Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Battle R brings the style, attacks, and action that Jojo fans will no doubt appreciate (Image via Bandai Namco)

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R review — Stylish and satisfying anime fighter remaster

By Jason Parker

Timeless

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R is a remake of a classic PlayStation 3 anime fighter, and it does the original game justice. Fans of the anime and manga alike will get something out of this fighting game.

It was clearly created by people who love Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure and all of the absolute insanity that comes with the anime.

It, unfortunately, has one major drawback, depending on where the player stands on netcode: it does not feature Rollback Netcode. I was hoping it would, but it does not. It did not detract from my enjoyment of the game, but it’s worth noting straight away.

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R is an intense, enjoyable experience and allows users to step into the shoes of their favorite anime characters, pick a tag partner, and jump into battle!

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R’s gameplay is sharp and easy to learn

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R is a remake of the PlayStation 3 fighter, based on the manga by Hirohiko Araki. It features characters and moments from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure’s first eight story arcs.

Like all fighting games, the goal is to drop the other gamer’s HP to 0, using a variety of normal and special attacks. The game uses three attack buttons (Light, Medium, Heavy), a Dodge button, and a “Style” button.

The Style button is vital because Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R features quite a vast roster of characters. Not everyone in the manga uses a Stand, after all.

For those who do not read Jojo’s, A Stand is an entity generated through psychic energy by a Stand User. They typically hover over or near the user and possess incredible powers and abilities.

Combat is fast and furious in Jojo’s, exactly as fans expect it to be (Image via Bandai Namco)

Not everyone in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R uses a Stand as their Style, though. There are several different types of Style attacks that augment how that character plays.

Hamon
Stand
Vampirism
Mounted
Baoh Armed Phenomenon
Mode
Ogre Street
Bro and Mammoni

Pressing the Style button helps players by augmenting how they play in some fashion. For example, Hamon users can elongate their limbs, and Stand users summon their Stand. That will allow for different styles of attacks, making combat potentially much safer.

As gamers deal damage in combat, it builds the Heart Heat Gauge, which is ostensibly the super meter from other fighting games. After building 1 to 2 levels, they can use Heart Heat Attacks, or Great Heat Attacks, depending on how much gauge is filled and what button input is pressed.

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R also features an auto-combo system by mashing light attack. At the end of the combo, if players have a meter, it will use one of their special attacks.

I also appreciate that you can interrupt that auto combo with other inputs. It can be done to set up longer combo chains, throw in assists, and other moves to make the most overpowered combo possible.

I also love that players can lower their opponent’s Heat Heart Gauge by taunting them while they’re down. It’s very on-brand for Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure.

If you have Heart Heat Gauge, you can also Flash Cancel to cancel a combo attack and chain it into a new combo. This depletes your meter, but it can be worth it to deal more damage.

Another useful feature of this game is it has a manner of comeback mechanic. Rumble Mode increases the character’s attack power and Heart Heat Gauge Restoration. There’s also Resolve Mode, which adds some armor to the character.

While this is a remake of the PlayStation 3 fighting game of the same name, it also has some new features! In particular, the “Assist” tag-team battle system was added. After selecting a character, costume, taunts, et cetera, players can also pick a partner.

Gamers can use the Assist button to call that character in periodically to help set up combos, extend them, or sometimes try to break a player out of a negative situation. It’s a beneficial addition to Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R and will undoubtedly create some bonkers combos.

As a 3D fighting game, users can dodge into the 3rd dimension to avoid attacks, but they still jump like a 2D fighter (up arrow). I will admit, I initially treated this like an anime fighter, and I was genuinely disappointed that there is no aerial dash/double jump mechanics.

This isn’t a negative, but I am just used to that in games featuring anime characters.

When it came to the actual gameplay, I loved it. It’s easy to start setting up combos, and the attacks are easy to figure out. It’s not like King of Fighters, which requires some absolute maddening super-attack inputs.

Familiar characters duke it out in locations taken directly from the manga (Image via Bandai Namco)

I loved that the stages in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R were based on moments and locations from the manga and had gimmicks that could be turned on and off. These include hazards like a falling chandelier, a chariot, or rain of poison dart frogs.

The tempo of the game felt really good, too. Being able to dash, dash jump, and hit cancel add a lot to the game overall. It felt so satisfying to stomp through opponents with ridiculous, over-the-top Stand powers and combos.

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R features several game modes to experience

Sadly, as a part of this review, we could not experience the Online Mode. There were no players online to try and do battle with, but I was already made aware that the game does not use Rollback Netcode.

All-Star Battle Mode is the primary mode, where users can relive classic Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure moments, as well as “What If?” moments across all eight arcs of the manga.

These battles have specific characters in mind, but I also liked that you can use the Gold you unlock for playing the game to give yourself buffs if the fights are too hard.

The Arcade Mode is a standard mode where players select their character and battle eight other PC-controlled characters, as well as trying to see how far they can get in the Endless Battle.

Of course, there’s also Versus Mode for battling friends or the PC. It has Single Battle, Team Battle (3v3), or an 8-opponent tournament, which took me back to the old Dragon Ball fighting game days.

Unfortunately, Online Mode was not something I experienced in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R.

Practice Mode is available to try out all the characters, pick a tag partner and opponent, and dive in. It’s an excellent way to figure out what characters you want to play.

Finally, there’s Customize Mode, where gamers can use their earned Gold to modify a character’s Taunts and Victory Poses. There are also tons of visual assets to check out, from 2D and 3D models to unlocking more music and more.

I spent a bit of time here thumbing through the music tracks but found myself spending the most time in All-Star Battle Mode.

Ten new characters appear in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R

One thing I definitely wanted to highlight is that there are 50 characters at launch in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R. It’s a jam-packed cast, and there’s no unlocking anyone that I have seen.

Is your favorite character here? What a packed roster! (Image via Bandai Namco)

However, it also has characters not featured in the original game across several manga arcs. Below, I’ll show every character that wasn’t in the original game but is in the remake.

Robert E. O. Speedwagon
Mariah
Pet Shop
Jotaro Kujo 4
Yukako Yamagishi
Trish Una
Prosciutto & Pesci
Ghiaccio
F.F.
Diego Brando

So there are plenty of new characters to play in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R. Though the title has a packed roster, it is confirmed that there will be a Season Pass with four new fighters on the way. It’s a nice change of pace compared to fighting games in the last few years.

Each character in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R feels unique, with their body types, voice lines, and special attacks. Though I have to say, the bane of my existence was easily Iggy. That rubbish little dog made my life miserable in Endless Mode.

Look and sound of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure are expertly captured

What would a Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure game be without sick poses, taunts, and incredible fight scenes? Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R nails the aesthetic perfectly. It has the original Japanese voice cast for all characters to offer excellent immersion in this series.

The music is exactly as I remember it, as well. I love the music, but an anime/manga with as many music puns/references demands an excellent sound. It was so satisfying to hear the “ORA ORA ORA ORA” and the various quotes from the anime and manga.

It’s a beautiful experience when it comes to the game’s aesthetic.

In conclusion

This is the definitive fighting game experience for Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. I loved how Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R looked, how it felt, and how it played. It’s satisfying to dash in, short jump, and Flash Cancel to show off deadly attacks.

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R is a satisfying experience (Image via Bandai Namco)

It showed incredible attention to detail in the manga, and I can certainly see fans of the series being happy with what they receive here. I am disappointed that the title lacks Rollback Netcode, but not everyone will be upset about that.

I still enjoyed my experience. I hope it is something that comes to the game in the future, though.

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R will have players yelling “ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA!” (Image via Sportskeeda)

Reviewed on: PlayStation 5

Platforms: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, PC

Developer: CyberConnect 2

Publisher: Bandai Namco

Release date: September 2, 2022

Edited by
Ravi Iyer