Dio Brando ★ Video Games

A summary of Dio Brando's history and movesets in video games.

Heritage for the Future (Arcade/PS1/Dreamcast)

DIO from Stardust Crusaders appears as 2 fighters in Heritage for the Future, Evil Incarnate/Shadow DIO and, simply, DIO.

This is the only official JoJo game to feature Isshin Chiba as DIO's voice actor, who would be replaced by Takehito Koyasu in the future. As this game was released before the Stardust Crusaders anime, the colors for both DIO and The World are originals, although, rather coincidentally, the default costume for DIO's boss form happens to match the exact colors of anime DIO of the same costume.

Shadow DIODIO

Evil Incarnate / Shadow DIO

Evil Incarnate DIO (邪悪の化身ディオ, Ja'aku no Keshin DIO), or "Shadow DIO" in the English localization, is the form DIO takes for most of Part 3 while waiting for his body to completely assimilate. To reflect this, his moveset involves mainly open-hand light and heavy attacks (which ties into how weak the left side of his body was if Dio happens to have his animations be performed when facing right).

The World in this form, is also depicted as a faint-and-clear silhouette.

Costumes

Color A (default)
Color B (2)
Color C (3)
Color Stand (4)
Color Select (5)

Moveset and Gameplay

In the game where Active Stands are prevalent, Shadow DIO is a passive Stand User. He can deal a lot of damage with full offensive attacks without an Active Stand via a solid amount of frame-traps and pseudo-disjointed pokes with his silhouette-version of The World, even though he lacks the more defensive and utility-type traits of having an active Stand. He also has a counter-reversal move, a reference to his encounter with Hol Horse, that helps this playstyle to be more effective, which can be used either for offense as a reversal punisher, or defense when DIO himself is under pressure.

While not shown in the manga or anime in earlier chapters, Shadow DIO is capable of throwing knives. These knives, while not too fast for up-close combat, can push enemies further back and gives him a semblance of anti-air defense. The angle of the knives can be varied (straight forward or in a fanned-spread either upward or forward, and he can throw knives twice. The first knife throw has a large amount of hitstun and can be used to ease into combos, though either version is meant to control a certain range of space.

His eyebeam projectile can be charged to an incredibly powerful and unblockable level, sometimes causing a Stand Crash in one hit. But like his normal form, it can easily be ducked under.

His Stand attacks are effective as surprises, and capable of juggling and/or short bread-and-butter combo finishers. Combined with his own attacks, he deals a lot of damage in a short time, more so within The World, when he stops time.

His Super Combo, "Punishment", deals heavy damage if it connects. However, it cannot be incorporated into combos easily and works better as an out-of-pressure reversal or a frame trap. His other Super Combo, called "Charisma", takes two levels of power, but the buds coming out of his hair are unblockable and home in on the enemy. The slow start-up animation of this move requires it to be a part of the combo, in order to perform the move without being interrupted by the enemy's attacks (or to be used during the opponent's wakeup to lock them down more effectively).

Trivia

If Shadow DIO is transformed by Alessi's Stand, he will transform into Wang Chan carrying Dio's severed head in a jar from the final few chapters of Phantom Blood.

DIO

This is the appearance DIO takes for the final chapters of Stardust Crusaders. A majority of his "open-handed" attacks are now properly clenched into fists (his light and hard attacks), signifying his better control over the body. The World is also fully revealed.

This DIO comes with 2 different versions, one being a playable 'Greatest High' DIO, and the other being a boss DIO.

In the Story Mode, DIO will wear his jacket for the first round in the final battle against him, and his abilities will be limited. Upon being defeated once, he will shed his jacket and declare it to be the final round, regardless of how many rounds the player sets.