Viewtiful Joe

On my way back from work last Friday night I stopped by one of the used game shops near Ikebukuro station and picked up VIEWTIFUL JOE for the GameCube. It’s a game I’d been wanting to get ever since its release, and finding it for 2000 yen was the final incentive for me to get it (and I was really in the mood for a new game). The game is loads of fun, and really takes me back to the old days of 2D side-scrolling action. Yes, that’s the basic game play, but everything is done with oh-so-beautiful cell shading and quasi 3D perspectives, and with game mechanics that look as cool as they are fun to play (slow down time or make it go faster for MATRIX-like fighting). The whole thing looks great, and plays well too.