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Viewtiful Joe System Mechanics


Differences between versions

I feel this is probably important to distinguish as it's a question that gets asked alot. As of right now the mainline VJ games are on PS2 and Gamecube.

The PS2 version of Viewtiful Joe 1 has an extra character (Dante), and both versions of VJ2 are identical.

However, that's only concerning content, the issue between both versions is performance. The PS2 ports of VJ1 and 2 have slowdown issues, these issues are nowhere near the level of PS3 bayonetta but they do exist and happen in very specific areas for example the Lava Area or the waterfall area in Ten Million Years BC for VJ2 is very noticeable, but after that you'll probably forget it exists. The exact percentage of a drop is not well documented but the game is very much playable. If you don't mind framerates, the PS2 version is preferred for VJ1, if you absolutely cannot stand any sort of framedrops, the GCN version is what you need. Alongside this the PS2 port has downgraded graphics.

Controls
GCN/PS2

A/X		Jump
B/Circle	Zoom
Y/Square	Punch
X/Triangle	Kick
L/L1		Slow
R/R1		Mach Speed
Z/R2 		Viewtiful Touch (VJ2 Only)

Difficulty Differences


Kids Mode - Meter depletion is extremely slow, no VFX penalty for Viewtiful Forever or viewtiful dodge, Damage dealt is increased, damage recieved is decreased

Adults mode - Meter Depletion increased, small penalty for Viewtiful Forever, Damage dealt is decreased, Damage recieved is increased, bosses gain one more life bar

V-rated mode - Remixed enemy waves, Meter depletion is faster, more frequent black and red enemies, large penalty for Viewtiful Dodge/Forever, enemies attack harder and faster, damage dealt is decreased, bosses gain one more life bar

Ultra V-rated mode - Enemy waves from V-rated, Enemies knock out 1/4th life bar, Joe deals out less damage, Bosses have two more bars and do extreme damage, no dodge markers


Ranking system

Viewtiful Joe's ranking system is simple, you are graded from D to A, then V, then rainbow V, each rank has it's out value.

RV = 6
V  = 5
A  = 4
B  = 3
C  = 2
D  = 1

At the end of each fight or puzzle you are graded on three areas, V-points, Time, and Damage.

Damage is the only static ranking, no hits is a rainbow-v every time. Alternatively if you get hit and ukemi every single time, your rainbow-v ranking still stays, any uses of a take 2 also does not detract from your ranking. 

Time ranges from mission to mission, but it's always assuming you are fast, there is no point in the game where going slower will give you a good ranking.

V-points are calculated from battle. Every attack and action you do builds 1 V-unit which is worth 10 V-points. Every Fight/puzzle has a minimum number of necessary V-points, the subsystem for v-point calculation is listed lower in the guide.

At the end of a stage, all of your fight rankings are calculated and put together for an end of stage ranking.

So for example:

AABVB would turn into (2 + 2 + 3 + 5 + 3)/5 = 3, which is an overall B ranking, likewise, a VVVVV ranking is an overall V. Rainbow V can only be acquired with all Rainbow Vs, having anything under will result in your score being a plain V.


V Point Calculation

As mentioned above, V-points are divided into units of 10, called V-units. Every action Joe does against an enemy creates a set number of V-units. By doing "Rock on combos" Joe can create multipliers for V-units, so it's important to gain a preliminary amount of V-units before starting your rock on combo.

An example of a good multiplier setup would be to dodge (2 V-units), launch without slow (1 V-unit), air combo for a few more V-units (let's say about 4-Units), totalling to about 7 V-units.

At this pooint, goinginto slow and letting go or running out of VFX would give you 70 V-points flat, but staying in slow and launching another enemy will add a x2 multiplier and add another V-unit, giving 80 V-Units x 2. Hitting another enemy will create 90 V-units x 3, and so on and so forth.

Figuring out how to build V-units and add on multipliers will help raise your V-rank.


Battle system

-Dodging

Dodging is the most important part of VJ, and the basis of stopping most of your enemies and exposing the weak point of bosses. Below Ultra-Rated or Playing Any character that isn't Captain Blue you will be given Dodge Markers. 
You have three ways to dodge.
Pressing up on the analog-stick/dpad will cause joe to hop in the air and dodge all low attacks

Pressing down on the Analog-stick/dpad will cause joe to duck and dodge high attacks. This also dodges most projectiles

Having slow while an attack touchs you will cause joe to perform a viewtiful dodge. This ignores every attack in the series with the exception of fire and some rare physical attacks. This also sets up the ability to use Viewtiful Forever.

On Ultra V-rated or Captain Blue, you have to figure this out without dodge markers. Enemies give away their next attack before they attack. For basic enemies you can watch their animation. A strong emphasis on shuffling their feet will cause them to go low however if they lift up their fix and make a boxing post, they will go high.  Other enemies have their own animations that you can figure out after playing for a bit. 

However the animation for some enemies are extremely subtle, which is where VJ's sound design comes in, all high attacks have the same audio cue as do all low attacks. Spend a small amount of time on kids mode and get used to this audio cue and soon you won't even need a visual marker, you can tell right off the bat which attack will be used.

Upon dodging regular enemies, they'll be put in a dizzy state, in which you can use slow to instantly launch them across the map while starting a rock on combo.

After dodging bosses during their dodge marker semgments, any attack given to them afterwards is given a bonus damage.

Enemies with multidodge attacks have a distinctive pattern, red enemies hit twice, black enemies hit four times, with the third hit being mirrored of the second, and the last the mirror of the third.

Enemies with Shield are random, the first attack can be figured out by audio cues and the last attack is a mirror of the third, but the second and third attack (at the moment) seems very random and unguessable.

-Slow
Slow is one of Joe's three gimmicks, it is the most important tool in Viewtiful Joe. While in Slow, Joe is impervious to 90% of attacks in the game.  While in Slow, everything including Joe moves in slow motion, by holding Mach Speed, Joe can move in normal speed, however this causes the VFX meter to drain twice as fast

While in Slow, any bullet projectiles can be seen and reflected at enemies. Reflected projectiles are an instant stun on whoever it touches barring bosses. Any explosions made in slow are much more powerful and hit multiple times. Stage hazards and Silvia/Six Machine's bullets increase in size while slow is active.

Joe gets a damage boost while in slow and can see any enemy's next attack in slow motion.

The drawback? Using up too much slow will drain your VFX, turning you into normal joe without any abilities. Getting hit while in slow will dodge THAT attack, but drain your VFX and put you at a position to not want to drain more or else you'll go back to regular joe. Enemies with a purple shield will cause joe to autododge if activated for even a second, meaning you have to dodge them in regular speed or use other tricks to take them down. Around V-rated and higher, expect the game to punish you for depending on slow

-Mach Speed
Mach Speed is Joe's second gimmick, when used Joe moves faster than normal. A common speedrunning trick is to slide with Mach Speed which lets Joe move across rooms in under a second.

Upgrading Mach Speed will create copies of Joe that randomly go across the arena and attack enemies, any boxes in the background or around the arena are also able to be hit by the joe Clones. Also by utilizing these clones you can hit bosses that are in unreachable states. 

The other benefit of Mach Speed is that repeated uses of it sets Joe on fire, this gives him a small damage boost and allows him to walk in lava/fire for zero damage as well as set other enemies on fire.

Mach Speed is the biggest VFX drainer, but produces the most VFX juice

-Zoom
Zoom is Joe's last gimmick, it changes his moveset and gives him the most powerful attack in the game, Red Hot One Hundred, named RHOH, which is simply Slow Zoomed Punches.

The benefits of Zoom are increased damage and the ability for Zoom kick to dodge some attacks such as lasers or drills. however unlike the other abilites this is toggled instead of held.

Also using Zoom will make Joe's jump an attack as well as his falling animation

-Replay
Silvia's gimmick in VJ2. Upon hitting an enemy she will do triple damage and create a lightning aura for herself, inversely if hit while activated she will take triple damage.

It's a major VFX drain but in VJ2 some enemies are built around this mechanic as they take a few hits then immediately move away.

-Viewtiful Touch
Present in VJ2, Viewtiful Touch is the ability to tag out characters, with the exception of the Six Machine battle, this process has a small delay, but Joe and Silvia are invincible during it. 

by holding the button, you can perform a small teamup attack which does okay damage and hits around Joe and Silvia. 

By holding it until VFX reels 5 and 6, Joe or Silvia will call out six machine and fire it while tagging out. This is the most damaging move you can do in one hit, but it's incredibly slow. However you are completely invincible the entire time.


-Canceling

VJ's canceling system is very simple. Doing a punch into a punch not a kick into a kick is not possible unless it connects with the enemy, however, punches and kicks can be cancelled into each other. A common tactic you may see if someone doing slide kick into launch repeatedly for high damage. 
If Joe is in Mach Speed or Zoom, he can cancel his own attacks into each other. Everything can be jump cancelled at any moment unless you have expended your double jumps

-Auras

In every VJ game, Joe and Enemies obtain a special aura, each with their own benefits

Enemies

Purple Aura - Can only be attacked while Joe is slowing time down, after being attacked they can instantly be knocked out as if they were dizzied

Fire - Enemies set on fire are more aggresive. Some enemies cannot be hurt at all until Joe using a red hot kick or punches them while in mach speed

Electrified (VJ2 only) - Enemies that are shocked move in slow motion. Some enemies with a blue aura cannot be harmed until Joe/Silvia hits them while electrified or Silvia does a cool blue kick.

Joe/Silvia
Fire Aura - While on fire, damage output is increased and can set enemies on fire. Joe is also immune to most fire attacks
Lightning Aura - While in lightning, damage output is increased and can shock enemies.