From Japan's PSN: Rival Schools - United by Fate

I'm going to be doing a series of posts here covering 20 games I've bought off Japan's PSN digital storefront. For those that don't know, Japan's PSN is way bigger than North America's. There are tons tons tons of PS1 games, and pretty much all of them are just 628 yen apiece. There are also a bunch of PC Engine games, plus a massive number of PSP titles. (And, of course, plenty of Vita games... way more than what we got!) At any rate, one of my favorite things about owning a Vita has been taking advantage of how easy it is to pick up older import titles at minimal cost and effort. All those Japan-only PS1 shmups that probably cost a fortune? $6 each, and instant delivery. ("And it's *perfect* on the Vita! Because portability!" Pretend I said that in a Switch fan's voice.)

Today I'll write about a PS1 game that wasn't Japan-only, but as far as I can tell wasn't ever put on the NA PSN store. (I don't see it there now, at least.) And that game is the Capcom fighting game classic Rival Schools: United by Fate. It's a 2D fighter with early 3D polygonal graphics, released in arcades in 1997 and on PS1 in 1998.

Japanese Title: 私立ジャスティス学園 LEGION OF HEROES

To find this on Japan's PSN, you will go to ゲームアーカイブス (Game Archives) -> 探す (Search) -> タイトル名別(50音別) (Titles) -> さ folder -> し folder -> scroll down to 私立ジャスティス学園 LEGION OF HEROES

[Youtube video of gameplay footage](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Owj9UL2tkwo)

Most of my past experience with the Rival School series was with the Dreamcast entry called Project Justice. Extremely fun fighting game! So picking up the earlier game in the series was a no-brainer. It's definitely not as polished (and definitely a lot blockier), but it's still good stuff. In Rival Schools you pick a couple ridiculous anime high schoolers, and you fight. The fights are one-on-one, so your partner is only used for specials (which can be a strong attack against the enemy, or give you a health or super meter boost). You also get to pick which of the two characters you fight as at the start of subsequent rounds.

You have two punches, two kicks, counters, side-steps, and plenty of combos to pull off. Aerial combos are even possible, should you launch your opponent high into the air. I recommend this one if you are a fan of classic fighting games and want something a little different. Lots of very silly attacks and abilities that these kids have. My high school definitely wasn't this exciting.

Fun fact: This game was released with two discs! To switch between them on the Vita, hold the PS button and go to the game's settings. There you will find the switch disc options, but actually you will probably need to select reset game (which will then ask you which disc you want to use, 1 or 2). Disc one has the arcade fighting game, while on disc two you'll find a character creation + dating sim mode. You can have fun with that if you know Japanese.

This is the only PS1 fighting game I've picked up from Japan's PSN store. Are there any other fighters that any of you would recommend?