Inaba stated, "We wanted to create a challenging game with stunning visuals and fluid gameplay". As a lifelong fan of superheroes, Inaba's aim was to combine traditional Japanese tokusatsu with American comic books. The character designs created by Kumiko Suekane were inspired specifically by 1960s and 1970s Japanese-costumed tokusatsu television shows such as "Kamen Rider" and "Ultraman". Graphically, the game adopted a 2D side-scrolling style mixed with 3D cel-shaded animation. Despite many games in the then-modern industry shying away from 2D graphical formats, Inaba said, "We have been able to breathe new life into the genre because we are using a new stylistic way that hasn't been seen before." The team chose the GameCube as its platform because of their target audience and because it lent itself well to "Viewtiful Joe"s gameplay.