is a side scrolling beat 'em up

video game franchise This is a list of video game franchises, organized alphabetically. All entries include multiple video games, not counting ports or altered re-releases. 0–9 *''1080° Snowboarding'' *''1942'' *'' 3D Ultra Minigolf'' *'' 3-D Ultra Pinball'' *'' ...

created by Japanese

game designer Game design is the art of applying design and aesthetics to create a game for entertainment or for educational, exercise, or experimental purposes. Increasingly, elements and principles of game design are also applied to other interactions, in ...

Hideki Kamiya. It is primarily developed and published by

Capcom is a Japanese video game developer and publisher. It has created a number of multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being '' Resident Evil'', '' Monster Hunter'', '' Street Fighter'', ''Mega Man'', ''De ...

and its subsidiary

Clover Studio was a Japanese video game development studio founded by Capcom. The studio developed the PlayStation 2 port of ''Viewtiful Joe'', both versions of '' Viewtiful Joe 2'' for the GameCube and PlayStation 2, and the PS2 titles ''Ōkami'' and '' God ...

Games

''Viewtiful Joe'' (2003)

The first game in the series was directed by Hideki Kamiya, who had previously directed '' Resident Evil 2'' and ''

Devil May Cry is a series of action-adventure games created by Hideki Kamiya. It is primarily developed and published by Capcom. The series centers on the demon hunter Dante (Devil May Cry), Dante and his efforts to thwart various demon invasions of Earth. ...

''. It was the second title to be released under the

Capcom Five The Capcom Five are five video games that were unveiled by Capcom in late 2002 and published from March 2003. At a time when Nintendo's GameCube console had failed to capture market share, Capcom announced five new GameCube titles with the apparen ...

, developed by a team of developers within Capcom Production Studio 4 known as Team Viewtiful. The game was released for the

GameCube The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the ...

on June 26, 2003, in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

, and in October 2003 in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. ''Viewtiful Joe'' centers around the avid movie-goer Joe, who is thrust into Movie Land, transforms into the

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...

" Viewtiful Joe" and sets out to rescue his girlfriend Silvia. The gameplay features traditional 2D platform side-scrolling intermixed with 3D

cel-shaded Cel shading or toon shading is a type of non-photorealistic rendering designed to make 3-D computer graphics appear to be flat by using less shading color instead of a shade gradient or tints and shades. A cel shader is often used to mimic t ...

graphics. A

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on ...

version was developed in 2004 by

featuring

Dante Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: ' ...

from the ''

'' series as a playable character.

''Viewtiful Joe 2'' (2004)

The second game in the series was directed by Masaaki Yamada, with Hideki Kamiya writing the story. The game was released for both the

and

in 2004 in

and

, and in 2005 in

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

. The game would be the first title to be fully developed by

, a new studio within

that was founded in 2004. ''Viewtiful Joe 2'' features both Viewtiful Joe and Sexy Silvia as playable characters with similar gameplay elements to the first game.

''Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble'' (2005)

''Viewtiful Joe: Double Trouble!'' (2005)

Development and history

Hideki Kamiya has expressed wanting to return to the series since leaving Capcom. In 2017, in an interview with '' Dengeki PlayStation'', he addressed his former employer that he would want to work on a remake of the first ''Viewtiful Joe''. During

PAX East PAX (originally known as Penny Arcade Expo) is a series of gaming culture festivals involving tabletop, arcade, and video gaming. PAX is held annually in Seattle, Boston and Philadelphia in the United States; and Melbourne in Australia. PAX ...

2020, Kamiya told attendees to "email Capcom" to get sequels to dormant franchises, including ''Viewtiful Joe''. He later said he would like to finish the series with a third entry, as well as seeing a

Nintendo Switch The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a tablet that can either be docked for use as a home console or used as a portable device, making it a ...

version of the first game.

Other media

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

TV series based on the video game series, simply titled '' Viewtiful Joe'', was produced by Group TAC and aired from 2004 to 2005. A manga series was published concurrently in '' V Jump'' magazine. Viewtiful Joe appears as a playable character in the

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, ...

version of the 2008

fighting game A fighting game, also known as a versus fighting game, is a genre of video game that involves combat between two or more players. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as blocking, grappling, counter-attacking, and chaining atta ...

'' Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars''. He also appears as a playable character in the 2011 fighting game '' Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds'' and '' Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3''.

Reception

The first two '' Viewtiful Joe'' games received critical acclaim. However, the games that came after received a mixed-to-positive response and did not sell well.

Sales

In Japan, the GameCube version of ''Viewtiful Joe'' sold through its initial shipment of less than 100,000 copies during the week of its release. Preorders of the GameCube version sold out on Capcom's North American website prior to its ship date, and ''Viewtiful Joe'' debuted as the tenth best-selling game in the region. The PlayStation 2 version sold a poor 9,912 units in its first week of release in Japan. Worldwide, sales of the game reached 275,000 copies on the GameCube and 46,000 on the PlayStation 2. Sales of the game in both North America and Europe were lower than what Capcom had predicted, but due to its small budget, the game was considered by Inaba to be relatively successful commercially.

References

{{Capcom Beat'em ups by series Capcom beat 'em ups Capcom franchises Capcom games Clover Studio games Video game franchises Video game franchises introduced in 2003 Video games developed in Japan Video games adapted into television shows