Street Fighter 6’s Rival Schools Collaboration Hints at Future Possibilities

Street Fighter 6 has been on quite the crossover spree recently, but its latest collaboration might just take the cake for the most unexpected. On April 1st, Capcom surprised fans by rolling out a fighting pass centered around the beloved yet niche Rival Schools franchise. And no, this wasn’t a cleverly timed April Fool’s jest. Players diving into Street Fighter 6 as we speak can snag some exclusive rewards pulling inspiration from this fellow Capcom fighting game series. These treats predominantly feature cosmetic goodies, including fresh avatar gear, catchy tunes, some nifty stickers, and a few new player titles, among other little gems.

The gaming community reeled at the announcement, partly because the Rival Schools franchise has been out of the spotlight for so long. To give you some perspective, the last entry, Project Justice, graced the Sega Dreamcast in 2000, and since then, the series has been pretty much left in the dust. Even though Project Justice is getting a re-release as part of the upcoming Capcom Fighting Collection 2, the idea that Capcom would dust off such an old franchise from its impressive library is still quite the curveball. Perhaps, just perhaps, this indicates a flicker of interest within Capcom to resurrect Rival Schools with a potential new installment down the line.

You might be wondering why Rival Schools hasn’t left much of a mark. Well, the series has only seen three installments, with one being Japan-exclusive. The distribution wasn’t exactly widespread either; each game premiered solely on Sega or Sony platforms. Although tied to the same universe as Street Fighter, the series draws on a different vibe, focusing largely on high school students and teachers, each with their own reasons for battling to unravel mysteries of abductions plaguing their campuses.

In a bid to reawaken its dormant franchises, Capcom seems more open to revisiting old favorites lately. The company expressed its intentions last year in an investor briefing, articulating plans to “reactivate dormant IPs that haven’t had a new title launch recently.” This evolving strategy, they claimed, promises to yield “highly efficient, high-quality titles” consistently.

Fans have already begun witnessing the fruits of this renewed focus on forgotten franchises. Excitement stirred with announcements of a new mainline Onimusha game and an Okami sequel. The return of the Dead Rising and Dragon’s Dogma series, with titles like Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster and Dragon’s Dogma 2, only bolster hopes for more revivals, keeping the door ajar for a future Rival Schools venture.

However, the road to rejuvenation isn’t without its hurdles. A significant one being the departure of Hideaki Itsuno, the series’ lead producer, from Capcom. Itsuno had been vocal about his desire to craft a third Rival Schools game, seeing it as a lifelong goal. Though his absence might pose a challenge, it by no means bars Capcom from pursuing a new outing for the series. As underscored by the Street Fighter 6 crossover, Capcom clearly hasn’t consigned Rival Schools to oblivion.