A fighting game built from the manga
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R turns Hirohiko Araki's manga into a 2.5D fighter with 50 playable characters drawn from every arc of the series. Jonathan Joestar, Jotaro Kujo, DIO, Jolyne Cujoh and many others show up across generations, so matches can pair people who never shared a scene in the story. Fights use Stands, Hamon and other abilities tied to each character, and the visuals aim to reproduce the manga's look, including the characteristic "ã‚´ã‚´ã‚´ã‚´ã‚´" text effects over the action. The fighting tempo, hit stops and jump dashes have been adjusted from the 2014 All Star Battle system, and Part 6 anime voice actors recorded new lines.
Playing together
Versus Mode is where a group sits down and takes turns throwing matches at each other, with the full roster available to pick from. Online Mode covers remote sessions, and Remote Play Together lets someone stream the game to friends who join in from their own side. Practice Mode is there for working out a character's moveset before you throw them into a real fight, which matters when half the roster has a Stand with its own rules. All Star Battle Mode runs over 100 battles with different settings and conditions, so a group can work through it together or hand the controller around, and the illustrations and cosmetic skins it unlocks land in Gallery Mode. Arcade Mode rounds out the single-player options.
Before you start
This is a fighting game with violent content and sexual content in the source material, so expect the series' usual tone. It supports controller play, which is the practical way to handle a 2D fighter. The Ultimate and Deluxe Editions bundle the base game with Season Pass and Season Pass 2 content, adding playable characters and costumes; the store notes that some of this content is also sold separately, so check what you already own before buying an edition to avoid duplicate purchases. Newcomers and people who played the original All Star Battle are both accounted for in the rebalanced system, so there is no need to have played the 2014 release first.