Turning The Spigot - Week 52 - JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

[Spigot]

And lo, a year has come and gone since the onset of obscurity and overlookedness. Many gems have been unearthed and many more lie hidden in the strata that stretch back from the present to gaming's prehistory.

With that preamble out of the way, let's dive into this week's 1 Year Anniversary pick!

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

Year: 2000
Platform: Dreamcast & PSX
Rating: Wha?!
# of players: 2

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is a crazy fighting game from Capcom based on an obscure manga that somehow, against all odds, managed to see the light of day outside of the country of Japan.

Taking a page from the Darkstalkers games, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure has a very cartoonish, over-the-top look and feel to it that makes the admittedly anime-inspired Street Fighter games look downright photorealistic and dull.

The knives are one thing, but a steamroller?!

At its core, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is your usual 2D fighting game, with combos, special moves and a wide roster of characters to challenge your opponent with. There are also special bonus rounds that tasked you with performing certain actions that helped to tell the story in ways that fit the game better than a standard fight to the finish.

The most unique element of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (outside of it's wacky art and characters) is the Stand Mode system. Rather than attempt to try to explain it, I'll just use the much more concise explanation given over at Wikipedia.

Originally Posted by Wikipedia

Fighting with the Stand Mode "On" enhances both the character's offensive and defensive abilities; these improvements heavily depend of the character and stand, but some common ones are for example double jumping, absorbing residual damage when blocking special attacks, powered-up special moves, etc.

Most of the game's specific mechanics derive from the introduced Stand Mode. For example, attacking the physical manifestation of the enemy's stand will cause damage on both of them; this is a crucial strategic element, since many of the special moves and attacks send the stand away from the user, adding the difficulty of protecting both of them at the same time. On top of the usual health bar and power gauge, there is a third meter, the Stand Gauge, which decreases when the stand is damaged and refills when the Stand Mode is switched off; if this gauge is depleted, a Stand Break is caused, and the character is paralyzed and wide open to any attack for an instant.

Other features of the Stand Mode include summoning the stand with an instant attack, the possibility of "programming" attack patterns on the fly and unleashing them at will, "releasing" the stand and controlling it directly, and so forth.

The Stand system really turned JoJo's Bizarre Adventure into something more than yet another Street Fighter 2 clone. Unfortunately, it is another of those games that seems to have faded into the mists of time and will likely never be heard from again.

I actually just saw a used copy of the Dreamcast version for sale this week, which was rather serendipitous. If you don't happen to stumble across one at your local game emporium, you can find copies on Amazon, though they're not incredibly cheap.

[mister slim]

I'm just waiting for the time you write up something and it only exists in your head.

[Kelegacy]

I need to hook up my Dreamcast again. Maybe once we move and settle in I'll hook up all my gaming systems, even the Saturn. But I don't think I even have component cables for the DC. Just composite.

[Purple Santa]

Happy 1 yr Spigot

JoJo was one of the few fighting games I really enjoyed. Something about the Dreamcast that I played games/genres that I wouldn't touch otherwise. I miss you Dreamcast

[Spigot]

I just want to give a big shout-out to Alienmastermind for the new logo! Thanks!

[shodan2020]

Happy Anniversary, Spigot.

PODCAST OBSCURICA!

[Spigot]

Originally Posted by shodan2020

Happy Anniversary, Spigot.

PODCAST OBSCURICA!

Hey, I want to do a podcast, but it's not coming up on the horizon any time soon. Talk to me in a month or two and it might be closer to reality

[Deadend]

I loved JoJo so much.

The manga is worth reading for the story arc with the nazi vampires.

[agentgray]

Heh. Knowing I have a brand new Dreamcast, this is a tease.

[Lekon]

Hey, any game I can drop a steamroller on someone is a game I can love.

Nevermind the Vanilla Ice Character, or the Bird that shoots ice. Now those are fun characters to have in a fighting game.

[OrangePulp]

Lol, yeah, Lekon and I played this once or twice over GGPO. It's fucking insane. That goddamn steamroller.

[Purple Santa]

Originally Posted by Spigot

Hey, I want to do a podcast, but it's not coming up on the horizon any time soon. Talk to me in a month or two and it might be closer to reality

A podcast would be awesome! We can't wait...we will start the petition now to see the TTS in podcast form