What a Train, an Art Exhibit, and a Demo Video Have in Common

I wonder if video bundles like this will become less common once ASB comes out? I mean, the fandom will be flooded with demo videos from everyone who has the game and the means to record it, but will that be like this? I guess we’ll just have to revel in these while we have them.

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Someone was nice enough to make a video tour of the ASB train. You get to see the train as it approaches the platform, a couple shots of the different character pairs guarding the doors, and then a few shots of the inside. On top of various pieces of JoJo’s flair, like the zipper window that actually does show to the other side of the wall, there are screens playing the PVs and quote blocks embedded in the walls. The one the hold on is about shivering hearts and burning heat.

You can also see a photo album of the train, inside and out, on the Hirohiko Araki’s World Facebook page. I really do love the effort they put into the flair to make them actually show through to the other side of the train. On anything else, I could see the zipper part just being a sticker or poster on the wall that showed Bruno on the other side, like the disc of the Part 5 game. That would have been fine, but them going the extra mile is really cool.

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This is another video someone was nice enough and also sneaky enough to get of the Araki exhibit out in Florence. I’m taking it from the crooked angle and that the guy’s finger is covering the lens for a fair portion of the end that filming may not have been exactly kosher for this display. I’d drink up the video while you’ve got the chance.

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It’s what we’ve been wanting all along. This is an official demo video for ASB. It is a person skilled at the game fighting COM opponents for the sake of showing off what the game can do as well as the basic starting features, and, man, does it make a world of difference. We had the AI matches with League, and those were cute but made the game look sluggish and clunky. Then we had the amateur videos with the League Hosts, Idols, and early morning TV hosts flailing around in a game they didn’t know. Cute still, and more effective at showing the game’s nature, but still lacking. Now we have someone who knows what they’re doing having a match, and it makes the game look so much better. The combos the player pulls off look smooth when he’s kicking Giorno’s ass as Polnareff. The AI is still silly with Dio getting a Time Stop and then not doing anything, but maybe that’s the AI level being low for demo purposes.

We also get a small look at what the game has available from the start. This may be different from the final product, but I don’t think it should be since this video came out around a day ago. From the start, we have the first seven protagonists, Part 3 Dio, Will, Polnareff, and Okuyasu to pick from. New characters will probably be unlocked in story mode, though it wouldn’t surprise me if there ended up being a DLC key for getting everyone. The initial arenas seem to be Outside the Roman Colosseum, Skeleton Heel Stone Arena, Streets of Cairo, and Dio’s Castle. There are some others in the list, like the Streets of Morioh, but they’re dimmed out, so I assume they’re unlockables. I don’t mind. It’s been a while since I’ve played a fighting game where I had to unlock things by playing. It’ll be a good nostalgia trip.

Yes, Give Us all the Awards, and then a Train so Our Glory May Roam the Land!

So, lots of cool JoJo’s stuff has happened recently.

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This is from an official Famitsu magazine. You see what you think you see. It’s a perfect score. All Star Battle joins the illustrious rank alongside twenty other games to have ever gotten a perfect score from the magazine. How much stock you want to put into that is up to you. Jojo’s fandom may have helped anticipation, but it may have also added extra scrutiny for how much JoJo CC2 was able to converry. It also seems to be the first fighting game ever on the list of perfects. All in all, the 21st on a list of perfect games going all the way back to Ocarina of Time is not bad.

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Remember these guys? The OPs for JoJo’s: The Animation were nominated for a CEDEC award based on for their skill of blending 2D and 3D animation while managing to capture the unique look of “The JoJo’s World” for fans across many decades. They won. If you remember, the competition was scattered since “Visual Arts” meant a lot of things, but other nominees included things like NHK’s Tokyo Station Vision, Square-Enix’s Real Time Tech Demo for Agni’s Philosophy, and Konami’s new FOX Engine that will be used in MGS 5. So, yes, that does mean that, at least in the visual department, JoJo’s is cooler than a TV station, most JRPGs, and Big Boss. If someone draws a fan art of Araki sticking out his tongue and pulling down his eyelid at Kojima and Nomura, we may have to declare them King for a Day.

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Yeah, the game gets its own train. This isn’t an ad bought to run on a train. This is specifically the JoJo’s Train. It’s such a big deal that it has its own website and a spin-off logo. The train is running publicly on the Yamanote Line between August 26th and September 9th. These aren’t the only decals, either. The list of pictures shows there is a decal for each main protagonist and antagonist except for any of the Pillar Men and Valentine, though it also doesn’t show one for Bruno who’s right there, so they may just not have added them to the list. Dio gets to be on there twice. You know why.

I’d call that a pretty good sweep, and I’m sure there’s even more to come.