Frequently Asked Questions
What's the tier list?
2024 Community Tier List
As of 2024, this is the most up-to-date tier list:
SS Tier (Banned): Kakyoin, Pet Shop
S Tier: Vanilla Ice, Polnareff, Jotaro, New Kakyoin, Avdol
A Tier: DIO, Chaka, Devo, Midler, Rubber Soul, Shadow DIO
B Tier: Alessi, Iggy, Old Joseph, Hol Horse
C Tier: Black Polnareff, Khan, Young Joseph
D Tier: Hoingo, Mariah
Other Tier Lists
2021 Fightcade Tier List by BiLL
BiLL's tier list from 2021 was the most agreed upon tier list for Fightcade back in 2021.
SS Tier (Banned in tournaments): Kakyoin, Pet Shop
S Tier: Vanilla Ice, Polnareff, Jotaro, Avdol
A Tier: New Kakyoin, DIO, Chaka, Midler, Devo
B Tier: Alessi, Shadow DIO, Iggy, Rubber Soul, Hol Horse
C Tier: Old Joseph, Young Joseph, Khan, Black Polnareff
D Tier: Hoingo, Mariah
Japanese Arcade Tier List by SQ
SS+ (God) Tier: Kakyoin, Petshop
S (Top) Tier: Vanilla Ice, Polnareff, Jotaro
A (High) Tier: Avdol, DIO, New Kakyoin
B+ (Above Average) Tier: Chaka, Midler
B (Average) Tier: Iggy, Devo, Shadow DIO
C (Low) Tier: Alessi, Rubber Soul, Old Joseph
D+ (Upper Bottom) Tier: Young Joseph, Hol Horse, Khan
D (Bottom) Tier: Black Polnareff, Mariah, Hoingo
Who should I play?
The easy answer is you should play the character you think is the coolest. Playing a simpler character to learn the game won't teach you anything about the character you actually want to play, so if you already have a character in mind, there's no reason to avoid playing them right off the bat.
I'm a beginner. Which characters would be good for me?
However, it's impossible to deny that some characters are better suited to beginners:
Jotaro is a close range brawler with equally strong options in the midrange. Gets his hits by outspeeding or outboxing the opponent's moves before converting said hits into combos with monstrous damage that lead to oppressive 50/50 okizeme.
Shadow Dio is unique midrange character that rewards reading and conditioning the opponent. Very feast-or-famine, as he has excellent damage, okizeme and movement but starts to struggle as soon as he's put on the back foot due to his weak defensive options.
Chaka is a Weapon Stand character focused on close range combat. Constantly switches between Stand OFF's excellent mobility and Stand ON's higher variety of options including access to the situational but strong Learning Counter.
Avdol is a jack-of-all-trades who heavily rewards fighting game fundamentals. His lack of any real weakness allows him to adapt to nearly any situation or matchup. Has some of the best-in-class tools for nearly any situation, although he can struggle to take back momentum once he's at a disadvantage.
Hol Horse is a zoning oriented character with several useful projectile attacks at his disposal. Although he is quite limited up close, his gameplan relies on frustrating the opponent to make mistakes before punishing them with anything ranging from basic positional advantage to Touch-of-Death combos.
I don't care about the simple characters, show me the cool ones!
One of the best things about HFTF is just how inventive some of the characters in the cast are (for better or for worse):
New Kakyoin is a zoner-rushdown hybrid that combines oppressive limb zoning with equally oppressive mixups thanks to his unique Stand ON hoverdash. Also has access to Nets, which bolster every facet of his gameplay.
Iggy is a dog. Play someone else.
Mariah is a setup-based zoner with a unique level-up mechanic. Although she’s far weaker than most of the cast, landing hits with her Outlet S-Moves will upgrade all her special and super moves, leveling the playing field somewhat.
Alessi fights in the midrange and gets the bulk of his damage through his unique Child Transformation mechanic - hitting the opponent with certain moves will transform them into a child that can’t block, which allows him to wail on them while they’re defenseless
Devo is widely considered to be the first real example of a puppet character, and he embodies the archetype perfectly. Effective doll placement allows Devo to attack from two directions, which gives him obscene damage, mixup potential and neutral control.
There are banned characters?
The two characters widely considered the strongest - 
Kakyoin and 
Pet Shop - are generally not legal to use in most tournaments for this game. Even though they're banned from tournaments, you can still play them outside bracket - just keep in mind that some people might ask you to switch.
I heard this game was really unbalanced.
It's true that the gap in character strength between the best and worst characters in the game is massive. Despite this, unless the matchup being played is one with an extreme tier gap the game is generally fairly balanced, if a bit skewed. Still, if winning is important to you, keep in mind that characters below high/mid tier will have to face extremely difficult challenges when fighting the strongest characters.
Troubleshooting
Why won't my game open?
There may be multiple reasons for your game not opening. Some common ones are:
- You may have the incorrect ROM - Use this guide to install the game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hIG22y8MV0 (krypton.sh is back up now as of June 2024)
- Extracting the ROM files - The ROMs may come in .zip files, but do not extract them! They must be in seperate jojoba.zip and jojobanr1.zip files.
- The ROMs may not be named correctly - you must have .zip files named jojoba with 42 jojoba-simm files inside and jojobanr1 with 8 jojoba-simm files and a jojoba_japan_nocd file inside.
- There is many more reasons not listed, but there is a #hftf-questions channel in the JJBAHFTF Discord server where you can ask questions and get answers.
How do I change the game's language to English?
Once the game is running, go to Input > Set dipswitches and change the Region switch to your region of choice, as all non-Japan regions have the game in English. Make sure to change it back to Japan for playing online, as not only does the change not matter due to the game being launched from a save state, it could cause a desync when the game is reset if your opponent has a different setting to you!
How do I set my controls / Why is my controller not working?
In order for the Fightcade emulator to recognise your controller, it must be plugged in and ready before you launch the game. Once the game is launched, go to Input > Map game inputs or press the F5 key on your keyboard to open the menu where you can configure your inputs. Make sure that none of your inputs conflict, especially the Not in use inputs as this can harm your ability to perform certain special moves.
How do I unlock the secret characters?
You don't need to unlock the secret characters for playing online or using training mode, but in case you wish to play single player or offline using the characters then follow this guide:
- Enter the test menu (The default bind for this is the F2 key)
- Use Player 1 inputs to select menu option 7 and open another menu
- Select option 2 on this second menu
- Input the following: Up, Down, Right, Left, Light Attack, Medium Attack, Heavy Attack, Stand (8 2 6 4 A B C S in numpad notation)
- If done correctly, you will hear DIO's battle cry
- Select the final option in the next two menus until you see "Saving Configuration to EEPROM"
- Leave the test menu by either resetting the game with the F3 key or selecting the final option
- Now, when you enter a local game, the secret characters should be to the left of Jotaro and the right of DIO on the character select screen.
How do I enter training mode?
Fightcade's universal training mode does work well for HFTF, but there is a community-made alternative that works better. You can follow this guide to install and use it: https://youtu.be/elxozUdzyTg
I heard this game has interesting debug characters, where are they?
HFTF has a small selection of unfinished debug characters that were not meant to be played. And so, they were played. While competitively banned, the debug characters still have intrigue around them, most notably Death 13 and Boss Ice. Death 13's wiki page can be found here, and Boss Ice's page can be found here. Other debug characters, such as N'doul and Gray Fly, are nowhere near as complete or working, meaning they do not have their own wiki pages.
