"I didn't know the Playstation could handle this game."

When I first saw Jojo at the arcade it had the Capcom label on it and I thought it is another fighting franchise from them but on a closer look I found out it was based on a manga that I never heard of(That's because it never made it to the states for some reason yet the game did). I only played this game at the arcades a couple or so times and I liked it so when I saw the Playstation version for a cheap price I decided to get it(I own both a PSX and a Dreamcast and I don't know why I chose the PSX version but I did anyway). I'am quite surprised that the PSX could handle Jojo mainly because in the arcade it ran on the CPS3 board(The same one that is used on Street Fighter 3)but it did and it looks better then some of Capcom's other PSX ports. Lets get to the main story and it involves the main character Jotaro Kujo(Or as he like to be called Jojo) and his mother is sick from an unknown source but it is found out that source is coming from a 100 year old vampire named Dio. So Jotaro goes out to find Dio along with his grandfather Joseph,the fortune teller Avadol,the long haired French man Polnaref,Kakyoin who has hair like Iori from KOF,and the dog from New York Iggy(Yes he is a small dog). This is the main story in comics apparently and the SP Story mode follows that but in the arcade mode you can pick from most of bad guys including Devo,Vanilla Ice,Alessi and many of the others(The names shown here are the Japanese names but they were changed for the American release so they would avoid being sued by various musicians, whenever the names are changed in a game I would refer them to their American names but I'll make an exception here because the original ones are better). Anyway Jojo introduces a new thing to fighting games called the Stand(Not standing up)and it involves your fighter calling out a spirt type figure or whatever that also gives you more power and such other things like new moves you can only do with your stand and also sometimes double jumping. Now on to the review.

Graphics
They did such a nice job here its almost amazing. The character animation is really that good for a 2D fighter on the Playstation I mean Kakyoin's shirt has wind blowing on it and Jotaro's walking animation looks very fluid. Your character's stands are now only two colors instead of many as in the arcades but they still look pretty nice. The backgrounds are missing some elements in them like the crashed helicopter in the desert stage but they too look almost as nice as they did in the arcade version. I'am surprised the 2D graphics turned out this good here and there is almost no choppiness or slowdown in the animation either. They are not only good(In Tony the Tiger's voice) they're great!

Gameplay
The whole idea of the stands is a very original idea and separates this game from other 2D fighters like it(I didn't always take advantage of the stands because sometimes I would like to use just plain old fighting tactics). The actual fighting is very solid and hardly ever boring even though whenever you pick someone they always fight the same opponents depending on who you are but I guess that was for storyline purposes. Really the arcade mode itself is very fun but the SP Story mode is another great feature where you get to follow the journeys that Jotaro and his friends take and it not only includes regular fighting but also a set of mini games too like an R-Type like shooter with Kakyoin's stand. The only problem with the SP Story mode is that you get a grade every time you do a task and when you don't follow it a certain way you get an E(It should have been like the grading system from Street Fighter 3 3rd Strike but it wasn't that big of a problem). The gameplay is great and also provide lots and lots of fun.

Sound
The character voices are all done crisp and clear for the entire cast(Iggy was usual dog barks and the bird Pet Shop makes well bird noises). The announcer was hard to understand(Can someone tell me what he says before a fight begins?)because well not that he spoke bad English but his voice was too deep that can not make it out. The music was great and I liked a lot of the theme's including Polnaref's,Pet Shop's,and Khan's. Pretty good with the sound but as always it could have been a little better.

Control
Unlike most other fighting games there is only three attack buttons(Light attack,medium attack,and hard attack). Maybe it seemed bad at first but it turned out okay in the end. The special moves are done okay and are well the same motions you should be used to by now. There is one button that calls out your Stand and well as you probably know already it does certain things like more power to your person,and also no blocking damage(Two things to note are that there is a Stand meter and when it runs out you need to call out your stand again and also some characters do moves instead of calling out a Stand like Hol Horse,Shadow Dio,and Pet Shop). The control ain't to bad.

Replay
This game has lots of it so you may be hooked on it for some time there. The SP Story mode also helps out at unlocking new stuff like some new characters including Rubber Soul(Not the Beatles album but a guy impersonating Kakyoin). You can also play some of the SP story mini games in the Book mode and there is also a Gallery mode to unlock where you can look at some artwork. There's really a lot to find so the replay value is indeed on the good side.

Final Word
This game may be kind of obscure but boy it sure does kick major amounts of ass. Jojo's Bizarre Adventure is a very good buy and it was well worth the money. Don't ignore it and don't pass it up just because it is based on a comic book you never knew about because you will be missing out on an enjoyable game.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/30/01, Updated 05/30/01