Jojo's Bizarre Adventure

"BillyKane's Bizarre Taste?"

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is one of these games you either love or hate... Despite the fact that this 2D fighter was made by the almighty Capcom, it never became popular in the US and in Europe. There are several reasons for that, the main one being that the manga is almost unheard of in western countries, except in Italy maybe. True manga fans know it, of course, but the series has not hit the mainstream public and probably never will, and even I must admit that I have never been able to get my hands on a copy of it. I have to say that its obscure title is not very appealing either. After getting almost all the fighters out on Dreamcast, I decided to give this one a try: I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised. Even though there is no blood in the US version, this game's craziness factor makes me think that it deserves much better than the small recognition it got. And let's not forget Capcom's new credo: 2 games in 1 is always better! Indeed, this game contains the ports of the arcade games JoJo's Venture and its sequel JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. But is more always better?
Does such a game still have a place on a system loaded with great 2D fighting games ? Does it compare to the "bombs" recently released on Sega's 128-bit dream machine? Can most gamers handle JoJo's Bizarre Adventure's original engine? Is Beyonce Knowles from Destiny's Child one of the best-looking females on the planet?

Yes, no, maybe, and hell yeah.

Gameplay 8

This game has a fine engine. Why everything seems to ignore it, I do not know. But the facts are that, as its title seems to imply, this game is much more original than 80% of the titles that belong to the same genre. It is rather hard to describe, but I guess you could say it is a cross between the Darkstalkers/Vampire series and the famous "versus" series, both of which contributed to the success of the big C.

There are so many bizarre things about JoJo, though. First off, the characters do not fight like your usual martial artists: as in the manga, they need the help of their "stands", which are summon entities with mysterious powers. This is the most original part of the game since it gives it an unexpected deepness. By pressing the A button, you can summon your stand and perform high damaging attacks. With most characters, you even take control of the stand yourself, which totally expands the character's horizons by letting you use new combos based on a system close to the Vampire series. As you block or get hit, your stand's energy meter will decrease and when it runs out, your helper will disappear and you will be left defenseless for a short time -think Street Fighter Alpha 3 guard gauge-. The interesting part is that the character's stands all appear in different forms: Mahrahia's is a sort of bomb that lets you set up traps, Chaca's is a malefic sword, Hol Horse's is his gun, Joseph's is some sort of living whip... All the 16 characters selectable from the start play very differently and are original and charismatic. In this sense, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is a unique game.

Exit Capcom's usual 6-button layout, hello the simpler Light Attack, Medium Attack, Heavy Attack system! There is also a dash button, but you can still use the age-old joystick motion if you are an old-timer. Other basic commands include air block and advancing block reminiscent of the "versus" series, safe recovery and guard cancel. You can also perform tandem attacks with the help of your stand, which are in fact nothing but stand custom-style combos.

All the characters have a small number of special moves to their disposition, but they also can use powerful super combos in MvC2 fashion. The latter often look very impressive and funny: Mahrahia,s breasts seem to grow and knock out the enemy, then shooting a great number of projectile at them, Chaca simply cuts the screen in two when one of his super connects, and Midler just throws a bunch of Cadillacs in your face.

The controls are perfect, and the different combos and special moves are very easy to do. In fact, it seems that this game has the simplicity of Marvel versus Capcom 2 but is not as combo-oriented; mashing the buttons will get you nowhere. But you will be warned: this game is pure craziness, even more so than Vampire.

Graphics/Animation 4

JoJo was one of Capcom's first games on Dreamcast, and it shows its age today. It is very pixilated and is definitely a contender to the title of ugliest 2D game on Dreamcast. The backgrounds look decent but contain little to no animation.

The character design is really good thanks to the manga. Some of the characters are surprisingly cool -like Chaca the cursed swordsman, Dio, the great evil or Hol Horse, the lone cowboy- while others are surprising choices... Do you know many fighting games in which you can play as a puppy or as an eagle? Talk about bizarre! However, I must admit it is a fresh change from the other fighting games.

Each time you perform a super combo or execute a super combo finish, yours and your opponent's face will appear in BIG on the screen. These artworks look somewhat similar to Hokuto No Ken and add style to the overall picture. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is not ugly, but if you compare it to Guilty Gear X then you realize it is out of place on this system. The fact that the Playstation version runs almost as smoothly as this one shows something, obviously. There is no real special effect in the game, but the animation is rather smooth, especially for the stands.

I will say it: this game does not look good.

Sound 6

While the music is decent, but nothing special, the voices are of very good quality, as in most Capcom fighters. Some of the tunes sound oriental and original and I personally liked them even though they do not always match the intensity of the fights: as a matter of fact, they are the kind of tunes you would not be surprised to find in an rpg. However, the compression seems to be poor, because they are too simple and might hurt your head after a while. The Japanese voices sound pretty cool and the fighters never stop shouting things I can't understand for the life of me.

Story 8

The game follows a particular series of the manga, but I forgot which one. I hear it is quite accurate and that it makes it a lot more enjoyable for the fans. I don't know anything about JoJo, but I thought the story was quite good! Each character has a different story with dialogues before every fight. The story sounds like a legend and mixes elements from Ancient Egypt, Japanese/Indian culture and American history. As usual, a great evil has appeared and the heroes must save the world: it is cliché but it works well, and you may want to see all the endings.

Replayability 7

Contrary to the Playstation version and despite the false advertising on the back of the cover box, it does not feature the Super Story Mode.
Out of the two versions, you will find yourself playing the second one all the time since it has more characters. It has a story mode and a survival mode, and there are hidden characters to unlock. This game has a decent replay value, but its main attraction is the 2-player mode: tons of fun if you have some friends who are into fighters.

Buy or rent?

This is a unique game, so it is hard to say whether you will like it or not. I cannot recommend JoJo's Bizarre Adventure to everyone, especially since there are many better fighters on Dreamcast. But it is definitely worth a look, if only for its originality. Capcom already announced that the next episode would be in 3D, so this might be the last 2D JoJo game. I would recommend renting it if you have the opportunity, because I feel it is very underrated. If you can pick it up for very cheap and you like fighting games, do not hesitate and go for it! It is a breath of fresh air lost in the middle of an ocean of rehashes.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 07/19/01, Updated 02/02/03