GioGio's Bizarre Adventure

Developer	Capcom
Publisher	Capcom
Platforms	PlayStation 2
Date	July 25, 2002 (Japan) Unreleased (elsewhere)
Links	Wikipedia MobyGames The Cutting Room Floor
Related	JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (Capcom)

GioGio's Bizarre Adventure (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind in Japanese) is a 3D action game that adapts part 5 of the manga JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. It was developed and published by Capcom, who made a 2D fighting game based on part 3 four years earlier. The graphics utilize a brand of cel-shading dubbed "Artistoon" to emulate the source material's art style. A planned release outside of Japan never materialized.

History

Capcom first announced the game during the 2001 Jump Festa (held on December 23 & 24, 2000), stating simply that it would be based on part 5 of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. Later that month, an issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump (the magazine that serialized the original manga at the time) revealed screenshots of the game to the public for the first time. (These included a 3D model of Koichi Hirose, a character who would not physically appear in the final product.) The game's official website subsequently went up on February 8.

The first trailer would debut at the 2001 Tokyo Game Show (held between March 30 and April 1). It focused on the game's graphics (mostly character models) in lieu of showing gameplay. Closer to its release, the game would receive a second announcement at the conclusion of a Capcom vs. SNK 2 tournament in Tokyo on January 13, 2002 (alongside fellow Capcom game Auto Modellista). Hirohiko Araki, the manga's author, revealed more footage from the game in a pre-recorded video. The first report of the title's Japanese release date - July 25, 2002 - came at the start of May, with the official website being heavily revamped under two weeks before that date.

Capcom first announced their intent to release the game outside of Japan in March 2003, alongside three other titles: Onimusha 2, Red Dead Revolver, and Auto Modellista. Afterward, they would exhibit it at E3 (as JoJo's Bizarre Adventure) and ECTS (as GioGio's Bizarre Adventure) in 2002. The company targeted a release in October of that year (which many sources reported as simply "fall"), with the ESRB specifically listing October 24, 2002. Some time between E3 and November 2002, the game was delayed to December. On the 12th of November, Capcom announced a second delay to Feburary 14, 2003 as part of a larger schedule adjustment. Capcom appears to have revised the game's release schedule once again around early 2003, though sources conflict on when the new window actually was: GamePro claimed that it would release in November of that year, whereas Entertainment Weekly suggested that it would come out in the summer. With no official story, some Internet users took to expressing confusion about the game's disappearance - not helped by American retailers listing release dates in May or June of that year. By the time Eurogamer covered Capcom's lineup of games at E3 2003, they interpreted GioGio's absence as a sign that its Western release had been canceled entirely. Ultimately, the game would never get an official release outside of Japan.

Covers

Japanese cover art
🇯🇵 2002

  Download File

Alternate planned American cover art
🇺🇸 2002

By this time, the ESRB had assigned the game an M rating.

  Download File

Previews

Weekly Shōnen Jump
🇯🇵 Early 2001

Watermarked by the Madman's Cafe

  Download File

Weekly Shōnen Jump
🇯🇵 Early 2001

Closeup #1; watermarked by the Madman's Cafe

  Download File

Weekly Shōnen Jump
🇯🇵 Early 2001

Closeup #2; watermarked by the Madman's Cafe

  Download File

NextGen
🇺🇸 June 2001

  Download File

Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine
🇺🇸 June 2001

  Download File

Electronic Gaming Monthly
🇺🇸 April 2002

  Download File

Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine
🇺🇸 June 2002

  Download File

PSM
🇺🇸 June 2002

  Download File

GamePro
🇺🇸 July 2002

  Download File

GamePro
🇺🇸 January 2003

Based on the Japanese version of the final game

  Download File

TGS 2001 trailer (Japanese)

E3 2002 trailer (watermarked by GameSpot)

Japanese trailer

• The Madman's Cafe article covering the original announcement at Jump Festa 2001 (January 7, 2001)
• IGN article covering the game's story and pre-release screenshots (February 9, 2001)
• GameSpot article about Capcom's pre-E3 conference, including a mention of GioGio's Bizarre Adventure (May 21, 2002)
• Official Capcom press release announcing the game's planned English release (May 22, 2002; archived via Wayback Machine)
• IGN hands-on E3 preview (May 22, 2002)
• IGN general E3 preview (May 22, 2002)
• GameSpot E3 preview (May 24, 2002)
• IGN report on Capcom's presence at ECTS 2002, including GioGio's Bizarre Adventure (August 29, 2002)
• Entertainment Weekly preview (February 7, 2003)

Interviews

This section is incomplete. The official Japanese website has some interviews with the game's staff.

Advertising

This section is incomplete. The official Japanese website has a section dedicated to images of promotional material.

Japanese television commercials (circa 2002)

30 seconds long

15 seconds long

30 seconds long (with heavy narration)

Reviews

• IGN import review (July 25, 2002; archived via archive.today)

Official websites (archived via Wayback Machine)

• Capcom's Jump Festa 2001 site, including a mention of the game's announcement (captured January 23, 2001)
• Pre-release website (captured December 2, 2001)
• Primary website (captured October 2, 2002)

Character videos

This section is incomplete. The official Japanese website has several promotional videos embedded in Flash files.

Books

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Everything About Golden Wind (ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 黄金の旋風のすべて)

A thorough introduction to every character & every stage!
A total of 27 pages are dedicated to exclusive interviews: one with the development staff and one solely with Hirohiko Araki!!!
Everything about "Golden Wind" draws near in this massive 300-page volume!!!!

ISBN 978-4-087791-8-84

Forum posts

2chan (Japanese)

• July 24, 2002 thread (about JoJo in general, though it has some discussion of this game)

Game-specific threads

• July 13 - 25, 2002
• July 25 - 27, 2002
• July 27 - 28, 2002
• July 28 - 29, 2002
• July 29 - 31, 2002
• July 31 - August 2, 2002
• August 2 - 16, 2002

English

• "E3 2K2: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure => Viewtiful Joe?" (wherein someone who saw the game at E3 2002 posits that it may have been retooled into an entirely separate title; began March 18, 2003)

Capcom BBS (archived via Wayback Machine)

• "The new jojo game on the ps2. Whats your opinion" (sic; a topic discussing previews of the game that began on October 1, 2001)

IGN boards

Dedicated subforum (archived via Wayback Machine)

• "Welcome this board." (a topic with little discussion of the game itself; began July 17, 2002)
• "Anybody played this game?" (an attempt to solicit opinions on the game; began January 7, 2003)
• " <<<Jojo's Bizarre Adventure community thread>>>" (began January 10, 2003)

Fighting Game Board

• "Anyone know anything about the New JO JO's Bizarre Adventure game for the PS2?" (wherein users speculate about when the game would release; began May 4, 2003)

Histories

Short video narrative explaining the game's non-release outside of Japan

Other links

• Japanese fansite/strategy guide (archived via Wayback Machine on August 3, 2002)