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Shack's Arcade Corner: Rival Schools: United by Fate

Greg is back with another look at an iconic arcade game from the late 90s, Rival Schools: United by Fate.

Greg Burke

February 13, 2020 8:00 AM

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Shack’s Arcade Corner is back with another episode looking into the past of arcade gaming. In this episode, we’re taking a look at an old school fighting game, Rival Schools: United by Fate. This classic Capcom title originally hit US arcades back in 1997, and was later ported to PlayStation in 1998 and then released on the Japanese PlayStation Network in 2012. For now though, let’s talk about the classic.

Rival Schools: United by Fate

Rival Schools had over fourteen characters for players to choose from, but it also featured a familiar mechanic: picking two fighters. Players could choose to bring two fighters into brawl, though characters couldn’t be switched mid-fight. The only time players could sub in their alternative fighter was between rounds.

In saying this, thanks to the super meter that could be charged up to nine times, players could unleash an attack that utilized both characters. Upon executing the attack, both of the selected fighters would fly on screen and promptly work together for a short time, throwing punches and kicks.

As for the story, it is simple yet gets the job done. Players are scouting for more fighters to enrol in the Justice High School. There’s plenty of cheese and corn to be found in the narrative, but that’s par for the course.

Unfortunately, the fighting in Rival Schools: United by Fate was a bit slow and floaty. However, it did allow for counters, combos, and air attacks which were performed with the minimal amount of moves: light and hard punch, kick, and jump.

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If you have suggestions for future episodes of Shack’s Arcade Corner, be sure to let us know in the comments or tweet us @shacknews and @GregBurke85 with #ArcadeCorner. There are many, many more arcade games to cover! In the event you’ve missed previous episodes, you can easily view them with our Shack’s Arcade Corner YouTube Playlist!

Greg Burke

Head of Video

Greg is the head of Video Production for Shacknews. If you've ever enjoyed a video on Gamerhub.tv, it was most likely edited by him. Follow him on Twitter @GregBurke85.