Donkeyboy's Review Of:
JoJo's Venture/JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Heritage For The FutureWith the advent of the CPS-3 Emulator, I've gotten a chance to revisit one of my favorite arcade games EVER. Back in 1999, the Capcom Play System 3 arcade board played host to one of the coolest 2D fighters to grace this blue/green sphere, a little gem called JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. The game itself is based on the anime/manga series of the same name (which is fuckin' sick, if you get the chance to watch/read it sometime) and is some of the most visceral, violent action ever put to celluloid/page (I promise to stop using the slash).
The coolest thing about this game is while it uses your standard Capcom 2D fighting mechanics, there's an extra layer of strategy applied to almost every character - their inner spirit personified - also known as the "Stand."
Every character's individual Stand makes them behave differently in a combative sense. Some characters are geared for close combat, some ranged, some just plain inventive and strange. The sickest part, though, is how the stand can be used either as the character in play or as the support character that performs special moves (and
all supers) while the main character moves and fights independently. So for instance, let's take the case of Jotaro Kujo (the main character). He's not equipped with a projectile move as most other 2D fighting game main men are, but instead he's a close-combat tank. His stand, Star Platinum (note that all of the stands are named after tarot cards), punches the living crap out of whatever is in front of it as its main mode of assault. You can activate Star Platinum and rock some poor fool in the grillpiece with the punches of punishment at full power and Jotaro can just stand there and watch his inner self destroy the opponent, or you could let him roll solo for the most part and use Star Platinum at slightly less power but with the added advantage of using Star Platinum
AND Jotaro in tandem to completely wreck someone. Take the QCF (if I have to explain that, stop reading right now) super: with Star Platinum active, it unleashes 12 hits, the last of which hurts the most - but with Star Platinum inactive, both he and Jotaro can wail on the opponent together at the same time (I've gotten it up to 47 hits - now THAT'S an asskicking).
Others, like Polraneff or Avdol can actually RELEASE their stands from their being to use them independently at a distance, therefore allowing you to kick ass with their awesome inner selves (especially Avdol - Magician Red is too-fucking-sick).
Oh, and you can play as a kick-ass chihuahua. For real.
The animation is actually beautifully done, even if the sprites get pixelated from time to time (the CPS3 wasn't made for hi-res sprites, just great animation), and it especially shows during zoom-in and zoom-out. The music is high-energy and very cool renditions of the character themes present in the OAV series. The backgrounds are colorful and look like a manga with a pulse. The sound is cool as well, and I have a definite soft spot for Star Platinum's signature attack, the Ora Ora, named so because of what the stand screams out as he's pounding something into an unrecognizable shape, be it an evil brain implant or some poor sucker's face. This game should have done better - it's a total sleeper that never got the respect it deserved. Play it now, while it's out there for the low, low cost of absolutely fucking free.
ORA ORA 10 POINT JUDGEMENT ORA ORAAA!Graphics - 8They look VERY dated by today's standards, but imagine the 2D games back in 1999, as scarce as they were. This was the f'n pinnacle back then, man.
Sound - 8The music, while not the best, is rather memorable especially if you get the chance to see the STELLAR anime version of this story. Word of warning: I hope you like blood.
Play Value - 10You have to like 2D fighters to dig this game. But if you've ever looked for anything "different" that didn't involve learning 75 million combinations and commands (I'm looking at you, Guilty Gear), this is it, baby.
Replay Value - 8There's 6 characters to unlock in the console versions. 2 in the arcade version. And replay doesn't really count when games like this are built for two players - infinite replay value.
X-Factor - 10I may be biased due to my love of the original source material. But this game fucking rules, and you should give it a shot if you like 2D fighting games and/or crazy shit happening in front of you. (I knew I'd get another slash in there somewhere!)
FINAL SCORE: 88%
GET OUT THERE AND MAKE A STAND.
Topic: REVIEW: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (ARC-CPS3) (DC) (PSX) (Read 4151 times)