JoJo's Venture

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Exclamation.png Note: Information about characters in this version is limited, so pages are primarily based on their appearance in Heritage for the Future.

JoJo's Venture (ジョジョの奇妙な冒険, JoJo no Kimyō na Bōken, lit. "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure") is an arcade game developed by Capcom based on the third part of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Stardust Crusaders. It was released on December 2, 1998, on the CPS-3 board system. JoJo's Venture and its revisions were among the first pieces of JoJo-related media released in North America, exposing the series and its characters to many Western players and audiences for the first time.

The game combines Capcom's trademark anime-inspired graphics, as seen in the Darkstalkers series, with the colorful characters and events of Hirohiko Araki's creation, resulting in a highly stylized and detailed visual style. It features many of the gameplay mechanics seen on previous Capcom fighting games, such as the use of power gauges for super moves, as well as a brand-new Stand Mode: a character's Stand can be summoned or dismissed at will by the player, resulting in variations in the character's move list and abilities.

The game would receive a revision in 1999 titled Heritage for the Future in Japan, with the Western release being simply named JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. Both games were later ported to the Sega Dreamcast.

Gameplay

The basic gameplay mechanics are those of a standard fighting game: one-on-one battles consisting of two or three time-limited rounds, in which the goal is to deplete the adversary's Vitality Gauge using regular attacks and character-specific special and super moves. Special and super moves require the input of button combinations and/or accumulated energy, which is displayed in a Super Combo Gauge that increases every time damage is dealt or taken.

The game uses a simplified four-button control scheme, consisting of three attack buttons (light, medium, and heavy) and a Stand button, which switches the character's Stand Mode on or off. Pressing all three attack buttons triggers a invulnerable forward dodge; pressing the three buttons while blocking pushes the opponent back a set distance. Depending on which button is used to select a character, a different color palette will be used for that character.

The game's three unlockable characters can either be unlocked via button codes per credit or the game's service menu in the original arcade version; in the Dreamcast rerelease, they can be obtained by clearing Arcade Mode as certain characters.

Stand Mode

Fighting with Stand Mode on enhances a character's offensive and defensive abilities; these improvements heavily depend on the character and Stand, but the most common benefits are double jumping, absorbing residual damage when blocking special attacks, and more powerful special moves. Stands themselves are physical extensions of their users, and thus damage and attack effects inflicted upon one carries over to its user. Like avatar/puppet-based characters in other fighting games, Stands are able to act independently of their users, allowing for several offensive gimmicks.

Most of the game's unique mechanics derive from the introduced Stand Mode. Many special moves and attacks send a combatant's Stand away from its user, making it more difficult to protect both at the same time; each character's orientation is based on their position towards their opponent, and not necessarily the opponent's Stand. If a character is damaged while their Stand is far away, the damage received is doubled. On top of the Vitality Gauge and Super Combo Gauge, there is a third gauge, the Stand Gauge, which decreases when a character's Stand is damaged and refills when Stand Mode is switched off. If this gauge is depleted, a Stand Crash occurs, leaving the character paralyzed and open to attack for a moment.

Another feature of Stands is Tandem Attack, which can be executed once a character has one stock of the Super Combo Gauge to expend. During the extended startup flash, inputs can be provided for the character's Stand; the Stand will then perform these button inputs on their own as a Program Attack, leaving the user free to do as they please and attack simultaneously. Controlling the Stand directly by performing a special move will cancel the Stand's predetermined onslaught early, however. Weapon Stand users, who are unable to separate their Stand from themselves, can instead perform a Real Time Attack, in which most of their moves can be chained into one another until the stock is emptied.

The mechanics of each Stand create strong differences between the game's characters, and force different offensive approaches for each one. This "character-dependent gameplay" style would inspire several subsequent fighting games, such as the latter entries of the Guilty Gear series (which, interestingly enough, also contains rock and pop music references).

Clashing

If certain attacks of the same strength and intensity occur at the same time and collide, clashing occurs. It is hard to see this system in action as it happens very infrequently. This mechanic would later be incorporated into future JoJo games, such as All-Star Battle. In some cases, when two certain opposing special moves are performed at the same time, a Blazing Fists Match can occur. When this happens, both combatants are prompted to rapidly tap the attack buttons to win the duel and decide who will receive damage, a feature first seen in Samurai Shodown. This feature has since been adopted and expanded in All-Star Battle.

Cast

DIOAvCapcom.png ShadowDIOAvCapcom.png

The World
N'DoulAvHftF.png
Geb
NukesakuAVhftf.png

Game Modes

JoJo's Venture contains the following game modes:

Versus ModeStory Mode
Versus Mode
Versus Mode (バーサスモード, Bāsasu Mōdo)
Venture Versus Mode.png
Two players duke it out in direct combat. After defeating the other player, the winner proceeds to Story Mode until the second player inserts another coin to play again.
Story Mode
Story Mode (ストーリーモード, Sutōrī Mōdo)
Venture Story Mode 1.png
HFTF Venture Story.png
Venture Story Mode 2.png
The player plays through the story of a selected character, including a unique set of fights and special intro and ending cutscenes. The player's score at the end of the game is saved to a leaderboard that can be seen during the game's idle demo sequence. In the Japanese region, holding the Stand button at the end of the credits sequence will give the player a single random tarot card reading.
Secret Characters
DIO Challenger A.png
In this order, hover over each character and press Start:
Alessi, Devo, Chaka
Then hover over Midler and press Start 3 times. DIO's icon will be drawn onto the character select. Only unlockable per credit, and mutually exclusive with Young Joseph.
S.DIO Cha A.png
Hover over DIO and press Start 4 times, then hold Start. Only unlockable per credit.
YJoJoAChallenger.png
In this order, hover over each character and press Start:
Jotaro, Polnareff, Joseph, Kakyoin, Iggy, Avdol
Then hover over Joseph and hold Start until Young Joseph appears. Only unlockable per credit, and mutually exclusive with Shadow DIO.

Characters

PlayableMinor
Playable Characters in JoJo's Venture
Capcom Fighters/Proud Lineage Joseph
No Stand

Sega Dreamcast Version

Both JoJo's Venture and its revision were ported to the Sega Dreamcast under the latter's title, allowing the player to choose which version they want to play. The Dreamcast port features a handful of new modes, along with more options for existing ones, such as being able to select difficulty in Story Mode or set handicaps in Versus Mode.

The Sega Dreamcast version of JoJo's Venture contains the following new game modes:

Survival ModeTraining ModeAlessi ModeNetwork
Survival Mode
Survival Mode (サバイバルモード, Sabaibaru Mōdo)
VentureSurvival1.png
VentureSurvival2.png
VentureSurvival3.png
Similarly to Heritage for the Future's Challenge Mode, this mode features a gauntlet of single-round matches on a single health bar and Super Combo Gauge. Unlike Challenge Mode, the gauntlet continues endlessly until the player is defeated. In addition, the player is not offered the opportunity to choose a gauge to refill after each match: instead, a small portion of health is automatically restored.
Training Mode
Training Mode (トレーニングモード, Torēningu Mōdo)
VentureTraining1.png
VentureTraining2.png
This mode allows the player to practice character attacks, skills, and combos using various battle settings and opponent behaviors. The player can also choose to display attack data, combo data, and damage.
Alessi Mode
Alessi Mode (アレッシーモード, Aresshī Mōdo)

VentureAlessiMode.png

This mode is unlocked after defeating 15 or more enemies in Survival Mode. Alessi Mode is not a mode in and of itself: it is instead a menu that allows the player to set one of three gameplay modifiers based on Sethan's ability for Versus Mode. Depending on the selected modifier, a character will morph into children during the match either after a Stand Crash, in alternation every ten seconds, or for the entire match.
Network
Network (ネットワーク, Nettowāku)
DreamcastNetwork1.png
DreamcastNetwork2.png
DreamcastNetwork3.png
This mode is exclusively available in the For Matching Service edition of the game, and is accessible via the main menu. From this mode, the player can either visit the game's Japanese homepage via the Dream Passport browser or connect to Capcom's servers to access the game's online matchup functionality. Both the homepage and the game's servers are currently defunct, however.
Secret Unlockables
DIO Challenger A.png
Complete Arcade Mode as Jotaro.
S.DIO Cha A.png
Complete Arcade Mode as DIO.
YJoJoAChallenger.png
Complete Arcade Mode as Joseph.

Localization

Name Changes

As JoJo's Venture marks the first time that a JoJo game was released outside Japan, the game's English localization changes the names of several characters to avert possible legal issues. Most of these localized names have never been used since.

LocalizationLink to this section
Name Variants:
Iggy Iggi

Devo the Cursed D'Bo, the cursed one

Chaka Chaca

Alessi Alessy

Young Joseph JoJo

N'Doul N'Dool

Vanilla Ice Iced

Holy Kujo Holley Kujo

Regional Differences

K.O.New ChallengerTranslation

The kanji for "retired" (再起不能(リタイヤ)) hovers over the "K.O." text in the Japanese region, whereas all other regions remove it.

JapanOther Regions
Venture Regional K.O (JPN).png
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In the Japanese region setting, the character you play as determines the new challenger screen: the protagonists say "A new Stand user?!" (新手のスタンド使いか!), the villains (and JoJo) say "Who the hell are you?!" (何者だ!?), and the only female character, Midler, says "Who are you?" (何者!?). This did not carry over to other region settings, which instead use "Here comes a new challnger!!" (sic) for all characters.

Hero New Challenger Text (Japanese) Villain New Challenger Text (Japanese)

Venture Joseph 6.png Venture JoJo 6.png
Female New Challenger Text (Japanese) English

Venture Midler 5.png Venture Jotaro 6.png

Much of the original Japanese script is exaggerated or outright discarded for dramatic appeal in the Western localization. This is especially apparent in characters' victory quotes in Versus Mode, but can be seen in Story Mode as well.

Censorship

International releases went through censorship for some of the presentation and explicit content to accommodate younger, foreign audiences. While Western releases had fairly standard changes for the time, Asian releases were more severe due to Korean censorship of Japanese media. All Japanese text and dialogue was removed, replaced with English or grunting for the voice acting specifically.

BloodExplicit ContentOtherDreamcast

All instances of blood in the game are recolored white (like sweat) barring some exceptions.

Regulation OffRegulation On
Venture Regulation Off.png
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Regulation OffRegulation On
Venture Priestess Regulation Off.png
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Regulation OffRegulation On
Venture Airplane Regulation Off.png
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Instances of gore and cutscenes that were considered too intense were altered.

Regulation OffRegulation On
Venture DIO Death Regulation Off.png
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Regulation OffRegulation On
Venture Geb Regulation Off.png
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Regulation OffRegulation On
HFTF Jotaro 8.png
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There are a small number of other mild changes, such as the Anubis sword being recolored to a wooden brown color or DIO's wine/blood being recolored.

Regulation OffRegulation On
Venture Anubis Regulation Off.png
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Regulation OffRegulation On
Venture Wine Regulation Off.png
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In the original arcade release, the fade at the end of Devo's cutscenes and during Midler's ending in Story Mode is tinted green. Midler's blood in her ending is also colored green and black. In the Sega Dreamcast port of the game, both are instead colored red.

ArcadeDreamcast
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ArcadeDreamcast
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ArcadeDreamcast
ArcadeMidlerFade.png
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Gallery

Expand/Collapse All

Link to this section Promotional Material (Arcade)
Link to this section Promotional Material (Dreamcast)
Link to this section Promotional Trailers

Trivia

  • GioGio's Bizarre Adventure, another game developed by Capcom features an orchestral rendition of Polnareff's theme as the background music for Chapter 11-1. Some cutscenes also use the villain intro theme from this game's Story Mode.
  • The underlying mechanics of All-Star Battle are based on the Capcom fighting games. In addition, All-Star Battle has two DLC costumes for Jotaro and Polnareff based on promotional material for this game.[5]
HFTF RU Mistake.png
HFTF Nile Mistake.png
  • The travel maps featured in Story Mode contain errors, mostly anachronistic oversights due to Stardust Crusaders being set in the 80s:
  • Iggy's Sand Storm super move is a reference to the Shun Goku Satsu move used by Akuma in the Street Fighter series. This is further evidenced in the game's debug mode, where an unused graphic shows the kanji for the word dog () stylized in a similar manner to Akuma's kanji for heaven ().
  • In Capcom's "Super Elections" survey for their 40th anniversary, JoJo's Venture ranked 174th with 139 votes for the "Which of the following Capcom games do you like the best?" question.[6]


References

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