The critically-acclaimed anime and manga series JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure has been a force within multiple different media industries for longer than some fans may realize. The series began its manga run in Shonen Jump back in January of 1987, only 3 years after Akira Toriyama had started working on the original Dragon Ball. Since then, Hirohiko Araki’s series has been seen by some as a tour de force not only within the anime and manga world, but in other realms including video games.
While the series has seen several instances of referential treatment within anime and manga, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is also no stranger to the world of video games. The series has been adapted into many genres of video games including 2D fighters (JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure All Star Battle), 3D fighters (JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven), JRPGs (JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: The 7th Stand User), and even a battle royale (JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Last Survivor). And while the games themselves haven’t always been successful or popular, JoJo‘s impact as a series can be seen in multiple references and nods across multiple video games.
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night released last year to generally positive reviews as a spiritual successor to Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. While some fans were unhappy with the game’s initial Switch port, others found the Metroidvania as a great way to relive their nostalgia for the Castlevania series, and more specifically Symphony of the Night.
However, some fans might be surprised to find that there is a shared JoJo’s reference hidden in both Ritual of the Night and Symphony of the Night. One of the items that players can find is a wearable mask simply called the Stone Mask. This Stone Mask is actually a reference to the stone mask that Jonathan and Dio Brando fight over in Part 1: Phantom Blood. Symphony of the Night players can actually find the mask in the library, much like where the battle between JoJo and Dio takes place, and Ritual of the Night players can hold the up button to strike a JoJo pose while wearing the mask.
The Binding of Isaac has been a bit of a cult classic in the world of roguelikes for quite a while now. Originally released in September of 2011, the game has seen many updates and expansions over the past few years. Most recently, creator Edmund McMillen announced the game would be getting its final expansion: The Binding of Isaac: Repentance which will be even larger than its Rebirth expansion.
As part of the game’s Afterbirth+ expansion, The Binding of Isaac saw many new characters added as part of the co-op experience. Two of these characters are the “Pompadour Baby” and the “Crazy Ghost Baby,” which are based on JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable‘s main protagonist: Josuke Higashikata and his Stand, Crazy Diamond.
The Persona series seems to have drawn heavy inspiration from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure since the game’s original entry. Personas have been compared to JoJo’s Stands extensively in the past since they are an extremely similar idea. The difference between them is small where a Persona is the manifestation of the user’s psyche while a Stand is the physical manifestation of one’s life energy.
Persona 5 contains multiple JoJo’s references within its many hours, however one of the more noticeable references might go over the heads of non-JoJo’s fans. On 9/6, players are asked what the name of the phenomenon where the second hand on a clock appears to stop moving is called. One of the available options to answer is “The World,” a reference to DIO’s Stand of the same name that has the ability to stop time.
The classic survival horror series, Resident Evil, has seen a bit of a resurgence over the past few years. With the critical and financial hit of the Resident Evil 2 remake as well as the upcoming Resident Evil 8: Village, the series seems to be back on track following the backlash it received with the release of Resident Evil 6.
Fans of the series might be surprised to find out that a character from the original Resident Evil game is actually named after a JoJo’s character. In 2011, Hideki Kamiya admitted on Twitter that S.T.A.R.S. Alpha Team member Joseph Frost was actually named after JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Battle Tendency‘s main protagonist, Joseph Joestar.
Finally, it might be difficult to talk about JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure‘s influence within video games without talking about the Street Fighter series. Over the decades since the original Street Fighter was released, many characters’ design have been based on the works of Hirohiko Araki in the popular manga series. Perhaps the most surprising reference, though, is for one of the series most popular characters: Guile.
Guile, the United States Air Force major, is based on one of the supporting protagonists from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders: Jean Pierre Polnareff. Producer Noritaka Funamizu revealed this on Guile’s page in the Street Fighter X Tekken Artworks artbook. He said that in the early days of the character’s design Guile’s hair was closer to Polnareff’s iconic vertical haircut, however one of the artists later spread the hair out into the haircut we know today as a joke. While the altered haircut was kept in, this unfortunately gave Guile the haircut of another JoJo’s character: the Nazi soldier, Rudol von Stroheim.
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