V-Watch
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A V-Watch is a mystical item in the Viewtiful Joe series of games. It allows its wearer to transform by saying the word "Henshin," giving that person a sentai-style costume and special powers called VFX (Viewtiful Effects). The costume seems to be based on the user's personality and style of fighting.
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[edit] The V-Watch
The V-Watch was first used by Captain Blue in the series of movies he starred in. After Sylvia and Joe were dragged into the movie, Blue gave Joe his own V-watch. Later, at the end of the game, Sylvia received her own V-watch and joined Joe in Viewtiful Joe 2. The costumes each of the V-watch users wears reflects their personalities; Joe's is what he thought would be cool, and Sylvia's goes with her wardrobe. Also, since Captainn Blue Jr. wanted to be like Captain Blue, his costume is very similar.
[edit] Powers
The powers of each V-Watch follow the trend of being a movie special effect. The one power shared in each game by all playable characters is Slow, which, as its name would suggest, slows everything down to bullet time, allowing the characters to dodge attacks and deliver more powerful attacks. In Viewtiful Joe, they also get Mach Speed, which makes the characters move so fast they seem to be in several places at once, and Zoom In, which focuses the camera on the player character, allowing more complex moves. All three of these were used in Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble, but had to be collected rather than simply being used any time.
In Viewtiful Joe 2, Sylvia is given her own set of moves. Instead of Mach Speed, she has Record, which replays an attack on either her or an enemy that hits three times, making it more powerful. Also, her purchasable power-ups are based on her own weapons and fighting style. This also holds true for Alastor in the first Viewtiful Joe. One more move was added in Red Hot Rumble, called Sound FX. It sends out different sounds, and unlike the other powers, has a limited number of uses each time the Sound VFX is collected. It can also be charged, making the attack much more powerful.
Viewtiful Joe: Double Trouble also includes three unique powers based on the touch screen of the Nintendo DS. Split, Scratch, Slide, and Touch are each effected by the way the user touches the lower screen. Split moves the upper half of the screen left and right while slide swaps the upper and lower screens (though it is little more than a revamped Zoom In). Scratch shakes the screen and knocks items loose, and Touch (which can only be used while Slide is active) allows the user to push buttons, turn dials, and damage enemies.
While transformed, the characters can jump higher and farther and take less damage. Once Captain Blue is unlocked in Viewtiful Joe, he can hover by holding the jump button for as long as the button is held. Most other characters in that game get a second jump instead. Alastor can do the double jump while in normal form, since his powers have to be turned on instead of activating automatically. He also has the ability to "float" by using his wings to slow himself down, and can control his decent better than any other character.
Additional fighting styles, independent of the VFX, are used by each character. Joe uses a fire-based fighting style, catching fire after using Mach Speed for a while, and his Red Hot Kick can gain a fiery dragon-shaped aura when zoomed in. Sylvia and Captain Blue, as well as Alastor, use electic attacks. These powers cannot be used except when the V-Watch is activated, and some can be upgraded in the in-game shop between stages.
The final, and possibly least obvious, of the V-Watch's power is to enter and leave Movieland, as Joe and Sylvia could only enter because of Captain Blue pulling them in. Jet Black can also enters and leaves Movieland, since he has the Black V-Watch. However, there may be a way of getting around this since in Red Hot Rumble, many of the characters who originated in the movies are in the real world, on a movie set with Captain Blue directing. The may be because they were carried out by the others, or the barrier between the two worlds was finally broken.
[edit] Anime
In the television series, Joe's retains the VFX powers of Slow and Mach Speed, in their original forms. Zoom In would have been a hard concept to animate, and was changed into an ability that allowed Joe to "zoom in" on his enemies' weak points. He can, however, do most of his attacks that he could use while zoomed in on in the games, including his spiral jump and kick. The V-Watch also seems to carry more importance in the anime as well, as many of the villains of the show want to steal it from Joe, although whether this is to simply keep him from transforming is unknown.
[edit] Similar Devices
While Captain Blue Jr. can transform and use Henshin powers much like the rest of the Viewtiful Joe cast, he does not use a V-Watch. Rather, he has a pair of high-tech yo-yos, predicatably named the V-yoyos, that let him transform. When offered a V-Watch in the anime, he turned it down, saying that he hadn't yet earned it. Later, he received the V-Yoyos from Captain Blue, allowing him to transform for real (he originally just changed clothes).
In Viewtiful Joe: Double Trouble, Sylvia operates a device called the V-Cam, which allows Joe to use his VFX powers outside of the movies. Blue claims to have recently invented in based on V-Watch technology, allowing whoever the camera is pointed at to activate his or her V-Watch.
Both Junko and Jasmine in Double Trouble can transform by saying "Junshin" but do not use V-Watches. Jasmine's powers comes from her V.F.O., which is seen to glow with the power of "hero-ness" after Joe and Jasmine defeat their mother. Whether Junko used the V.F.O. or not is never mentioned, although she never uses one during the battle. She used to work with Blue in his older movies, and may have helped him develop the V-Watch.
[edit] The Black V-Watch
The Black V-Watch is a corrupted version of the Henshin device used by Jet Black. Where he got it or who gave it to him are unknown, but it has all the same powers as a regular V-Watch. During the fight with The Black Emperor in Viewtiful Joe 2, he uses Slow and Mach Speed, and will at times take on an aura which can only be broken by an attack of that element (Red Hot Kick for red, Cool Blue Kick for blue). The Black V-Watch feeds off of Jet's desire to be the ultimate hero, and by twisting his mind made him turn evil, becoming the "Dark Hero" after using the power of the Rainbow Oscars and the Black Film to empower himself. After his defeat, he was asked where he got the Black V-Watch, but before he could say anything, a castle appeared in the real world, and the heroes set out to solve the mystery of the Black Film by investigating the palace.
