Viewtiful Joe on the GC is absolutely brilliant...

[2600Lives]

but hard as all hell! Still, I'm loving every second of this game. I love the art direction, with the big headed characters and the cel-shading. I love the mechanics, using slow and mach speed to not only solve puzzles (and some are very tricky), but also to beat up the bad guys. It's SO satisfying to Mach Punch some baddie into oblivion. The voice acting is great, and the dialogue is self-referential (when you pause, the announcer asks you if it's a number one or a number two, and if you keep pausing, he gets mad because you take so many bathroom breaks). This is seriously an A+ game, but it's SO FREAKIN' HARD! The bosses are just absolutely relentless, beating you into submission (even the first one!). Another Joe is just ruthless in his constant teleporting around the damn arena. And whoever designed Fire Leo should have his fingers chopped off. It's a Capcom game, though, and you don't go into a Capcom game expecting anything even remotely resembling an easy time. The best part is that I picked this up at GameStop a few months ago for TWO DOLLARS. If I see Joe 2 or Red Hot Rumble, I'll definately pick those up as well. If you haven't tried this one, DO, as it's just incredible on so many levels.

[Emehr]

I bought this one a few years back and loved every minute of it...until I got to that shark boss guy. I think I'm still stuck on him (haven't played in a while). It really breathed new life into the butt-kicking genre and the art is fantastic. It's one of those games where if you fail a level you don't mind playing it again (to a point) just because it's that fun of a game. I picked up the sequel a couple years ago and it's still in its shrinkwrap. I'm determined to finish the first one before delving into it but that shark guy...

[Tempest]

Play it on kids instead of adult (if you aren't already). It's the same story and ending, but you won't pull your hair out fighting the bosses (and they DO get harder). You just won't unlock the hidden characters, which I didn't care about anyway.

 

VJ2 is also very good, too bad they didn't make 3.

 

Tempest

[2600Lives]

Ok, this game had the WEIRDEST ending EVAR. Seriously, after the ending movie, you get a bunch of the characters playing a rap/metal song, with Joe and Alastor doing vocals. It's just really, really strange (as if the game itself wasn't strange enough!). Oi.

[+Cafeman]

Is the ending as weird as Jet Grind Radio's on Dreamcast?

 

Caf Jr was the master of Viewtiful Joe. He beat it on the hardest difficulty - he had the bosses' patterns memorized. Personally I loved the game but its difficulty prevented me from beating it, so I moved on. Excellent execution.

[Crimefighter]

Gamespot is selling used copies for three bucks right now. I didn't have it so I got it. Will get VJ2 eventually.