There have been a fewJojo’s Bizarre Adventuregames over the past decades. Most of them have been Japan-only, like the SNES RPG overseen byKingdom Heartsco-creator Shinji Hashimoto or the PS2 launch brawlerGioGio’s Bizarre Adventurethat almost made it westwards. Instead, people had to make do with its famous one-on-one fighting predecessorJojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Heritage for the Future.
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This likely inspired Bandai-Namco and CyberConnect2 to take Jonathan, Joseph, Jotaro, and the others back into the genre in 2013. The originalJojo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battlecertainly looked the part, though it was rather slow, stodgy, and exclusive to the PS3. Now they’ve gone back to the drawing board forAll-Star Battle R, where they’ve rectified a few issues.
5The Roster Is Bigger
The original roster wasn’t to be sniffed at, as it included most of the series’ favorites. Including DLC, it included all the Stardust Crusaders from Part 3, Josuke and all his friends from Part 4, and all but one of the Gang Stars from Part 5. Still, it also lacked a few key characters. Why was Speedwagon from Part 1 withdrawn coolly? Wasn’t there room for more women than Lisa Lisa, Jolyne, and Ermes? Why are Parts 7 and 8 so scanty?
All-Star Battle Rrectifies most of these issues. Speedwagon was brought in fromEyes of Heaven, as were Part 3’s Mariah and Pet Shop, Part 4’s Yukako and alternate Jotaro, Part 5’s Trish Una, and Part 7’s Diego Brando. Others were completely new, likeGhiaccio, Prosciutto & Pesci, and Foo Fighters. Still, there is room for improvement, like Part 8 only having one character. Here’s hoping for more DLC to come.
4It’s More Faithful to the Anime
WhenAll-Star Battleoriginally came out, the anime only had one season covering Parts 1 and 2. As such, everyone past those parts resembled their manga counterparts. Like blue jacket Jotaro, dark blue suited Giorno, etc. Complete with a different voice cast, some of whom made it into the anime, some didn’t, and some did but as different characters.
NowAll-Star Battle Rhas been updated to reflectthe anime’s designs. For most of the cast, it’s pretty subtle. But for others, it stands out. No one is mistaking Giorno’s hot pink or Jotaro’s all-black outfits for anyone else. Players can also preview the characters’ alternative colors before selecting if they want a different look. For extra flavor, choose animated victory poses instead of the original’s static ones. Aesthetic as it is, it gives the game that bit more personality than before.
3Faster Frames, Faster Moves
Looks are all fine and dandy, but they don’t matter if the game still plays the same as before. The original game felt somewhat slow as it ran at 30 frames per second, and the animations were a little sluggish on top of that. Sure, it wasn’t early 1990s 3D fighter slow. Though it wasn’t a step-up on the frenetically fun Capcom fighter.
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All-Star Battle Rfixes that bydoubling the frame rateup to 60FPS across all consoles (except the Switch edition; sorry, Nintendo fans). It also boosts the in-game speed and eases the moves’ input buffers, making the characters’ moves connect to each other much more smoothly. So, if anyone felt the combat was too clunky before, they may find this new Remastered edition much more to their liking.
2New Moves and Altered Commands
The game may play faster, though that won’t help if players can’t pull off the moves. Many fighting games nowadays are trying to appeal to casual fans bysimplifying the controlsto one degree or another.All-Star Battle Rdoesn’t go as far as the upcomingStreet Fighter 6’s Simple Mode, but it eases up a few things.
For example, moves like Kars’ ‘Victory Is Everything!’ went from needing a half-circle motion to just pressing down twice and Attack. While everyone now has access to new moves like the Stylish Guard, where the player can dodge while blocking an attack to open the opponent up. Plus, they can select a partner to leap in and attack if they need to break their foe’s defense or save them from their offense.
1Story and Campaign Modes Replaced
These modes from the originalAll-Star Battleleft a bit to be desired. The Story Mode consisted of a few voice clips set to text in between battles based on events from the series. It was rather underwhelming, as some parts had fewer characters than others, particularly Parts 5 and 6. While the Campaign mode suffered frompay-to-win gacha mechanicsthat soured on fans as much as the spotty online mode. Sadly, the online mode hasn’t improved by that much inAll-Star Battle R.
But the old Story and Campaign Modes have been junked in favor of the new All-Star Battle Mode. In it, the player has to complete missions to earn unlockable treats or gold. Some missions are straight-up fights with conditions like a depleting HP or meter, and others are Dream Matches where characters from different parts face off. Completing enough of them will unlock a Boss Match that replicates famous fights too. No real money is required, nor hanging about. It just takes skill, practice, and smarts to get ahead.
Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle Ris out now for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
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