JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle R Review

ign.com:

Since its re-emergence in the anime scene in 2012, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure has had an upsurge in popularity thanks to its exuberant characters, vibrant worldbuilding, and infinitely memeable moments. In 2013, developer CyberConnect 2 and Bandai Namco released a fighting game based on the long-running manga series to little fanfare. Almost a decade later, a remastered and upgraded version called JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle R looks to make a splash in a fighting game genre that’s become more exciting and crowded in recent years. All Star Battle R comes equipped with some bold new characters, smart updates to the combat system, and a disappointing replacement for the original’s story mode. So in some ways, it succeeds as a celebration of the 35-year history of one of the most exuberant and vibrant anime and manga series out there, but while it remains an entertaining fighting game, its online components still feel archaic in the modern era.

All Star Battle R’s impressive roster spans the entire history of the series - including 10 more fantastical characters than the previous iteration’s already generous 41. Representatives range from Phantom Blood’s Jonathan Joestar and his diabolical adopted brother Dio Brando, to Jonathan’s descendant Jotaro Kujo from the Stardust Crusaders arc, culminating with Josuke from the most recent Jojolion storyline along with allies and foes from every part in between. Trying out each fighter is a joy and exploring the existing lovingly crafted fighting styles with the newly added assist move synergies brings more complexities to combat than possible in the original. Those combined with funny character quirks and interactions fill every match with pleasant surprises. The cherry on