Capcom has long been known for their 2D fighters, but in the 32-bit era it felt like they were being left behind. 3D was all the rage, and they couldn’t seem to make the same impact in this market. They experimented with three dimensional Street Fighter titles, and a few original releases but nothing stuck. Rival Schools: United by Faith was one of their experimental 3D fighters and it’s easily one of my most favorite. Capcom then followed this up with Project Justice on the Sega Dreamcast. Despite the change of name this is the only sequel to Rival Schools we ever got. As a big fan of Rival Schools I was hopeful Capcom improved on the formula instead of changing it too much. Thankfully they did Rival Schools right. Project Justice might be the best fighter on the Sega Dreamcast. Let’s take a look.
The world of Rival Schools takes place in an anime take in Japan. The thing is, all of the characters are students at various schools around the town of Aoharu City. Project Justice picks up one year after the events of the first game. Peace has returned to Aoharu City after Hyo was defeated at the hands of the local teens. Now a new guy has emerged bent on taking over the world, and he has been posing as the main character from Taiyo High School, Batsu, as the culprit. It’s up to the strongest school days fighters from around the city to fight their way through to find the real answers. The story is very similar to that of the original game. Project Justice creates an unparalleled atmosphere with it’s punchy anime storyline and character rich with personality and backstory. The school setting is amazing for a fighting game.
One of Project Justice’s strong points is in it’s character roster. The fourteen playable students return from Rival Schools, and they’re mostly the same. They’re even divided into their previous schools as well. This is not an issue because I absolutely love the old characters. Akira this time around starts off without her biker helmet on and the fact that she’s a girl is no longer hidden. Also, some of them have changed as per the storyline but that’s to be expected. There are three new characters (technically five) introduced to the roster this time around. In my opinion they aren’t as memorable as the now iconic Rival Schools guys (and girls) but at least they didn’t completely recycle the lineup. What’s also great is we’re given five new secret characters that are unlocked by meeting pre-requisites in the story.
Okay with that let’s dive straight into the story mode. Unlike in most fighting games Project Justice places a lot of emphasis on story developments and character interactions. No matter which school’s students you pick you’re given plot sequences between every fight. This isn’t your typical ‘defeat everyone and get a brief ending snippet’ type of fighter. The plot here is a central focus. While the whole thing is focused around tired anime tropes I really liked this. It also affects gameplay in some significant ways. Based on how you play sometimes characters will leave your team as per story revelations, sometimes they’ll be replaced with secret fighters, and other times they’ll return in upgraded form. This element of Project Justice is amazing, and the way it affects gameplay is truly one of the best mechanics in any fighting game ever.
Now we arrive at the gameplay. Project Justice is a 3D fighting game with both traditional and non-traditional elements. You move left and right by in three dimensional arenas and strike your opponent with punches, kicks, special moves, and throws. Your goal in each of these encounters is to drain the foe’s life bar, and the best two of three matches wins. As was the norm for 3D fighters of this era there’s a sidestep button. Should you press this at the right moment your character will whip around to your opponent’s back leaving them open. One of the major differences in this is the fact that everyone moves fast. It’s almost like the Turbo mode in Street Fighter II. This was used to compensate for the huge battlefields because you can back far away and then close the distance in no time flat.
Project Justice also focuses around a pretty neat combo system. You have your basic strong and weak punches/kicks, and can string these together with ease. The same goes for your special moves, and learning during which frames to input them is the key to strategy against human opponents. The highlight however is in the aerial combos. You have various special moves and strong strikes that will send your opponent into the air. You can jump and follow them giving your enemy no time to recover as you lay into them before their feet hits the ground. Of course there are ways to recover from being knocked in the air, but some characters are faster than others, and all are disabled for a specific amount of time after being launched.
Now let’s talk about the gameplay elements that make Project Justice unique. It’s a team based fighter at heart, and this was back at a time when the concept was not commonplace. In story mode you don’t choose your character directly, and instead select which school you’d like to play as. Each has three representatives and these are the fighters. At the start of every match you can choose which one you would like to play as. At the end of each round you’re given the option to switch out to another member of your team. This is a very neat gameplay element because of how different the characters are. If you’re up against a fast opponent you will want to change out for someone who isn’t slow, for example. Your opponent also has the option to switch their active character as well.
In most fighting games I tend to stick to just one fighter so that I can memorize their recovery frames and special moves. I really like that Project Justice directly encourages you to learn not just other fighters, but also specific ones that are members of the same team in the story mode. What’s also neat is the fact that you have a super move with a bar that charges on the bottom of the screen. When it reaches a certain point you can activate a team attack which calls the other two onto the battlefield to cause major damage to your enemy. Of course these are tough to land because you activate these just like you would a regular throw. This means you have to get close up if you want the attack to be successful.
What’s also interesting is the fact that the school based team element is thrown out when in multiplayer versus. You can compose a team of any playable character regardless of academic location. This does not change the special attack (which is based on your current fighter) but it’s still pretty cool. Speaking of game modes Project Justice has a fair number of them. On top of the aforementioned story and versus options you can also participate in a tournament against the AI or other players. This is a round robin sort of affair, and it’s pretty fun once you’ve got the mechanics down. To help you learn the special moves and combo system Project Justice also has a useful practice mode. Rounding out the lot are some extras. These allow you to watch the story sequences, as well as another that functions largely as a sound test.
Project Justice is a clear step above any PS1 fighting game in terms of graphics. It does however fall short compared to it’s Dreamcast bretherin. That’s just on the technical side. Clearly I’m just speaking in terms of technical merit. When it comes to art however Project Justice is a clear step above the others. A school days fighting game is such a great idea and I love just how over the top Capcom went with in terms of this. You can tell at just a glance what these characters are all about, and also which anime motif they fit comfortably in. The soundtrack is fantastic. The techno rock mix would be at home in any full fledged anime series. If there’s one thing Project Justice could use more of it’s voice samples, but this is a minor complaint.
