Nintendo Switch: 15 GameCube Games That Must Be On Virtual Console
14. Viewtiful Joe
Henshin a-go go, baby!
Another anomaly in the GameCube library and the wider range of games available between 2000 and 2006 when Wii launched, Viewtiful Joe is a retro-style 2D beat ‘em up that called to mind Final Fight and Streets of Rage. But it modernised the style of gameplay available by offering various film-based mechanics dubbed 'VFX'. You could speed up the action to dodge enemy patterns or go slow-mo for multiple attacks used to rack up combos.
Viewtiful Joe was beautiful to look at because it was presented with a comic book aesthetic that was well-crafted and was a mash-up of popular American comic books across the decades.
It took a simple story - a kidnapped girlfriend, an evil organisation - and added humour and heart. But the action was what mattered most and Viewtiful Joe delivered the punch of a side-scroller with the difficulty of a SHMUP.