JoJo's Venture (ジョジョの奇妙な冒険, JoJo no Kimyō na Bōken) 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 revisions would later be ported to the Sega Dreamcast under the later revision's title, allowing the player to choose which revision they want to play. A special edition of the Dreamcast version named JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Heritage for the Future for Matching Service added an online mode to the game, which has since become defunct.
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.
Two single-player modes are available: Story Mode, which traces a character's path through a predefined series of battles and cutscenes, and Survival Mode, which allows the player to take on an endless series of battles. The game's three unlockable characters can either be unlocked via time release or the game's service menu in the original arcade version; in the Dreamcast rerelease, they can be obtained by clearing Story Mode as certain characters. In addition, the Dreamcast version adds Alessi Mode, which is unlocked after clearing fifteen battles in Survival Mode; this mode allows combatants to fight entire battles as the child versions of their characters.
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.
Of the game's three unlockable characters, DIO is the only one able to enter Stand Mode, as Young Joseph has no Stand and Shadow DIO cannot fully utilize his Stand. Two of the nonplayable characters that appear in the game's Story Mode (Death Thirteen and N'Doul) are either present in Stand form only or move completely independently of their Stand.
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).
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.
In some battles, special rules are applied in order to reenact certain chapters of the original manga that were unable to be adapted into the normal circumstances of the 1v1 battles.
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.
In addition, the blood in the game is colored white, and DIO's defeat in Story Mode is changed to him being sent flying off-screen (where he presumably dies). Near the start of N'Doul's bonus stage, an animation of Geb reacting to the dead helicopter pilot's watch alarm and cutting off his hand has been removed,[5] and the blade of Chaka's sword is changed to a wooden brown color in every sprite it appears in. These changes, unlike the name changes, can be reverted by disabling the game's regulation in its service menu.
Jotaro Kujo
Star Platinum
Joseph Joestar
Hermit Purple
Jean Pierre Polnareff
Silver Chariot
Noriaki Kakyoin
Hierophant Green
Muhammad Avdol
Magician's Red
Iggy
The Fool
Nukesaku
DIO
The World
Alessi
Sethan
Devo the Cursed
Ebony Devil
Ebony Devil (Puppet)
Midler
High Priestess
Chaka
![Young Joseph[notes 1]](/File:JoJo.GIF)
Young Joseph[notes 1]
Shadow DIO
The World (Hidden)
DIO (Jacket)
The World
N'Doul and Geb
Vanilla Ice
Cream (Full Body)
Cream
Cream's Void
Death Thirteen
Jotaro's Stage
Kakyoin's Stage
Gray Fly's Stage
Polnareff's Stage
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Devo's Stage
Iggy's Stage
Death Thirteen's Stage
Midler/Avdol's Stage
N'Doul's Stage
Chaka's Stage
Joseph/Alessi's Stage
Vanilla Ice's Stage
Shadow DIO's Stage
DIO's Stage
Jotaro vs. DIO
Cover
Back
Flyer
Flyer (Inside)
Flyer (Inside)
Flyer (Back)
Security Cartridge
CD-ROM Disk
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Manual
Manual
Promotional Mini-Poster
Flyer
Flyer (Inside)
Flyer (Inside)
Security Cartridge
CD-ROM Disk
Marquee
Cover
Back
Disc
Spinecard
Cover (for Matching Service)
Back (for Matching Service)
Promotional Poster
Advertisement
Cover
Inlay
Back
Disc
Promotional Poster
Cover
PBack
Disc
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| Jump video games | |
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| Collaborations | |
| References and Homages | |
