JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R Review

More than the meme goldmine that it has been known for, Hirohiko Araki’s generation-spanning opus has been a major influence on almost every form of Japanese entertainment. From the breathing techniques in Demon Slayer to fighting game characters like Rose and Guile (Street Fighter), numerous anime and video games have been known to take inspiration from the famous manga and anime.

Naturally, for the series’ 35^th anniversary, fans were treated to a special announcement—the return of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle. First released on the PlayStation 3 in 2013, the game was known for its faithfulness to all aspects of the source material, from the fighting gameplay to the visuals.

It’s a game adaptation that’s as appreciated by fans as the first JoJo fighting game by Capcom back in 1998, and now we finally get the latest installment – All-Star Battle R.

Time to see now if this 9-year-old fighting game based on a famous Japanese IP is worth wrryyymastering for a return in 2022.  

Is that a JoJo Reference?

Fans of the original 2013 game will have a grand time with this return as All-Star Battle R remains nearly unchanged. The features that made the game such a hit, including the amazing 3D cel-shaded visuals that are a trademark look for the game, make a comeback as well. With the return of All-Star Battle R and now on current-gen consoles, your favorite JoJo characters and arenas look better than ever.

The visuals for certain characters have been adjusted to match their appearance in the anime, even going as far as having the anime voice actors reprise their roles. This is especially noticeable for later parts like Aureo Vento and Stone Ocean, as these JoJo Arcs were not yet animated during the release of the original All-Star Battle.

All-Star Battle R features gameplay that faithfully captures the use of abilities like Stands and Hamon, giving each character their unique fighting style. Fans of the series will certainly relate to moves like Josuke fully healing his opponent with his Stand before beating them senseless during his Great Heart Attack, or characters from the Steel Ball Run Part being able to fight on horseback.

All-Star Battle R also brings back unique mechanics like the Stage Gimmick and Dramatic Finish. Those who want their fights to be more dangerous will remember the stage hazards that were taken out of the JoJo stories, and the unique fight-ending animations of the Dramatic Finish will invoke a sense of nostalgia for longtime fans.

As a fan myself, I just have to say it – pretty much everything you see in-game is definitely a JoJo reference.   

R for WRYYmaster

While keeping some beloved features, All-Star Battle R still needed to make some changes, with the most obvious (and welcome) one being the roster of characters. Previously unplayable characters like Speedwagon from Phantom Blood and Trish Una from Aureo Vento join the fight, bringing the game closer to its current state.

Out of the new additions, the aforementioned Speedwagon and new playable character Prosciutto are quite unique because they both have partners during the fight. Speedwagon is able to get help from his Ogre Street gang, while Prosciutto has his partner Pesci follow him and attack using his Fisher Man Stand.

These characters add a new layer of playstyle to All-Star Battle R, each with their own set of unique mechanics that will mix things up.

While there may be additions, All-Star Battle R also takes away, because both the Campaign and Story Mode are now gone, fusing both into one “All-Star Battle Mode”. This is pretty much the new Campaign mode, as in it, you can fight various story battles up to the current JoJolion Story Arc, along with a few other kinds of matches.

All-Star Battle R ups the challenge by adding secret missions to these fights that players will need to discover. While you can pay an amount of gold to reveal said secret missions, they are fairly easy to figure out, and you’ll want to save up for the various in-game unlockables like 3D models and Music.

All-Star Battle Mode brings the fun and offers a lot of fanservice by pairing up characters who have fought canonically in the anime, as well as unique dream matches that you’d never thought would happen. The cherry on top is the unique dialogue you can experience, like Kars fighting an older Joseph Joestar, with the former commenting on how the hero of Battle Tendency aged so quickly.

It’s a mode that definitely has JoJo fans in mind, so much so that it might possibly be a letdown for newcomers who cannot understand the references. Sadly, All-Star Battle Mode is just that: a battle. Aside from unique story dialogue, there’s next to no story explanation as to why certain characters are fighting, or at least the whole premise of a certain JoJo part, leaving you high and dry if you’ve never been exposed to JoJo.

While the in-game JoJo Glossary in All-Star Battle R offers some information, it’s not exactly extensive, leaving players to look elsewhere to piece together the stories, which would have been great to see here.

ORA ORA ORA!

In a time when the value of a fighting game is heavily reliant on how it fares during competitive gameplay, All-Star Battle R also had to appeal to the challenge-seeking fighting game community, which they’ve managed to do.

Aside from speeding up the game tempo and adding dash jumps, new features were added for players to use during fights, like taunting downed opponents to drain a level of their super meter once per round. All-Star Battle R lets players literally trash talk their way to a victory.

The Assist mechanic in All-Star Battle R should be familiar to players of other titles like Marvel vs. Capcom and Dragon Ball FighterZ, but with a nice twist. Using an Assist character to break your opponent’s combo, for example, will have a longer cooldown compared to simply summoning your Assist to attack.

Overall, it’s a great addition that opens up new combo opportunities and will be interesting to see how it will be used in high-level play. There may be only a finite number of uses per round, and the type of assist will depend on the character, so All-Star Battle R players will have to choose how to spend their resources wisely.

On the other hand, Stylish Guard adds a high-risk, high-reward element to All-Star Battle R, where you can sidestep an attack if you activate it right before the hit lands and capitalize on your opponent’s mistake. You’ll even look good doing it by striking your character’s signature JoJo pose. The timing is as strict as Parrying or Just Defense from other fighting games, so it will take some practice to use it effectively.

Online mode is where things get a little less loving, with no semblance of rollback netcode and just a meager selection of modes. While the delay in some of our matches certainly turned out better compared to when the demo launched, competitive play will surely want better in terms of latency.

What We Liked:

• Faithfulness to the source material in terms of gameplay and content
• Changes made it more competition-worthy
• Loads of unlockables

What We Didn’t Like:

• Newcomers will not get much in terms of story
• Online mode could use more modes
• No rollback netcode

Verdict: Buy it!

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R is a fantastic installment and a great update to the classic fighting game from almost 10 years ago. It’s made even better thanks to changes that should appeal to both fans of the source material and those looking for competition.

Newcomers looking the use All-Star Battle R to get acquainted with the series will be out of luck, as the closest thing to a story mode in the game will expect players to already be familiar with the characters and their stories. That being the case, this shouldn’t stop newcomers from enjoying a fun and solid fighting game.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is a franchise loved by many, and All-Star Battle R is pretty much a returning love letter for fans and a great time for competitors to go throw their ORA ORA’s and MUDA MUDA’s at each other.

*JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R was reviewed on a PS4 and PS5 with a review code provided by the publisher.