Viewtiful Joe: Double Trouble [DS]

Part of what makes the Nintendo DS special is that developers are writing for its unique capabilities, elevating the dual screens and touchscreen from simple gimmicks into the rarified air of actual gameplay. A case in point is Viewtiful Joe: Double Trouble, a surprisingly faithful translation of one of the most inventive and clever beat-'em-up platformers to grace Nintendo's GameCube (and later, the PlayStation 2).

Viewtiful Joe is a bobble-headed nod to Japanese culture: anime action, manga style, and goofy Ultraman costumes, with a little movie-making meta humor thrown in for good measure. It's got a busy hand-drawn look, crammed with coarse detail, but sporting smooth elaborate animation. When Viewtiful Joe jumps, his tiny body twirls and corkscrews. He twists to avoid a bullet or spins to deliver a roundhouse kick with the fluid grace of a ballerina or Keanu Reeves on wires.

The concept behind the series is that things are different in the world of movies. Our schlubby dressed-down protagonist looks like Fred Durst on a Monday. But with VFX power, he is transformed into an anime superhero named Viewtiful Joe. His reserve of VFX are supposed to represent movie tricks and special effects. On the DS, this means the top screen is a zoomed real world view while the bottom screen is a more panoramic view through a camera lens.

This is partly a nifty trick to give you two views of the action, one for situational awareness and another to admire the animation as you beat the gears and springs out of the hapless robots you're fighting. But the main conceit is that through a camera lens (i.e. on the touchscreen), you can interact with the world a few ways.

Slow motion is a staple of the series that lets you admire the action and carefully set up attacks. This is less crucial on the DS, since you're never fighting more than a couple of enemies at a time, which gives this version a scaled down feel from the wild battles on the consoles. A new scratch power lets you freeze the action and rain down heavy falling objects onto your enemies. You can also flick the screen upwards to swap in the zoomed view, in which Joe strikes a pose and shines with power, leaving enemies to quiver helplessly with fear. Beat on them at your leisure.

In each level, as you collect VFX power, you can sustain your abilities longer. This drives the collecting subgame, since you'll want to hold powers like slow motion, scratching, and zooming in for as long as you can. Then you clear the episode and start all over again with a minimal pool of VFX. At certain areas, you can spend collectibles to give Joe more health, quicker VFX regeneration, or new powers. These new powers layer in additional ways to fight.

Most of the other powers are used to solve puzzles, which figure more prominently into this version. You can split the world in half to break objects or move heavy things off platforms. There are also buttons to be pressed, gears to be turned, and occasional poodles to be popped. Don't ask -- you'll see for yourself. Sometimes the powers feel like pointless busy work, particularly during interludes when you have to manually push slides up to the top screen. But for the most part, the DS tricks manage a unique sense of being a part of the world.

Like the original game, there are two difficulty levels. The "adult" level will force you to make careful use of your reserves of VFX power, and it can be punishing. You have a limited number of lives and you'll have to start over at the last save if you lose your last one. It forces some difficult old school choices, since you have to replace lives from the same pool of resources you use to unlock Joe's new powers. Do you try the battle again or push on with one less life and hope you won't need it during, say, a difficult boss battle?

And speaking of bosses, the first few are deceptively easy, but as the game goes on (especially if you're playing on the "adult" difficulty level), you'll experience some of the frustration of the original Viewtiful Joe. These are traditional find-the-trick bosses and if you can't do it in the allotted number of lives, you'll get to replay chunks of the game all over again. Don't feel bad if it drives you back into the "kid" level. That's where most of us will end up.

Unlike the original game, you can't go back and replay levels to earn points for new powers or, more importantly, replacement lives. It's disappointing that there's no option to enjoy the game at your own pace, as it can bring the game to a screeching halt. But otherwise, Double Trouble is a stellar example of how great games can be adapted for the Nintendo DS.