"Excellent, though different..."

For those who don't know, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure is based off the manga of the same name. Better yet, it's based off the 3rd volume. Capcom decided (through some twist of fate) to make it into a video game. Did they do a good job? Read on...

Graphics(9):
Ups- The game is simply excellent. Character-wise, each one is true to their manga roots (except for Midler, Capcom designed her!); Jotaro has that ''too cool for you'' look to him, Kayokin also sports some weird poses, let's not forget Iggy, that evil little dog... the fighters also have some extremly over the top special moves, which include (but are not limited to) dropping a steam roller on the guy, farting on his face, having a zombie tear the guy up, hitting a guy with a car (no less the 2 charachters do this!), stopping time, and shoving the guy in a giant mouth, only to have the guy get chewed up and spit out. The thought that went into some of these attacks makes you wonder what Capcom was smokin' at the time, though its gotta be good...
Each of the stands were just as faithfully rendered, though, like everything in the game, they have been properly ''Capcomized.'' The charachter artwork is manga-perfect, and in black and white, no less. Backgrounds are just as good, and really capture the mood, stages like Vanilla Ice's and Kage Dio's are some of my favorites.
Downs- Is it just me, or does this game simply not push the limits of the hardware that its on? Or do the extra sprites on screen (thanks to the stands) make up for the lack of animation? It seems to me, after seeing the CPS-3 put to the limit with Street Fighter 3, that this game could have been done on the CPS-2 instead. Games like Marvel vs. Capcom usually feature a whole crapload of sprites at once, and the game usually slows down only a little bit (if at all). Not to mention the fact that one can put both team members on the screen at once. The number of sprites here simply don't seem to be near what even the CPS-2 can handle. This game could have been put on the CPS-2, for sure.

Gameplay(7):
Ups- This is perhaps, with the exception of a few SNK games, the most original fighting game i've seen in the longest time. The new stand system really injects something cool to the game. Stands basically allow one to control (usually) a second fighter, seperate for the main fighter. This may sound really cool, but get your stand damaged, and not only does its life bar go down, but so does yours. Should your stand's life bar run out, it breaks, leaving your fighter stunned for a good while, leaving enough time for your opponent to turn you inside out. This adds strategy to a game that would have otherwise been a major button mash fest. Of course, don't let this little flaw in the design of the stands bother you, you can still do a whole crap load of things with your stand that you can't do in other games. Things like control one's stand remotely, control one's stand and one's fighter at the same time (kinda), and engage in Samurai-Shodown-style clashes, which leaves the loser with a broken stand, and the winner a chance to cream the opponent.
Downs- This game could have been much more balanced. For instance, not every fighter has the ability to remotely control his stand. I suppose fighters like Dio and Jotaro might get pretty powerful because of it, but they should still get the option. Also, some fighters, namely those with stands that they ''use,'' not summon, aren't very powerful because of their lack of ability to chain combo (only fighters with summon-able stands can chain combo, and only while their stand is activated). This makes some fighters, like Hol Horse and Anubis Polnareff, hard to use. Also, fighters like Jotaro and Dio are VERY powerful in the wrong hands. A good Dio fighter can simply trap his opponent in the corner and, should the opponent be foolish enough to have his stand on at the time, simply wail away until the opponent's stand breaks (stands can be cheese-killed, main fighters can't) and the opponent is stunned, giving Dio players the chance to simply obliterate the opponent. This adds a speck of anti-turtle-ism, but not enough to be fair to those who are starting out on the game.

Sound(8):
The music is standard fighting fare, not bad. The voices are very well done. Seeing as I've never seen the Jojo OVA before, I can't really tell if the voices are as good as the anime or not, nor if the same voices are used from the anime, but they are good, nonetheless.

Overall(8):
This game is very well done, though with a few glaring problems, it is still worth a couple run throughs. Graphically, its nothing major, but still neat and original. If you manage to find this game in the U.S. (They have one here in Illinois), put a few quarters in, you might be hooked.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 05/04/02, Updated 05/04/02