JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle (ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 オールスターバトル JoJo no Kimyō na Bōken Ōru Sutā Batoru?) is a fighting game developed by CyberConnect2 and published by Namco Bandai Games for PlayStation 3. Based on Hirohiko Araki's long-running manga series JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, the game allows players to compete against each other using over 40 characters taken from all eight current story arcs. The game was released in Japan on August 29, 2013, and was released internationally in late April 2014.
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle is a 3D fighting game in which players can fight against each other using characters taken from all eight current story arcs from Hirohiko Araki's JoJo's Bizarre Adventure manga series (and one prior work by Araki), fighting in various locations taken from the manga. Like most fighting games, the aim is to defeat your opponent by draining their stamina gauge (HP is used in a certain game mode) with various attacks and special techniques. The player wins a round by draining all of their opponent's stamina, or by possessing more stamina than their opponent when time runs out. Gameplay uses five main buttons; light, medium, and heavy attacks, a dodge button, and a "Style" button. Along with the ability to use various special attacks and techniques with different directional inputs, each character possesses a Battle Style, allowing them to utilize additional moves with the "Style" button. Styles fall into one of six main categories: Hamon, Vampirism, Mode, Stand, Mounted, and Baoh Armed Phenomenon, each utilizing different abilities when the Style button is pressed. For example, Hamon users can use the power of the Hamon to augment their strength, whilst Stand users can summon out their Stand, giving them additional move types whilst also making themselves more vulnerable.
Attacking and receiving damage fills up a player's Heart Heat Gauge (ハートヒートゲージ Hāto Hīto Gēji) which, when filled to either one or two levels, allows players to perform powerful Heart Heat Attacks (ハートヒートアタック Hāto Hīto Attakku, HHA) or Great Heat Attacks (グレートヒートアタック Gurēto Hīto Attaku, GHA), depending on how much their gauge is filled and which multiple button input is chosen. Players can decrease their opponent's Heart Heat Gauge by using taunts when they are knocked down. Players can also use Flash Cancels[α] to deplete their own Heart Heat Gauge to cancel their current combo attack and chain into a new one. The Heart Heat Gauge is also used in some Battle Styles and certain special techniques. Rush Mode (ラッシュモード Rasshu Mōdo), similar to the "Blazing Fists Match" system of Capcom's 1998 fighting game based on the series, occurs when two "Rush" attacks collide with each other, beginning a button mashing minigame. When a character's Stamina is low, the character enters one of two modes to turn the tide of the match: Rumble Mode (ゴゴゴモード Gogogo Mōdo), which increases the character's attack strength and Heart Heat Gauge restoration, and Resolve Mode (覚悟モード Kakugo Mōdo), which in addition to the bonuses from Rumble Mode adds a temporary invincible armor as well. Novice players can use the Easy Beat (イージービート Ījī Bīto) system, which allows them to more easily string together combos and techniques by using only a single button. Along with the stamina gauge, players also have a Guard Gauge (ガードゲージ Gādo Gēji) which depletes when they block attacks, causing them to become vulnerable if it is completely drained in a Guard Crush (ガードクラッシュ Gādo Kurasshu). The Guard Gauge is also depleted by Stylish Evades,[β] special dodges that when executed properly make the character perform one of their iconic poses from the manga.
Each of the game's stages, based on locations from the manga, feature battleground gimmicks[γ] which trigger when a character is knocked down onto a certain area, causing hazards such as a speeding chariot to run characters down or a rain of poison dart frogs to induce a poison status.[4] There are also Dramatic Finishes,[δ] which trigger when a player is defeated by a super move in a certain area, replicating scenes from the manga.
Source: Wikipedia, "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle", available under the CC-BY-SA License.