Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble

Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble, known in Japan as Viewtiful Joe: Battle Carnival, (ビューティフル ジョー バトルカーニバル) is a video game released by Capcom in 2005 for the GameCube and the PlayStation Portable. It combines platform fighter and beat 'em up gameplay, and features characters and elements from the Viewtiful Joe video game series and its accompanying animated series.

Plot
Captain Blue is working on his latest film, and decides to hold a battle tournament between those who are auditioning to determine who will get the lead role. As the tournament progresses, the cast begins noticing unauthorized equipment appearing unexpectedly and strange occurrences on set that put them in danger. At the tournament's conclusion, Rachel is possessed by spirits housed within the film equipment, which have been attempting to sabotage the film and eliminate the actors, and merges with the film equipment to become the ghostlike creature Tsukumo. The heroes defeat Tsukumo, turning Rachel back to normal, and the spirits lament through her that they only wanted to star in the movie instead of always being stuck behind the scenes. Joe and the others remind the equipment how important they are to the film's production, pleasing and reassuring them. To everyone's surprise, Captain Blue decides to make Tsukumo the hero of his next film.

Development
The game was originally announced under the title Viewtiful Joe: VFX Battle, and early reports stated that it was to be released for the PlayStation 2. Producer Atsushi Inaba noted that the game was inspired heavily by Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. Melee. Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble was originally developed as a two-player game rather than a four-player game. The PlayStation Portable version of the game features Dante from the Devil May Cry series as a playable character, along with several additional costumes based on characters from Devil May Cry and Viewtiful Joe: Double Trouble.

In Japan, the game featured a bonus stage set in the offices of V Jump magazine, which published the concurrently-produced Viewtiful Joe manga. In North America, the GameCube version featured in-game advertising promoting the Johnny Rockets restaurant chain.

Reception
Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble received mixed reviews from critics according to review aggregator Metacritic.