Though now best known for his work in the Devil May Cry franchise, Capcom's Hideaki Itsuno also served as Director on 1997's high school character fighting title: Rival Schools: United By Fate.

While certainly not the most popular fighter in main stream channels, Rival Schools does have an extremely adamant fan base. The game has players choose a pair of students to take on an opponent's team, all of it based on feuding high schools.

While this is technically a team fighter, the majority of the gameplay is one on one with occasional two character attacks once the "Vigor" meter was built up enough. A sequel titled "Project Justice" dropped back in 2000, and fans of the franchise have been patiently waiting for more ever since.

Itsuno no doubt has his hands full at the moment getting Devil May Cry 5 ready for its slated March 2019 release, but recently spoke with Dual Shockers about the prospect of creating a third entry in the Rival Schools series.

"If I was allowed, I’d love to make Rival Schools 3, I’d love to make Dragon’s Dogma 2, Capcom vs SNK 3, Street Fighter Alpha 4, Power Stone 3… If I could, even Street Fighter 6 would be amazing. But the big one… the one that we need to get resolution on is Rival Schools..." he told DS.

He went on to point out that high school is a three year program in Japan, and so a third installment for the high school-themed fighter would be very much appropriate.
https://www.eventhubs.com/news/2018/...-idea-it-well/