Think I’m Cute? Wait Until I Summon Dio. All Star Battle PV 7!

That was fast. Announce the characters, immediately show them. I’m all for it. This is the PV all about DLC characters, the first four at least.

Fatty, Fugo, and Iggy are our big deals since we’ve seen Kira fight before. I like the way Fatty’s been implemented with using Harvest to move faster. Throwing big clouds of them was to be expected, though I didn’t think about them being projectiles. I was expecting things like the wave of harvest mites. I’m not sure if him lying down is normal movement or if he can be carried away after being knocked down. That could be a solid defense against being smacked around on standing up. Kappei Yamaguchi does the voice very well. He’s made the perfect voice for sounding like a snotty little wiener. The only thing missing is he never sniffled during any of his lines.

Time to put that speculation about Iggy and Fugo I did a few minutes ago to the test. Iggy first. He is voiced by Shigeru Chiba, the narrator for the original Fist of the North Star. I like the Iggy is being voice by a crotchety old man. That’s perfect for him. He does have a little personal combat, including farting on you, but he’s primarily stand focused. The Fool has a lot going on for form. I do love the little sand igloo he has for defense. The really interesting form, though, is probably when he can turn it into Shadow DIO from the Part 3 game. It only seems to be part of a combo, but that’s Shadow DIO down to having the blanked face. I wonder if he’ll be used at the vehicle for any other cameos like that. Maybe we’ll get an Alessi shadow to pop up and smack someone with a big pink axe.

Now Fugo. He’s voiced by [Edit: Hisafumi Oda and Purple Haze is voiced by] Hisao Egawa who has done a lot of things I’m aware of but almost nothing I’ve ever seen in Japanese. You may recognize him as Killer Bee from Naruto and Falco from Star Fox. Purple Haze works a little like I thought but not in a way that distinct from other stands. He enhances some of Fugo’s regular hit combos with follow ups and has some slower combos, but he’s also got an ORAORA. I can see the purple on him a lot easier now that we can get closer to hear his demonic roar at the start of his GHA. His HHA and GHA are all about getting consumed by the virus, one from the capsule Fugo bites through and the other where Purple Haze fucks you up and then you melt from a viral infection. Very nice.

One other note. That date at the very end, September 25th. That says something very important. “Until September 25th, all DLC characters are half price!” The cost of this game just went from +$18 to +$9. For now, at least, but it is a boon. Jump on it fast, guys. They’re listing the DLC characters in Parts with Fugo and Iggy being Part 2. It’s certainly not the end yet.

Someone Get that Phone, I’m Trying to Do My Kiai! All Star Battle PV 5 HD Video!

In glorious 1080 HD just for us. This is only the first half of the presentation from back on Sunday. The presentation of the new characters, modes, costumes and what have you all presented by a gloriously yelling Yuji Ueda.

Seeing this in HD is great because there’s a lot of details I didn’t pick up from the camcorder one. There’s obviously the voices. Sheer Heart Attack yelling at you to look at him right as it blows you up is a great touch. Hiroshi Kamiya sounds younger that I would have expected for Rohan. Romi Park was a fantastic Koichi pick. Yuuko Sanpei as Narancia, Noriaki Sugiyama as Bruno, and Toshiyuki Morikawa (Kyosuke Nanbu oh my god) as Diavolo are all doing excellent work with their characters too. I’m glad to know I wasn’t the only one thinking teleporting for how to use King Crimson in a fighting game. And as much as I liked the transition from Doppio to Diavolo before, seeing now that he was using the frog phone makes it so much better.

I never thought I’d be so excited over Diavolo. I mean, pulling people into the Zipper Dimension is going to be totally awesome, and any time I play Cars will be 10% becoming Ultimate Cars and 10000% squirrel shoot, but I’ve got to see the look on some of the new fans who’re coming in from the anime when the Boss lets me know he wants on this fight from his special hot frog line. I wonder if it’ll change and not always be the frog. Maybe we’ll also get the ice cream!

This game is getting better by the moment. Next stop is should be the new character reveal on the 19th after a slight detour to get a subbed version of this trailer. The blanked picture had the Part 1 background, but I’m really hoping for the Part 6 characters next. Look forward to it!

Edit:

There it is. PV 5 is already subbed in a show of top level fan speed. Oh, Speedwagon, you’re so charismatic. He basically says everything I want to say about the trailer but with that unique energy you only get from him.

The excitement’s rising, and this game can’t be in my hands soon enough!

Dad! Stop Interrupting my Fights with the Local School Children! The Rohan, Cars, and Kira Move Special

It is that time again. Time again to see what the new ASB kids can do. Like last time, there is a translation lovingly done by someone from the Dustloop forums, SoWL. I’ll go ahead and just cross post that, so if you’d like to open up the Famitsu page from this link in a new window so you can read along, by all means. I’ll be posting the pictures for the characters and for their Great Heat attacks, so check out the Famitsu page for the whole set.

Kishibe Rohan (CV: Hiroshi Kamiya)

Battle Style: Stand (Heaven’s Door)

A character featured in part 4. A popular manga artist who lives in the town of Morioh. Selfish and assertive, he does not care about people’s reactions when it concerns his creative thinking, making him look like a weirdo to outsiders. However, as long as he gets material for his work, he’s ready to face any hardships for the sake of being the ultimate artist. By using his Stand, Heaven’s Door, he’s able to turn people into books, read their experiences, and even make his own corrections.

Command move: Safety Lock
While his Stand is turned off, Rohan can perform this move by pressing Weak, Medium, or Strong attack button. If the enemy hits the picture Rohan draws in midair, he can seal off that attack. However, this effect ends after a certain amount of time or when Rohan is knocked down. If the enemy gets another one of his moves sealed, it overrides the old seal.

Command move: I’ll mess your “Ability” real good!
While his Stand is turned off, you can seal off the enemy’s Style button with this command move. This effect ends after a certain amount of time or when Rohan is knocked down.

Normal throw: Rock.
A throw that blows the enemy away by hitting them with “rock” from rock-paper-scissors.

Command move: I’m growing!
The Stand appears and unleashes a flurry of punches and slashes! After hitting the enemy, you can follow up with “Maybe I’ll incapacitate you” or “My body got blown away at the speed of 70 km/h !”.

Command move: Maybe I’ll incapacitate you

Command move: My body got blown away at the speed of 70 km/h !
By writing these words on the enemy, Rohan can send them to the opposite side of the screen at frightening speed

The taunt pose is sure to make the fans smile.

Special taunt
This taunt comes out when Rohan taunts in response to the opponent’s taunt. His Heart Heat Gauge recovers back the amount lost due to the taunt.

Heart Heat Attack: I’ll take your “Reality” for myself!
With this HHA, Rohan rips out a lot of pages out of the opponent. The damage is small, but he seals all their command moves for a set period of time.

Great Heat Attack: Heaven’s Door
Rohan writes down “I cannot attack Kishibe Rohan” on the opponent. This attack seals off every single attack, but only lasts a set period of time.

Yoshikage Kira (CV: Rikiya Koyama)

Battle Style: Stand (Killer Queen) (Sheer Heart Attack’s CV: Kashiwakura Tsutomu)

A character featured in Part 4. A serial killer who tries to live the life of a common salaryman who just “can’t help but kill people”. His Stand, Killer Queen, can turn any object into a “Primary Bomb” with a single touch. He uses a detonator to blow up the touched object at any time he wishes. Moreover, Killer Queen’s left hand has Sheer Heart Attack, a tank-like tracking “Secondary Bomb”. It relentlessly follows the target until they explode.

Command move: Anything it touches is turned into a bomb
Kira tosses a coin projectile at the opponent. In addition to exploding on contact, you can trigger the explosion again with additional inputs. By the way, make sure to stay away from the explosion, since it can hit Kira, too.

Command move: Primary Bomb
The opponent becomes a bomb with a touch. You can follow it up with “I’ll break you apart!” at any time you want.

Command move: I’ll break you apart!
As the name suggests, the opponent is blown up into pieces!

Command move: You bastard!
Killer Queen unleashes a flurry of punches!

Command move: Whack!

Command move: I’ll break you apart!
After hitting the enemy with the coin bomb, you can blow them up at any time you want.

Normal throw: You should try and learn from me

Taunt

Heart Heat Attack: I’ll blow you to smithereens!
Kira strikes a pose with Killer Queen, and then beats up the enemy. Then, after blowing them up into the air, he triggers an explosion, blowing them away

Great Heat Attack: Sheer Heart Attack
Sheer Heart Attack starts following the enemy, shouting “Over here!” and making a great explosion after finally reaching them. By the way, it cannot move if it’s hit by “3FREEZE” of Koichi’s Echoes Act 3.

Cars (CV: Kazuhiko Inoue)

Battle Style: Light Mode

A character featured in part 2. The extremely intelligent leader of the “Pillar Men”. His Light Mode allows him to protrude shining blades out of his limbs, the so-called “Bright Sabers”. To overcome the Sun and become the “Ultimate Being”, he has created the “Stone Masks”. To obtain the “Red Stone of Aja” required to complete the mask, he fights with Joseph with everything on the line.

Command move: Light Mode
By activating this skill, Cars emits a bright light, making some of his attacks unblockable.

Special move: He can pull blades out of his legs too!!

Command move: A sneak attack, cruel and extremely skillful!

Command move: I’ll smash you against the wall!

Command move: That blood-freezing brightness!

Command move: All that counts is to get the final victory!!

Command move: Bright Saber Mode
While in Light Mode, Cars can activate Bright Saber Mode by spending 1 level of Heart Heat Gauge. Not only do his blades become unblockable, but his command moves also gain other additional properties.

Taunt

Heart Heat Attack: Bright Saber
After cutting the opponent, Cars pauses for a moment. Then, after they fall down, he rushes forward for an instant finishing blow!!

Great Heat Attack: This is the birth of Cars, the Ultimate Being!!!
By donning the stone mask with the Red Stone of Aja embedded inside, Cars evolves into Ultimate Being! As Ultimate Being, he gains traits of all sorts of living beings!

Special move: This can’t be…!?
Cars transforms his arm into an octopus tentacle and raises it upwards.

Guard
The attack is blocked with a crab-like armor.

Special movement: Flight
By holding down the button, Cars can move freely in the air. Of course, he can still attack while flying.

Special movement: Air dash

Command move: It’s the Ripple you little piece of shit!!
For the Ultimate Being Cars, even the Ripple breathing is possible! He can focus the energy gained from the unique breathing technique and attack with it!!

Command move: Genetical data transformation
Cars can attack the enemy from afar by transforming his body into a squirrel or a piranha. He can even do it while in midair.

Whew, that was a lot more robust than I was originally expecting. I posted the taunts because I wanted to post Rohan’s, so I figured I should just post them all, and I can’t not post Squirrel Hand, but we’re not done yet. We’ve also got the reveal on the new stage, the Yoshikage Esta, featuring a guest appearance by Kira’s long lost Polaroid. We’ve got a small peak at the editable sound effects that you can customize each character with. A small bit just reconfirming the situation finishes, where you win a fight in such a way to mirror the original manga/anime.

And we now know that we’ll be able to ORAORAORAORA to our hearts content.

And that’s it. Our next stop should be the big trailer on Sunday. Because they’ve only just done these three, that day should be our first chance to see the new Part 5 kids in action. Look forward to it.

(All images from Famitsu as you can tell by their watermark. © Famitsu, Hirohiko Araki, Shueisha, LuckyLand Communications, CyberConnect2, and NamcoBandai)

The Hidden Speedwagon. Designs from the Phantom Blood Movie

Who remembers the Phantom Blood movie? A lot of you probably remember that it exists, the song by SOUL’D OUT, and the rumors about Araki hating it so much he blocked it ever getting a DVD release, but I imagine not many of you have had the chance to see it outside maybe this YouTube video with 16 minutes of clipped out footage.

So did you ever want to know more about it? Tumblr is here to help.

These are all the character designs for how everyone looked in the movie. These are mostly useful for comparing the designs for what was a potential movie compilation to the current anime run we’ve gotten. The designs here, Johnathan and Dio aside, are a lot more normal. Characters are dressed fairly normally and the art style has a generally more realistic feel to it. I’m not sure how to describe it. I’m not a fan because there’s something about the style that makes everyone look like they have a really fat face, especially Johnathan and Dio.

There’s also voice. All the voice actors are listed there. Here’s a rundown for any you may not have known:

Johnathan Joestar: Katsuyuki Konishi (Kamina from Gurren Lagann)
Dio Brando: Hikaru Midorikawa (Lancer in Fate/Zero, Heero Yui in Gundam Wing)
Will A. Zeppeli: Rikiya Koyama (Currently Yoshikage Kira in ASB)
Erina Pendleton:Nana Mizuki
Tonpeti: Yoshisada Sakaguchi (Briareos in Appleseed, tons of dubbing roles)
George Joestar I: Tsutomu Isobe (Runge in Monster, again, tons of dubbing roles)
Dario Brando: Kazutaka Ozawa
Wang Chun: Jun Itoda
Tarkus: Yoshinori Sonobe
Bruford: Toru Nara

Two of those names are of very special interest, and I’m not talking about Yoshikage Zeppeli or Kamina Joestar. I’m talking about Kazutaka Ozawa and Jun Itoda. One of the things you may have also remembered about the Phantom Blood movie is that it was so condensed they [Edit: supposedly] forgot to put in Danny and Speedwagon. If you look next to Ozawa and Jun’s credits on the sections for Dario and Wang Chun, it says “Speedwagon” next to their names. This confused me to no end until I was able to look them up on Japanese Wikipedia and found out they they’re part of a comedy duo act called “Speed Wagon.” So, you see, the movie always had Speed Wagon. Just not Robert Edward O. Speedwagon.

Yeah, learning that didn’t make me any happier about the movie either.

(Thanks to JoJo’s Tumblr for reblogging the pictures from here)

All Star Battle PV 4 Preview Images

Now this Famitsu article contains more disclosure on JoJolion Josuke.

So we’re going to have an after battle grading system ala Street Fighter 4. Fair enough. I wonder what the quality is determined by. Maybe it’s your combo rating, but I could see there being a posing quota you have to reach to get above a C.

These images were taken by a Famitsu rep at the CC2 special even a little bit ago. You can tell based on that title card that at least some of these pictures are part of a new PV. Lots of JoJolion Josuke, who will be voiced by Mitsuaki Madono (Pizza in GaoGaiGar Final, Noriaki Kakyoin in Heritage for the Future, Toru Adachi in Persona 4.) What I really love is that the white version of his outfit, the most normal colors, is the alternate colors against the orange version. JoJo colors are so fab that alternate crazy colors are the boring ones.

But what’s got my attention the most is that Kira and Sheer Heart Attack are in this PV. When I read the Famitsu article that I posted before this one, it did seem to say that Kira was going to be a DLC character that you could get through a promo included with the first run of the game. But here he is in the PV like he’s just going to be around, so maybe not. Kira will be voiced by Rikiya Koyama (Shinigami in Souleater, Mamoru Takamura in Hajime no Ippo, Duke in Tales of Vesperia.) I hope I am wrong about Kira being DLC only and that he’s in the game proper. The PV that comes out on the heels of this should clear it up.

There are a few more characters and events bumming around.

RERORERORERO at the start of every fight

And there are a couple of displays.

The full display version of the special figures

And some demo booths. Go Josuke! Punch your ancestor!

Look forward to PV 4 soon.

(All images from Famitsu. Copyright CC2, LuckyLand, Jump, and Hirohiko Araki. Thanks to Goon Kurtofan for finding this)