Slow motion and Mach Speed are film tricks Joe spends like ammo in Viewtiful Joe (2003), Clover Studio's side-scroller. Hideki Kamiya's hero gets those VFX powers from Captain Blue.
Silvia gets captured into Movie Land, so the stages are reels: a city street, a spaceship, and a boss who only staggers when the stylish meter is full. VFX is both the attack and the score, because playing plainly does less damage.
Kamiya's team at Clover treated the camera as a weapon. Joe's red helmet and the V-watch are the tools, and a stylish dodge is worth more than a plain punch.