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Editorial   

9 Franchises We Want to See in HD

The PixlBit staff loves HD and wants to see some of their favorite franchises get the treatment.

Viewtiful Joe Collection

Tough-as-nails. Wild characters. Cliché plotlines with absurd twists. Unlockable difficulties. Upgrade stores.

Viewtiful Joe and its sequel, Viewtiful Joe 2, were perfect for a generation. Unfortunately, they made their way to the GameCube and the PS2, and not the PS3 and 360, where the titles would really fit in. Now, more than ever, when achievements are unlocked and online leaderboards are a major facet in even the simplest of games, Viewtiful Joe would have a home.

Why? Viewtiful Joe is a grueling 2D platformer with intense difficulty. It has style, it has grace, it has all the fancy moves of tens of action heroes, and then some. Viewtiful Joe is packed with hardcore gameplay, inside jokes, impossible bosses, and they're all in great, cel-shaded art. Before, where there were jaggies and some character parts that would overlap into each other.

Now, aside from the appearance and the style, let's set things clear: Viewtiful Joe was a game before its time. The atmosphere around the original release of the titles was very favorable, but it was at a time where internet media was still growing, a time, despite being just a few years ago, when not nearly as many people relied on the internet gaming media cycle to be informed about games. Now, with challenging games like Demon Souls and Shoot-em-ups on the rise, thanks in part to comprehensive online leaderboards and thirst for challenge in an expanded core gaming base, Viewtiful Joe and its sequel would be right at home with a re-release. More, these games could have expanded challenge added in through complex and grueling trophies and achievements. Better, the challenging achievements would be hard from game design and high difficulty levels. Beating Viewtiful Joe or its sequel is no simple task, and any gamer would feel accomplishment from completing the game on the “Normal” difficulty, let alone the most difficult one.

If you asked me for a franchise that really needed an HD re-release, I'd say Viewtiful Joe. It just fits this console generation better than its own. Not to mention, the second game did have a cliff-hanger ending. If only these remakes sold well enough to compel Capcom to complete the trilogy!

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Comments

Chris Yarger Community Manager

07/23/2013 at 01:30 PM

This came out nearly two years ago it's nice to see at least one of these games are getting the HD treatment!

Now if we could only see some of the others come along...

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