All-Star Battle/Ikuro Hashizawa

Ikuro Hashizawa appears as Baoh and as the final DLC character released for this game, accompanied by a Campaign set centered around him. He also appears in an extra battle in the JoJolion Story Mode chapter.

In the overseas release of the game, he was released in the first public DLC pack on May 14, 2014 along with Lisa Lisa and Part 3 Joseph Joestar, earlier than his Japanese release date.

As Ikuro is unable to speak in his Baoh form (only capable of repeated battle cries of "BARU!" as well as general grunts and roars), he is accompanied by the game's narrator calling out the names of his attacks along with descriptive phrases. However, Ikuro will call out the game's name on the title screen in his human voice, and briefly speaks lines, also in his human voice, during his special mirror match intro and during match victories.

As a guest fighter, Ikuro is the only playable All-Star Battle character to not return in the next game,, although he does return in the remastered version of All-Star Battle,.

Command List
Ikuro's moveset revolves around Baoh's special abilities. While he has lower-than-average health, exclusive to Ikuro is the "Baoh Armed Phenomenon" Style. Ikuro has 850 HP.

Gameplay Overview
Ikuro represents the "Glass Cannon" sub-archetype of combatant, and firmly 'rushdown'. Despite his low health, he also sports the highest dash speed of any character in the game, making it easier for him to close the distance on his opponent or maneuver into favorable positions more frequently. Several projectiles, a super jump, and a forward-moving attack also serve in covering his approach. His skills all execute with great speed, as well as offer methods to repeatedly switch sides and force his foe into guessing what direction to guard in. When combined with his great damage output and Style action that allows him to shrug off incoming attacks, Ikuro is an oppressive offensive fighter. At the same time, his innate health regeneration forces the opponent to continuously engage him during battle so as to not allow him to recover any significant amount of lost health. In this manner, Ikuro also holds the advantage in prolonged rounds.

True to his role, however, Ikuro is fragile and his defense is poor. Ignoring his low health, he also suffers from a longer "blockstun" than others, meaning when he is made to successfully guard incoming attacks, he recovers slower and is only able to act out of his guard later. This allows opponents to more safely pressure him when he's the defender, and also makes him very vulnerable to characters that can utilize throws and unblockable attacks. Another weakness is that Ikuro's fast skills act as a double-edged sword, and it is more difficult to properly execute strong combos with him despite the damage potential he possesses.

As a whole, Ikuro is a fickle and difficult combatant to wield. He rapidly overwhelms and defeats anyone who is unfamiliar with his powers, but may easily become the one being overwhelmed in turn. Nonetheless, with good execution and strong momentum in his favor, Ikuro can very quickly capture victory before his opponent has a chance to regain control over the battle and retaliate.

Trivia

 * During Baoh's hair taunt against Josuke Higashikata, the narrator explains that Baoh does not trust Josuke from the way his hair smells, referencing Baoh's ability to distinguish friend from foe via their scent.