Johnny Sfondi

"I'm a very busy man with half the world's population counting on me..."

- Johnny

Johnny is a hero from Guilty Gear. He made his first appearance in Guilty Gear, as a central character in May's storyline, and debuted as a playable character in Guilty Gear X. Johnny is the captain of the Jellyfish Pirates, a group of sky-pirates sworn to help those less fortunate, which happens to consist mostly of very young girls. Johnny's flirty, debonair, swordslinging demeanor hides a man dedicated to the noble idea of caring for others.

Character Design
Johnny is tall, muscled, and tan. He sports a black outfit, sparsely adorned with golden beads. The outfit consists of long, well-fitting pants, a large gunslinger-style belt worn diagonally, and a long collared trench coat, left unbuttoned to ensure his chest remains visible. Johnny has long blond hair, which he usually keeps in a pony-tail. He wears a wide-rimmed Cowboy-style hat which bears a skull insignia, and a pair of dark sunglasses complete his outfit. In battle, he wields a wooden-handled Katana, and is a master of the Iaido style of swordsmanship.

Personality
Johnny is a daring, suave, and passionate man, who often appears somewhat aloof, carefree, and a bit self-absorbed. A self-proclaimed ladies man, Johnny appreciates his own beauty, frequently commenting on it to other characters throughout the series. He is a compulsive womanizer, hitting on nearly every female character he encounters, plus Bridget (who he had mistook for a girl). Beneath his swash-buckling, somewhat surly persona, Johnny has a good heart. He founded the Jellyfish pirates in order to help those less fortunate than himself, and he cares for May, Dizzy and the other members of his crew very deeply, often going to great lengths to protect them from harm, and reassuring them on numerous occasions that they are as family to him.

Stats

 * Origin: America
 * Birthday: October 24
 * Hobbies: Finding good women
 * Likes: Prized guitar collection
 * Dislikes: People who don't get jokes

Background
Johnny was heavily influenced by his father, a noble man always eager to help those in need, caring for anyone who might enter their home, even strangers. When Johnny was young, his father was killed by a Gear. Johnny was left orphaned, the loss of his father paining him deeply. Through this loss, Johnny grew to know the pain of loneliness, of a world without love, yet he was not consumed by revenge, nor did he develop a hatred of the Gears. Instead, he was inspired by the example with which his father had left him. Through this example, he realized that love is something which must be given, not only desired, and he resolved to follow in his father's footsteps by helping those less fortunate, be they Man or Gear. He founded his band of Sky-Pirates, and began running his Robin Hood operation aboard a stolen hover-carrier later re-named the Mayship. The majority of the Jellyfish Pirates are orphans whom Johnny adopted and raised, among them May, the namesake of the pirates' airship. May harbors very strong feelings for Johnny, viewing him as both a father and brother figure, and even as a boyfriend.

Though the extent is uncertain, Johnny is known to have "connections," to Ky Kiske, as well as Gabriel. In Accent Core, it appears he is acquainted with Crow in some way.

Guilty Gear
Though Johnny is not a playable character in the original Guilty Gear, he is present in May's storyline. Prior to the game, Johnny was caught and imprisoned for his Robin Hood-like escapades. May enters the tournament, hoping to use the prize to free Johnny, but he escapes before she can rescue him (by charming the female guard, though he tells his crew he "fought" his way out). May secretly desires for Johnny to see her as a woman, so she and he can be together romantically.

Guilty Gear X Drama CD's
The Story begins with Johnny and May shopping for clothes; May wants a wedding dress. However, Johnny denies her request, and while the Shopkeeper is trying to swindle Johnny into buying things, he mentions some newly discovered ruins from the old world nearby and Johnny and May pay the ruins/tourist attraction a visit. May is excited, thinking of this as a date with Johnny, though he seems oblivious, and she is disappointed to find the insides of the ruins to be less romantic than she might have hoped. Ky shows up shortly afterwards, investigating the ruins himself, and the ticket-taker is quite upset about his intrusion. Ky takes note of Johnny, and attempts to arrest him in spite of being in his debt for Johnny's aid in defending villagers during an early incident (The Blackard Incident, detailed in the Novel Lighting the Argent).

The imminent fight begins, and May fights Ky's subordinates, easily defeating them, before engaging Ky himself in Johnny's defense. Johnny comments that it is too dangerous to be fighting in a place like this, but May unleashes a powerful attack against Ky, causing the Ruins to start crumbling. The commotion causes an ancient piece of Blacktech to activate, displaying a holographic projection from a golden disk, which contains all kinds of information about old world technologies. Ky and May rush towards the disk, and thinking quickly Johnny slices it in half, so as to prevent Ky from obtaining the entire thing. He and May escape with half of the Blacktech.

After escaping, May relays the story of what happened to April, complete with flattering imitations of Johnny. April then speaks with Johnny that she's heard a rumor: these sorts of gold tablets being found before. He tells her to go to where they were found, and April sets a course for the Thor Museum. These rumors were, however, false; they were planted by Venom and the Assassin's syndicate to lure the Pirates into a trap in an attempt to gain their half of the Blacktech. However, Johnny and May manage to defeat Venom, foil their back-up plan and escape together on the Mayship.

Back on the Mayship, Johnny decides that the Blacktech is too dangerous to be kept, lest it fall into the wrong hands. He destroys it, and fashions pendants for May and the other girls on his crew from the golden disk. Since it is close to his Birthday, they all decide to get him something nice in return, but May forfeits this group effort, hoping instead to earn the money and get Johnny something special just from her, 'as a woman'.

Guilty Gear X
Johnny spends the entire game hitting on the female characters on his way to rescuing Dizzy from the 500,000 World Dollar bounty on her head. He has two endings: one in which, having been distracted by a fight with May, he comes home to find that Dizzy had been already brought back to the Mayship as a surprise "birthday present". This is probably not canon because it would imply that May met Testament, who she did not recognize in Guilty Gear XX. In the other, he meets Dizzy directly, and takes her home to the Mayship.

Guilty Gear XX
After an initial battle in which I-No attacks the Mayship, the story splits. In one path, Johnny runs off to rescue Dizzy; in his first ending, he rescues her and defeats I-No, and then carries Dizzy back to the Mayship because of slightly injured legs. In his second ending, Testament got to I-No first, and is reluctant to let Dizzy continue to live with the Jellyfish Pirates until Johnny defeats him.

The other story path involves other people coming to the May Ship, and ends with a fight against a group of Robo-Kys, and Ky Kiske joins the fight as they wonder what the Post-War Administration Bureau is up to...

Guilty Gear XX Accent Core
Johnny has been growing rather concerned, for he senses May might be beginning to wonder about her life before Johnny. Conflicted about whether or not to explain May's Japanese heritage, Johnny senses that Dizzy misses Testament, and goes to find him in order to persuade him to visit her. Johnny persuades Testament to visit Dizzy, and depending upon the players performance the story splits.

In Path 1, Johnny seeks out Baiken in order to find out more about the Japanese, but he is found by May who misinterprets the venture as Johnny flirting with Baiken (which he was). May runs off, angry. She is attacked by Eddie, but saved by Johnny. Johnny then prepares to launch an attack on the Post-War Administration Bureau, and calls April to pick up the unconscious May so she will be safe. Crow and Johnny have a conversation, and after defeating Crow's Justice Copy, May shows up, having followed Johnny without his knowledge. As Crow flees, he mentions May's Japanese heritage, which appears to deeply affect May. She meekly asks Johnny if it is safe for her to be with him and the others. He responds by indignantly brushing off the question, and assuring May that she is a part of his family, and he will protect her from anything.

In Path 2, Anji shows up, and Johnny instead discusses his May dilemma with him. He finds branch of the Post-War Administration Bureau, before hearing a loud sound and rushing off to help Ky calm an enraged Dizzy. He is successful, and Ky, Dizzy, Johnny and May board the Mayship and head towards the P.W.A.B branch. Johnny decides to leave the P.W.A.B to Ky when his ship is attacked by Zappa. However, the insuing conflict causes the ship to crash into the P.W.A.B. Here, Johnny and May encounter Crow, who lets the secret of May's origins slip. Johnny struggles to comfort May; however, this time, his efforts are insufficient, and she disappears in search of answers. After searching for May, the crew gathers back on the May Ship. Johnny remarks that he is certain they will find May, since she is family. This lifts the spirits of his crew and the set sail. Johnny quietly remarks to himself a much less confident hope, that May will return, for the Jellyfish Pirates are her true home.

Guilty Gear Dust Strikers
Throughout the story, it seems Johnny is doing nothing but getting caught up in random fights. Johnny also flirts with the female characters of the Guilty Gear cast (excluding May and Dizzy). It is soon revealed he was searching for Gig, and while fighting Gig, Johnny shows some restraint towards it. After defeating Gig, Johnny reveals how he did not want it to end this way. Judging by the way he speaks to Gig, it can be assumed they once new each other with Johnny saying 'Old friend' before Gig dies. In his ending, Johnny returns to the Mayship, where May hugs him and ask where he has been, Johnny doesn't reply, and tells her he needs to relax because of such a long and busy day.

Gameplay
Johnny is a very awkward character to the untrained player; he cannot run, and his normals have a lot of lag. The later issue can be circumvented through a technique known as "Mist-Canceling," by attacking with any move which can be special canceled, going into Mist Stance (236P/S/K), and quickly canceling the stance. This circumvents the recovery animations of many of Johnny's attacks, and enables him to apply pressure more effectively, though his attacks must connect in order to be canceled in this manner. In Guilty Gear X, his mist cancels were incredibly fast, inabling him to execute some of the highest damage Tension-less combos in the entire game; they have since been considerably nerfed, but are still a crucial part of Johnny's gameplay.

Johnny can throw coins at his foes (236HS); he begins each round with eight coins. While a very impressive move in its own right, coins are also used to power up Johnny's Mist Finers (236P,K,S), three rapid sword slashes which can hit either high, low or mid, and are executed from Mist Stance. The effects of Mist Finers vary with coin level; with level 2 increasing combo possibilities and damage, and level three being a multi-hit combo in its own right. These moves were key to Johnny's famous "Mist Loops", possible in most versions of the game, though different loops are used in different games. In earlier installments, his level 2 low and mid finers "popped" the opponent up, allowing for a devestating follow-up; in Accent Core, their effects have been changed. Level 2 Mid now causes slide, and Level 2 Low launches the foe backwards; both still open up options for Johnny, with Mid being crucial to his AC Enkasu corner traps, and Low allowing for an air combo. The damage dealt, both by the Finers and their follow-ups is lessened, however, and his earlier Finers are generally prefered by Johnny players. Johnny's Ensenga (41236HS in air) can be TK'd, serving as a situational overhead, and his primary aerial combo finisher. The attack hits twice, with the first hit being untechable. Many of Johnny's more advanced options revolve around corner traps involving these "one-hit" Ensengas, and his Bacchus Sigh (214P), which causes mist to envelop his foe, and makes his Mist Finers unblockable. In Accent Core, Johnny's Bacchus Sigh suffered greatly, as it is now among the game's slowest moves, making his old mist-traps much more difficult to execute. His throw, though simple, is perhaps the game's best, as it guarantees an air combo/coin.

In past installments, Johnny's Divine Blade was his staple air combo move, with "Jump-Installed" Divine Blade Combos being some of Johnny's fiercest options. However, as of Accent Core, Divine Blade (623S, S, or aerial 623S) has been nerfed and replaced with Killer Joker (421S, S or aerial 421S) as his primary tool for extended aerial combos; like Divine Blade, it can be FRC'd, and it also restores Johnny's jump/AD. Johnny's Jackhound (214HS/D), a move gained in GGXX Slash, and his Force Break in GGXX:AC, is a quick "dash" which causes stagger on hit, and can be used to quickly close the distance between himself and a foe. Its properties are improved when executed from Mist Stance. His single overdrive, "What is my Name" (632146HS), does solid damage, and is useful for escaping tough spots due to its invincibility frames and high/upper hitbox.

A recent changelog for the upcoming Accent Core Plus R has revealed that Johnny has gained several new tools that could potentially raise him from the lower tiers in the long run. Bacchus Sigh, which is necessary to make his Mist Finer unblockable, has become more useful as it now comes out and travels much faster than before. This could potentially prove to be quite helpful in bolstering Johnny's overall momentum. He has also gained a different version of his EX form's nameless second Overdrive (236236+HS in the air).

Musical Themes

 * Liquor Bar & Drunkard - Guilty Gear X and Guilty Gear XX
 * Desert Dust - Guilty Gear XX: ♯Reload Korean OST
 * Exceptional Routine Work - Guilty Gear Isuka

References & Allusions

 * Johnny wears all black, a possible reference to country/rock legend Johnny Cash, who was known as "The Man in Black." It is also likely that Johnny's appearance, namely his hair and outfit, is a reference to Johnny Winter.
 * One of Johnny's attacks, "Glitter Is Gold", is a reference to the opening lines of Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven."

Trivia

 * Johnny uses the "Uncho Shihan Jikiden" style of Iaido, which can be roughly translated as "Cloud Sword-Fighting Style," which accounts for much of his focus on "Mist" techniques.
 * Because of his Ensenga special move, many players mistake Johnny as a fire magic user, when he is actually just slicing a liquor bottle midair.
 * Johnny shares his name, and many of his personality traits, with Cartoon ladies man, Johnny Bravo.
 * In the same vein of I-No, Johnny's voice is done by Norio Wakamoto, a man who is known for his roles as various villains in other anime/video game titles. In this case, however, Johnny is merely a rebellious, but good-hearted man, rather than completely evil.