For decades, one of the most significant barriers for Western fans of Capcom’s cult-classic fighting game series Rival Schools was the “language wall” surrounding its final entry. While the Dreamcast sequel, Project Justice (known as Moero! Justice Gakuen in Japan), received a localized release, a major portion of the game, the Nekketsu Nikki board game mode, was famously stripped from the Western versions.
In early February 2026, a significant milestone was reached for the Dreamcast community with the release of an English translation patch by developer billymonks, finally making this lost mode accessible to English-speaking players.
The “Lost” Board Game Mode: Nekketsu Nikki
In the original Japanese release of Project Justice, the Nekketsu Nikki (“Hot-Blooded Diary”) mode is a deep, board-game-style simulation. Players navigate a virtual school environment, rolling dice to move across a map, interacting with the game’s colorful cast of students, and building their characters’ stats.
Historically, this mode was omitted from the North American and European releases because the heavy amount of text and cultural nuances made localization a daunting task for Capcom at the time. This left Western players with a simplified character creation system, missing out on the charm and RPG elements found in the Japanese original.
The Translation Release (v0.1)
The translation patch, released on February 4, 2026, represents a “v0.1” milestone. According to the developer, billymonks, the patch focuses on making the Nekketsu Nikki mode fully playable and understandable.
Key features of the release include:
- Playability: The majority of the essential text required to navigate the board game and understand character interactions has been translated.
- Incremental Improvements: Subsequent hotfixes (v0.1.1 and v0.1.2) were quickly issued to address bugged dialogue for characters like Roberto and to fix specific text strings related to gameplay rewards, such as “Math credits.”
- Contextual Completion: While the developer noted that some text remains untranslated due to being difficult to locate in the game files, the mode is considered fully functional via context clues.
Technical Implementation
To utilize the translation, users must own a legal Japanese copy of Moero! Justice Gakuen. The patch is applied using the Universal Dreamcast Patcher, a tool developed by Derek Pascarella, which has become a standard in the Dreamcast homebrew and translation scene.
Community Impact
The release has been met with enthusiasm by the DC gaming community, as it effectively restores a “missing piece” of fighting game history. For many fans who grew up playing the localized version of Project Justice, this patch provides the first opportunity to experience the game as it was originally intended, blending high-octane 3D fighting with a quirky, narrative-driven school boardgame simulation.
As the Dreamcast community continues to flourish through homebrew and translation projects, the work by billymonks serves as a reminder of how dedicated fans can preserve and expand the legacy of classic titles.
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