A 2D beat 'em up about a guy in spandex with film-related time control abilities. Made by the same people who would go on to form Clover Studio and, later on, Platinum.
The gameplay mostly revolves around using your different skills to exploit gaps in enemy attack patterns, particularly slowdown. I guess this gives the game a bit of a movie feeling since battles tend to have a certain flow as a result with the hero valiantly dodging blows left and right and then turning the tides with a well placed counter.
The combat is really good for the most part, and the game is not terribly hard save for a boss rush section near the end that honestly could have tolerated an extra checkpoint. My issues with it are the odd gimmicky sections and that the bosses are a bit boring.
By far, the most memorable aspect about the game has to be the presentation. Viewtiful Joe is a cell-shaded, fast paced, wisecracking, 4th wall breaking, reference packed, over the top series of sequences one after another. It's great.
To conclude, I think the GameCube version is a bit better than the PS2 one and the game is a bit short but, as it's tradition for Japanese action games, you can unlock new psychotic difficulty settings after beating the game once. Also, new characters and stuff.
The gameplay mostly revolves around using your different skills to exploit gaps in enemy attack patterns, particularly slowdown. I guess this gives the game a bit of a movie feeling since battles tend to have a certain flow as a result with the hero valiantly dodging blows left and right and then turning the tides with a well placed counter.
The combat is really good for the most part, and the game is not terribly hard save for a boss rush section near the end that honestly could have tolerated an extra checkpoint. My issues with it are the odd gimmicky sections and that the bosses are a bit boring.
By far, the most memorable aspect about the game has to be the presentation. Viewtiful Joe is a cell-shaded, fast paced, wisecracking, 4th wall breaking, reference packed, over the top series of sequences one after another. It's great.
To conclude, I think the GameCube version is a bit better than the PS2 one and the game is a bit short but, as it's tradition for Japanese action games, you can unlock new psychotic difficulty settings after beating the game once. Also, new characters and stuff.