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[VGEsoterica]

If Capcom is famous for ONE thing...it's Street Fighter. Sure Resident Evil is EPIC and Mega Man got us all through our childhoods...but I would personally say Street Fighter had the biggest impact to gaming out of any franchise Capcom ever made. Def back in the 90s at least.

But long before Capcom got into 3D they made some absolute 2D fighting game bangers. Obv the entire Street Fighter 2 and 3 games as well as the Street Fighter Alpha side series. But they also had all of the Marvel vs Capcom / X-Men, etc games along with stuff like Darkstalkers. Basically they produced a TON of 2D fighting games outside their bread and butter Street Fighter series.

But when it came to 3D, especially in the PS1 era...that experimentation really slimmed down. You got the Street Fighter EX series co-developed by Capcom and Arika....and you got Rival Schools: United by Fate. Sure Star Gladiators existed but that was such a tiny blip on the overall PS1 and fighting game radar its just worth mentioning as "it was there too"

But Rival Schools took everything Capcom was known for and just absolutely nailed it. Fluid 60 FPS gameplay, an amazing roster, a legit 10/10 soundtrack and art and colorways that just screamed "CAPCOM". Plus mechanically it might be the tightest feeling 3D fighting game of its era not named Tekken (and id even make an argument it feels better than Tekken personally)

Its just a bummer Capcom has basically neglected the franchise now. Last it was mentioned as a potential for a series to get a new game was way back in 2013 and its laid dormant since.

But GAF...go play Rival Schools! Then go play Project Justice

But that also got me thinking...what other examples of "Games in the same genre from developer that was famous for X" also exist. It's a fun thought experiement

 

[ThaMonkeyClaw]

I use to play Rival Schools on my Dreamcast back in the day, such a great fighting game! Loved using Shoma and cracking people with the bat!

 

[Shifty1897]

Probably my second favorite PS1 fighting game, next to Tekken 3. My friends would come over and I would absolutely wreck them with Kyosuke and Sakura.

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

Its just a bummer Capcom has basically neglected the franchise now. Last it was mentioned as a potential for a series to get a new game was way back in 2013 and its laid dormant since.

Akira is in SF5 at least

 

[Dev1lXYZ]

Star Gladiator was a good time. Capcom lost gem.

 

[VGEsoterica]

Akira is in SF5 at least

Now if Capcom would just create like a dozen more modern models of Rival Schools / Project Justice characters and throw them into their own game…that would be great lol

 

[NanaMiku]

I love this series, pack with minigames

 

[splattered]

I loved rival schools!

 

[Lasha]

Rival schools has a baseball player. That's a win alone for me. I played the shit out of project justice.

 

[fran.fernandez]

Oh man, this game was so good! Played in arcade as well

 

[JaksGhost]

I bought a Dreamcast from someone on Craigslist years ago just to burn and play Project Justice for the first time. Rival Schools was absolutely one of my favorite fighting games as a kid.

 

[dezzy8]

I hope they remaster rival schools or at least bring more of their characters to street fighter like they did Akira.

 

[diffusionx]

I think the best example of this is Firaxis making Alpha Centauri, which was "Civ 3 in outer space" but had a lot more worldbuilding with distinct characters, unique mechanics, unit customization, etc.

From Software made a giant mech combat game on Dreamcast called Frame Gride that was really good, but different from Armored Core. Sadly never came out in the USA.

 

[Fuz]

I loved Rival Schools!

Shame Capcom seem to have abandoned the IP.

 

[L*][*N*K]

I absolutely loved that game, sadly in today’s fighting game landscape there is no room for experimentation with more than one IP and Capcom is hyper focused on Street Fighter

 

[SaintALia]

I much preferred Rival Schools over any SF game...until Third Strike, and then Capcom VS SNK.

Don't know if it counts, but Last Bronx and Fighting Vipers always seemed pretty similar, but I never played either. Same pub different devs though.

 

[A.Romero]

I loved Rival Schools back in the day. I don't think gameplay holds up today but it does have a special place in my heart.

 

[Ferdimage]

Literally just started playing Rival Schools (Project Justice) on fightcade recently.
Shame no one plays it online, but messing around on free mode is blast!
Loved the original on the PS1, then the sequel on the Dreamcast.

 

[VGEsoterica]

I bought a Dreamcast from someone on Craigslist years ago just to burn and play Project Justice for the first time. Rival Schools was absolutely one of my favorite fighting games as a kid.

A very good reason to own a Dreamcast! But there are tons of good reasons

 

[TheThreadsThatBindUs]

Rival Schools was fan-freaking-tastic!

One hell of a game.

Capcom is sitting on so many fighting game treasures that they could single-handily kick off a new fighting game renaissance if they just pulled their finger out.

 

[TheHTIC]

I used to love playing that game back in the day. My brother got it for us when I was a kid, never heard of it before that but my favorite was Daigo and I used to go crazy when he did his special when he beat kids with that stick and made them do push-ups

 

[ReBurn]

I generally love Capcom fighters. I've played so many of them. I enjoyed the Capcom fighting collection they released last gen and for all the content they included there were more titles that I wish had made it.

 

[VGEsoterica]

I loved Rival Schools!

Shame Capcom seem to have abandoned the IP.

Yes it’s def a franchise Capcom should bring back imo

 

[Gp1]

It saddens me in the PSX era that:

-Front mission 2 never got a full translation
-Ace Combat 3 was butchered by Namco in the west
-The full version of Rival Schools Evolution disk wasn't in the US release

 

[VGEsoterica]

It saddens me in the PSX era that:

-Front mission 2 never got a full translation
-Ace Combat 3 was butchered by Namco in the west
-The full version of Rival Schools Evolution disk wasn't in the US release

Some real disappointments for sure

 

[Supple]

Such an underrated series.

 

[TheDarkPhantom]

I used to wreck people in the arcade in Rival Schools, good times. On the subject of non-SF CAPCOM fighters, Powerstone was fun too though a lot more arcadey and less skill-based.

 

[VGEsoterica]

I used to wreck people in the arcade in Rival Schools, good times. On the subject of non-SF CAPCOM fighters, Powerstone was fun too though a lot more arcadey and less skill-based.

Powerstone is an absolute blast for sure. Especially with four players

 

[Paperclip Killa]

"what happens when Capcom makes a 3D fighting game NOT called Street Fighter"

Star Gladiator, and it sucks.

 

[Beechos]

Street fighter ex was actually very good.

 

[bender]

We need another Capcom Fighting Collection.

 

[LaughingStock]

Rival School had so much soul. I miss it.

What about Power Stone 2?

 

[Fuz]

Yes it’s def a franchise Capcom should bring back imo

Tbh, maybe it's for the better. They'll only ruin Tiffany.

 

[Naked Lunch]

The artwork of the characters, cutscenes, endings on the Dreamcast's Project Justice is just insane.
The artist truly went all out - you could tell it was a labor of love.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

Star Gladiator was a good time. Capcom lost gem.

It was actually an attempt to get Capcom to make a Star Wars video game... It would have been fantastic.

Rival school is part of my childhood.

I loved the visual NOVEL mode for the ps1 versión, I choose Hinata, Sakura, Ran. I always chose the girls in the game.

 

[saintjules]

Seeing those dual combos for the first time was what sold me early on with Rival Schools. Truly a one of a kind back then.

 

[Esppiral]

You should play Rival Schools 2 on Dreamcast, amazing game.

 

[Duchess]

 

[TerribleAtThisGame]

I don't know if this counts but what about The Evil Within by Shinji Mikami? That's kind of Totally-Not-Resident-Evil-4.

PS: I actually really like that game, warts and all.

 

[ThaMonkeyClaw]

I hope they remaster rival schools or at least bring more of their characters to street fighter like they did Akira.

I would love nothing more than to see this get remastered on PS5 and XSX instead of another Street Fighter game!

 

[Dev1lXYZ]

I imported Rival Schools back in the day, but none of my friends really got into it much. I never saw it in an arcade to compare it to, but always wanted to. It was when Capcom clicked with 3d fighting games.

 

[BlackSandrock10]

Ah, Rival Schools......still a hidden gem to play up to this day! Always remember getting that in 1998/99 and those were some fun times! If only Capcom translated School Life Mode for the West......would've been a game changer in hindsight!

 

[Pejo]

Rival Schools was cool, but I'm more than ready for Capcom to pick Power Stone back up. In my opinion, they made a mistake not trying to revive it while Smash Ultimate was still making headlines and high player counts, but I think they could have moved some units with the "party fighter" crowd, especially if they went all Fortnite and did tons of collabs and crossovers, starting with their own IPs.

I used to want Capcom to get back into Darkstalkers, but they'd only censor it and make it soulless ugly 3D models now, so I don't even want that anymore.

 

[IAmRei]

I recall played this game, and this game own strange mode of highschool simulation back then, long before persona. The idea is quite cool, you spend one year(i forgot how much year spent in this mode) and you choose one template as one of the main rooster, then you engage in hs simulator until your graduation. Also you can fight some of main rooster depend on your path. Its very fun twist back then.

 

[yurinka]

I loved both Street Fighter EX and Rival Schools back in the PS1 days. Loved these character illustrations and soundtrack.

 

[SF Kosmo]

Project Justice was one of my favorites on Dreamcast.

 

[Shut0wen]

I absolutely loved that game, sadly in today’s fighting game landscape there is no room for experimentation with more than one IP and Capcom is hyper focused on Street Fighter

I actually think there would be more experimentation in fighting games if they werent aimed at esport freaks that cry about balance issues, plus capcom has been playing it safe for at least 15 years now, they are pretty fucked when they remake every resident evil game

 

[FeralEcho]

SNK the thread

 

[SkylineRKR]

Project Justice was extremely good.

Rival Schools was semi popular though, I knew some other people who played it on PSX back then. We had fun with it actually.