| Psychic Force | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Taito |
| Publisher(s) | Taito (Japan) Acclaim (North America, PAL regions) |
| Platform(s) | Arcade, PlayStation, Dreamcast |
| Release date(s) | 1995 (Arcade) 10/04/96 (Japan) 10/03/96 (North America) 07/1997 (PAL region) |
| Genre(s) | Action, Fighting |
| Mode(s) | One-On-One; Up to 2 players simultaneously |
| Cabinet | Upright |
| Display | Taito FX-1 System |
Psychic Force (サイキックフォース Saikikku Fōsu) is a 1995 fighting arcade game created by Taito which was later ported to the PlayStation in 1996. The PlayStation version was released by Acclaim in North America, and in PAL regions. The game was a 3D fighter which combined the normal features of an arcade fighting game with psychic powers. There were eight characters available to choose from in the game, all deemed as 'psychic masters'. The game was released without much hype and failed to sell many copies. In 1999 a sequel was released under the title Psychic Force 2012 also for the arcade, and was ported for the Dreamcast console. It was adapted to the PlayStation under the title Psychic Force 2.
There was also a Puzzle Bobble style puzzle game released that was known as Psychic Force Puzzle Taisen. However, this game was never released outside of Japan. In 2006 in Japan, all three games were released together as an anniversary pack for the PlayStation 2.
Contents |
The plot of Psychic Force takes place several years in the future, where selected individuals are blessed with the power of psychic abilities. All people imbued with this power are called "Psychiccers" and uses a specific element such as fire, ice or gravity in fighting.
Psychiccers are shunned by normal people because of their unnatural abilities and that most cases turn violent and deadly. All of that changes one day when a mysterious corporation known as "NOA" appears and offers Psychiccers a place in their company. Headed by a man named Keith Evans, NOA seeks to create a perfect utopia for Psychiccers and that they'll eliminate anyone who stands in their way.
Challenging NOA's ambition is a small independent group known as "Anti-NOA" and that one of its members, a young American Psychiccer named Burn Griffiths, seeks to confront and stop his old friend Keith from going through with his extreme plans of creating a Psychiccer-only world.
| Name | Age | Gender | Element | Group | Hair | Eye color |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burn Griffiths: The main protagonist of the series. An American Psychiccer who has the ability to use the psychic power of fire in battle. Burn seeks to find his old friend Keith so that he can convince him to give up his ambition of creating a Psychiccer-only world. | 18 | Male | Fire | Anti-NOA | Blond (Part of it dyed red) | Blue |
| Emilio Michaelov: A Russian Psychiccer who has the ability to use the psychic power of light in battle. Emilio is very scared of his own ability and only seeks peace and solitude. | 14 | Male | Light | Anti-NOA | Green (Blue in Psychic Force) | Purple |
| Wendy Ryan: An Australian Psychiccer who has the ability to use the psychic power of wind in battle. Wendy seeks to find her long-lost older sister Chris and suspects that NOA may have the answers to her questions. | 15 | Female | Wind | Anti-NOA | Pink | Blue |
| Sonia (Chris Ryan): A bioroid Psychiccer who has the ability to use the psychic power of electricity in battle. While Sonia serves NOA and Keith with undying loyalty, she is actually Wendy's older sister Chris, who was kidnapped and remade into a bioroid by Wong. | 17 | Female | Electricity | NOA | Blue | Blue |
| Brad Kilsten: A German Psychiccer who has the ability to use the psychic power of gravity in battle. Having a multiple-personality disorder, Brad is unpredicable in battle as his gentle side clashes with his psychotic side. | 24 | Male | Gravity | NOA | Silver | Red (He wears eye contacts) |
| Richard Wong: A Hong Kong Chinese Psychiccer who has the ability to use the psychic power of time in battle. Even though Wong serves as Keith's consultant and strategist in NOA, he secretly seeks to eliminate Keith so that he can advance his own ambition of conquering the world. He is the main villain in this. | 34 | Male | Time | NOA | Black | Unknown |
| Rokudo Genma: A Japanese monk/priest who uses his own unique style of Shinto magic in battle. Genma is convinced that psychic power is a double-edged sword and seeks to eliminate all Psychiccers. | 53 | Male | Magic | Neutral | Black | Brown |
| Gates Oltsman: An American cybernetic soldier who relies on his own enhancements in battle. Upon surviving a devastating Psychiccer attack that took the lives of his wife Tina and their daughter Cheryl, Gates, who was reborn as a cyborg, seeks revenge against all Psychiccers. | 37 | Male | Cyborg | Neutral | None | Unknown |
| Keith Evans: The main boss of the game. The leader of NOA who has the ability to use the psychic power of ice in battle. Keith's ultimate goal is to create a utopia for Psychiccers and that he'll eliminate anyone who tries to stand in his way. | 17 | Male | Ice | NOA | Silver | Blue |
The gameplay in Psychic Force revolves around the fighting game genre, with the addition of psychic powers and a battleground of cubic space defined by a magical force field. Using the psychic powers of levitation, characters fly about in a two-dimensional plane, despite the possibility of a Z-axis.
The characters are controlled with an eight directional joystick and three buttons which dictate a blocking function, a light attack, and a heavy attack (On the ported PlayStation version these commands were given to the square, triangle and circle buttons. By combining these different commands, the player can make combo attacks, throws, and special attacks which can break the enemy's defenses.
In 1998, a two-episode anime OVA was released.
The first episode describes Keith's escape from the laboratory where he was being experimented on. Burn almost hits him with his motorcycle, and takes a frightened Keith home. Three men in dark suits come looking for Keith, who uses his psychic abilities to injure two of them, and chase the third out. When Burn tries to help Keith escape, they are ambushed and, despite Keith's best efforts, he is dragged away, leaving Burn lying on the ground, which awakens his powers.
The second episode features Keith and Burn several years later, where Keith has been taken under the wing of Wong, head of NOA. Keith declares his vision of peace to the world, and begins to round up lost Psychiccers. Burn's dormant psychic abilities are detected by Gates, who tries to attack Burn, but Burn is saved by Keith. While Burn is in NOA HQ with Keith, he berates him for trying to start a war between humans and Psychiccers, then leaves with Wendy and Emilio. He eventually head back to confront Keith, but their fight is interrupted by Wong who triggers the self-destruct for the NOA HQ. Keith traps Burn in a cocoon of ice, leaving him as the only survivor.