Rival Schools [Evolution Disc]: Sakura/Hinata Playthrough [Playstation, 1998]

*Note: As this is being ran on an ePSXe emulator, the quality of the video can take a dip at times, mainly during Burning Vigor Attacks. Also, LOL dem polygons in this game... Also, this vid has some annotations spread out within it.

*Note 2: The Evolution disc hosts a LOT more content than the Arcade one, with mini-games, special movies and extra EDIT student characters to unlock. Unfortunately, the Evolution Disc took out the story & voicing in arcade mode, including the endings; most likely to fit in room for the extra modes and features the Evolution Disc featured. Also, another mode; the Japanese only Student mode, was omitted when it came to the US. The gameplay balance is different depending on disc versions; some combos only work on certain discs, attacks do different damages per disc, and some characters replace their Rival Launcher B.V.Attacks from the Arcade disc for more unique B.V.s in the Evolution Disc.

Many moons ago, I had recorded from the Sega Dreamcast a whole bunch of playthroughs from the sequel to this classic PSX relic, Project Justice. Well, after a little bit of KOF Athena craziness I decided to do something more formal, with some vids from another game I used to play like crazy back in middle school (and ironically got a lot of my classmates itno playing after school as well, many of which were NOT gamers. Given I lived in upper New Jersey [in the 'ghetto'...], that's a MAJOR feat back then.)

Rival Schools is a 3D fighting game done by Capcom (back when, oh, I don't know... they actually GAVE a damn about other fighting series' besides Street Fighter...) Rival Schools in particular was quite ambitious, being one of the few fighters in Capcom's roster that REALLY had a thought out story mode and interesting mechanics for its time. A bit like KOF, a bit like Marvel vs. Capcom, you select 2 characters instead of 1 and fight it out tag-team style. By tag-team, I don't mean like Marvel, where you can switch active characters during a round, but you can switch after rounds. However, the main feature in the Rival Schools series is the Team-Up Techniques, a 2-meter special Super where you can call on your partner to either gang up on your foe for some real damage (all males), or have some perks to help you out (most females, like Hinata whom boosts your super meter, or Tiffany whom restores a bit of your vitality. Akira [both forms] & Sakura are the only females with TUTs that are direct attacks.) On the side, the game features full 3D movement & side-stepping [unlike Street Fighter EX or even recent Capcom games today], chain/air combos and huge, no-limit areas (like Tekken).

This is the second of two playthroughs, one for both discs. This one features an arcade run with my fave Capcom character, Street Fighter's very own Sakura Kasugano, whom was a secret character in the Arcade Version, along with one of her childhood friend (as according to RS canon), Hinata Wakaba (the other being Natsu Ayuhara). Hope you enjoy the trip down memory lane with me.

P.S: Yes, years later I'm STILL mad Sakura wasn't in Project Justice... and that Capcom REALLY tries to act like Rival Schools isn't part of the SF canon, despite them actively trying to fuse it during Alpha 3's lifespan. A SF Sakura/Karin/Elena team in the Dreamcast sequel would've been PERFECT...

P.P.S: Capcom... The hell are you doing whoring out SF? You got the creator of Rival Schools GEARING to revive this series with a sequel for YEARS. DO IT ALREADY! Oh, and you owe us Darkstalkers 4 after that BS with SFxTekken. "nuff said.

Game: Rival Schools: United By Fate (Disc 2: Evolution)
Characters Used: Sakura Kasugano [main] & Hinata Wakaba [sub]
Difficulty: 4 (out of 8)
Rounds: 2 (default)
Damage Level: 1 (out of 8)
Continues: 0