"Viewtiful Joe" is divided into seven stages, or "episodes", interspersed with storyline cutscenes and bookended by an opening and ending cinematic. The setting is divided between Earth, or the real world, and "Movieland", the game's fictional world of films. The plot begins in a movie theatre on Earth in which the game's central character Joe and his girlfriend Silvia are watching a tokusatsu drama starring the aged superhero Captain Blue. The movie's antagonist, having seemingly defeated Captain Blue, suddenly reaches out of the screen and abducts Silvia, taking her into Movieland. Joe is likewise picked up and taken into Movieland by Captain Blue's giant mecha, "Six Majin". Inside the movie, Joe must rescue Silvia from the evil Jadow, the game's organization of villains. To help him, Captain Blue entrusts him with a V-Watch, a device Joe can use to transform into a superhero upon saying the word "henshin (transform)." Joe promptly does so, inventing his own catchphrase: "Henshin-a-go-go, baby!"