Phantom Blood (PS2 Game)

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood (ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 ファントムブラッド) is an action-adventure video game adaptation of Phantom Blood released for the PlayStation 2 by developer and publisher Bandai Namco Entertainment on October 26, 2006.

This is the second game for the PS2 that is based on JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. It was released to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the series.

Gameplay
Phantom Blood is a 3D beat'em up action game. Like GioGio's Bizarre Adventure, the gameplay takes place in the form of hand-to-hand battle in an arena the characters cannot leave, although unlike in GioGio multiple enemies can attack at once. The game is divided into chapters, in which the playable characters change for each chapter as the story progresses.

Stamina Meter and Poses
Characters capable of utilizing the Ripple show a Stamina Meter below their health meter. The Stamina Meter shows how much Ripple energy the character can use, and is depleted by performing Ripple moves (PS T by default) or charged attacks (PS R1 by default). Performing a counter by dodging while taking damage (PS O by default) also uses up the Stamina Meter. To refill the Stamina Meter, the player must remain still while performing a pose (PS X by default). Poses can also be used in the middle of combos to temporarily increase one of four different stats depending on where in the combo the pose is used: health recovery speed, defensive ability, attack power, and movement speed.

Overdrive
Above the character's health is a Heat Gauge, which fills up when damage is inflicted on enemies and lowers when the player takes damage. When the Heat Gauge is full, the words Heat MAX begin flashing inside of it, indicating that the player is able to use an Overdrive move (PS R2 by default). If the initial charge attack connects, the screen will change to a cinematic of the character preparing to attack over a multi-colored background. At a certain point, an empty bar will appear at the bottom of the screen; filling this bar by quickly rotating the right analog stick will cause the character to perform a barrage of attacks on the opponent, during which the player can tap the PS S button to deal more damage. If the player doesn't fill up the bar, a less powerful attack will be delivered and inflict less damage. Only Ripple users and Speedwagon (Hammer) are able to use the Overdrive technique.

Story Mode
The story mode follows the manga history, step-by-step. The game is heavily composed of cutscenes, with the same voice actors from the Phantom Blood anime movie faithfully re-creating the manga storyline through dialogue in static comic book cinematics and fully 3D rendered cutscenes for key events. The cutscenes take up to 70% of the expected time to finish the game.

It's possible to win fights that, in the original storyline, the main character lost. If the player wins against the bullies or Dio in the boxing match, the dialogue will be different. Losing these battles don't affect the gameplay in any way, prompting the player to normally continue story mode.

After a fight, the game provides the player with a letter grade (S, A, B, C, D & E) based on a score of six categories: Time, Accuracy, Beat, Number of Blocks, Hits Taken and Enemies Killed. If the player wants to retry a chapter, they can do so without needing to go through Story Mode again. By selecting Chapter Mode on the main menu, the player can freely play any previously beaten chapter.

Museum
Museum provides access to Profiles, with descriptions of each one of the 32 characters that were met or defeated in the game, and Theatre, which allows the player to view all of the 80 cinematic cutscenes found in the story mode. Sections that need to be unlocked include:
 * Extra Battle Mode: Play "Dream Matches" that are not from the original manga. This mode is unlocked by clearing Story Mode, and the battles themselves are unlocked based on the player's total points.
 * 77 Rings Knights Mode: Based on the 77 Rings challenge, the player must battle 77 enemies in a row in this survivor-like mode. The mode is split into two variations, Ripple Warriors and Living Corpses, which are unlocked by clearing Extra Battles 10 and 20 respectively.
 * Dio Mode: Play through the game from Dio's perspective. There are battles such as Dio facing the brats that bullied Jonathan and Erina at the beginning of Phantom Blood, showing how they decided to follow Dio's orders in later events. Cutscenes are not present in this scenario and there are some differences to provide extra battles, like Doobie and Adams teaming up to defeat Dio. This mode is unlocked by clearing Extra Battle 30.

Characters
The playable characters are all from the Phantom Blood manga, including several unnamed and minor characters. Depending on the mode, players can choose to play as alternate versions of Jonathan and Dio from different points in the story. Each character has their own varied movesets. Once Story Mode is beaten, different characters can be selected for some battles in Story and Chapter Mode. However, there is not a single mode that allows you to freely select any character. The characters that can be played as are limited depending on the mode and selected battle.

Trivia

 * If the player manages to win battles that Jonathan originally lost in the manga, alternate cutscenes will take place:
 * If Young Jonathan beats the two bullies bothering Erina, the bullies will give up but beat up Jonathan nonetheless after finding out he's from the Joestar Family. Jonathan will then help Erina get up.
 * If the player wins the boxing battle against Dio, he claims that Jonathan hit him with a rock during their fight, making the audience think Jonathan is a coward who can't fight fair.
 * If the player uses an Overdrive move in the battle against Bruford (Underwater) during Chapter 13, a cutscene featuring the end of the battle will immediately take place, ending the chapter earlier. This is the only cutscene in the game that can't be unlocked in the Theater. The player can still win the battle without using Overdrive, but will not get to see the cutscene.
 * If the player manages to get an S rank in Chapter 22 while playing Story Mode, a secret chapter will replace the regular Chapter 23 as the final battle. In this alternate scenario, Dio decides to revive the three winners of the 77 Rings (Winzaleo, Eijkman, and Caineghis) to get his revenge on Jonathan instead of relying on Wang Chan. Furthermore, Dio temporarily uses the body of Father Styx while planning to take Jonathan's. The three knights are killed after the battle, but Dio detaches his head from Styx's body and fires Space Ripper Stingy Eyes at Jonathan, setting the original story's ending in motion. This secret battle can't be unlocked while playing Chapter Mode, but can be accessed from Chapter Mode once it is unlocked.
 * Even though the game faithfully follows the manga's storyline, some events were still cut from the game. Between them are Danny's death, Dio hiding a knife from George Joestar I, the Inspector's flashback and eventual death, and 's whole canon appearance (though he does appear in the secret alternate final chapter).