When you consider that the Steel Ball Run arc of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure has not gotten internationally published (outside of fan translations), it makes sense to feel lost. A lot happens in this section, including a change in focus to an alternate timeline! So, how can you make sense of it all?
Luckily, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R has a JoJo Glossary to catch gamers up to speed with this chapter of JoJo lore. However, you'll have to defeat both Steel Ball Run boss panels in All-Star Battle Mode to unlock its glossary. Or, you can skip the grinding and read the glossary here!
WARNING: This guide contains spoilers from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run.
Glossary terms are listed alphabetically over three sections. You can jump through these sections in the Table of Contents.
A-G
Ball Breaker
A technique whereby a horse follows a path described by a golden rectangle, developing infinite spin on another golden rectangle's path. The Zeppeli family discovered this hundreds of years ago, along with the Steel Ball throwing technique.
D4C
Funny Valentine's Stand. Able to move freely between parallel worlds, and takes others with it. Those who end up in a parallel world die if they come into contact with their doppelgangers.
Devil's Palm
A place in the Arizona Desert said to have been destroyed in the distant past by a meteorite strike, and now to be cursed. Those who end up there have powers awakened within them.
Diego Brando
A Steel Ball Run competitor known simply as "Dio." The original Dio of this world dies in battle with Valentine, but the parallel Dio takes his place. He beats Johnny, but is destroyed when Lucy shows him the corpse of this world's Dio.
Frightening Monsters
Diego Brando's Stand. Turns any organism into a dinosaur, including the user. This was originally Dr. Ferdinand's power, but Diego gained the Stand through the power of the Corpse.
Funny Valentine
The twenty-third President of the USA, who successfully defeats Dio, Hot Pants, and Gyro and company. However, Johnny's perfected nail bullets overwhelm him. He tries to use patriotism to win Johnny over, but fails and is killed.
Gyro Zeppeli
A Neapolitan praetor who learns the "Spin" technique, which produces a number of effects. He is killed in battle with Valentine in the end, but teaches Johnny to perfect his nail bullets with Complete Golden Spin Energy to defeat the President.
H-R
Holy Corpse
A body in nine parts: heart, left arm, eyes, head, ears, spinal cord, right arm, torso, and legs. By absorbing them, Stand abilities are unleashed which have miraculous effects, such as allowing paraplegics to walk again.
Johnny Joestar
User of the Stand Tusk. Johnny is a paraplegic who wishes to learn Gyro's "Spin" technique. He beats Valentine in the end, only to be narrowly defeated by a parallel Diego. Eliminated from the race, he returns home with Gyro's corpse and his horse.
Lucy Steel
Steven's fourteen year old wife who joins in the "Corpse Parts" race to protect her husband. After Valentine's death, she fears the implications of Dio beating Johnny, and ambushes the parallel Dio with the head of his corpse from this world.
Mike O
User of the Stand Tubular, he is the President's personal bodyguard. When he unleashes his balloons to dispatch some intruders, his airways get blocked and his throat swells up like a balloon to explode and kill him.
Philadelphia Seaside
The location of the final fight to the death between Johnny, Gyro, and Valentine. Gyro is killed, but his parting advice helps Johnny dispatch the President.
Pocoloco
A farmer from Georgia with a happy-go-lucky nature, believed to be a Stand user. He joins the Steel Ball Run after a fortune-teller tells him he can expect untold joy in two months' time. When Dio is disqualified, he moves up into first place.
Ringo Roadagain
User of the Stand Mando. His reasons for challenging Johnny and company are based on his own philosophy that brutality and murder help a person grow. He is defeated and killed in battle with Gyro, but his ideas have a deep impact on Gyro.
Rocky Mountain Village
The site of the third stage of the Steel Ball Run. Johnny and Gyro fought Dio for the eyes of the Holy Corpse.
S-Z
Scan
Gyro Zeppeli's Stand that lets him see inside or beyond things struck by the energy waves of his spinning Steel Balls. However, he loses it when he lets the corpse parts go, and it never develops as Johnny's Tusk Stand does.
Snow Mountain
A mysterious girl who lives in a tree stump by Lake Michigan. If people drop things, she offers to return them what they dropped, or something better. Honest people can keep both, but must use them by sundown or become part of the tree.
Steel Ball
An implement developed by the Zeppeli family for their "Spin" technique, primarily as a means of dispatching criminals on death sentences. However, it is also used in battle for both attack and defense.
Steel Ball Run
The first ever pan-American horse race, which started on a beach in San Diego at 10 AM, September 25th, 1890, and ran all the way to New York, covring a total distanced of about 6,000 km.
Steven Steel
A charismatic, middle-aged promoter, and organizer of the Steel Ball Run. He gathers Corpse Parts for Valentine, but then rebels against him to save his wife. He also saves Johnny when he's defeated by Diego in the final stage of the race.
Tusk Acts 1-4
Johnny Joestar's Stand, enacted due to the effects of Devil's Palm. It evolves at milestones in Johnny's own development, like when he learns the Spin from Gyro. Its final form is unhindered by dimensions when attacking.
Wekapipo
A former Neapolitan Imperial Guard. Plots to kill Gyro and company with Magnet Magent, but fails. Protects Lucy after this, but is used by Valentine in their fight to free Diego, and is then killed.