list, because it’s really fun.
The GameCube app on Switch 2 might just be the best chance of this getting on modern consoles.
Viewtiful Joe is a fascinating one. It drew a considerate amount of attention at the time more because of what it was, a 2D beat’em-up with a cel-shaded art style: in other words, a discredited style of game (2D) in a nearly dead genre for consoles, with a new and barely-proven graphical style. It was bold that the game dared to be what it was. Even the game’s difficulty was worthy of note, because reviewers at this time had just started to trash any game that offered resistance.
Despite it being so counter-culture, the game made some waves, it’s clear a lot of reviewers liked what it brought to the table.
As for me… I played it on the PS2, a few years later. To be honest, while I do dig the combo system, the puzzle-solving can feel super arbitrary (namely because it runs on Looney Tunes logic). Unfortunately, this includes some of the specific ways you’re meant to tackle the bosses, with a lot of trial-and-error involved… except the game isn’t really structured to make trial-and-error pleasant.
That said, I would play this again (and I never did play that sequel, so maybe it improved on my niggles). You know it’s just a matter of time before Capcom tackles this series as part of their remaster schedule.