Le Bizzarre Avventure di GioGio: Vento Aureo

Le Bizzarre Avventure di GioGio: Vento Aureo (ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 黄金の旋風, JoJo no Kimyō na Bōken Ōgon no Senpū, lit. "GioGio's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Whirlwind") is an action-adventure video game released in 2002 for the PlayStation 2, based on Vento Aureo. It is also the first JoJo game to be rendered in 3D graphics.

Vento Aureo's graphics may be compared to other cel-shaded games of the PS2 era like Jet Set Radio. The developer, Capcom, utilized a game engine called "Artistoon" in order to create a graphical style similar to Araki's art style in the manga.

Gameplay

Most of Le Bizzarre Avventure di GioGio: Vento Aureo's gameplay takes place in the form of hand-to-hand combat. All battles are fought 1v1, with every battle being an equivalent to a boss fight. The Stands aid the characters in battle by giving them combat abilities, as well as special attacks. Puzzles are also a part of the game, requiring the use of Stands in order to solve them.

The player must learn an opponent's moves and attack patterns in order to properly find an opening and attack. They can deliver melee attacks, use a character-exclusive special ability, or summon their Stand to attack. Stand barrages and the like are referred to in-game as "Stand Shoot". All Stand Shoot attacks can be charged to increase their duration and eventually allow the player to attack separate from their Stand, opening up opportunities to create combos. Health cannot be restored in any matter other than Secret Factors, requiring a finer degree of skill from the player than other games of similar genre in order to succeed.

As long as a character's Stand is on, a Stand Gauge above the player's health will drain. Actions such as taking damage or blocking attacks while a Stand is on will also decrease the meter. A Stand Break occurs if the gauge empties, leaving the player without their Stand or its abilities until the gauge refills, along with other situational disadvantages.

Chapters have a letter grading based on the performance of the player, with up to 200 "GioGio Points" to be earned per chapter and 10,200 GioGio Points to be earned in the entire game. A rank is lost with every 25 points missing, from S at 200 - 190 points, A at 189 - 176, all the way to E at 100 and below. All Secret Factors on a level collectively add up to 100 GioGio Points, and are added with the percentage of the player's remaining health to make up to 200.

Game Modes

1. Super Story Mode (SS Mode): The player follows the journey of Bucciarati's Gang through the events of Vento Aureo, beginning with Giorno's meeting with Bucciarati himself all the way to the final battle with Diavolo. There are cutscenes between stages and during some fights.
2. Another Story: A secret mode that is unlocked when the player completes Super Story Mode. In this mode the player replays battles from SS Mode, but is now able to select different characters for that stage, regardless of whether or not they made an appearance in the canon fight. To unlock fights for Another Story Mode, the player must beat the respective fight in Super Story with at least a B ranking (or 150/200 GioGio Points).
3. Gallery: A Mode that has JoJo goodies based on how many JoJo points the player have. This mode is not initially available and completing at least one SS Mode fight is required to unlock it. The Gallery contains extras such as soundtracks, Stage Viewer, Story Drama, concept art, images, and characters models (for playable, unplayable, and unused characters). The Gallery Mode is set inside the Stand Mr.President.
4. Options: Sound and control options.

Secret Factors

A main notable feature is the activation of Secret Factors, various interaction activated elements scattered throughout each scenario that the player progresses to as the game goes on. Considered as side-objectives, chapters can have anywhere between none up to four Secret Factors to be done. As the game itself is adapted nearly entirely from the manga, playing out the scenario akin to the official canon will activate these factors: Giving power-ups to health, Stand endurance, and strength to the character, as well as heavily influencing chapter grading. A counter over the heart next the player's health displays the Secret Factor level, with 10 being the maximum; At max, the health and Stand gauges will have doubled in length. There are multiple occasions where Secret Factors must be done in a specific order to achieve them all. Many Secret Factors give the player advantages ranging from invulnerability to/disabling certain enemy attacks to outright winning the battle instantly. They are a unique feature that also celebrate the game's source material and rewards fans and readers of the series.

Super Story (SS Mode)

Following the events of Part 5, the game's main mode has 22 chapters (21 playable and only 1 featuring a full cutscene). In each chapter the player faces a different opponent.

1-1	Bucciarati's Arrival, Part 1 (ブチャラティが来る その①)
Play as Giorno Giovanna This section requires expansion.

1-2	Bucciarati's Arrival, Part 2 (ブチャラティが来る その②)
Play as Giorno Giovanna This section requires expansion.

2-1	Gang Enrollment (ギャング入門)
Play as Giorno Giovanna This section requires expansion.

3-1	Operative Bucciarati; The Boss' First Assignment (ブチャラティ幹部;ボスからの第一指令)
Play as Narancia Ghirga This section requires expansion.

4-1	The Boss' Second Assignment; 'Retrieve the Key!', Part 1 (ボスからの第二指令;「鍵キーをゲットせよ！」 その①)
Play as Pannacotta Fugo This section requires expansion.

4-2	The Boss' Second Assignment; 'Retrieve the Key!', Part 2 (ボスからの第二指令;「鍵キーをゲットせよ！」 その②)
Play as Leone Abbacchio This section requires expansion.

4-3	Man in the Mirror and Purple Haze (マン・イン・ザ・ミラーとパープル・ヘイズ)
Play as Pannacotta Fugo This section requires expansion.

5-1	The Grateful Dead (偉大なる死)
Play as Bruno Bucciarati This section requires expansion.

5-2	The Florence-Bound Express Train (フィレンツェ行き超特急)
Play as Bruno Bucciarati This section requires expansion.

6-1	Venice's Santa Lucia Station - Get the "OA-Disc"! (ヴェネツィア・サンタ・ルチア駅『OA-DISC』をゲットせよ！)
Play as Guido Mista This section requires expansion.

Gallery

Soundtrack

Le Bizzarre Avventure di GioGio: Vento Aureo OST (2002) Composer: Mitsuhiko Takano Track Number: 56

Other Characters

A handful of characters do not appear in the Super Story Mode; They appear as part of the Story Drama, during cutscenes or simply as character models within Gallery Mode.

• Polpo, like in canon, does not appear in any battle, making his appearances in cutscenes.
• Notorious B.I.G.'s user, Carne, does not appear in the game or in Story Dramas.
• Mario Zucchero appears in the Story Drama during the events of Mystery of Soft Machine and Moody Blues' Retaliation.
• Sale appears in the Story Drama during the events of Enter Sex Pistols.
• Melone appears in the Story Drama during the events of Baby Face.
• Squalo and Tiziano appear in the Story Drama during the events of Clash and Talking Head.
• Scolippi appears in the Story Drama during the events of Sleeping Slaves.
• Risotto Nero appears deceased during a cutscene.
• Leaky-Eye Luca is completely removed from the story. His model can be viewed in Gallery Mode, however.
• Coco Jumbo appears during some cutscenes, usually held by the characters as more of an item.
• Koichi Hirose is completely removed from the story. Footage from early builds of the game have him with Echoes ACT3 as complete models, but he was dropped before the game's release.
• Jonathan Joestar, Jotaro Kujo, old Joseph Joestar, and Josuke Higashikata appear in the game's opening cutscene as images above Giorno, representing the past JoJo generations and how Giorno's truly takes after the Joestar bloodline.
• DIO appears in the game's opening cutscene as a photo inside Giorno's wallet.

International Release

The game was set to be released worldwide on October 2002 and was presented at Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2002, titled simply as GioGio's Bizarre Adventure. The release was eventually cancelled due to unknown reasons, the surmised culprit being copyright issues.

It would not be until JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle from CyberConnect2 and Bandai Namco that another JoJo game would see an international release, the first being Heritage for the Future, also a Capcom product.

Reception

On release Famitsu magazine scored the game a 31 out of 40.

Videos

00:36

PS2 GioGio's Bizarre Adventure Vento Aureo Trailer (2002)

04:33

GioGio's Bizarre Adventure- Character Intros

00:31

ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 黄金の旋風 cm

00:16

CM カプコン ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 黄金の風 （PS2）

00:55

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure- Golden Wind ps2

Trivia

• Polnareff's theme in the game is an orchestrated version of his theme from Heritage for the Future.
• This is the first game in its time to mention every previous JoJo protagonist from Parts 1 to 5, as Jonathan, Joseph (Part 3 appearance), Jotaro (Part 4 appearance), and Josuke appear as transparent visions above Giorno representing his inheriting their "golden spirit."
• Some of the voice actors on GioGio PS2 return to provide their voices to other characters in All-Star Battle.
  • Romi Park, who voiced Giorno Giovanna, later voiced Koichi Hirose in All-Star Battle and Eyes of Heaven.
  • Hiroaki Miura, who voiced Pannacotta Fugo, later voiced Joshu Higashikata in All-Star Battle and Eyes of Heaven.
• This game marks the second time anything related to Part 5 appears in other media. The first time was with Chariot Requiem's appearance during Polnareff's Level 3 super in Heritage for the Future.
• Beta pictures show Giorno with a different model, particularly visible in his face. He was polished before the game's release.
• This is currently the only game where Leone Abbacchio and Moody Blues are playable.
  • He was intended to be playable in Eyes of Heaven, but was deemed too difficult to make workable.

References

Official Site: ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 黄金の旋風

Instruction manual: Instruction manual at Giant Bomb

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