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ORA! Sabaku no wa ore no Sutando da!!note 

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Heritage for the Future (simply referred to as JoJo's Bizarre Adventure in official English materials) is Capcom's late 90s arcade fighting game based on Part 3 of the long-running JoJo's Bizarre Adventure series, and one of the few games for their Capcom Play System III board (the others being Street Fighter III, its revisions Second Impact and Third Strike, and Red Earth).

The game plays like a typical fighting game for the time, with three buttons for attacking (and the ability to dodge by pressing all three buttons at once), and inherits the "seamless rounds" match format from Vampire Savior. More notably is the integration of the series' famous "Stand" ability. Each character has a "Stand" that can be summoned or activated at the touch of a button to assist them in battle and augment their abilities. Of course, characters with an "active" Stand have to watch out for their Stand Gauge, which depletes when they're hit and if emptied, will cause a Stand Crash, which will leave them vulnerable. And they still take damage if their Stand takes a hit.

Characters can also perform "Tandem" attacks with a quarter-circle-backwards Stand button input that either allows them to perform a custom combo with their stand while they also attack from the other side, or functions similar to Street Fighter Alpha's custom combo feature.

Most notable of all is the integration of the manga's story into the game. The game is based on Part 3, Stardust Crusaders, the most popular chapter of the manga (apart from a few references to other parts of the manga) and as a result, features not just intro and ending scenes for each playable character, but pre-battle and post-battle cutscenes as well.

As it's a Capcom game, of course, different versions were made, though thankfully this game only received one update. The first version of the game, simply titled JoJo's Venture, featured 16 characters, with 13 playable (DIO being semi-hidden), 2 hidden characters, and 3 unplayable bosses (Vanilla Ice, N'Doul, and Death 13). The update, titled JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Heritage For The Future in Japan and just JoJo's Bizarre Adventure everywhere else, added more characters to the roster, made the formerly unplayable sub-boss Vanilla Ice playable, as well as adding 4 more hidden characters to the 2 that were already there, making for a nicely sized cast of 22 (although 1 character remains unplayable).

The game received console ports, each with their own merits. The Playstation port had downgraded graphics due to memory constraints and seemed to be based more off of JJV in terms of interface and movesets, but had the additional JJBA characters as well as a unique "Super Story Mode" that adapted the entirety of Part 3. The Dreamcast version was arcade perfect to the point it had both JJV and JJBA on the same disc, but lacked a Super Story Mode.

Around 2011, the existence of an "HD" rerelease on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 for their respective download services was leaked in an XBLA list. The game was eventually officially announced at the 2012 San Diego Comic Con and then released in the summer of that year to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the JoJo manga. The new release features leaderboards and achievements as well as new graphical filters and, for overseas versions, the first time players could officially restore the more violent elements.

The HD rerelease was eventually delisted from Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network in mid to late 2014, due to the video game rights to the JoJo franchise transferring from Capcom to Bandai Namco.

Character Roster Extra note

  • Introduced in JoJo's Venture: Jotaro KujoStand, Noriaki KakyoinStand, Muhammed Avdol Stand, Joseph JoestarStand, Jean Pierre PolnareffStand, Iggy/IggiStand, Devo/D'boStand, Alessi/AlessyStand, MidlerStand, Chaka/ChacaStand, Mannish BoyStand, N'Doul/N'DoolStand Vanilla Ice/Iced Stand, DIOStand, JoJo*Stand, Shadow DIO*Stand
  • Introduced in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Mariah/MahrahiaStand, Petshop Stand, Black PolnareffStands, Hol HorseStand, Khan/Kan*Stand, Rubber Soul/Robber Soul*Stand, New Kakyoin*Stand, Hol Horse and Boingo/Voing*Stands


BLACK AND WHITE! FIGHT!

  • Adjustable Censorship: the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 had the option to restore the blood cut from the PlayStation and Sega Dreamcast ports, which includes one of DIO's inputs, "Bloody Summoning". This, along with DIO's head/torso exploding at the end of Story mode like in the manga as opposed to him flying off the screen like in the console ports.
  • Adaptational Badass: Downplayed trope with Midler and Mariah as they used their stands quite well in both the Manga and Anime, but due to it being a fighting game instead of playing keep away they are right in the middle of the fight this time and can hold their own quite well. Khan (and to a minor extent Chaka and Anubis possessed Polnareff) is the better example being a very minor antagonist that is quickly disposed off originally but was Promoted to Playable on later releases (though his moveset is quite limited),
  • Agent Peacock: Despite his rather calm characterization and his almost complete lack of gratuitous JoJo poses in the actual manga, for no reason whatsoever, Capcom gave Kakyoin some of the most over-the-top poses in the whole game, which can change when he taunts or attacks.
  • Alertness Blink: In certain story scenes or if a player ends up triggering Shadow DIO's teleport counter move, a large red ! will pop up complete with a thundering piano cord.
  • Assist Character: One can make the case that most "active" Stands count as this. The biggest example of this played straight, though, is normal Hol Horse, who has J. Geil's Hanged Man Stand attack the opponent in some of his specials. Hol Horse and Boingo, on the other hand, it's just Hol Horse doing the hard work. Boingo is visible, but outside of their Supers and when they're hit by Alessi's Sethan stand, hides under a wooden crate and does little to help Hol Horse in battle due to both his age and cowardice.
  • Attract Mode: JJV had a fairly nice long intro featuring the heroes and DIO. JJBA excised this (though the HD rerelease brings it back) but features two shorter intros featuring either Hol Horse or Vanilla Ice, referencing how the two were added as playable fighters.
  • Awesome, but Impractical: DIO's Road Roller Da super may look crazy epic and is his most famous move... but it’s also very heavily telegraphed and thus easy to deal with, unless he uses his Colour Coded Time Stop first to set it up.
  • Badass Longcoat: Jotaro's coat... which is actually his school jacket. Yes, he makes a SCHOOL UNIFORM look absolutely epic. The same goes for Kakyoin.
  • Badass Normal: Compared to the other characters, Young Joseph for his lack of a Stand — he uses the Hamon instead, as well as a selection of weapons including his clackers and the crossbow he fought Wamuu with.
  • Badass Back: DIO and Shadow DIO's backwards walk animation is a casual walk backwards with his back to his enemy. It's actually very in-character for him, as it effectively goes to show how little he thinks of his opponent when he can just casually drop his guard to them like that.
  • Badass Adorable: Iggy looks pretty cute here. And he's also pretty top tier. Petshop as well.
  • Big "NO!": Young Joseph's KO cry, "OOOOOOH NOOOOOOOOOOOO!". Midler does this as well, but hers ends up being more of a shriek than Joseph's intentionally-hammy yell.
  • Big "OMG!": Old Joseph's KO cry, his famous "OH MY GOD!"
  • Bittersweet Ending: Both versions of Kakyoin have sad endings with some good in them.
    • The normal Kakyoin manages to defeat DIO, but is severely injured in the process. After getting on the plane with Jotaro, he finally succumbs to his wounds as Jotaro cries out his name.
    • New Kakyoin's ending mirrors his fate in the manga: he is defeated by DIO, but before passing away, he manages to leave his allies a Dying Clue that will lead to them finishing the fight.
  • Black Blood: The game utilizes black blood (or white in the arcade version), though it can be switched to red in the settings/by the arcade operator.
  • Blood Knight: Anyone becomes this when wielding Anubis, but Chaka takes it even further in his arcade story, where he and Anubis decide instead to take on DIO. And they win. Subverted for Khan's ending, where Anubis wisely decides not to try to kill DIO.
  • Bowdlerize: The US version of the game (when the "Regulation" option is on in the arcade version or if the "Expressions" option is set to "mild" in the HD version) censors most of the violence, recolouring the blood and other elements.
    • A dead Speedwagon Foundation pilot was removed from the background of N'Doul's bonus stage, since said pilot gets his hand violently cut off.
    • One weird alteration: Chaka's sword is recoloured brown in the censored version. Khan's and Black Polnareff's Anubis swords remain unchanged, though.
    • Black Polnareff, on the other hand, did get one alteration: the censored version recolours the blood pouring from his wounds to a brownish colour. Otherwise they're usually vibrant red.
    • When DIO dies in most JJV endings, he flies off-screen in the censored version. In the uncensored version? He explodes violently. Interestingly, it can be uncensored in the HD version, and it doesn't get an M rating from that in the US version!note 
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: Black Polnareff is our French friend Polnareff possessed by the Anubis Stand.
  • Break Meter: The Stand Meter acts as one. It depletes as you're hit in Stand ON mode, and you're left temporarily defenseless if emptied.
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall:
    • Mariah does this in her ending, directly addressing the player.
    • Rubber Soul also does this, talking about how lucky he is and then asking the "bonehead" player if they agree.
    • Devo as well in his ending, where he threatens to curse the player next time.
    • And Black Polnareff, who decides the last person to be hacked to pieces should be...
      Black Polnareff: (jumping at the camera) ...YOU!
    • DIO has a victory pose where he chides the player for spying on him (a reference to when he caught Joseph using Hermit Purple to stream video of him) and sics The World upon you.
    • One of Hol Horse's win poses has him directly look at the player as he shoots a bullet hole through the screen with Emperor. After this happens, Hanged Man crawls right up close to laugh cruelly and give them a Death Glare: its image distorting like television static all the while.
  • Call-Forward:
    • One of Polnareff's supers has a Stand Arrow fly out of nowhere and turn Silver Chariot into its Requiem form, putting the opponent to sleep while Polnareff remarks that he can "feel fate within the bow and arrow" (although Polnareff's still alive this time and the Stand reverts to its previous form afterward). Furthermore, one of his win vocals translates to him telling the opponent (and the player) that they'll "meet again in the future, in Italy." If you want to be technical, the Arrow could also reference Part 4, where it debuts.
    • Jotaro's medium-punch skin has him in all white, referencing his outfit in Diamond is Unbreakable. He also shouts "Star Platinum: The World!" when performing his Time Stop, something he never did in Part 3, but would do from Part 4 onward.
  • Calling Your Attacks: For the most part, only played straight in summoning Stands or for various super moves, such as Kakyoin's "EMERALD SPLASH!", Avdol's "Crossfire! HURRICANE SPECIAL!", Polnareff's "SILVER CHARIOT!" and DIO's infamous "ZA WARUDO!" and "ROAD ROLLER DA!"
  • The Cameo: Daniel J. D'Arby appears on the continue screen and JJBA's mode select screen. If the player doesn't continue, his Stand Osiris takes their soul and turns them into a poker chip. If they do continue (or if the player selects an option in JJBA), he shouts "GOOD!", gives the thumbs-up, and takes them back to the Character Select.
  • Camera Abuse: Hol Horse weaponizes this in one of his supers, where he shoots the camera three times, cracking it, and if the opponent is caught in one of the cracks and they haven't blocked it, they're pinned to the ground and stabbed by Hanged Man. Hol Horse also shoots the camera in one of his winposes anyway just to be a dick, and Hanged Man crawls up said camera to glare at the player.
    • DIO also has a winpose involving attacking the camera, where he accuses the player of watching him again and has his World punch the camera.
  • Colour-Coded Timestop: DIO's Time Stop is shown as completely gray.
  • Compilation Rerelease: The Dreamcast port contains both the original Venture and upgraded Heritage for the Future versions on the same disc.
  • Continue Countdown: The continue screen shows your selected character standing exhausted below a spotlight while D'Arby calmly sits in the background, becoming irritated as the countdown approaches zero. What happens when the timer expires? He rather cruelly summons Osiris, to steal your character's soul by turning them into a poker chip with its hefty palms, and looks visibly dissappointed at said character as they emit a Death Cry Echo. Conversely, choosing to continue will have D'Arby flash a thumbs-up and declare "GOOD!".
  • Counter-Attack: Chaka, Khan, and Black Polnareff have this ability as a special move. Furthermore, if they successfully pull it off, they "learn" the move that they countered, so if the opponent uses that move on them again and it's blocked, they will flash white and the player can press a button to instantly attack back. Chaka has a super where he can automatically learn ALL of his opponent's moves at once!
    • Rubber Soul also has one that reflects a wide variety of physical attacks, much like how Yellow Temperance works in canon. Its launching capability helps for setting up some combos, too.
    • Shadow DIO also has a variant Counter Teleport move where he starts reading a book. If the player hits him during this, he instantly warps (or rather, stops time and walks) behind you whilst his book drops to the ground with an exclamation mark showing up.
  • Creepy Circus Music: The theme that plays during the optional bout with Death 13 is this, being a whimsical yet sinister piece that sounds like it's being played on an old Merry-Go-Round calliope.
  • Dark Action Girl: Both Midler and Mariah, while very competent stand users they serve DIO and try to get rid of Jotaro and co.
  • Death Cry Echo: If the opponent is KOed on the final round, their death cry WILL echo (it won't if it's not the last round). Amongst the funniest, however, are Young Joseph's "OOOOOH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" and Rubber Soul's almost yodel-esque death cry, created by the final blow knocking off his lower jaw.
  • Developer's Foresight: If a player is using any version of DIO or Vanilla Ice, whatever stage the fight takes place in will have a different, night-time based colour palette.
    • Every single character has an alternate sprite and basic attacks for fighting Alessy, and many are nods to the series. The most famous is Joseph de-aging to his Battle Tendency self, but there's also DIO (depending on form) either swapping himself out for Nukesaku or being reduced to the severed head from Phantom Blood carried by Wang Chen, or Iggy being reverted to his original design. Several even take rather unusual routes, such as kid Hol Horse hiding under Boingo's box and sending Boingo out to fight instead.
    • In the PSX port, while it's not possible to win the cat guessing game or surface tension game against Daniel J. D'Arby in super story mode itself, playing them from the Boingo Book menu lets you win just fine, with special dialogue, too.
    • Vanilla Ice's intro involving DIO does not appear if the opponent is either version of him, and only appears once in case of a mirror match.
  • Difficult, but Awesome:
    • Jotaro, DIO, and Shadow DIO's Time Stop supers. The difficult part is that they require a lot of energy to get the most out of and they have a huge windup time and complicated button inputs. The awesome part is that, done right, they can help with dealing incredible damage.
  • Doomed by Canon:
    • Zigzagged with Avdol and Iggy, who can survive their original point of death and defeat Dio in their respective endings. But if you are not playing as them, they do get killed off, either onscreen or being confirmed dead by Polnareff. Moreover, it's impossible to save both of them at once.
    • Both versions of Kakyoin, the original and New Kakyoin (with shades), die in their endings. The former dies from his wounds and the latter's ending plays this straight. It can be subverted if you pick Avdol or Iggy for the story mode, since Dio targets them first during the final battle and gets defeated handily, thus implying that Kakyoin has survived too.
  • Dual Wielding: In the case of Black Polnareff, he's wielding both his own Stand, Silver Chariot, and the Anubis sword Stand.
  • Dub Name Change: The English version of the game does this thanks to Araki's habit of dancing close to the copyright fires by naming characters after musicians and bands. Some names have a letter changed or removed, others are spelled mostly differently. Averted by DIO, whose name was shortened to DIO in all regions and media anyhow to change his name's tribute to Ronnie James Dio's band.
  • Earn Your Bad Ending:
    • Midler's Ending, while she manages to defeat DIO after a difficult fight, she still chooses to sacrifice her life to give DIO the remaining blood he needs, leading him to get rest of his power back, and since she defeated all of the Stardust Crusaders there is no one remaining to oppose DIO.
  • Easter Egg:
    • Normally, Young Joseph's taunt is his "Happy, joy-py, nice to meetcha-py!" line he said against Santana in Part 2. When up against Jotaro, Polnareff, Avdol, or Kakyoin, however, he instead does his signature "Your next words will be..." line and imitates their catchphrase. (Jotaro - "Yare yare daze.", Avdol - "Tch tch tch!", Polnareff - "Buttagitte yaru!", and for Kakyoin, "Rero rero.")
    • The Stone Mask briefly shows up when a Stand Crash occurs or when Shadow DIO connects with his "WRYYYYY!" super.
    • Everyone has a unique transformation when struck by Alessi's Stand moves. Most are turned into kids, but others transform outright.
    • One loading screen on the PSX version sneakily displays DIO's part 1 full name ("Dio Brando").
    • Jotaro and DIO can move in each other's Time Stop if the player on the receiving end inputs the command during it. This also applies to Mirror Matches between either character.
  • Easy Impersonation: Subverted with Rubber Soul, who doesn't look or act much like Kakyoin at all. Even more so in the PSX's Super Story Mode cutscene where he randomly punches Jotaro and claims he's joking. Jotaro immediately realizes it's not Kakyoin and goes on the offensive.
  • Evolving Attack: When playing as Mariah, pressing the Stand button has her conjure a plug socket that, if the opponent touches it, also levels up Mariah's magnetism power, which greatly increases the effectiveness of her moves, including firing more nails in her "What are you looking at?" super as well as increasing the damage and length of her magnetism crush super. The HD rerelease even has a trophy that demands that the player levels up Mariah's magnetism to maximum. It also counts as Magikarp Power as, while Mariah is useful to start with, she is fairly weak until the player properly levels up her magnetism power, wherein she becomes an absolute terror to deal with.
  • Excuse Plot: Young Joseph's JJBA plot. Alessi made you young again. Have fun pounding on the other heroes 'till you find Alessi and kick his ass!
  • Expressive Health Bar: The character portrait next to the health bar goes from "normal" to "pained" whenever the character in question is hit, and "determined" when they're on the attack.
  • Eye Beams: DIO and Shadow DIO's Space Ripper Stingy Eyes, returning from Part One. They have huge startup, but are unblockable and do good damage.
  • The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You:
    • One of DIO's victory poses has him turning his back to and pointing angrily at the player, accusing them of watching him again — much like he did with Joseph Joestar when he realised he and Avdol were eavesdropping on him through Hermit Purple and a hotel television during the Rubber Soul arc — and sending The World to attack the screen.
    • Another has Hol Horse shoot the screen, and J. Geil's Hanged Man crawling up it.
    • One Vanilla Ice's victory pose has his stand, Cream, snarl at the player, whereas in the other one he straight up lunges at the screen.
    • Black Polnareff's ending has him practically charging at the camera, as he's now decided he'll cut you up next. His sword even goes outside the boundaries of the picture frame.
    • Devo's ending, after detailing how he became the world's most feared and respected assassin after killing both the Joestars and DIO, threatens to curse you next as he smiles and the screen washes over in red.
  • Game Mod: Palmods and soundmods exist for the arcade version, which change the characters' color palettes and sounds, respectively. There's also a mod that makes DIO's jacketed form playable, as well as adding in missing animations. Some mods go beyond that and outright change the game mechanics, such as the Rainbow edition hack.
  • Game-Over Man: Daniel J. D'Arby appears on the continue screen. Continue, and he says "GOOD!" and gives you an approving thumbs-up before sending you back to the Character Select screen. Quit, and his Stand, Osiris, leaps in from the dark background; taking your character's soul by smashing them between its hands and turning them into one of D'Arby's poker chips, as he looks on disappointedly.
  • Gameplay and Story Integration: When Alessi turned Jotaro into a kid with Sethan in the manga, it promptly backfired because Jotaro was a Super-Strong Child who could dish out a beatdown even after being aged down. As it turns out, with the right timing and dexterity, Kid Jotaro can kick your ass in-game just as handily as his teen self as well.
  • Gameplay Roulette: The PSX port's Super Story mode. When it's not actually using the original game's fighting game engine for actual one-on-one fights, it's throwing you into visual novel-esque segments laden with Quick Time Events, and aside from that, you're either playing a first-person punch game against Forever the orangutan, a side-scrolling shooter within Joseph's body against The Lovers, a horde mode against Enya's zombies, a game of Where's Waldo? with both Arabia Fats and Kenny G and all three of the minigames Daniel J. D'Arby challenges you to (the cat guessing game, the surface tension game, and an actual poker game).
  • Gathering Steam: Mariah stands out as one of the earliest examples of a "level-up" character in a fighting game. Hitting enemies with Mariah's Stand attack, which summons Bastet's outlet somewhere in the arena, causes her magnetism level to increase. Her level can go up to 8, increasing the speed, range, and power of her special and super moves. However, being grabbed will lower her level. This means that unlike other characters, Mariah starts off in a weakened state, but can gradually improve her moves over the course of a fight.
  • Giving Someone the Pointer Finger: Jotaro does this to the player on JJV's title screen. He, Kakyoin, and Chaka are also fond of doing this in gameplay.
  • Gone Horribly Right: The story for the hidden character "JoJo" starts with Alessi trying to de-age Joseph with his Stand. It doesn't end well for Alessi: the amount of time Sethan took to de-age Polnareff or Jotaro into kids wound up de-aging Joseph to the age of 19, when he was in his physical prime and an expert in using the power of Hamon.
  • The Grappler: Joseph Joestar plays like this, though his range is better than most thanks to Hermit Purple.
  • Gratuitous English: Rubber Soul shouts out "DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!" if his opponent accidentally triggers his Stand counter special, and of course, DIO's "ZA WARUDO!/THE WORLD!"
    • Old Joseph's "OH MY GOD!" death cry and Young Joseph's "OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" death cry as well.
  • Guide Dang It!: The Secret Factors in Super Story Mode are things you must perform in each level to increase your total score. Often based on some detail from the manga, some Factors are easy enough to do accidentally or just require you to play well. Others are more difficult to even figure out what they require, as the game doesn't tell you even after you succeed.
  • Hades Shaded: Black Polnareff, who represents Polnareff after being possessed by Anubis' sword, has noticeably darker skin than usual. Interestingly, this doesn't happen in the manga or other adaptations.
  • Heads I Win, Tails You Lose: New Kakyoin's ending is worse than normal Kakyoin's in this regard. You beat DIO, he stops time and kills Kakyoin in half a second just like in the manga.
  • Head Swap: New Kakyoin adds a pair of sunglasses to Kakyoin's normal sprite and turns his outfit a more yellowish green. Rubber Soul likewise uses his Yellow Temperance disguise in gameplay; turning Kakyoin's usual outfit yellow, his hair a more vibrant red, is slightly taller, and has a less "human" face with a liquid-like mouth (complete with his trademark Overly-Long Tongue), dark yellow eyes, and far more creepy facial expressions.
  • Insane Troll Logic: Used by Alessi in his ending where he turns the whole world into helpless kids.
    Alessi: Children don't need money! That means all the money in the world will be mine! It makes perfect sense, doesn't it?
  • In Spite of a Nail: Even in his own Arcade Mode paths, Kakyoin dies at the end. It's like his death is a fixed point in time.
  • Joke Character: Khan pretty much takes everything threatening about Chaka and Black Polnareff and either nerfs it or replaces it entirely and has one of the simplest movesets in the entire game, only two or three of his attacks even being considered worth it. Fitting for a barber who was defeated with extremely little trouble, he's a contender for weakest character in the game.
  • Lethal Joke Character: Hol Horse repeatedly proves himself over the course of part 3 to be one of DIO's most incompetent, cowardly henchmen; constantly relying on his allies and failing despite his very powerful Stand. In the right hands, this game's Hol Horse can be a devastating master of keepaway and leading people into ridiculously powerful supers. Even the version of him who's partnered with Boingo, easily his lowest moments in the manga, can be deadly in the right hands; albeit less so than before.
  • Moveset Clone: Jotaro and DIO have pretty similar movesets save for their supers. DIO himself has his Shadow form as well. Meanwhile, Kakyoin has both New Kakyoin and Rubber Soul, Polnareff has his Black variation and Hol Horse has a variation with Boingo and his Thoth replacing J. Geil and Hanged Man. Both Josephs also share most normals, but have few overlapping specials.
  • Multiple Endings: It is a fighting game, so everyone has an ending (Young Joseph and Shadow DIO didn't in JJV), but Avdol and Mariah have two different endings depending on what option the player picked, reminiscent of Chun-Li and Thanos' endings... although the only problem is, you have to choose between one tarot card from 2 face down cards which you obviously can't see.
    • For Avdol, if he draws The World, it's implied DIO somehow came Back from the Dead as DIO greets him again, whereas if he draws The Magician, he decides all is well and reopens his shop.
    • For Mariah, whatever card the player gets determines what Mariah thinks of the player. If they draw The World, she tells them they're not as good as DIO is, but if they draw Bast, she wonders if they really are more attractive than him.
  • Mythology Gag:
    • Character animations and attacks are often based on scenes from the manga. Most notably, Young Joseph is one big Mythology Gag for Part 2, in a game based on Part 3.
      • His Hamon Crossbow special is the same weapon he used when fighting Wamuu. The H version of the move where he fires it backward and the ball whirls around the arena, hitting the opponent from behind, is the same trick he used against Wamuu.
      • His Hamon Cola special is the same move he used to punish a racist New York cop at the start of Part 2.
      • He uses the Red Stone of Aja in his Hamon Beam super to amplify his Hamon ability and fire a really powerful, unblockable beam.
      • His "Master's Teachings" super flashes an image of Caesar Zeppeli if the first punch hits, complete with Joseph screaming "CAEEEEEEESAAAAAAAAR!!" and the rest of the super shows images from their training and other Part 2 moments. Old Joseph's super instead shows a cameo from Lisa-Lisa, and Old Joseph says her name as well, although he whispers it as opposed to what Young Joseph does.
      • He has his Ripple Clackers as a set of special moves, one of which has him throw the clackers. Even if they miss, they'll stick to the wall and eventually rebound, still being able to hit the opponent, just like during his first fight with the Pillar Men in Part 2.
      • His taunt is his "Happy, joy-py, nice to meetcha-py!" line he used on Santana...but if you're fighting certain heroes like Jotaro, Kakyoin, or Avdol, he instead does his famous "Your next words will be..." and then imitates their catchphrase or Verbal Tic ("Yare yare daze." for Jotaro, "Rero rero" for Kakyoin, and "Tch tch tch!" for Avdol.)
      • If he gets transformed by Alessi's Stand, Old Joseph turns into Young Joseph, and Young Joseph becomes the even younger Joseph reading a Superman comic from one of his youth flashbacks in Part 2.
    • Speaking of, Alessi's transformations via Sethan are all unique and sometimes reference another thing about the affected character instead of simply de-aging them:
      • Rubber Soul takes on his old woman disguise from his fight against Jotaro instead of being de-aged.
      • Mariah becomes the old lady who thinks Joseph was flirting with her during his and Avdol's fight against Mariah, even using an umbrella as a weapon just the same as there.
      • Hol Horse turns into the kid with Hanged Man in his eye, from Polnareff and Kakyoin's fight against J. Geil. In a variation, he does de-age in his Hol Horse/Boingo incarnation; but hides beneath Boingo's box the whole time and sends Boingo out to fight instead, taking pot-shots from beneath it with Emperor.
      • Black Polnareff and Chaka both transform into the young child that got possessed by Anubis. If Khan gets transformed, he instead becomes the cow that the shattered Anubis blade lands in moments before he is defeated.
      • Kakyoin turns into a child version of himself, as expected. New Kakyoin, however, also gains a scarf, marionette, and a painting, referencing Kakyoin's initial appearance when he was a villain.
      • Iggy gets reverted to his "Ugly Iggy" face, more like how he was drawn when first appearing in the series.
      • You don't get to see what happens to DIO when he's under the effect of Alessi's spell because he puts Nukesaku in his place. Nukesaku's damaged animation even shows him cut apart to complete the reference.
      • Likewise, Shadow DIO turns into Wang Chan from part 1 holding DIO's head in a bottle.
    • Giorno's signature ladybug brooch appears on the zoomed in travel map, at the south end of Italy.
    • Oddly, Polnareff has a super in JJBA onward where a Stand Arrow from Part 4 flies in and hits Silver Chariot, causing it to turn into its Requiem form from Part 5 and put the opponent to sleep.
    • The attract mode sequence also flashes manga panels from parts 1 and 2.
    • One of DIO and Shadow DIO's special moves is Space Ripper Stingy Eyes, the same Eye Beams he used to fatally wound Jonathan at the end of Part 1 (and was used by Straizo in Part 2).
    • Nena (one of DIO's Stand assassins) cameos in one of Hol Horse's intros where he dismounts an elephant and bids her farewell. ("Jada, aishiteru ze."translation)
    • Old Joseph says his signature "Your next words will be..." to DIO in his ending. And DIO walks right into it.
    • The Stone Mask appears briefly when a Stand Crash occurs or when Shadow DIO connects with his WRYYYYYYYY super.
    • Rubber Soul has two taunts that occur at random, one of which is his "Rero rero rero rero" taunt against Jotaro. Letting the CPU do this taunt even gives you a Secret Factor bonus in the PSX port.
    • One of Jotaro's victory poses has Star Platinum appear for a split second to give him a cigarette, a reference to the battle of wits between Jotaro and D'Arby, where Jotaro used a massive bluff and having Star Platinum sneaking him drinks and smokes to convince D'Arby that he swapped their poker hands.
    • Jotaro also announces his Time Stop super with a shout of "Star Platinum: The World!" which he would start doing from Part 4 onward.
  • No Canon for the Wicked: Interestingly, the only three characters whose endings even remotely resemble the original manga are those of Jotaro, Joseph and Polnareff, aka the only three main protagonists who survived the part.
  • Non-Lethal K.O.: The game makes sure to note (in Japanese) that the loser is "Unlikely to recover" (or as the given reading states, "Retired"). This, too, is a manga reference; any enemy not explicitly killed was listed as "[Name]:RETIRED" at the end of their chapters.
    再起不能/リタイア (Out of Commission/Retired)
  • Oh, Crap!: KOing anyone with a super move results in a manga cut-in of their bloody and shocked face. Said cut-ins also appear in certain supers. Surprisingly, even Midler and Mariah have fairly bloody super death cut-ins.
  • One-Steve Limit: Subverted with Joseph Joestar having two playable versions, one young and one old. To avoid confusion, the game labels Young Joseph "JoJo" in the English version and "Proud Lineage Joseph" in the Japanese version.
  • Optional Boss: Death Thirteen can only be fought by the heroes (Jotaro, Kakyoin, Old Joseph, Polnareff, Avdol and Iggy) if the player has performed a lot of super finishes and never lost a round by the time they reach him.
  • Orcus on His Throne: Whilst DIO was this in the early parts of Part 3 and didn't start fighting until his head was better integrated with Jonathan Joestar's body, Shadow DIO, which was DIO in early Part 3, averts this in his JJBA arcade story, where he decides to take on the Joestar group right off the bat.
  • Palette Swap: Rubber Soul is a yellow recolor of Kakyoin (fitting enough); however, he's also slightly taller and has a slightly different face and animation set.
  • Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Old Joseph gets one in against Vanilla Ice after their boss battle in his Story Mode, that ends up being both cheesily amusing and kickass:
    Joseph: What? You're still alive?! You must be a vampire. In that case... (hurls Vanilla Ice into the sunlight with a huge Hamon-infused punch, burning him to a crisp) ...let me brighten up your day!
  • Press X to Not Die: Some of the Super Story Mode levels in the PSX port. After every few lines of dialogue, four arrows appear on the screen and you must quickly press the highlighted one.
  • Psychotic Smirk: As in the actual series, Pet Shop has this down to an art. Whenever the bloodthirsty bird wins, an on-screen window cuts in and shows him glaring up at the camera and smirking malevolently. It's emphasised more here by him also cawing like he's doing an Evil Laugh.
  • Pummel Duel: Happens if certain characters' rapid-fire moves clash. Whoever button-smashes better stuns the opponent.
  • Puppet Fighter: The Trope Maker. Most characters' Stands can be briefly controlled at a distance from their user, which meant that every character in the game is this to an extent. Devo in particular codified the "two characters at the same time" style that would be used for Zato=1 and Carl Clover, among others.
  • Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: Jotaro and DIO, of course! Polnareff also has a pointier take on the trope to counter them.
  • Reaction Shot: KOing a character with a super move ends the match with the usual super finish background but with a slight twist: an image of the shocked and bloodied opponent will flash on screen as well, even showing appropriate damage as well (such as being cut-in half when killed by Chaka or Black Polnareff's Dimension Slash super, full of holes when killed by Hol Horse's Gun super or DIO's knife throw, or bloody when killed by DIO's blood drain super). The same image also appears when the opponent falls victim to Kakyoin's Punishment Time super or DIO's blood drain super.
  • Reformulated Game: In a roundabout way, the PlayStation port is both this and an Updated Re-release. While it does uses its UI elements and songs from the first release Venture version, it has many of the same inclusions as the upgraded Heritage version, as well as bonus mini-games, unlockable gallery features, and hosts an exclusive Super Story Mode that retells all of Stardust Crusaders from beginning to end. The only downside to this version is the reduced color palette and animations, making it graphically inferior to every other release as a result.
  • Say My Name: Both Josephs do this in their "Master's Teachings" super. Old Joseph says "Lisa-Lisa...", his teacher and mother from Part 2. Young Joseph, on the other hand, screams out "CAAAEEEEEEEEEEESAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!", as in Caesar Zeppeli.
    • Every hero character (and Devo) shouts out "DIO!" as their special intro against him. Chaka also has a Dummied Out vocal of him shouting DIO's name as well.
  • Sean Connery Is About to Shoot You: Hol Horse shoots some holes in some manga panels and then points his Emperor gun right at you in JJBA's first Attract Mode movie. Vanilla Ice does the same thing in the second, but he uses his Stand, Cream, to cut perfectly circular holes in the panels instead.
  • Single Player Gauntlet: The game has pre-set paths for its arcade mode depending on the chosen character, and the accompanying cutscene may veer off from what happened in the manga.
  • Single-Stroke Battle: Chaka and Black Polnareff's Dimension Slash super. It even cuts the background in two!
  • Shotoclone: Avdol. It's rather refreshing to have such a standard moveset, considering how crazy some of the others' are.
  • Skill Gate Characters:
    • "Passive Stand" characters in general tend to be this: they lack the ability to activate a Stand, and instead focus all their abilities down a single moveset. As a result, they are easier to learn, but they possess smaller movesets and lack the advantages that a Stand provides, such as negating chip damage and knockdowns. The big exception to this rule is Pet Shop.
    • Between his counterattack and devastating raw damage output, Black Polnareff is both an immensely intimidating to play and beginner-friendly to learn character, but skilled opponents can deal with his kit easily.
    • Khan is an even more extreme version of Black Polnareff: someone picking up the game for the first time can probably figure out his whole kit in about five minutes, but once the player actually knows what they're doing, they'll find his skill ceiling is practically hugging the dirt.
    • Shadow DIO is pretty much a more beginner-friendly, weaker DIO. He can be good for learning the gist of how he plays, and isn't terrible, but you're better off eventually graduating to his fully-realized form.
    • Hol Horse has high-damage projectiles and some of the best okizeme in the game, including some outright touch-of-death combos. However, most of these combos rely on him being able to knock the opponent down, which is incredibly difficult to do to most of the game's high-tiers when they're being played by someone who knows what they're doing.
  • Shout-Out:
    • One of Kakyoin's alts makes Hierophant Green resemble Spider-Man.
    • Death 13's tactic of sending out smaller sickles as projectiles brings to mind that other Death.
  • Stripperiffic: So what did Araki have in mind for Midler when Capcom asked him to draw a whole new look for her? A near-naked belly dancer with star pasties being the only thing covering her chest.
  • Spectacular Spinning: Khan doesn't have an "active" Stand, so pressing the Stand button with him makes him do a Spin Attack, ala Link, or float through the air by spinning like a helicopter rotor. However, holding it too long makes him lose his balance, forcing him to take longer to recover afterward.
  • Temporary Online Content: The HD rerelease of the game has been delisted from XBLA and PSN (though previous owners can still redownload it if they wish).
  • Traced Artwork: The game naturally reuses the artwork from the manga. However, the character of Midler, who is unseen in the original work, is redesigned by author Hirohiko Araki in order to be properly adapted in the game. Her artwork is traced from the character of Yukako Yamagishi of the sequel work, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable. Picture here.
  • Time Stands Still: Doable by Jotaro, DIO, and Shadow DIO.
  • Updated Re-release: Heritage for the Future (or simply Jojo's Bizarre Adventure in America), which contains balance updates, added characters including a fully playable DIO, a new Challenge Mode, and redrawn UI elements and sounds.
  • Womb Level: In Super Story Mode, the battle against Steely Dan consists of a side-scrolling shoot-em-up with a shrunken Hierophant Green and Silver Chariot travelling through Joseph's body to combat Lovers.
  • Wrestler in All of Us:
    • One of Rubber Soul's super moves is his Coconut Backbreaker (which he used on a pickpocket in the manga) where he lifts his opponent up and gets them in the Torture Rack.
    • Devo too, whose grab has him suplexing the opponent and slamming them into the ground.

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Heritage For the Future

Losing in Heritage For the Future takes the player to a screen counting down from 9 with D'Arby sitting in the background. Choosing not to continue will have D'Arby end the game by summoning Osiris to steal your character's soul as they let out one final echoing scream.

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