Capcom, 1999, Fighter / Versus

Note: The parent version of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Heritage for the Future (JBA) is JoJo no Kimyouna Bouken: Miraie no Isan. However, since the English clone is Euro NO CD, the parent is not required to run it in MAME anyway. Also worth noting; JBA is an upgrade of the 1998 original, Jojo's Venture.
Listen up, fight fans! Are you ready to delve into a versus fighter that's far removed from the typical mainstream stuff that you've already played hundreds or thousands of times before? Then prepare to enter the absurdly beautiful world of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure!

At the Mode Select screen you can choose between Challenge, which is like a Survival Mode, or Story for the standard game.
JBA is based on the enduring manga by Hirohiko Araki, and as such, the game has quite a deep and intriguing story compared to the usual efforts in this genre. The unique "Stand" concept of the manga also plays a significant role in the game. A character's Stand is a powerful psychic manifestation that takes many forms between the individual characters. For example, Mohammed Avdol's Stand, Magician's Red, resembles the eagle-headed god of Ancient Egyptian mythology, Horus, and has many flame-based attacks such as shooting fiery ankhs. Noriaki Kakyoin's Stand, Hierophant Green (heh heh... my namesake :P) appears to be a slender yet powerful android equipped with many strange abilities, including laying traps, constriction, and firing deadly streams of emeralds (Noriaki Kakyoin and Hierophant Green are featured in my gameplay demo at the end of this article). It's interesting to note that a lot of Stand names are taken from the major arcana of the tarot. Many characters also have names that reference popular culture, eg. Iggy (Iggy Pop), Dio Brando (Ronnie James Dio and Marlon Brando), Robber Soul (Rubber Soul is a Beatles album), etc. Oddly enough, there is no character named Jojo in JBA; rather, Jojo refers to the doubling of the letters "j" and "o" together in the names of the main heroes, Jotaro Kujo, and his father, Joseph Joestar.

The manga influence is apparent at the Character Select screen with the fighters laid out in comic book style.


The game's story is illustrated with many cool scenes.
As with the Street Fighter III series (SFIII), JBA was one of the few games ever produced for Capcom's CPS-3 hardware, providing for superb sound and fluid animation. Incidentally, JBA was created by the SFIII development team. Also, probably due to its relative obscurity, people often mistakenly believe that JBA is a Guilty Gear rip-off. However, the original games both appeared almost simultaneously in 1998, in what was perhaps a coincidental convergence of styles.
With its superior combo mechanics, the gameplay system in JBA is a cut above many other versus fighters. The addition of the Stand system can only push the player's enjoyment further beyond the norm by allowing for extra attack variations, including the creation of customizable Tandem Attack combos. When a Tandem Attack is activated, you have a limited hold time in which to input any joystick motions and button presses that you desire, after which your Stand will execute the inputs while you can use your main character in tandem to inflict all sorts of added chaos on your opponent. The best tactic is to get your main character behind the enemy as quickly as possible, leaving them in an extremely untenable position as you and your Stand beat them unmercifully from both sides. Cool! With a range of advanced combo shenanigans and plenty of crazy characters to master, JBA really is an unconventional and thrilling fighting game.

D'Bo is one creepy dude!


This is how I deal with criminals!

The plot thickens...
I can still remember the strangely surreal feeling of playing JBA in arcades for the first time. The notion of characters who can release their inner gods (or demons) at will, along with the emotionally exaggerated super moves and the warped perspectives in some stages, gave JBA a certain psychotic atmosphere that was rare for the genre. When the excellent PSX port came out with the exclusive Super Story Mode, the psycho-funtimes could continue for me at home; while nowadays, thanks to MAME and Kaillera, the violent lunacy of JBA can be enjoyed online to the delight of fellow connoisseurs of grandiose hand-to-hand, Stand-to-Stand combat!

Many surprises lay in store for dedicated players. Once in a while, opposing Stands may clash head on, lighting up the screen with awesomeness!
My JoJo's Bizarre Adventure gameplay vid, featuring Noriaki Kakyoin in action alongside his Stand, Hierophant Green.
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