Psychic Force is a
fighting game series by
Taito, unique in a way that the battle take place in a cubic space enforced with magical energies. Though it opens up for complete 3D battle, it utilizes a 2D battle system, except there's no ground and that your character constantly floats and dashes. Like the latter
Touhou fighting games, your character is able to throw projectiles on long range, or get close enough for close range attacks. You can also dash to
graze through weak projectiles, but stronger attacks cannot be dashed through (unlike
Touhou fighting games where even the strongest projectile can be
grazed).
The story of
Psychic Force is pretty much a
Follow the Leader series of the
X-Men, except that you replace
Mutants with
People with Psychic Power. These people, called
Psychiccers are shunned by normal people in general and that they're forced to face hate and discrimination on a daily basis, but an organization of Psychiccers called NOA, led by a young man named Keith Evans, rises to make sure that no Psychiccer are forced to face the harshness of the world. Unfortunately, the members of NOA tend to take things to the extreme, causing a small group of Psychiccers to form a resistance against them known as Anti-NOA so that they can oppose NOA's extreme ways. Of course, there are some fighters who are not affiliated with the two groups, yet they still hunt down the Psychiccers, claiming them to be a dangerous threat to the world.
Psychic Force was then followed by an arcade sequel called
Psychic Force 2012, which was ported to the Dreamcast and later got a
PS1 port titled
Psychic Force 2. The story takes place 2 years later after the first Psychic Force, whereas Wong broke away from Keith and formed his own group called The Army, whose ambitions are far more extreme than NOA (Now called Neo NOA). Three characters: Sonia, Brad, and Genma were removed from the roster but received their own
Spiritual Successors. The three of them would eventually be brought back in
Psychic Force 2 as exclusive characters to that specific title. The sequel itself would also sport out a brand new cast of characters (and some returning ones). Interestingly, Taito has recently re-released
2012 for arcades, using the NESICA x Live System found on many cabinets that utilize their Type X boards, as well as upgraded HD graphics.
Psychic Force, while not commercially successful at the time of its initial release, DID gain a
cult fanbase. It also spawned a 2-episode OVA.
It has a character sheet for this game.
Tropes associated with Psychic Force:
- Age Is Relative - In 2010, the other characters tend to treat Emilio like a little kid when in fact he's 14, only a year younger than Wendy. Puzzle Taisen (see Lighter and Softer) takes this Up to Eleven for humorous effect, but it makes it all the more shocking in 2012 when he grows out of it with a vengeance.
- Anti-Villain - Most of the NOA members, except Wong, even before the formation of his Army.
- Downer Ending - Needless to say, nobody gets a happy ending, their stories always end in a sad note, for them or for the world.
- Bittersweet Ending - Except maybe Wendy's in PF2. She succeeds in her mission of saving Burn, although she did lose Emilio in process. Or Might, because it's one of the endings where Wong truly gets killed.
- Elemental Powers - BOY HOWDY:
- Follow the Leader - The story is kind of like X-Men WITH PSYCHIC POWERS!
- The Good, the Bad, and the Evil - Anti-NOA is Good, NOA is Bad, Wong's Army is Evil. The magicians (Genma/Genshin) don't take sides. Gates also used to be not taking sides, until Keith captures, reprograms and drafts him into NOA.
- "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight - Burn only wishes he was having one with Keith, but in 2012 Wendy has two of them: with Emilio and, oddly, with Gates.
- Lighter and Softer - Psychic Force Puzzle Taisen, a Psychic Force-themed version of Puzzle Bobble in which the 2010 characters appear as Super-Deformed versions of themselves and their issues are much more innocuous. Puzzle Taisen also contains examples of:
- Cloud Cuckoolander - Brad's good side (notable in the only installment of the series where his good side gets appreciable screentime)
- Corrupt Corporate Executive / The Scrooge - Wong. Because...
- Freudian Excuse - ...It turns out no one bought him any toys when he was a child.
- Green Aesop - More green than aesop, but there is a notable theme of energy crises. Keith's Lighter and Softer plan is for Psychiccers to save the planet by volunteering their powers as a clean, renewable energy source.
- Never Say "Die" - Surprisingly averted (especially in Wong's story), but unlike in the canon games, no one ever seems to be Killed Off for Real.
- Running Gag - Emilio cries "It's all because of this power!" at the slightest provocation. In his story mode something triggers it every single round, until by the end it's hard to take the line seriously ever again.
- Names to Know in Anime - Hikaru Midorikawa (Might), Ryusei Nakao (Brad)
- Playing Against Type - Subverted for Brad. When Brad is in normal pacifistic mode, he's against Ryusei Nakao's usual sadistic type. When he goes full on psycho, he's using his normal style.
- Shout Out Theme Naming: Burn and Keith are named after the player characters from Riding Fight, a previous Taito game made by the same developers.
- Video Game Cruelty Potential: Ringing out Patty when playing as Might. There is something sickly satisfying about hearing him scream her name at the top of his lungs.
- What Could Have Been: In Psychic Force Puzzle Taisen, there is a hidden character named Masato/Masahito Suzuki who was supposed to have been a playable character from within the first Psychic Force game, but was eventually cut out during the later development of the game. Background information reveals that Suzuki would've been a neutral fighter (like Genma and Gates) and that he was a bounty hunter who had sought out the Psychiccers through one of his bounty hunting jobs (this fact, along with the other one that he's a swordsman as well would eventually be passed over to Might from within 2012). Aside from Suzuki, there are two other unknown characters from within the bonus pictures of Psychic Force Puzzle Taisen and that they appear alongside with him, indicating the possibility that they were intended to be playable characters as well and that they would've shared a storyline with Suzuki, but like him, they and the storyline was dropped as well.
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