Our love doesn’t burn as bright as it used to, but…Capcom will always be one of my
favorite publishers.
Back in the NES years, they were one of my first loves.
Their Disney games were classic, their original games were legendary…oh, and Mega Man.
So.
It was love.
And then, some 15 years later, we reconnected.
Like high school sweethearts at a class reunion.
Alright, the romance analogy is getting weird.
The point is Capcom was back.
Games like Resident Evil 4, Okami, Killer 7…they were doing some of the best stuff
in the business.
And some of the weirdest stuff in the business.
Stuff like the one and only Viewtiful Joe.
It’s actually kind of bittersweet to go back this game.
Even now, it just…explodes from your television set.
With a certain style, a certain design and a certain attitude that just…it’s gone
now.
For me, it’s almost like a period piece of when Capcom—and actually, the industry
in general—was a lot more open to crazy ideas, and different ideas.
And fun ideas.
A lot has changed since then.
Games are safer, and browner.
And less creative.
They’re not the same as they used to be.
But this one?
This one is.
You dust it off, you turn it on…and Joe does the rest.
As weird and wonderful and wacky now as ever, and maybe even more so.
In today’s world of suit-and-tie heroes and lookalike games, Viewtiful Joe lets his
freak flag fly.
And he waves it with that familiar refrain.
So if you weren’t around for that Capcom renaissance, it was largely fueled an internal
studio called Clover.
You know them today as Platinum Games…makers of MadWorld and Bayonetta and The Wonderful
101.
But back then, they were part of Capcom.
Kinda like an all-star team, created for one reason—to be creative.
To come up with fresh, exciting new IP.
And the first thing they did…was a game called Viewtiful Joe.
I’d say mission accomplished.
Obviously, this is the sequel, released just a year after the original.
And with that kind of quick turnaround, Viewtiful Joe 2 is exactly what you’d expect.
It’s more Viewtiful Joe.
Which is ironic, given the circumstances.
For a game as bold and unique as Viewitful Joe to get a play-it-safe sequel.
But nonetheless, we wanted more.
And if the goal of Clover was to get people to embrace new franchises, they at least succeeded
with this one.
So like the original, Viewtiful Joe 2 has a familiar blueprint.
On the most basic level, this is a side-scrolling action platformer…a not-so-distant cousin
of other Capcom classics.
Only in this case, there’s no arm cannons or…bionic arms.
There’s just beating the holy hell out of people, holy hell, I’m beating the hell
out of people.
It’s true.
Look at this, I’m a flamboyant ninja.
Who can slow down time, with my red tights.
Man, these were the days.
So it’s a simple genre, right?
It’s just a beat ‘em up, really.
But the catch is…there’s no button mashing in Viewtiful Joe.
It’s actually built on a very complex system of combat, based both on counterattacks…and
time.
And it starts easy enough.
If the enemy is about to attack you, you just dodge and counter.
But then you get surrounded by enemies.
And you realize that, to successfully attack some of them, you actually have to manipulate
time.
Slow the clock down to find an opening, and speed it up to plow through…Viewtiful Joe
has always been a much more complicated game than it looks.
And with several dozen enemies, each with their own attacks and patterns…well, button
mashing won’t get you very far.
You know, the time mechanic also plays a role in the game’s puzzles.
Of which there are several, a lot more than you’d expect from an action game.
Changing the flow of time can actually affect objects in the environment, and that plays
a huge role in progressing from sequence to sequence.
So there’s a lot to think about in Viewtiful Joe, as well.
And the puzzles are actually a lot more involved in the sequel.
And speaking of which…even though the core of the game is the same, there are some nice
additions to Viewtiful Joe 2.
Most importantly, Joe’s not alone.
His girlfriend Sylvia is playable in this one, and you can swap between the two at any
time.
In fact, each character has their own abilities and strengths…so you kind of have to switch
back and forth.
Which makes the gameplay even more hectic.
But you know, the most hectic and crazy thing about Viewtiful Joe 2…is its presentation.
This game looks incredible on the GameCube.
And not just, you know, “for its time.”
This thing looks amazing for any time.
It has this…loud, energetic style that just never settles down.
There are colors all over the place, and those cel-shaded graphics just pop off the screen.
Throw in the great music and all the general weirdness…and that’s what makes this a
game worth revisiting.
Sure, this is a clever beat ‘em up.
But it’s also a gorgeous clever beat ‘em up, and with a design and attitude that you
just don’t see much anymore.
You know, this year marks the 10th anniversary of this game.
Which is crazy.
Time goes faster than it has any right to.
There’s a lot of nostalgia with a game like this, mostly because of those years.
But also because, you felt an attachment to games like this.
At least I did.
When games lost their innocence, I lost some of my excitement for them.
The kind of excitement I got from Mega Man and Rescue Rangers.
But games like this…they brought it back.
They were different, they were exciting…and sure, they were also frustrating.
In this case, too difficult…definitely too complicated, at times.
But with games like this…video games started to feel special again.
Unfortunately, we don’t actually have the ability to slow down time.
But what we do have…is Viewtiful Joe 2.
And…that’s kind of the same thing.