With a Japanese launch in December of 2000, Project Justice was released for the NAOMI board and the Dreamcast.  It mostly sticks to the formula of Rival Schools, but does make a couple of tweaks.

Similar to the King of Fighters series, these two games are team based.  'Schools featured teams of two, but Project Justice adds an extra fighter to the teams.  This additional character allows for even more mayhem when it comes to the ridiculous team-based super-moves and allows for a bit of strategery in choosing your fighters.

The other slight change for the scholarly sequel has to do with the super-move gauge.  The original game's gauge capped out at nine fills, but Project Justice, mellows out and drops it to five fills.  It may seem like Capcom nerfed the super-move system, but it really had to be done.  Nine was far too much; players could pretty much play an entire match only using super-moves.

Both these modifications to the Rival Schools formula are welcomed ones.  The added character slot slightly deepens the gameplay and the weakened super-move slots keep the game from being too noob-friendly.

Project Justice's gameplay rocks.  The game plays, for the most part, like a 2D fighter, with a few 3D conventions thrown into the mix - I'd say it's a 2.25D fighter.  Quarter-circles, half-circles, and shoryuken motions are all at your disposal.  Double tapping forward makes your character dash, and hitting up on the D-pad makes you jump - something pretty uncommon for a 3D fighter.  The combo system is a good fit; you'll juggle more than a normal SF game, but not as much as Marvel vs. Capcom.  While a lot of fighters use a six-button attack layout (weak, medium, fierce) Project Justice uses four attack buttons (high and low) as well as a dodge button and a grab button.  This setup is well suited for a less "serious" fighter.

As far as actual moves go, Project Justice is a little different than most Street Figher-esque games.  While you'll be quarter-circling left and right, there aren't that many projectile attacks in the game.  Also, some of the characters have weapons, such as a tennis racket, baseball bat, or, well, a stick.  Special moves often take on the form of multiple slashes of your weapon, but only needing one input (example: quater-circle + punch = two horizontal slash followed by a vertical slash for Hayato).  It takes getting used to, but it works.  Plus, there are more traditional characters to choose from if you don't want to spend the time experimenting.  Other than these though, you'll see plenty of slightly modified versions of shorukens and Tatsumaki Senpuuykyakus.

Super-moves are where the game's over-the-top qualities really shine.  The commands are what you'd expect - double quarter-circles and a kick or punch button result in a brutal combination and flashing colors.  Even cooler, hitting low punch and low kick simultaneously shoots out an aura that, if it hits your opponent, triggers a team combo - one or two of your partners will jump in and help you perform a hilarious combo attack on your pathetic enemy.

Quirky character design, absurd attacks, and that third dimension make Project Justice a great fighter.  It's not as intricate as Third Strike, but it's not a button masher by any means.  This game is going to be in my Dreamcast for quite a while.

But this all makes me wonder one thing.  Why the hell were the 3D Street Fighters such atrocities?  PJ shows Capcom can make a damn fine 3D fighter, so what happened there?

Stay tuned to find out if the fourth direct entry into the Street Fighter series is any good.

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