This review was originally published on the Console Purist Facebook group on August 24h, 2019.
Hello, and
welcome to PlayStation Basement! PlayStation Basement is a weekly review of an
odd or obscure game for the original PlayStation. Games are rated Good, Bad, or
Neutral. Now, let’s go!
It’s time to
go back to school! I hope that you do well in school if you are a student. I
started going back to school earlier this year but am taking some time off at
the moment to settle in to my new job and house. Rival Schools: United by Fate is an excellent game about school.
It’s a 3D tag-team fighting game from Capcom about mysterious disappearances at
various high schools which leads the students to band together to find their
friends and family. The arcade game was released in 1997, and the PlayStation
port followed in 1998 in all regions. It’s one of my favorite fighting games
ever, and there are many reasons why.
Despite how
much I love Rival Schools: United by Fate,
I don’t love all of the various cover art images so much. The North American
cover has the Capcom Fighters Edge design that they used for most of their PS1
fighting games which puts a white background with the words “Fighters Edge”
around an image for the game. It doesn’t look particularly good, especially as
you have Batsu in the front doing an angry pose and a bunch of other characters
mashed up in orange behind him. The European version continues with more
orange, showing all of the characters emerging from the center of the image.
The original Japanese release got it right with a cleaner white look and a few
characters in different scenes of dynamic action. I wish that they could have
used this hand-drawn art in the actual game.
The in-game
graphics work well enough. It’s a 3D fighter with anime-styled characters in a
style similar to Megaman Legends. I
imagine that Rival Schools: United by
Fate may have utilized cel-shading if it had been released a few years
later. The original PlayStation didn’t really have the power for that though,
so we have some decent 3D models with some limitations. Nobody opens their
hands or displays many emotions on their face. Some of the effects for special
moves, especially some of the 2D things that appear, look blurry too. It’s a
big difference from what Capcom was able to do with their 2D fighters. Nevertheless,
the game runs fast and has good character and stage designs. The story segments
from the Arcade Disc and the opening movie look excellent too with the same
designs from the cover art. It would have been cool to see these characters in
a film or OVA. I’m sure the soundtrack would have been cool too.
Rival Schools sounds great! This game
has one of my favorite soundtracks of any game. Some of these tracks, such as
“On the Rooftop of Taiyo High School” get stuck in my head when I haven’t even
been playing the game. The soundtrack is full of pumping rock rhythms and
soaring guitars, though some tracks are mysterious and dark such as
“Construction Site at the Back of Gedo High School”. The sound effects for
strikes and special moves sound great too. There’s tons of voice acting, though
it’s all in Japanese (kind of lame that they didn’t localize this in full).
Anyway, Rival Schools will have you
ready to rumble just from the sounds!
As
mentioned, Rival Schools: United by Fate
is a 3D tag-team fighting game. Capcom was on a roll with 2D tag-team fighters
around this time, mostly with Marvel characters crossing over with Street Fighter (leading to Marvel vs. Capcom in arcades a year
after Rival Schools’ debut). This
game plays a bit like Street Fighter
Alpha or the aforementioned Marvel
vs. Capcom with some different 3D mechanics. You have launching attacks,
super jumps, counters, big super moves, partner super moves, and the like, but
here the characters can also sidestep, run, and strike an opponent when they
are downed. The characters have some wild designs that range from Ryu-esque
Batsu or Hideo to the monstrous Raizo, the militaristic Hyo, and the
bloodthirsty gang member Edge. Sakura Kasugano from Street Fighter Alpha 2 was included here too, and the PlayStation
port includes extra characters Hayato and Daigo, a gym teacher and gang leader
respectively. The characters interact with some nicely told stories with
dialogue and well-animated cutscenes on the Arcade Disc. The story will change
based on who is selected and how the player performs. On the Evolution Disk
(this game has two discs!) there are plenty of unlockable characters and
minigames.
There are
tons of things to do in Rival Schools.
The minigames are very fun. Other than an awkward, vaguely sexual massage game
featuring Kyoko, the others are all about sports. You can try to get the high
score in volleyball as Natsu, aim for the soccer record as Roberto, and knock a
high-flying ball out of the park to win the gold as Shoma. There was even a
high school simulation game in the Japanese version, but it disappointingly was
not localized for the North American release. Basically, this mode allowed you
to create custom characters that could be used in the other game modes. You can
still find some generic characters like this by completing the game along with
the other unlockable costumes, art, and more.
Rival Schools: United by Fate is a great
game. The fighting is excellent, and it’s fun to see what kind of combinations
you can make with different characters. I like the different designs for the
main cast, even if some are kind of silly or over-sexualized. The soundtrack,
extra modes, and storyline really make this game reach beyond just being a Street Fighter spinoff. One day, I’ll
track down the Dreamcast sequel Project
Justice, get the Japan-exclusive upgraded version Shiritsu Justice Gakuen: Nekketsu Seisyun Nikki 2 with even more
extra characters, and maybe we’ll see a third main game at some point. Hideaki
Itsuno has been mentioning it for the last few years, and some of the cast
appears in Street Fighter V on the
beach stage. Some of the characters have appeared in games as well such as SNK vs. Capcom 2, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, and Project
X Zone. Batsu’s fight against the villainous Raizo and the evil psychic Hyo
does not seem to have been forgotten.
Rival Schools: United by Fate receives a
Good.
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