About the only thing wrong with Super Smash Bros. Melee is the horrible fact that Nintendo hasn't made another one. Mario and Co. released it shortly after the GameCube's 2001 debut and then shut the door on the entire franchise, but as Japanese developers plan the upcoming Revolution sequel, Capcom is filling the gap with its own four player battle game entitled, Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble. In fact, and if release schedules mean anything, it's actually on the store shelves this very second.

On the surface Red Hot Rumble is a straight up Smash Bros. clone. Featuring numerous characters from the cool 2D series and four player support, you can basically pound the crap out of your opponents with stylish punches, kicks, and other acrobatic maneuvers. There's even power ups you can collect that'll give your character an added strength boost. However, there's a bit more to this game than just simple fighting. You can certainly do that if you want, but developer Clover Studio has placed a different spin on things. You see, series character Captain Blue is busy casting for his latest action adventure flick and everyone's desperately trying to make the short list of stars. Therefore, and since this series has a flair for the dramatic, it's not about just murdering your opponents but doing so in style. Use of special VFX powers as well as the completion of certain objectives, such as working together to defeat the game's bosses, go a long way to earning your top spot in the movie. However, if you'd rather annihilate your foes you're certainly free.

Unlike Smash Bros., Red Hot Rumble is lightning fast to the point where I don't even know what the hell's going on but I like what I'm seeing. Characters zip across the myriad of different environments, all of which seem to feature interactivity such as breakable boxes, character interference, and other neat distractions. As for the levels themselves, there appear to be quite a few and some of them are really cool. There are the usual city locales that we've all seen in the previous games, but there's also a wrestling ring, a skyscraper backdrop, and one arena where everyone's battling on a plane that's blazing through a city.

VFX powers do play a role but they don't appear to be as important as they are in the prequels primarily because one player can't slow down or speed up the entire game and screw everyone else over. However, you can still pull off lots of these slick moves at certain moments, particularly when you're working together to dispose of a common enemy.

If you're looking for the next visual evolution of the Viewtiful Joe series you won't find it here, as Capcom hasn't changed the visual style at all. However, it's still a very attractive game and the frame rate seems to be as smooth as melted chocolate. There's just a whole lot of stuff going on at once and it's really sweet to see everything merge together and create this colorful mess.

If I had to guess I'd say that Red Hot Rumble is going to be at the very least an average fighter and therefore worth a look for fans of this series...all three of them. That's really the biggest hurdle Capcom has to overcome, the complete lack of hype that drove Viewtiful Joe 2 to miserably flop. Even with the recently released cartoon the publisher may be hard pressed to move units, and that issue will be even uglier if this game turns out to be less than stellar. However, Clover Studios hasn't let me down yet, and with that being said, I think Red Hot Rumble may turn out to be a solid four player party extravaganza.