JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure manga has been ongoing since 1987 and led to the creation of a very popular series of anime shows. Despite the manga existing for over three decades, there haven’t been a lot of video games based on the manga, and even fewer titles are available outside of Japan. There are still at least five JoJo games for you to try out if you’re a big fan of the franchise.
Best Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure games
The JoJo manga follows the Joestar bloodline throughout history, with each member of the extended Joestar family tree fighting against supernatural evil. The JoJo story is separated into parts, with each part starring a different character nicknamed JoJo. Even though there’s only been a handful of JoJo games, most games either focus on one or all the parts. Part 3 is the most famous JoJo storyline and is the one that is featured most heavily in adaptations.
5) JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure (NES)
One of the earliest video game adaptations of the JoJo story, the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure video game for the NES is one of the hardest games in the franchise to get. The only way to play the game is through emulation. The NES game is based on Part 3 of the JoJo manga, which was the then most recent story arc from the manga. The NES title features some very impressive graphics for the time, with each character looking like they did from the manga. Unfortunately, the game is a little clunky and hasn’t aged well. It’s still a worthwhile experience for fans of old-school games.
4) GioGio’s Bizarre Adventure
GioGio’s Bizarre Adventure is a Japanese-exclusive, 3D-action-adventure video game released for the PlayStation 2. The title was based on the then-recent Part 5 of the JoJo manga starring Giorno Giovanna. Part 5 takes place exclusively in Italy and features some of the more striking background imagery in the entire series. You fight enemies from Naples to Venice to Rome. GioGio’s Bizarre Adventure has very stylized graphics to match the style of the manga. The game’s art ended up syncing up with the future anime adaptation of the series. The controls for GioGio’s Bizarre Adventure are a little awkward, but the game is still fun and looks great.
3) JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Heritage For The Future
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure wouldn’t hit it big in the States until the airing of the anime in the mid-2010s. However, the series did have a brief foothold in the West with the release of the original JoJo OVA and Heritage For The Future. Heritage For The Future is a fighting game released for Dreamcast, featuring beautiful pixel artwork and starring the characters from Part 3. The game proved to be a massive success within the fighting game community and was eventually ported onto PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade in 2012. Before the anime made the franchise a meme in the west, Heritage For The Future held a spot in the hearts of fighting game fans.
2) JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Eyes Of Heaven
Eyes of Heaven is an action-brawler game with 2v2 matches set in large arenas with interactable objects. You select a character from the roster to control and fight enemies on a map. Eyes of Heaven’s biggest problem is its camera, with enemies and objects often hiding behind structures and making it difficult to spot them. Despite that, the game looks great and is fun to play with friends. The game uses the same engine and models as All-Star Battle; the characters are stylized to have the same shading and style as the manga/anime. Eyes of Heaven also has a large roster that includes fun obscure characters like N’Doul and Petshop.
1) JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle
The JoJo brand is most at-home within the fighting genre. The over-the-top characters and creative fights from the manga make them ideal for translating into a fighting game. Heritage For The Future proved how lucrative a JoJo fighting game can be. All-Star Battle is a fighting game that took advantage of the renewed interest in the franchise in the early 2010s with the launch of the JoJo anime. The game launched with a character roster encompassing all eight parts from the manga and featured a diverse line-up from all across the series. All-Star Battle has a striking art style that uses heavy shading to make it look like it was taken directly from the manga.
The fighting in the original All-Star Battle was always a little off, but the re-release, All-Star Battle R, improves on the controls and expands the roster. All-Star Battle R is now the definitive JoJo fighting game that, unfortunately, has poor online play. But if you want a perfect JoJo game to play by yourself or co-op on a couch, All-Star Battle R is your best option.
