Rival Schools: United By Fate
Encyclopedia
is a competitive fighting game
produced by Capcom
originally released as an arcade game
in 1997 and ported to the PlayStation in 1998.
Marvel vs. Capcom game, with some notable differences. Control wise, the game varies from other Capcom fighting games by only having four buttons (two punches and two kicks, which is closer to the SNK
game format) rather than the standard six. A player chooses a team of two characters, and fights against another two character team.
The actual fights, however, are one-on-one fights, with the partner only participating by being called in when a player has enough 'vigor' for a Team Up attack, done by pressing a punch and kick button of the same pressure. The Team Ups would be some kind of double team attack by the character and partner, or (for most female characters' Team Ups) would heal the main character or give them more vigor. After the end of a round, a player (win or lose) has a choice to fight the next round with the partner from the previous round, or to keep their main character in play. The 'vigor' meter (essentially a super meter) could go up to 9 levels, with Team Ups costing two levels and super moves from a single person all costing one level of vigor. Much like the Marvel vs. Capcom games, launchers can be done that allow air combos to be performed, with all characters having universal low and high launchers.
The game also had a few defensive techniques.
ese city
called Aoharu City, where several local schools are the victims of unknown attacks and kidnappings of students and staff. The various characters in the game set out to find who is responsible for the attacks on their school, with the cut-scenes and fights portraying their interactions with the other schools and among themselves. Eventually, the story reveals that an elite school in the city, Justice High, is responsible for the attacks. The player's team eventually faces off against Raizo Imawano, the principal of the school, and first boss of the game. If certain requirements are met during the fight against Raizo, the story would continue as the player would then head into a true final boss fight against Hyo Imawano, Raizo's nephew and the true mastermind behind the events of the game.
The structure of the single player game of Rival Schools varied depending on how characters were selected. If two characters from the same school were selected (with a few exceptions), single-player would play in a progressing story with fights predetermined beforehand and each fight preceding and ending with short 2D cut-scenes to explain the story. If two characters from different schools were chosen, the single-player mode would instead play similar to other fighting games, with the player's chosen team fighting against random teams of opponents before facing the boss. In the arcade, character selection was initially limited to selecting two characters from the same school and free selection of any character was accessed through time; the PlayStation versions, which included all characters unlocked by default, had no such restrictions.
The PlayStation port came packed with a second disc dubbed the "Evolution Disc". This game featured four additional secret characters. All four share the same character selection slot and have various moves from other characters already in the game. They have a combined game ending, linking them all to Hayato.
teacher) and Daigo Kazama (a teenage gang
leader and the elder brother of Akira, who was a non-playable supporting character in the arcade version).
The second disc, named the Evolution Disc, featured several new games to complement the arcade original. This disc included several minigame
s based on some of the students' activities and the Nekketsu Seisyun Nikki mode, a character creation
mode in the form of a date simulation. In this mode, a player would be able to create a student and go through a typical school year. Over this time, the custom character could develop friendships with any of the characters at the various schools, which allowed to give the custom character moves and reveal bits and pieces about the existing characters and their backgrounds. Once the custom character was finished with the school year, it could be used in any of the normal fighting modes, save for the original Arcade game.
Capcom translated most of the games on the Evolution Disc for the English localization, and planned to include the character creation mode (rebranded as "School Life") as well, but unfortunately later abandoned the character creation mode, citing the amount of time it would take to translate it from Japanese to English. The rest of the extra modes featured in the Evolution Disc were still included in the overseas versions.
and Europe
for arcades and the Dreamcast. In comparison to Rival Schools, Project Justice featured teams of 3, adding three-person team-up attacks and the ability to interrupt and stop 2-person team-ups. Like the previous game, Project Justice included a character-creation mode that came in the form of a virtual board game. This creation mode also was never released outside of Japan due to localization issues.
A comic book
tie-in based on Rival Schools was produced by UDON
Studios, with its first issue published on May 17, 2006, with art by Corey Lewis
. Originally, the comic was to be produced by Dreamwave Productions
, but when Dreamwave showed signs of financial failure, the rights of the comic were sold to UDON, who already produced the successful Street Fighter
comic. The comic has the Rival Schools series take place in the same universe as the main Street Fighter series, thereby explaining Sakura's involvement in the first Rival Schools game. The manga was made available on August 31, 2007 in the U.S.
Fighting game
Fighting game is a video game genre where the player controls an on-screen character and engages in close combat with an opponent. These characters tend to be of equal power and fight matches consisting of several rounds, which take place in an arena. Players must master techniques such as...
produced by Capcom
Capcom
is a Japanese developer and publisher of video games, known for creating multi-million-selling franchises such as Devil May Cry, Chaos Legion, Street Fighter, Mega Man and Resident Evil. Capcom developed and published Bionic Commando, Lost Planet and Dark Void too, but they are less known. Its...
originally released as an arcade game
Arcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
in 1997 and ported to the PlayStation in 1998.
Gameplay
The main fighting game is best described as a polygonal3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
Marvel vs. Capcom game, with some notable differences. Control wise, the game varies from other Capcom fighting games by only having four buttons (two punches and two kicks, which is closer to the SNK
SNK Playmore
SNK Playmore Corporation is a Japanese video game hardware and software company. SNK is an acronym of , which was SNK's original name. The company's legal and trading name became SNK in 1986....
game format) rather than the standard six. A player chooses a team of two characters, and fights against another two character team.
The actual fights, however, are one-on-one fights, with the partner only participating by being called in when a player has enough 'vigor' for a Team Up attack, done by pressing a punch and kick button of the same pressure. The Team Ups would be some kind of double team attack by the character and partner, or (for most female characters' Team Ups) would heal the main character or give them more vigor. After the end of a round, a player (win or lose) has a choice to fight the next round with the partner from the previous round, or to keep their main character in play. The 'vigor' meter (essentially a super meter) could go up to 9 levels, with Team Ups costing two levels and super moves from a single person all costing one level of vigor. Much like the Marvel vs. Capcom games, launchers can be done that allow air combos to be performed, with all characters having universal low and high launchers.
The game also had a few defensive techniques.
- Tardy Counters acted much like Alpha Counters from Street Fighter Alpha, allowing a player to immediately counter-attack from a blocking position. However, the restrictions on Tardy Counters are very lax; any hard normal, special or super attack can be used to Tardy counter (Alpha counters are only limited to certain special moves for each character), and Tardy Counters do not cost any extra vigor to perform (Alpha Counters required at least a level of Super Combo gauge to do).
- Attack Cancels allowed a player to cancel an incoming hit simply by timing their own hit with the attack, which would cancel out both attacks (though it does not nullify the remaining hits of a multi-hit move).
Plot
The story of Rival Schools introduces the player to a JapanJapan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese city
City
A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.For example, in the U.S...
called Aoharu City, where several local schools are the victims of unknown attacks and kidnappings of students and staff. The various characters in the game set out to find who is responsible for the attacks on their school, with the cut-scenes and fights portraying their interactions with the other schools and among themselves. Eventually, the story reveals that an elite school in the city, Justice High, is responsible for the attacks. The player's team eventually faces off against Raizo Imawano, the principal of the school, and first boss of the game. If certain requirements are met during the fight against Raizo, the story would continue as the player would then head into a true final boss fight against Hyo Imawano, Raizo's nephew and the true mastermind behind the events of the game.
The structure of the single player game of Rival Schools varied depending on how characters were selected. If two characters from the same school were selected (with a few exceptions), single-player would play in a progressing story with fights predetermined beforehand and each fight preceding and ending with short 2D cut-scenes to explain the story. If two characters from different schools were chosen, the single-player mode would instead play similar to other fighting games, with the player's chosen team fighting against random teams of opponents before facing the boss. In the arcade, character selection was initially limited to selecting two characters from the same school and free selection of any character was accessed through time; the PlayStation versions, which included all characters unlocked by default, had no such restrictions.
Taiyo High School
Their school motto is "A liberated school tradition yields carefree students". While it is an albeit typical Japanese high school, Taiyo's rules follow tradition with relaxed emphasis, allowing a better atmosphere, and allows student individuality.- Batsu Ichimonji - The main character of the game. A recent transfer to Taiyo High, he is looking for his kidnapped mother.
- Hinata Wakaba - A first-year student at Taiyo. She immediately joins Batsu in the investigation of his mother's disappearance.
- Kyosuke Kagami - A first-year student and member of the school's morals committee. He too joins Batsu in his investigation.
- Hayato Nekketsu - First appears in the PlayStation port of the game. A PEPhysical educationPhysical education or gymnastics is a course taken during primary and secondary education that encourages psychomotor learning in a play or movement exploration setting....
teacher from Taiyo, he seeks out the people responsible for the attacks in order to help his students and to watch over them. - Ran Hibiki - Appearing only in Nekketsu Seisyun Nikki 2, she is a journalist for the Taiyo student newspaper looking for a scoop on the kidnappings and attacks.
Gorin High School
Their school motto is "a healthy mind, a strong body, and Olympian training". They are a sports based school, training students not only in academics, but with an emphasis on athletics. A majority of the students that go there usually are picked for national championships and teams.- Shoma Sawamura - A baseballBaseballBaseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
player for Gorin High. He seeks out the people responsible for injuring his older brother, Shuichi. - Natsu Ayuhara - A volleyballVolleyballVolleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...
player for Gorin. Like Shoma, she seeks the people responsible for hurting her junior high pupils. - Roberto Miura - An association football player for Gorin. He helps Shoma and Natsu in their pursuit, as well as serving as a mediator for arguments between the two.
- Nagare Namikawa - Appearing only in Nekketsu Seisyun Nikki 2, he is a third-year student and swimmerSwimming (sport)Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...
for Gorin High. He investigates the incidents on his own, as well as keeping tabs on Shoma.
Gedo High School
Once an all-males school that emphasized on studies and martial arts to better the students that enrolled there. Over time, it has become more of a juvenile delinquent "correctional" center, attracting gangsters and misfits from all over Japan.- Akira Kazama - A first-year student and new transfer to Gedo High who claims to be the younger brother of the school's missing gang leader, Daigo. Akira is later revealed to actually be his younger sister.
- Eiji "Edge" Yamada - A student at Gedo and member of the school's gang. He joins Akira in searching for the gang's missing boss.
- Gan Isurugi - A heavy-set student at Gedo and member of the school's gang. Like Edge, he helps Akira out in searching for her brother.
- Daigo Kazama - Appears as non-playable supporting character in Akira's ending in the arcade version and as a playable character in the PlayStation version. The leader of Gedo's student gang and Akira's older brother, he cares much for his hometown and seeks the people responsible for the attacks to extract vengeance upon them.
Pacific High School
An American-based high school whose motto is "circulate elite education through the world using culture and sports". There are many youths of upper-class Americans, celebrities, ambassadors, and politicians that come to study abroad there.- Roy Bromwell - A foreign exchange student from the United States. He is investigating the attacks and kidnapping at the request of his father.
- Tiffany Lords - Another American foreign exchange student, and a cheerleader. She follows Roy in his investigation, not only to help solve the case but also to impress him as well.
- Boman Delgado - A foreign exchange student and preacherPreacherPreacher is a term for someone who preaches sermons or gives homilies. A preacher is distinct from a theologian by focusing on the communication rather than the development of doctrine. Others see preaching and theology as being intertwined...
-in-training. He joins Roy and Tiffany to help solve the case, although the fighting conflicts with his moral beliefs.
Justice High School
Their school motto is "A sound mind and body build excellent abilities". Considered one of the most elite in Japan, Justice High is a rigid boarding school with a no nonsense policy, the faculty determining student's courses, demanding an orderly lifestyle and not allowing students to return home until graduation. Justice High is also behind the strange occurrences and kidnappings.- Hideo Shimazu - A Japanese languageJapanese languageis a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
teacher at Justice. He is recruiting new students for Justice High at the request of the school's principal. - Kyoko Minazuki - Justice High's school nurseSchool nursingSchool nursing is a specialized practice of professional nursing that advances the well being, academic success, and lifelong achievement of students...
, who is asked to join Hideo in recruiting students to the school. - Raizo Imawano - The principalHead teacherA head teacher or school principal is the most senior teacher, leader and manager of a school....
of Justice High. Appears to be the mastermind of the kidnappings and attacks on other schools. He is later revealed to be Batsu's father and the uncle of Kyosuke and Hyo. He is presented as the game boss, but is actually the mid-boss, and is selectable in the PlayStation versions or in the arcade by time release or code. - Hyo Imawano - A student at Justice High who serves as the head of its student council. He is the true mastermind behind the events of the game as he seeks to reform and conquer Japan through ruthless force. He appears as the final boss, and is selectable in PlayStation versions or in the arcade by time release or code.
Tamagawa Minami High School
- Sakura Kasugano - A crossover character from the Street Fighter Alpha games. Childhood friends with Hinata and Natsu, she helps them in finding the people responsible for the school kidnappings and attacks.
The PlayStation port came packed with a second disc dubbed the "Evolution Disc". This game featured four additional secret characters. All four share the same character selection slot and have various moves from other characters already in the game. They have a combined game ending, linking them all to Hayato.
Ports
After its initial arcade release, the game was ported to the PlayStation. The PlayStation version of the game came in two CDs. The first disc included the original arcade game and the standard modes included in most home versions of fighting games. Capcom enhanced the original game with animated introduction and ending sequences, as well as adding voice-over to the story mode in single player. The conversion also added two new characters, Hayato Nekketsu (a hotheaded physical educationPhysical education
Physical education or gymnastics is a course taken during primary and secondary education that encourages psychomotor learning in a play or movement exploration setting....
teacher) and Daigo Kazama (a teenage gang
Gang
A gang is a group of people who, through the organization, formation, and establishment of an assemblage, share a common identity. In current usage it typically denotes a criminal organization or else a criminal affiliation. In early usage, the word gang referred to a group of workmen...
leader and the elder brother of Akira, who was a non-playable supporting character in the arcade version).
The second disc, named the Evolution Disc, featured several new games to complement the arcade original. This disc included several minigame
Minigame
A minigame is a short video game often contained within another video game. A minigame is always smaller or more simplistic than the game in which it is contained. Minigames are sometimes also offered separately for free to promote the main game...
s based on some of the students' activities and the Nekketsu Seisyun Nikki mode, a character creation
Character creation
Character creation is the process of defining a game character or other character. Typically, a character's individual strengths and weaknesses are represented by a set of statistics. Games with a largely fictional setting may include traits such as race and class...
mode in the form of a date simulation. In this mode, a player would be able to create a student and go through a typical school year. Over this time, the custom character could develop friendships with any of the characters at the various schools, which allowed to give the custom character moves and reveal bits and pieces about the existing characters and their backgrounds. Once the custom character was finished with the school year, it could be used in any of the normal fighting modes, save for the original Arcade game.
Capcom translated most of the games on the Evolution Disc for the English localization, and planned to include the character creation mode (rebranded as "School Life") as well, but unfortunately later abandoned the character creation mode, citing the amount of time it would take to translate it from Japanese to English. The rest of the extra modes featured in the Evolution Disc were still included in the overseas versions.
Nekketsu Seisyun Nikki 2
In Japan, Capcom released a PlayStation-exclusive update to the original Rival Schools titled . The game featured two additional characters, Ran of Taiyo High School and Nagare of Gorin High School, as well a new version of the Nekketsu Seisyun Nikki school sim mode, which feature additional mini games and further plot developments over the original Japanese version of Shiritsu Justice Gakuen.Project Justice
A sequel, Project Justice (Moero! Justice Gakuen in Japan), was released in 2000 in and 2001 in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
for arcades and the Dreamcast. In comparison to Rival Schools, Project Justice featured teams of 3, adding three-person team-up attacks and the ability to interrupt and stop 2-person team-ups. Like the previous game, Project Justice included a character-creation mode that came in the form of a virtual board game. This creation mode also was never released outside of Japan due to localization issues.
Related media
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
tie-in based on Rival Schools was produced by UDON
UDON
UDON Entertainment Corporation is a studio of Asian-influenced comic book creators that provides creative services to the entertainment industry. The company is a publisher of comic books, graphic novels, and art books, as well as English editions of Japanese manga and Korean manhwa titles. Erik...
Studios, with its first issue published on May 17, 2006, with art by Corey Lewis
Corey Lewis
Corey Sutherland Lewis is an American comic book creator. He is primarily known as the creator of Sharknife, published by Oni Press. Other works include PENG for Oni, and providing back-up comic strips for the Darkstalkers and Street Fighter comics for UDON...
. Originally, the comic was to be produced by Dreamwave Productions
Dreamwave Productions
Dreamwave Productions was a Canadian art design studio and comic book publisher founded in 1996 and is best known for their multiple Transformers comic book series...
, but when Dreamwave showed signs of financial failure, the rights of the comic were sold to UDON, who already produced the successful Street Fighter
Street Fighter
, commonly abbreviated as SF, is a series of Fighting Games developed in Japan in which the players pit the video games' competitive fighters from around the world, each with his or her own unique fighting style, against one another...
comic. The comic has the Rival Schools series take place in the same universe as the main Street Fighter series, thereby explaining Sakura's involvement in the first Rival Schools game. The manga was made available on August 31, 2007 in the U.S.