Rival Schools: United By Fate

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Rival Schools: United By Fate

Cover of the PlayStation version of Rival Schools: United by Fate.
Developer(s) Capcom
Publisher(s) Capcom
Platform(s) Arcade, PlayStation
Release date JPN July 30, 1998 (PS1)
NA September 30, 1998 (PS1)
Genre(s) Fighting game
Mode(s) Single player and multiplayer
Rating(s) ESRB: Teen (T)
Media CD-ROM

Rival Schools: United By Fate, released in Japan as Shiritsu Justice Gakuen: Legion of Heroes (私立ジャスティス学園 LEGION OF HEROES?), and shortened to Rival Schools for the PlayStation version, is a fighting game produced by Capcom. Released in arcades and later ported to the PlayStation, it is the first game in the Rival Schools series.

Contents

[edit] Gameplay

The main fighting game is best described as a 3D 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) 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 the Street Fighter Alpha series, 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 meter to do).
  • Attack Cancels were another - it 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).

[edit] 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 and Daigo Kazama.

The second disc, named the Evolution Disc, featured several new games to complement the arcade original. This disc included several minigames based on some of the student's 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 non-Japanese market, and planned to include the character creation mode (rebranded as "School Life") as well, but later abandoned the character creation mode, citing the amount of time it would take to translate it. The rest of the extra modes on the Evolution Disc were still included in non-Japanese translations.

[edit] Nekketsu Seisyun Nikki 2

In Japan, Capcom released an update of the game, Shiritsu Justice Gakuen: Nekketsu Seisyun Nikki 2 (私立ジャスティス学園 熱血青春日記2?), exclusively for the PlayStation. The most notable changes including adding two new characters to the game, Ran Hibiki of Taiyo High School and Nagare Namikawa of Gorin High School, as well a completely new, enhanced version of the Nekketsu Seisyun Nikki date sim mode, which allowed Capcom to add more activities and plot detail to the game. The "2" in the title caused some American media and fans to mistake the game as a sequel, a misunderstanding which still exists among some fans today.

[edit] Plot

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 story introduces the player to an unknown Japanese 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 continues and the players play a last fight against Hyo Imawano, Raizo's nephew and the true mastermind behind the events of the game.

[edit] Characters

See also: List of Rival Schools characters

[edit] Taiyo High School

  • 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 PE teacher from Taiyo, he seeks out the persons responsible for the attacks in order to help his student.
  • 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.

[edit] Gorin High School

  • Shoma Sawamura - A baseball player for Gorin High. He seeks out the people responsible for injuring his older brother, Shuichi.
  • Natsu Ayuhara - A volleyball player for Gorin. Like Shoma, she seeks the people responsible for hurting her junior high pupils.
  • Roberto Miura - A soccer player for Gorin. He helps Shoma and Natsu in their pursuit, as well as serves as mediator for arguments between the two.
  • Nagare Namikawa - Appearing only in Nekketsu Seisyun Nikki 2, he is a third-year student and swimmer for Gorin High. He investigates the incidents on his own, as well as keeping tabs on Shoma.

[edit] Gedo High School

  • Akira Kazama - A first-year student and new transfer to Gedo High who claims to be the younger brother of the school's gang leader. 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 is one student that joins Akira in searching for the gang boss.
  • Gan Isurugi - A heavy-set student at Gedo and member of the school's gang. Like Edge, he helps Akira in searching for her brother.
  • Daigo Kazama - First appears in the PlayStation version of the game. The leader of Gedo's student gang, he cares much for his hometown and seeks the persons responsible for the attack to extract vengeance on them.

[edit] Pacific High School

  • 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 impress him.
  • Boman Delgado - A foreign exchange student and preacher-in-training. He joins Roy and Tiffany to help solve the case, although the fighting conflicts with his moral beliefs.

[edit] Justice High School

  • Hideo Shimazu - A Japanese language teacher. He is recruiting new students for Justice High at the request of the school's principal.
  • Kyoko Minazuki - Justice High's school nurse. She is asked to join Hideo in recruiting students to the school.
  • Raizo Imawano - The principal 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. Appears as mid-boss, and is selectable in Playstation versions or in the arcade by time release or code.
  • Hyo Imawano - A student at Justice High. He is the true mastermind behind the events of the game. He appears as the final boss, and is selectable in Playstation versions or in the arcade by time release or code.

[edit] 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.

[edit] External links