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Review: Rival Schools Arcade Disc |
“AAAAAAAAAGH! AN EXTRA DIMENSION, BUT IT FEELS LIMITED!”
“AAAAAAAAAGH! CANNED ATTACK STRINGS, COMPLEXITY, AND MOVELISTS TO MEMORIZE!”
“AAAAAAAAAGH! HEIHACHI IN A THONG!”
For the longest time, I’ve had a phobia for 3D fighting games, due to various reasons. Somehow, I felt overwhelmed by the size of the movelists to explore and memorize, and my mind was strictly adapted for 2D fighters. I was spoiled on things such as Marvel vs.Capcom for the longest time. I thought I wouldn’t make the 2D to 3D transition, or if I did, I was doomed to suck at playing the latter forever.
And then I discovered Rival Schools. A game so good, you (or nutty fanfiction writers) can base a cult following off it. A 3D game that incorporates enough 2D fighter elements to make me feel comfortable. A game where the characters are vivid and the story is good and simple. It is one of the first 3D fighters that I truly fell in love with. And now, as a profession of that love (without sounding like a total fag), I’ll attempt to dissect it as fairly as possible.
So what exactly is the story? As the title suggests, it’s about warring schools. The Imawano clan, led by “fierce principal” Raizo (think a cross between Wario and Wolverine) aims to rule Japan via his students at Justice High. However, his nephew Hyo wants to speed things up a bit, so he brainwashes uncle Raizo and goes on a scheming, intimidation, and kidnapping spree. This of course drags other schools into the fray, and thus the stage is set.
The cast is unlike any I’ve ever seen before. It is a diverse gallery of students and teachers. In all, five (5) schools are represented by multiple characters. They are Taiyo (the generic), Gorin (the jocks), Gedo(all-male gangsters and juvenile delinquents), Justice (the intellectual and elite), Pacific (the LOL gaijin) and Seijyun(the all-female cute jailbait tea-oh fuck wait that’s not until the next game). In addition, Sakura (from Tamagawa Minami High) of the Street Fighter Alpha series makes an appearance. Regardless of your preferences, beliefs, or fetishes, there is surely a character or two that will endear itself to you.
Rival Schools shares some elements with another popular Capcom franchise, the Marvel versus series. The movelists are mostly based on quarter-circle and half-circle motions. Air combos, air throws and aerial special moves are present. Indeed, at first glance one may think Rival Schools is merely a spinoff of the pseudo-3D Street Fighter EX series. However, not only is RS reminiscent of the versus games, it is quite 3D as well. This is by virtue of borrowing certain elements from Namco’s Tekken series. Instead of the traditional six-button Capcom setup, Rival Schools favors a simplistic four-button one: lp, lk, hp, and hk. Sidestepping (suspiciously referred to as “ditching” in the configuration mode) in and out of plane is present, accessed by pressing both kick buttons while tapping up or down. Throws are likewise mapped to two buttons-both punches- and every character has a throw for standing, crouching and behind-the-opponent’s-back positions. Consequently,throw escapes are also performed by pressing lp+hp or d+lp+hp.
Rival Schools also has some unique features. Air combo launchers are universally mapped to df+hp and/or df+hk. Every character has overhead command attacks that are performed by pressing b+hp and/or b+hk. Aside from being overheads, they also serve as combo extenders, pretty much like command normals in King of Fighters. It’s also worth noting that like KOF, one can combo a light kick into a light punch, aside from the regular semi- magic and hunter-series (light to heavy, punch to kick) rules that the engine seems to follow.
The super gauge goes all the way to nine (9) levels. Taunts fills up half a meter. Level 1 supers, or Burning Vigor attacks, are performed via quarter-circle motions. The significance of choosing two characters-a point character and a support character- is due to the team super system. At the cost of two (2) levels of meter, one may press lp+lk or hp+hk to call his or her partner for a team attack. This attack depends on the support character. Aside from the damage, a team super may also be a “guts up”, increasing the meter level in one’s gauge, or curative, giving the point character a small life gain.
Consequently, a player may choose two of the same character if he or she wants to use the point character’s team up attack, or is a fangirl. A prompt in between rounds allows one to swap point and support characters by tapping left or right.
Defensive mechanisms include the tardy counter and the attack cancel. A tardy counter works very much like an Alpha counter in the Street Fighter Alpha series or versus series. Motion a heavy attack, special, or super move once you’ve blocked an attack. There should then be a blue flash before your character, and then he or she will perform the attack motioned for. As with the alpha counter, it is for instant retaliation to an opponent’s attack; unlike the alpha counter, it is not restricted to a single special move.
The attack cancel is the ability to neutralize an opponent’s attack with an attack of your own. Time any attack correctly when your opponent attacks you. A lightning bolt effect appears between both characters if an attack cancel is successful. In effect, both attacks, if single hit, are nullified (the remaining hits or a multi-hit attack may proceed as usual), and characters take no damage. In theory, it is possible to counter anything with a well-placed poke or light attack- even fireballs and supers! This makes the attack cancel a rather odd mechanism, “loose” if you will. It is a reflection of the Rival Schools’ engine as a whole- crazy, broad, and radical compared to many other 3D fighters.
Gameplay is fast and exciting, very much like the versus series. One may opt to rushdown and go combo-crazy, or he or she may opt to turtle and engage in a projectile war (yes, even with the sidestep, it can work at times). Air combos and comboing into supers are smooth and easy in Rival Schools as they are in their 2D cousins.
Watch…the…magic!
Both one-player and two-player games are satisfying. Choosing certain characters (normally, two characters from the same school) converts the Arcade mode to a story mode. It features a few cutscenes, and matches that one can afford to lose for the sake of story. Versus mode, naturally, is where you get to test your skills against a friend. What’s worth noting is the winquote screen in this mode- it’s in the form of a school paper, triumphantly declaring the winning player’s endeavor, with a dash of Engrish in the winquotes.
Aside from the usual Arcade/Versus/Training mode fare, there are a few extras that will keep one playing. Each character has two endings, a humorous or dramatic good ending and a same-template, tragic, half-boring-text bad ending. The former is unlocked by beating Stage 7 Raizo with a team up super, and in the process advancing to boss Hyo in the final stage. Failure to do returns the bad ending. The Playstation and arcade intro FMV’s, as well as the loading screens, are unlocked in the Extras menu as your play time increases. Key configuration is diverse, allowing the base commands of taunt, sidestep, throw, and supers to be mapped on the Playstation controller’s shoulder buttons for convenience’s sake.
Four (4) characters have alternate outfits. Beating the game with Hinata, Natsu, Kyoko, or Tiffany unlocks their new costumes.
Aside from costumes, they gain a different team attack when used as a support character, and Hinata and Tiffany have new supers. They appear as new boxes in Versus or Training mode; in Arcade mode they are accesed by moving the cursor over one of the said characters and holding L2 before selection. Additional colors for all characters can be accessed by pressing and holding Start before selection.
LOL SEPHIROTH
The graphics are quite good and detailed for a PlayStation title. Granted, they’re probably not as good as Tekken 3’s, but they are vibrant and colorful enough. The background are a wealth of color and lend a most fitting atmosphere of energy and youth to the game. Representing different on-and-off campus locales, they follow the same infinite plane principle of the Tekken games. The only con is, when characters move away from each other and move far apart, they appear Liliputian. The classroom stage is one such example.
The character models are the norm for 3D fighters made in those days. Angular at times, blockiness (especially for the larger characters), fused fingers and fists, and faces that seem painted on the heads. That is not to say that the characters do not have their charms. As with the backgrounds, they are well done, and with pleasant color schemes. For you Dead or Alive fans, there is even some breast jiggle who goes by the name of Tiffany!
“You’d bounce too if you were a D-cup and only have a star-shaped bra for support!”
Likewise, the sound department does not disappoint. The music is vintage 1990’s Capcom. It sounds much like the pre-Marvel vs. Capcom 2 versus series with a dash of Megaman. The background-specific BGM is techno for most part, with some rock and it suits the warring schools motif quite nicely. Sound effects are futuristic and fit the hits, blocks, and energy effects.The voice acting fits like a glove as well. From the cute panty-flashying school girls to the musclebound bullies, not one voice seems out of place. As a bonus, it’s not just the point character that gets all the action. If you land a super or a long combo, your secondary character gives some excited comments as well, such as “nice!”or “cool!” from the background. A charming touch.
There are a few things about Rival Schools that bugged me, however. The gameplay can be awkward at times. The engine seems lenient, registering tardy counters and attack cancels at leisure. Sometimes, while a super initializes, there is a feeling of lag. I can’t be certain if the super priority is last in, first out or first in, first out, the tardy counter and attack cancel factors notwithstanding. Also, the hit detection is suspect at times, with physical and projectile hit alike; this is probably due to the 2D nature of the fighting in a 3D environment. Sometimes you’re sure that a fireball will hit, but (without sidestepping) it turns out the opponent is on the other plane. And lastly, balance would be an issue as well. Some characters feel more “complete” movelist-wise, and have higher priority and comboability than others. In the original arcade game, there were more than a few nasty infinites and pseudo-infinites as well, but it would appear that they have been removed or otherwise weakened for the PlayStation port. Either way, it is safe to say that the tiers are somewhat skewed, with Hyo, Sakura, Kyosuke, and Roberto arguably being the best characters, while bigger, slower characters like Boman or Gan more often than not ending up as hapless combo bait.
Uber-deep and technical it is not, but hey, you can at least play with cute schoolgirls, grab them, and beat them up with out legal repercussions. Rival Schools is more 3D than the EX series, and certainly a better 3D fighter than Capcom’s earlier efforts (hi Plasma Sword). If you’re a Capcom fan, then I highly recommend Rival Schools. It’s quite good for beginners too, owing to it playing like a 2D game in places. It’s a pleasing experience. The next game in the series (the CvS:Pro like Evolution 2 aside), Project Justice, is even better.
