It was always a memorable day whenever a fight broke out at school. Kids gathered in a circle, chanting, “Fight! Fight! Fight!” as they craned their necks for a view of the awkward lunging punches, before the inevitable intervention of a teacher put an end to the playground pugilism. Capcom’s school-themed scrapper is just as memorable, not only for being one of the company’s early 3D fighters, but for its tag team action and an aversion to taking itself too seriously. If you’re scared of trying new characters, Sakura from the Street Fighter series is even present as a cameo.
The Japanese players got an expanded home conversion on the PlayStation that included the Evolution Disc, full of extra modes. Among them were a selection of minigames like penalty kick and home run contests, as well as the School Life mode – a character creation mode that took the form of a dating sim. While the Evolution disc was included in both the North American and PAL versions of Rival Schools, the minigame and dating sim modes above were completely cut from the game, leaving Japanese players with the better release. A similar situation happened with its Dreamcast sequel, Project Justice: Rival Schools 2.