Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble

Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble is a spin-off from the action series Viewtiful Joe, which instead of progressing through individual levels is built around multiplayer battles in enclosed arenas. The game takes over the distinctive comic-book visual style that made Clover Studio famous with the main entries of the series, and carries its colorful stylization, cinematic effects, and exaggerated action aesthetic into the genre of an arena fighter for up to four players at once. It was released simultaneously for GameCube and PlayStation 2, i.e. for both platforms the series was on at the time.

The gameplay foundation consists of simple controls derived from the main series – players combine each character's regular and special attacks while making use of the arena environments, which often contain traps, moving platforms, or changing conditions that can knock opponents straight out of the fight. There is a roster of characters gathered from across the Viewtiful Joe series as well as other titles from Capcom's output, which makes the game feel more like a celebration of the studio's visual style than a deep fighting system. A single-player campaign does exist, accompanied by a lighthearted story framework, but the focus of the fun lies in local multiplayer, which the game was primarily designed for and to which the individual arenas and game modes are tailored.

Unlike the action platformers of the main series, which were built on precise dodge timing and one-player battles against waves of enemies, this is about short, chaotic scrambles without demands for deep mastery of a fighting system. That makes the game more of a party title than a full-fledged continuation of the experience that made the first entries of the series famous, and it is a good idea to approach the title with that expectation in mind.

Why play it: Red Hot Rumble is a good choice for fans of the Viewtiful Joe series who want to see their favorite characters in a lighthearted multiplayer form around a shared console, as well as for players looking for a short party fighter with a striking visual style. Anyone expecting the depth of classic fighting games or a continuation of the action style of the main entries will be disappointed – this spin-off aims elsewhere, and its value lies mainly in playing together.