In 2013, Bandai Namco released Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle, a fighting game featuring characters from all of Hirohiko Araki’s manga series’ eight parts up to that point, exclusively for the PS3. Developed by CyberConnect2, the game received a mixed reception. The art style of the game really brought the manga to life, and it had plenty of moments from the series recreated in-game, like Dio's Road Roller move. But the gameplay was criticized for being unbalanced, the dialogue didn’t sync up to the mouth movements, and it suffered from microtransactions that put players off.
However, the company has since revealed they’re working on a remastered version of the game; Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R for release on the PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch, and Steam. It’ll be more souped-up than the original, with a rebalanced roster, new gameplay features, and some new stages and characters. But who’s coming back from the past?
8 Phantom Blood And Battle Tendency
Phantom Blood features Jonathan Joestar, his mentor Will A. Zeppelli, and his nemesis Dio Brando. While Battle Tendency follows his grandson Joseph, Zeppelli’s grandson Caesar, their mentor Lisa Lisa, and their foes the Pillar Men: Wamuu, Esidesi, and Kars. The anime had just finished its first season by 2013, so the same actors came in for the original game and will be carried on for the new one. This includes Esidesi, whose voice actor, Keiji Fujiwara, passed away in 2020.
The Joestars, Zeppellis, and Lisa Lisa use Hamōn, which lets them manually charge their Heat Gauge and boost their special moves Street Fighter-style. Vampire characters like Dio can drain health from their opponents at the end of combos, while the Pillar Men can boost their strength with their Heat Gauge by switching their Modes on.
7 Stardust Crusaders
Stardust Crusaders was the first part to introduce Stands into the series, so nearly every character from this point will be able to use theirs in battle. Characters with this ability can use their Stands to attack their opponent directly, or ‘de-sync’ from their Stand, so they can attack the opponent while the Stand is in the middle of an attack. Not many actors from the original All-Star Battle made it into the anime series. One of the few was Daisuke Ono (Batman Ninja), whose take on the iconic Jotaro Kujo debuted here. Everyone else in the game will be recast to match their anime counterparts.
This includes Old Joseph Joestar, despite his voice actor, Unsho Ishizuka, passing away in 2018. The trailer has Ishizuka’s voice, so it’s likely they reused the lines he recorded for CyberConnect 2’s 3D brawler Eyes of Heaven. The third part has the rest of the titular Crusaders: Mohammed Avdol, Noriaki Kakyoin, Jean-Pierre Polnareff, and Iggy. Plus their villains: Hol Horse, Vanilla Ice, and DIO, a revived version of Dio Brando with The World, his infamous time-stopping Stand.
6 Diamond Is Unbreakable
The fourth part is one of the series’ most popular entries. It even received its own spin-off in the manga/anime/TV drama Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan. Rohan was one of the game’s original cast members, alongside protagonist Josuke Higashikata and his friends Okuyasu Nijimura, Koichi Hirose, and Shigechi Yangu. Koichi is unique in that his Stand can switch between 3 different Acts. The first being a weak, long-range fighter, the second being a mid-strength, mid-range type, and the third being the strongest of all despite having the narrowest range. The villain from the anime’s first half, Akira Otoishi, also comes back to terrorize the cast with his electric Stand, Chili Pepper.
All DLC characters from the original game will be available from the start which means Diamond ends up with two versions of its main villain, Yoshikage Kira. They both use their Stand, Deadly Queen, to make their opponent explode. But they have different gimmicks. Kira can send a heat-seeking bomb, Heart Attack, to drill through his enemies. While his alter-ego, Kosaku Kawajiri, can fire exploding projectiles with the help of his pet Feral Cat.
5 Vento Aureo
Most of the fifth part’s Gang Stars made it into the original game- Giorno Giovanna, Bruno Bucciarati, Guido Mista, Narancia Ghirga and Pannacotta Fugo. Leone Abbacchio didn’t make it in because the developers had trouble figuring out how to translate his Stand, Moody Jazz, and its scene recreation powers, into a fighting game.
It’s understandable, as the abilities of main villain Diavolo’s stand Emperor Crimson came out in a bizarre way. Its future-reading ability, Eulogy, got translated into a stance that lets Diavolo automatically sidestep anything that hits him. While his main stand, Emperor Crimson, gained a counter super that made the opponent hit themselves. That's still easier to understand than his anime/manga powers.
4 Stone Ocean
As the parts went on, they received fewer characters. The original game only came with four characters to represent the sixth part, and one of them was DLC. With the new series out on Netflix, the announcement trailer highlights Stone Ocean and its heroine Jolyne Cujoh. So, there is a chance she, her cohorts Ermes and Anasui, and her nemesis Father Pucci could receive some more cast members.
Hopefully, they’ll be more than the rumors that Pucci may be split into two characters like in Eyes of Heaven. Originally, he could upgrade his Stand, Pale Snake, into Full Moon by reciting 13 Phrases to fill a separate meter. But magazine scans have revealed that this separate meter is now gone. Either it hadn’t been implemented yet, or Full Moon Pucci will get a separate slot, or he’ll get a less cumbersome method to get it.
3 Steel Ball Run
Set in a parallel universe from the previous six parts, the seventh part has only three characters. Johnny Joestar and Gyro Zeppelli can fight on the ground or on their horses: Slow Dancer and Valkyrie respectively. Alongside their Stands: Tusk and Ball Breaker, they can use an ability called Spin to shoot their fingernails like bullets (Johnny) or throw steel balls (Gyro).
Their foe, Funny Valentine, can use his Stand, D4C, to either bring in his alternate dimensional selves for back-up or take his opponent into that alternate dimension to learn the hard way that they work on Timecop logic.
2 Jojolion
The original game came out just two years into the eighth part’s manga run. This is why it only received one character in its protagonist Josuke Higashikata, aka ‘Jo2suke’ or ‘Gappy’ to separate him from Part 4’s Josuke.
His Stand, Soft & Wet, can either stun the opponent by blinding them or slide across the stage like a hockey puck by taking away their friction. Still, with Jojolion now complete, he could do with some friends or foes.
1 Extra Stars
The original game, including DLC, had a total roster of 41 characters. The original trailer said the game would have 50 characters, highlighted over a collage of cast members and 10 blank spaces containing stars. There were fears that Ikuro Hashizawa from Araki's other cult manga series Baoh wouldn't make it into the new game. The '50 Playable Characters' total from the 10 new characters on top of the default 41 suggested a character would be taken out. Ikuro looked to be the most likely candidate to be removed since he wasn't a Jojo character. But an updated trailer has expanded the number of star spaces to 13, which has given Baoh fans hope he will return.
But what about the other 12 spaces? Japanese magazine scans have already revealed two new playable characters in Trish Una and Prosciutto from Vento Aureo. But who else could’ve made it in? Maybe the extra characters from Eyes of Heaven like Mariah from Stardust Crusaders or Speedwagon from Phantom Blood could join the others. There's also a chance that there will be some characters completely new to CyberConnect 2's Jojo series, like Stone Ocean’s F.F or Jojolion’s Tooru. Bar any future announcements or trailers, the truth will be revealed on its release in Autumn 2022.