All-Star Battle R

"All JOJOs Unite! Fight for Your Destiny!"

- Tagline

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R (ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 オールスターバトルR) is a fighting game based on the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure franchise, developed by CyberConnect2 and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. The game is releasing on, , , , , and. All-Star Battle R is a remastered version of the 2013 fighting game JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle, featuring new game mechanics and playable characters.

The game is currently slated to release on September 1, 2022, with the international console versions and Japanese Steam version coming the following day.

Summary
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R was first announced by Sony as part of the PlayStation State of Play event on March 9, 2022, with a release date of early fall of that same year. It was also later announced by Bandai Namco that the game would be available on the Nintendo Switch, Steam, Xbox Series X|S, and the Xbox One. The color palettes and designs of Part 1 to Part 6 characters in All-Star Battle R are noticeably different from those of the original All-Star Battle, having been modified to closely follow the looks in the various anime adaptations of the series. In addition, the available Japanese voice actors working on the anime reprise their roles in All-Star Battle R.

All-Star Battle R releases with a Standard Edition, Digital Deluxe Edition, and Collector's Bundle. The Standard Edition only includes the game, while the Digital Deluxe Edition includes the full game, the season pass, and a color set for Jonathan, Joseph, Jotaro, Josuke, and Giorno, based on their white outfits in the JOESTAR The Inherited Soul event. The Collector's Bundle includes the full game, the special event color set from the Digital Deluxe Edition, and a Special Color version of the Grandista series Jolyne Cujoh 10 inch statue. The European version also includes a Jolyne Cujoh prison plate, the season pass, and a collector's box. The Japanese version also includes the digital soundtrack and has the option to get the bundle with or without the season pass.

An early-access demo for the game, exclusive to the and, was released for the public on June 16, 2022 and was available to play until June 22, 2022. The only playable characters in the demo were Jonathan, Jotaro, DIO, and Jolyne. Online Mode and Practice Mode were the only two playable modes. A new demo featuring Jotaro, Jolyne, Ermes Costello, and Foo Fighters was available exclusively at Anime Expo 2022, from July 1 to July 4, 2022. A new stage was featured, called the Everglades, which portrays the farm of the Green Dolphin Street Prison. The demo was only playable against CPU, with no multiplayer available.

Another demo was available at EVO 2022, which featured the Versus and Practice modes. The playable characters included Jonathan, Joseph, Jotaro, Josuke (4), Giorno, Jolyne, Johnny,, Wamuu, Iggy, Shigechi, Diavolo, Foo Fighters, Gyro, and Ikuro Hashizawa. Two tournaments were held at the event featuring the demo, both with first place receiving a and the exclusive Jolyne figurine that is included in the collector's edition of the game. Second and third place also got the figurine.

Downloadable Content
There are currently four DLC characters planned for All-Star Battle R. The first DLC character is expected to release on November 3, 2022. The second DLC character is expected to release on January 12, 2023. The third DLC character is expected to release on March 2, 2023. The fourth DLC character is expected to release on May 11, 2023. On August 22, 2022, it was announced that the original version of Enrico Pucci from All-Star Battle is also planned to be available for free via a game update in the future. Note that these characters are not part of the base 50-character roster.

The season pass grants four new playable DLC characters, two exclusive alternate outfits ("Rohan Kishibe First Appearance Costume" and "Muhammad Avdol's Father? Costume"), and two days of early access to all season pass characters. All pre-orders will also receive a bonus downloadable Green Dolphin Street State Prison Jacket costume for Jolyne.

Gameplay
The gameplay of All-Star Battle R is based on the one-vs-one 2.5D fighting game style of All-Star Battle. Mechanics such as Easy Beat, Stylish Evade, Heat Heart Attack and Rush Mode have been confirmed to return in this game with slight differences.

Gameplay Changes
An additional gameplay mechanic named Support Attack (アシストシステム) allows players to summon a second character during a match, allowing them to chain together longer combos, set traps, or use long-range attacks as an Assault Assist. Assist characters can also be used to break an opponent's combo with a Reversal Assist, though this produces a longer cooldown (shown by the assist character's icon being tinted red). The lights below an assist character's icon act as an indicator of how many more times they can be used within the round, with the maximum number of lights differing by character. Each character has a unique assist attack that falls into one of several types, creating a new layer of strategy when selecting characters.

In addition to Support Attack, another gameplay mechanic by the name of Stylish Guard (スタイリッシュガード) has been added, allowing players to buffer a Stylish Evade until it is triggered by an attack (similarly to many characters' counter moves). This allows players to create an opening to counterattack, but the move's reliance on predicting the opponent's attack and immobilization of the character performing it serve as drawbacks.


 * Improved frame-rate: The frame-rate of the game has been doubled to run at 60FPS on both consoles and PC, with the exception of the Switch version which is still locked at 30FPS.
 * Improved game speed: Shortened the time it takes to launch an attack, resulting in speedier battles compared to the previous work.
 * Added Hitstops: Hitstop is a fighting game term: when you strike the opponent, both parties momentarily freeze, emphasizing the power of impact. The player’s hits and guards implement this, making the game feel smoother and more tactical.
 * Added Input Buffers: Relaxed the number of input frames available before the next action. Thus, players can control characters as desired.
 * Added Dash Jumps: The player can jump while dashing, allowing them to jump at a lower height than normal jumps.
 * Special move commands can be input even with simple commands: Command input can now be omitted (if trying to use ↓↘→ then ↓→ is okay), making it easier to activate special moves.
 * Attack adjustments: Changed the behaviors and powers of some techniques. The power of Great Heat Attacks (GHA) changes depending on the amount of gauges accumulated and how many gauges are consumed (two gauges are 100% power, 2.5 gauges are 120% power, and 3 gauges are 150% power).

After receiving feedback from the Early Access Demo survey, more features were adjusted:
 * Changed the frequency of Taunt to once per match (opponent’s HH gauge can be reduced only once per match). When the Taunt is activated, the reduction of the opponent HH gauge is changed from 0.1 gauge to 1 gauge.
 * Changed Assault Assists (attack) and Reversal Assists (defense) to be separate. They have individual uses with a certain number of uses per round.
 * Planning to add a feature in Practice Mode to record opponent's movements and make it able to retry specific character positions.

Aesthetic Changes

 * Command List UI Redesigned: Descriptions for each ability in the command list can now be read instantly in a pop-up instead of the sentence automatically scrolling horizontally across the screen.
 * Costume Previews: Alternate colors and costumes can now be previewed on the character select screen before battling.
 * Animated Victory Poses: The victory poses are now animated like in Eyes of Heaven, unlike the original game, where the poses were static.

Cross-Platform Play
As of current, the game is confirmed to not support cross-play between different platforms. However, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 players will be able to play against one another. Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One will also be able to play against each other.

The Nintendo Switch version can also play multiplayer offline through local communication by wirelessly connecting with another Nintendo Switch. It is not possible to play by using the sideways, so each player needs their own set of Joy-Cons.

Game Modes
All-Star Battle R contains the following game modes:


 * All-Star Battle Mode (オールスターバトルモード): The player can play through over 100 pre-arranged fights in this game mode. The fights are divided between Normal Battles, which adapt situations from the original series, and Extra Battles, which use scenarios that do not appear in the original work. Both types of battles reward the player with cosmetic features such as new sound effects, taunts, poses, outfit color schemes, special alternate costumes, artwork, and BGM.
 * Arcade Mode (アーケードモード): In the "Challenge Battle" sub-mode, the player chooses a character and difficulty setting and participates in a gauntlet of eight battles against randomized COM opponents to win Gold and set/beat high scores based on accumulative grading within the selected difficulty. However, the player can choose to play an endless series of battles in the "Endless Battle" sub-mode, fighting until they are defeated.
 * Versus Mode (バーサスモード): The player can fight against the COM or another human being, either online or via local multiplayer.
 * Team Battle Mode (チームバトルモード): Team Battle allows 3-on-3 matches and separate battle rule settings can be set for each matchup. Including Assists, there would be 12 characters fighting in total. There are two modes of team battles:
 * Knockout: Battle on one health bar that stays between rounds.
 * Total Points: Fight three battles, changing characters in each one. The team with more victories wins.
 * Tournament Mode (トーナメントモード): A tournament with 8 fighters. Up to 8 players can participate, playing against COM fighters. The winner of all three rounds will claim the championship, which is a gold prize.
 * Practice Mode (プラクティスモード): The player can practice character attacks, skills, and combos using various battle settings. Though the CPU opponent's behavior can be set to various settings, a second player can also be used to practice. Among the possible settings in Practice Mode are COM difficulty level, a damage display, an attack attribute display, automatic guard, automatic down attack avoidance, the HH gauge's level, counter hit, and an input display.
 * Customize Mode (カスタマイズモード): The player can customize their Player Card for online matches. They can also customize characters' various taunt and victory poses using lines and sound effects earned in the other modes.
 * Gallery Mode (ギャラリーモード): The player can purchase and view voice lines, music tracks, concept art, and unlocked poses and costumes using gold earned in the other modes.
 * Option Mode (オプションモード): The player can customize the game's settings and adjust the COM difficulty level.

Stages
As a fighting game, All-Star Battle R features several stages representing the different locations featured in the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure series.

So far, all stages from the original All-Star Battle are stated to return, though Kennedy Space Center only appears in promotional material and is not listed on the game's website. However, promotional material also shows that additional stages have been added to the game, including several from Eyes of Heaven. The Stage Hazard mechanic is also planned to make a return, with new Stage Hazards added to the game's new stages.

New Stages
★ Denotes stages that are new to All-Star Battle R and did not appear in Eyes of Heaven as playable stages in Versus/Online modes. ☆ While the Cairo Overpass stage did appear in Eyes of Heaven, it was exclusive to the Story Mode battle between Jotaro and DIO.

Playable
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R has a base roster of 51 playable characters, with at least 4 DLC characters planned. All characters from All-Star Battle are returning. However, C-Moon and Made in Heaven were removed from Enrico Pucci's moveset. The original Pucci from All Star Battle is planned to be re-added as a separate character in a future update.


 * New Characters
 * Robert E. O. Speedwagon, Mariah, Pet Shop, and Diego Brando were confirmed as new additions in a trailer released on May 26, 2022.
 * Jotaro from Part 4, Yukako Yamagishi, and F.F. were revealed at Anime Expo on July 1, 2022.
 * Trish Una and Prosciutto were initially unofficially revealed, having been unintentionally included in game menus shown in promotional materials when the game was first announced. Alongside Ghiaccio, they were the final characters to be officially revealed at Gamescom on August 24, 2022. Pesci was also revealed to be included with Prosciutto as a duo character.