1996 · Taito · Fighting

Psychic Force

The plot of Psychic Force takes place in the year 2010, 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, light, wind, electricity, gravity, time, or ice in fighting.

Released: 4 October 1996
Platforms: Arcade Dreamcast PlayStation
Genres: Fighting
Developers: Taito
Publishers: Taito
Series: Psychic Force
Perspective: Side view
Themes: Action Science fiction
Country: Japan
Age ratings: ESRB T

About

Psychic Force (サイキックフォース, Saikikku Fōsu) is a 3D fighting video game for arcades, produced by Taito. It was first available for location testing in October 1995 before the final version was released in April 1996. The game was later ported that year and in 1997 to the PlayStation, with Acclaim releasing it in North America and PAL regions. The game combines the normal features of an arcade fighting game with psychic powers. Psychic Force was released with little fanfare and was not commercially successful in the West, but it did gain a degree of popularity in Japan.

Psychic Force would later get an arcade-exclusive update titled Psychic Force EX, which was released a year later in 1996. EX made the final boss playable without using a code, added new color schemes for the costumes, and improved and balanced the gameplay. In 1998, a sequel was released under the title Psychic Force 2012 also for the arcade, and was ported to the Dreamcast console in 1999 and eventually adapted to the PlayStation under the title Psychic Force 2. In 2006, the original Psychic Force was re-released as part of as an anniversary pack for the PlayStation 2 titled Psychic Force Complete, which had included Psychic Force 2012 and a special exclusive remixed version of 2012 titled Psychic Force 2012 EX.

Keywords

martial arts
anime
polygonal 3d

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

All combat in Psychic Force takes place in a cubic space defined by a magical force field. The fighters float inside this space and are capable of movement in all directions. Even though Psychic Force is structured as a 3D game, the gameplay is in 2D.

The walls of the force field play a big part in the strategy behind Psychic Force. A character takes damage when they're forced into a wall by their opponent. The characters do not take damage, however, if they move into the wall themselves. If a character takes another hit as they bounce off from the wall, the character will become stunned and fall through the air. The character is eventually invulnerable while they're falling.

Story

Psychiccers are shunned by normal people in general because of their unnatural abilities and that most cases turn violent and deadly from within sight. All of that changes one day when a mysterious Psychiccer organization known as NOA appears and offers Psychiccers a place from within their company. Headed by a young British Psychiccer man named Keith Evans, NOA seeks to create a perfect utopia for Psychiccers and that they'll eliminate anyone who tries to stand in their way.

Development

Acclaim gave Psychic Force minimal localization, not even replacing the Japanese voice acting or J-pop intro song; instead, they simply added subtitles to the cutscenes.

Reception

In Japan, Game Machine listed Psychic Force on their June 1, 1996 issue as being the third most-successful arcade game of the month.

The PlayStation version received mediocre reviews. A reviewer for Next Generation said that while the 3D movement seems innovative at first, it is only a novelty and, in combination with the limited number of close-range attacks, makes the fights dominated by cheap projectile attacks. He remarked, "On the positive side, Psychic Force does sport some nice - and if truth be told, very innovative - projectile weapons and background graphics. Unfortunately, these positive factors don't do enough to make up for the game's consistently mediocre gameplay."