JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R

Gameplay

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle is a 3D fighting game in which players can fight against each other using characters taken from the first eight story arcs of Hirohiko Araki's JoJo's Bizarre Adventure manga series (and one from a prior work by Araki), fighting in various locations taken from the manga. Like most fighting games, the aim is to defeat your opponent by draining their stamina gauge (HP is used in a certain game mode) with various attacks and special techniques. The player wins a round by draining all of their opponent's stamina, or by possessing more stamina than their opponent when time runs out. Gameplay uses five main buttons; light, medium, and heavy attacks, a dodge button, and a "Style" button. Along with the ability to use various special attacks and techniques with different directional inputs, each character possesses a Battle Style, allowing them to utilize additional moves with the "Style" button. Styles have five main categories, consisting of Hamon, Vampirism, Mode, Stand and Mounted, in addition to character exclusive Styles such as Baoh Armed Phenomenon and Ogre Street, each utilizing different abilities when the Style button is pressed. For example, Hamon users can use the power of Sendo to augment the strength of their attacks, whilst Stand users can summon out their Stand, giving them additional move types whilst also making themselves more vulnerable.

Attacking and receiving damage fills up a player's Heart Heat Gauge (ハートヒートゲージ, Hāto Hīto Gēji) which, when filled to either one or two levels, allows players to perform powerful Heart Heat Attacks (ハートヒートアタック, Hāto Hīto Attakku; HHA) or Great Heat Attacks (グレートヒートアタック, Gurēto Hīto Attaku; GHA), depending on how much their gauge is filled and which multiple button input is chosen. Players can decrease their opponent's Heart Heat Gauge by using taunts when they are knocked down. Players can also use Flash Cancels to deplete their own Heart Heat Gauge to cancel their current combo attack and chain into a new one. The Heart Heat Gauge is also used in some Battle Styles and certain special techniques. Rush Mode (ラッシュモード, Rasshu Mōdo), similar to the "Blazing Fists Match" system of Capcom's 1998 fighting game based on the series, occurs when two "Rush" attacks collide with each other, beginning a button mashing minigame. When a character's Stamina is low, the character enters one of two modes to turn the tide of the match: Rumble Mode (ゴゴゴモード, Gogogo Mōdo), which increases the character's attack strength and Heart Heat Gauge restoration, and Resolve Mode (覚悟モード, Kakugo Mōdo), which in addition to the bonuses from Rumble Mode adds a temporary invincible armor as well. Novice players can use the Easy Beat (イージービート, Ījī Bīto) system, which allows them to more easily string together combos and techniques by using only a single button. Along with the stamina gauge, players also have a Guard Gauge (ガードゲージ, Gādo Gēji) which depletes when they block attacks, causing them to become vulnerable if it is completely drained in a Guard Crush (ガードクラッシュ, Gādo Kurasshu). The Guard Gauge is also depleted by Stylish Evades, special dodges that when executed properly make the character perform one of their iconic poses from the manga. The remaster adds three new mechanics; Assist Attacks, in which players can summon another character for an attack, Air Dash, which lets fighters dash in the air, and Stylish Guard, which lets players dodge attacks at the last second.

Game modes

All Star Battle features many different game modes. Story Mode is a single player option that allows players to go through an original story inspired by the first eight parts of the manga, with the eighth part featuring the protagonists of all eight parts in a series of original "what-if" battles. Players control the protagonists of the series, partly reenacting various scenes from the manga. After completing a Part's Story Mode once, a new option known as Another Battle opens up, allowing the player to play as the opposite character in the Story Mode matches, taking on the role of the series' antagonists. It is only through Story Mode that additional on-disc characters are unlocked through play.

Campaign Mode is an online mode where players can unlock items known as Customize Medals which allow them to change the preset appearance and mannerisms of their unlocked characters. Campaign Mode also features several random events that can assist the player in either Vision or Boss matches, such as Rudol von Stroheim depleting the opponent's health bar, Cioccolata increasing the rate at which Boss HP is depleted when more Energy is used, or Ken Oyanagi offering the player a game of rock-paper-scissors to confirm that the next match will be a Boss match of the player's choice. The player can receive Energy as a result of a random event, or it can be purchased via microtransactions.

Versus Mode features both local offline play and online play in either free battles or ranked matches which affect a player's Battle Score. The Western version of the game adds an Arcade Mode, in which the player faces up against eight computer-controlled opponents.

In the remaster, the Story and Campaign Modes are replaced by All Star Battle Mode, which consists of over 100 individual battles, each with their own conditions and special missions for rewards. These include reenactments of battles from the original story and original "what-if" battles. Each page also features an unlockable boss battle reenacting a major battle in the original story. In addition, Versus Mode now features 3-on-3 team battles and a tournament function.

Battle Styles

Characters each possess one of five main Battle Styles (バトルスタイル, Batoru Sutairu), reflecting the origins of their own abilities from the manga's continuity, although some characters may possess aspects of the other Battle Styles.

Hamon (波紋, Hamon): Hamon users can use Hamon breathing to recharge their Heart Heat Gauge or utilize the Hamon in stronger versions of their special attacks. Such attacks will impart unrecoverable damage to a Vampire or Pillar Man's stamina.

Vampirism (吸血, Kyūketsu): Vampires can use their powers with draining attacks to restore their stamina and Heart Heat Gauge. When a vampire takes damage, a percentage of the damage is displayed in silver. This portion of the damage will heal over time, unless subsequent damage is taken, resetting the restorable health. Special attacks from Hamon users bypass this system, dealing only unrecoverable damage.

Mode (流法（モード）, Mōdo): The Pillar Men can activate their respective Modes, which increase their power but drain their Heart Heat Gauge; they are left vulnerable when their Heart Heat Gauge runs out. They each also possess a more powerful form of their Mode which increases their power further, at the cost of increasing the time they are vulnerable after running out of Heart Heat Gauge. Like Vampires, Pillar Men also receive healable silver damage unless they are struck by Hamon attacks.

Stand (スタンド, Sutando): Stand users can bring out their respective Stand at will, offering different movesets and special attacks. They also possess a unique Stand Rush (スタンドラッシュ, Sutando Rasshu) ability that allows them to unsync with the Stand mid combo to begin a new combo. Some characters possess Stands that are always active and have different play styles than other Stand using characters. For example, Jotaro Kujo's Star Platinum is toggled on or off by the player while Hol Horse's Emperor is always active.

Mounted (騎乗, Kijō): Characters Mounted on horseback have the ability to call their horse at will, offering up different movesets on or off their horses. These characters also possess Stands, but they are only seen during certain moves.

Baoh Armed Phenomenon (バオー武装現象（アームド・フェノメノン）, Baō Āmudo Fenomenon): As he is in a symbiotic relationship with a parasite known as Baoh, Ikuro Hashizawa possesses a unique Battle Style that makes his body transform to suit his needs. Every 25% of his health gauge he loses activates a new benefit: gradual stamina recovery, increased attack strength, and a combination of the Rumbling and Resolve Modes of other characters. If his opponent is using a move that increases their strength temporarily (such as Ermes's Kiss Stickers or Giorno's Gold Experience Requiem), Baoh gains the ability to dodge more easily.

Characters

There are a total of 32 playable characters available on the game disc, with 14 available from the start. Nine additional characters were made available as DLC, eventually bringing the total number of characters to 41. One of these downloadable characters, Ikuro Hashizawa, makes a guest appearance from Hirohiko Araki's earlier manga series, Baoh.

Ten additional characters were added for the remastered release, bringing the total to 51 initial characters. Most of these newcomers in All Star Battle R originate from CyberConnect2's subsequent JoJo game, Eyes of Heaven. Seven additional characters were added to the remaster as post-launch downloadable content via two season passes, with two others added as free DLC.

Notes

International edition name changes

Many non-playable characters appear throughout the game. Dialogue for all characters in the game are quotes from the original manga or related works, such as light novels. The voice cast of the first season of the anime series reprise their roles for the game; the remastered release expands this to the voice cast of the first five seasons.

Stages

The various stages in All Star Battle are all modeled after a particular scene in the manga.

Part 1 Phantom Blood

Dio's Castle (ディオの館, Dio no Yakata): From JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Volume 5 The Final Hamon!

Part 2 Battle Tendency

Battlefield (闘技場, Tōgijō): From JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Volume 11 The Warrior Returns to the Wind

Part 3 Stardust Crusaders

Dio's Mansion (DIOの館, Dio no Yakata): From JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Volume 26 The Miasma of the Void, Vanilla Ice

El Cairo City (カイロ市街, Kairo Shigai): From JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Volume 27 Dio's World and Volume 28 The Faraway Journey, Farewell Friends

Cairo Bridge (カイロ陸橋, Kairo Kōka): From JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Volume 28 The Faraway Journey, Farewell FriendsR

Part 4 Diamond Is Unbreakable

Cape Boingy-Boing (ボヨヨン岬, Boyoyon Misaki): From JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Volume 32 Yukako Yamagishi Falls in LoveR

Kira Estate (吉良邸, Kira-tei): From JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Volume 39 Father's Tears

Morioh Town (杜王町, Moriō-chō): From JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Volume 45 Another One Bites the Dust, Volume 46 Crazy Diamond Is Unbreakable, and Volume 47 Goodbye Morioh Town–The Golden Heart

Parte 5 Vento Aureo / Golden Wind

All Star Battle League

As a way to promote the video game, Namco Bandai and CyberConnect2 performed a series of Livestream broadcasts called JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle League (ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 オールスターバトルリーグ, JoJo no Kimyō na Bōken Ōru Sutā Batoru Rīgu) during July and August 2013. During the broadcasts, Bandai Namco producer Noriaki Niino, CyberConnect2 producer Hiroshi Matsuyama, and comedian and JoJo fan Kendo Kobayashi hosted a tournament between the computer controlled characters to display gameplay. There were six sets of preliminary matches where characters were grouped together randomly, with the top two characters out of each group moving onto the quarter-finals. A seventh group consisting of the last characters to be announced and a fan favorite from the previous groups was run, with the winner joining the other twelve characters. Several fan favorite characters were included as seats. The sixteen characters then were put into a tournament bracket, with the winner of the All Star Battle League ultimately being Dio. To commemorate the victory, a special PlayStation 3 theme featuring Dio and his Stand The World was made available.

Development and release

All Star Battle was first announced in July 2012. The game is built with an engine known as the JoJo Shading Requiem (JOJO(ジョジョ)・シェーディング・レクイエム, JoJo Shēdingu Rekuiemu), which gives it a stylized manga look. The game's voice cast features the same voice cast from the anime for the first two parts while the remaining six parts feature a new voice cast.

The game is sold as both a standard edition and a limited edition "Gold Experience Box" (黄金体験BOX（ゴールド・E（エクスペリエンス）・ボックス）, Gōrudo Ekusuperiensu Bokkusu), which contains a gold plate etching of Giorno Giovanna and his Stand Gold Experience, a figure statue of Jotaro Kujo and his Stand Star Platinum, and the game's original soundtrack on a CD resembling the power of the Stand Whitesnake. First edition pressings of both the standard and limited editions include a memo pad designed to look like Part 4 supporting character Hayato Kawajiri under the thrall of Rohan Kishibe's Heaven's Door Stand and a download code to access the character Yoshikage Kira.

On September 19, 2013, Namco Bandai Games announced it would be releasing the game internationally in 2014, with a release date of Spring 2014 announced for Europe. The game will have localized names for some of the characters, with the publisher working with Shueisha to ensure names fit with Hirohiko Araki's intentions "while not offending any party", and will match with the North American and European releases of the recent anime series for consistency. In late January 2014, it was announced that All Star Battle would be given a limited physical release in the United States through Amazon.com and ClubNamco.com, as well a release on the PlayStation Network. The game will also include a new Arcade Mode not found in the Japanese release featuring the player fighting eight CPU-controlled characters that will occasionally enter a "Harvest" mode to connect online and get more gold (the in-game currency). The release also includes all of the patches released for the Japanese version. The European release of the games will also feature a limited edition release, dubbed the "Exquisite Edition", which in addition to a physical copy of the game includes a figurine of Jotaro Kujo and Star Platinum studded with 6000 Swarovski crystals, which will receive a limited release and be auctioned off for charity through GamesAid. The auction ended on April 5, 2014, at £687. Another Exquisite Edition was sold at auction during the 2014 Anime Expo, with proceeds going to a local children's hospital.

All Star Battle R

A standalone updated version of the game, titled JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle R, was announced on March 9, 2022 during a PlayStation "State of Play" livestream. It was created to celebrate the manga's 35th anniversary and the anime's 10th anniversary. The version update features revised single-player modes, new gameplay mechanics, and additional playable characters and stages. Every character from the first six parts (mainly most characters from Part 3, as well as every character from Parts 4, 5 and 6) have also received re-recorded voice overs by the voice cast from the anime, replacing some of the game's original voice cast, while characters from the remaining two parts have also received re-recorded voice overs from the game's original voice cast with the characters' designs also updated to more closely resemble the anime.

On May 26, 2022, Bandai Namco Entertainment released the Street Date Announcement trailer, which confirmed a September 2, 2022 release date for the game, as well as a season pass, a Digital Deluxe Edition and a Collector's Edition, which comes with the Digital Deluxe Edition bonus, the pre-order bonus, and a figure of Jolyne Cujoh in all regions, with an additional mug shot placard included in the European edition. In Europe and Japan, the season pass also comes bundled with the Collector's Edition, with the Japanese edition additionally including the game's official soundtrack in a digital-only format.

An early access demo of the game was available on the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 on June 16, 2022. The demo featured a limited character roster and a single stage, with only online mode and practice mode being available. Access to the demo ended on June 22, 2022, with a feedback survey available to take afterward to July 6, 2022.

The updated version was released on September 2, 2022 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Microsoft Windows via Steam.

Downloadable content

PlayStation 3

Several downloadable content campaigns were released. The first online campaign, "The Darkness That Haunts Morioh Town" (杜王町に巣食う闇, Moriō-chō ni Sukuu Yami), was made available at launch, featuring the downloadable characters Yoshikage Kira and Shigekiyo Yangu. The second online campaign, "The Ferocious Beasts" (どう猛な野獣, Dōmō na Yajū), added the downloadable characters Iggy and Pannacotta Fugo. The third campaign, "The Hamon Masters" (波紋の達人, Hamon no Tatsujin), added downloadable characters Lisa Lisa and Joseph Joestar as seen in Stardust Crusaders. The fourth campaign, "The Executioners of Terror" (恐怖の処刑人, Kyōfu no Shokeinin), added characters Vanilla Ice and Narciso Anasui. The fifth and final campaign, "This! Is! Baoh!!" (これが！バオーだッ!!, Kore ga! Baō da!!), added Ikuro Hashizawa as a downloadable character. On December 3, 2013, Yoshikage Kira was made available for purchase.

On December 19, 2013, costumes for Jotaro Kujo and Jean Pierre Polnareff based on promotional artwork for the arcade game JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Heritage for the Future were released as a free download.

Remastered

Seven paid downloadable characters were released for the remastered version of the game, separated by two Season Passes. The first Season Pass contains four downloadable characters: Risotto Nero from Golden Wind, Rudol von Stroheim from Battle Tendency, Keicho Nijimura from Diamond Is Unbreakable, and Alternate World Diego from Steel Ball Run, as well as an additional pair of costumes for Rohan Kishibe and Mohammed Avdol.

The second Season Pass features three downloadable characters: Leone Abbacchio from Golden Wind, Yuya Fungami from Diamond is Unbreakable, and Toru's Stand Wonder of U from JoJolion, as well as a costume for Giorno Giovanna.

Two free downloadable characters, Weather Report and Enrico Pucci (Final) (the version of Pucci from the original ASB) from Stone Ocean, and the original game's Kennedy Space Center stage were released on December 1, 2022 to coincide with the release of the final episodes of Stone Ocean's anime adaptation.

Reception

PlayStation 3

Famitsu gave All Star Battle a perfect 40/40. The game was a winner in the "Future" division of the 2012 "Japan Game Awards". The game sold over 500,000 pre-orders, and Namco Bandai producer Noriaki Niino thanked the fans of the manga series for making the game such a success. In an import review, Kotaku praised the game for its imagination and faithfulness to the source material, but acknowledged glaring problems such as balance issues and Campaign Mode's structure that leans towards microtransaction-type social games. In response to such criticisms domestically, CyberConnect2 released an update to the system to address balance problems on September 11, 2013, with a second update to further address these issues for October 2013; the recharge rate for Energy in Campaign Mode was also sped up to five minutes from 20 minutes starting September 6, 2013, without any announced final date and several items that would have been paid for were made free. Two more character balancing updates were released up through November 2013, during which time the Campaign Mode was updated to make five minutes the new permanent recharge rate. As of March 31, 2014, the game has shipped 700,000 copies.

Remaster

According to review aggregate website Metacritic, the Xbox Series X version received "generally favorable reviews", while the other versions received "mixed to average reviews". The remaster received nominations for Fighting Game of the Year at the 26th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, as well as Best Fighting Game during The Game Awards 2022, but lost both awards to MultiVersus.