Summary
- A former PlayStation Portable gamer found a copy of Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble in their old sofa cushions.
- Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble received mixed reviews upon release and has an average score of 63 on Metacritic.
- Despite the popularity and nostalgia for Viewtiful Joe, it is unclear if the franchise will ever be remastered or released on current consoles.
A former PlayStation Portable gamer discovered a copy of Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble on PSP in their cushions after throwing out their 13-year-old sofa. Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble is a spin-off of Capcom's Viewtiful Joe beat 'em up franchise. Whereas the main series Viewtiful Joe games are beat 'em ups, though, Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble has more in common with Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. Series.
Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble launched in 2005 for the GameCube, with the PSP version dropping a year later. Unfortunately, both versions of the game earned mixed reviews from critics at the time of their release. The PSP version of Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble has a 63 overall score on review aggregate site Metacritic, though it fared somewhat better with fans, earning a 7.6 overall user score. The game goes for around $20-$30 on eBay, even if one just has the loose UMD.
Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble may not be the most popular game on the PSP, but it was still a nice surprise when Reddit user CasmsVR found the game in the cushions of their 13-year-old sofa that they were throwing out. CasmsVR found their loose UMD of Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble in the sofa, though it's unknown if they have the box and manual still lying around. The UMD appears to be in decent shape considering it's been lost in a sofa for all these years, though CasmsVR indicated that their PSP didn't have the same luck.
Anyone feeling nostalgic from this discovery and wanting to play Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble for themselves may be disappointed to note that the game is still trapped on the PSP and GameCube. In fact, pretty much the entire Viewtiful Joe franchise is stuck on generations-old consoles. Despite Capcom's history of re-releasing, remastering, and remaking its older games, it hasn't done the same for Viewtiful Joe and at this point it's unclear if it ever will.
Even if Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble doesn't get the remaster treatment, there's still a slim chance it could make a comeback through other means. Sony has been adding PSP games to its PS Plus Premium subscription service on a regular basis, and so there's a chance Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble could be added to the service. Other classic Capcom games have been added to PS Plus Premium already, like the original Resident Evil, so one has to imagine that Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble is on the table, though fans shouldn't hold their breath.