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Podcast Discussion / Re: RFN RetroActive #35: Viewtiful Joe
« on: January 31, 2016, 03:48:35 PM »
First-time-long-time, all that.
I have a very strange relationship with Viewtiful Joe. It was the first game I ever pre-ordered, and back in 2003, when I was 12, it was all I could do to contain my excitement (Wind Waker had me hooked on cel-shading, much like the rest of the industry). It was overwhelming waiting from when I put my money down in May, to when the game shipped in October, but on the day the game came out, my dad died, unexpectedly.
I picked up the game later that day and over the next few weeks as we lost our house and I bumped around to other friends and family members' homes, I played through the game several times, down various branching paths and through the new-game plus. I could not have known it at the time, but it was kind of perfect, having a mind-numbing brawler to play through while dealing with the tragedy. It was great, and I rarely felt completely duped by the puzzles, but perhaps I'm forgetting some. I got the sequel, but never finished it, and haven't touched the game since. I'm supremely interested to know what I think of it 13 years later. I am playing GC with original disk.
The main character, Joe, feels very much like he might have been the embodiment of that Barenaked Ladies line "Like Kurosowa I make mad films...ok, I don't make films, but if I did, they'd have a samurai." I mean, that very 90s male "cool" figure. I recall being put off by that at the time. Also, he and Sylvia don't have an effective relationship - they really should not be together.
I have a very strange relationship with Viewtiful Joe. It was the first game I ever pre-ordered, and back in 2003, when I was 12, it was all I could do to contain my excitement (Wind Waker had me hooked on cel-shading, much like the rest of the industry). It was overwhelming waiting from when I put my money down in May, to when the game shipped in October, but on the day the game came out, my dad died, unexpectedly.
I picked up the game later that day and over the next few weeks as we lost our house and I bumped around to other friends and family members' homes, I played through the game several times, down various branching paths and through the new-game plus. I could not have known it at the time, but it was kind of perfect, having a mind-numbing brawler to play through while dealing with the tragedy. It was great, and I rarely felt completely duped by the puzzles, but perhaps I'm forgetting some. I got the sequel, but never finished it, and haven't touched the game since. I'm supremely interested to know what I think of it 13 years later. I am playing GC with original disk.
The main character, Joe, feels very much like he might have been the embodiment of that Barenaked Ladies line "Like Kurosowa I make mad films...ok, I don't make films, but if I did, they'd have a samurai." I mean, that very 90s male "cool" figure. I recall being put off by that at the time. Also, he and Sylvia don't have an effective relationship - they really should not be together.
