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 process of creating and shaping the mechanics, systems, rules, and gameplay of a game. Game design processes apply to board games, card games, dice games, casino games, role-playing games, sports, Wargame (video games), war ga ...

Hideki Kamiya is a Japanese video game designer and director. He began his career in 1994 with Capcom, where he directed '' Resident Evil 2'' (1998), ''Devil May Cry'' (2001), '' Viewtiful Joe'' (2003), and '' Ōkami'' (2006). From 2004 to 2006, he worked ...

. It is primarily developed and published by

Capcom is a Japanese video game company. It has created a number of critically acclaimed and List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil'', ''Monster ...

and its subsidiary

Clover Studio was a Japanese video game developer 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 Hand'' ...

Games

''Viewtiful Joe'' (2003)

The first game in the series was directed by

, who had previously directed ''

Resident Evil 2 ''Resident Evil 2'' is a 1998 survival horror video game developed and published by Capcom for the PlayStation (console), PlayStation. The player controls rookie cop Leon S. Kennedy and college student Claire Redfield, who must escape Raccoon ...

'' and ''

Devil May Cry is a science fantasy action-adventure game franchise 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 invas ...

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

known as Team Viewtiful. The game was released for the

GameCube The is a PowerPC-based home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, in Europe on May 3, 2002, and in Australia on May 17, 2002. It is the suc ...

on June 26, 2003, in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, and in October 2003 in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

and

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. ''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 fictional character who typically possesses ''superpowers'' or abilities beyond those of ordinary people, is frequently costumed concealing their identity, and fits the role of the hero, typically using their ...

" Viewtiful Joe" and sets out to rescue his girlfriend Silvia. The gameplay features traditional 2D platform

side-scrolling A side-scrolling video game (alternatively side-scroller) is a video game viewed from a side-view camera angle where the screen follows the player as they move left or right. The jump from single-screen or flip-screen graphics to scrolling grap ...

intermixed with 3D

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

graphics. A

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

version was developed in 2004 by

featuring

Dante Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...

from the ''

'' series as a playable character.

''Viewtiful Joe 2'' (2004)

The second game in the series was directed by Masaaki Yamada, with

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 country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. 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 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 video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. Released in the middle of the Eighth generation of video game consoles, eighth generation of home consoles, the Switch succeeded the ...

version of the first game.

Other media

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

TV series based on the video game series, simply titled '' Viewtiful Joe'', was produced by

Group TAC was a Japanese animation and computer graphics studio located in Shibuya, Tokyo, and founded in 1968 from former Mushi Pro staff. They worked on movies, videos, TV shows, and commercials, and contributed to all stages of the process, including ...

and aired from 2004 to 2005. A manga series was published concurrently in ''

V Jump is a Japanese shōnen manga magazine, focusing on manga as well as video games based on popular manga. The magazine's debut was in 1990 by Shueisha under the '' Jump'' line of magazines. History In the early 1990s, Shueisha directed ''Weekly ...

'' 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, f ...

version of the 2008

fighting game The fighting game video game genre, genre involves combat between multiple characters, often (but not limited to) one-on-one battles. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as Blocking (martial arts), blocking, grappling, counter- ...

'' Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars''. He also appears as a playable character in the 2011 fighting games '' Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds'' and '' Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3'', and the 2013 mobile game ''Combo Crew''.

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 Capcom beat 'em ups Capcom franchises Capcom games Clover Studio games Parody superheroes Video game franchises Video game franchises introduced in 2003 Video games developed in Japan Video games adapted into television shows