Viewtiful Joe

One of the best games for the GCN. If you love classic 2-d/3-d side-scrolling brawlers, you'll love Viewtiful Joe. The game's story concerns Joe, an avid movie-goer whose girlfriend Silvia is kidnapped during a film starring Joe's favorite superhero, Captain Blue. Joe is shortly thereafter thrust into Movieland, the environment in which Silvia is taken by the villainous group known as Jadow. After accepting a special V-Watch from Captain Blue, Joe transforms into the tokusatsu-style persona "Viewtiful Joe" and sets out to rescue his girlfriend. The gameplay of Viewtiful Joe features traditional 2D platform side-scrolling intermixed with 3D cel-shaded graphics. Abilities known as "VFX Powers" grant the player special actions for combat and puzzle-solving, such as slowing down or speeding up time. This game has some great dialogue and is also, very, very hard. Even on the somewhat easy difficulty, you'll die alot. But that adds to the fun. The PS2 port of the game also features the slick and awesome Dante as a playable character. The game also got a sequel Viewtiful Joe 2. Just as hard, and just as fun. It also got a super cool anime that keep true to the style of the game. This game was the first game from Clover Studios, the guys responsible for Okami and God Hand. Anyone who wants to play a great game in general definitely needs to pick this game up.