Anime Apocalypse rolled out its Steel Ball Run update on 9/12/2026, and the headline addition is Joe Kid, an ability built around Johnny Joestar. It fires nails through the Tusk stand, layers in a movement skill, and finishes with a cinematic Ultimate. The same patch also drops a new gamemode, a new boss, two titles, a cosmetic set, a pet, and three bundles.
Quick answer: Joe Kid’s full kit is M1 nail shots, Wormhole (Z), Golden Spin (X), Chuminin Pursuit (C), Final Point (V), and the Ultimate on G. You can confirm you own it when Joe Kid appears in the ability menu with its stats and description shown.
What the Steel Ball Run update adds to Anime Apocalypse
The update screen lists everything that shipped on 9/12/2026. Joe Kid is the centerpiece, but the patch touches modes, cosmetics, and the store at the same time.
| Type | Name |
|---|---|
| Ability | Joe Kid |
| Gamemode | Bizarre Pursuit |
| Boss | The Steel Rider |
| Title | The Fastest Joker Alive |
| Title | No.1 Jockey |
| Cosmetic | Johnny Fit |
| Pet | Wheelchair |
| Bundle | Joe Kid Bundle |
| Bundle | Johnny Cosmetics Bundle |
| Bundle | Race Tickets |
Joe Kid moveset and key bindings
Joe Kid follows the standard Anime Apocalypse layout of four skills plus an Ultimate, with the basic attack on the left mouse button. In-game, the ability is described as Johnny riding the Golden Spin while Tusk fires the nails.
| Key | Move | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| M1 | Basic attack | Fires nails at enemies in front of you. |
| Z | Wormhole | Stays active while you keep moving around. |
| X | Golden Spin | Spin-powered damage move. |
| C | Chuminin Pursuit | Pursuit-style attack skill. |
| V | Final Point | Damage skill in the back half of the kit. |
| G | Ultimate | Triggers a cinematic beatdown cutscene with Tusk. |
Note: the ability menu itself lists Z as Golden Spin, C as Chuminin Pursuit, and V as Final Point. In practice, Wormhole sits on Z and Golden Spin on X, so trust the keys you see on your own hotbar if the two ever disagree.
The Ultimate is the flashiest part of the kit but lands in the middle of the pack among the game’s cinematic finishers, roughly a 6.5 to 7 out of 10 in terms of impact.
How to get Joe Kid and reroll its trait
Joe Kid also has a store route. The Joe Kid Bundle packages the ability with the rest of its contents, and the Johnny Cosmetics Bundle covers the Johnny Fit outfit side of the patch.
Testing Joe Kid in the tutorial level
The tutorial run is the cleanest place to learn the kit, because each stage introduces one piece of the moveset without pressure. Yellow arrows on the ground mark the path forward, and the first gate opens as soon as you touch it.
Movement matters with this ability because Wormhole lets you keep repositioning while it is active. The tutorial teaches the slide separately, prompting you to hold CTRL, which pairs well with staying mobile between skill casts.
Between stages you pick an upgrade card. Gadget Mastery, for example, grants +5% Gadget Gain for the rest of the run, so choose based on whether you are leaning on your gadget or on Joe Kid’s own cooldowns.
How Joe Kid differs from the Spin ability
Anime Apocalypse already had a Steel Ball Run ability before this patch. Spin is the Exclusive-rarity ability modeled on Gyro Zeppeli, and it throws steel balls rather than nails. Knowing which one you are chasing avoids wasted rerolls.
| Joe Kid | Spin | |
|---|---|---|
| Based on | Johnny Joestar | Gyro Zeppeli |
| Basic attack | Nail shots via Tusk | Four-hit combo ending in a barrage |
| Signature moves | Wormhole, Golden Spin, Chuminin Pursuit, Final Point | Bowling Strike, Golden Ratio, Ball Breaker, Spin Cycle |
| How to obtain | Ability spins or the Joe Kid Bundle | Gairo drop in The Wild West raid, Raid Shop, or the Spin Bundle |
Spin drops from the Gairo boss at a 1% rate, can be bought for 2,500 Star Coins in the Raid Shop, or comes in the 1,199 Robux Spin Bundle alongside the Steel Ball Run Title, 30 Trait Rerolls, 40 Gadget Lucky Spins, 40 Ability Lucky Spins, and 100,000 Coins.
The anime tie-in behind the update
Johnny Joestar and Tusk come from Steel Ball Run, the seventh part of Hirohiko Araki’s JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. Johnny is a paraplegic former jockey who enters a cross-country horse race from San Diego to New York for a $50 million prize, chasing Gyro Zeppeli’s Spin technique. Tusk lets him fire his fingernails as bullets, which is exactly the mechanic the ability’s M1 and nail-based skills reproduce.
David Production’s anime adaptation premiered on Netflix on March 19, 2026 with a single 47-minute 1st Stage episode. The 2nd Stage begins streaming on September 25, 2026, with new episodes weekly on Fridays and 11 episodes covering the 2nd and 3rd stages.
If you are deciding whether to chase Joe Kid, the deciding factor is play style rather than raw numbers. The kit rewards staying mobile with Wormhole and spacing your nail shots, and the Ultimate is more spectacle than a run-winning button. Grab it through ability spins if you have them banked, then spend a reroll or two before committing to any upgrade path.
