Psychic Force 2012

Overview

Psychic Force 2012 is a 2.5D contemporary-fantasy fighting game developed and released by Taito for arcades (using PC-based hardware) in 1998.

The sequel to the original Psychic Force, Psychic Force 2012 updates the graphics and gameplay of the original while featuring a mostly-new cast of characters. Gameplay-wise, it adds a new "Beginner" game mode and several new techniques (including the "Retreat Barrier", "Slide Dash", "Hyper Charge", "Psy-Impulse", and "Barrier Break") while combining the Life and Psycho gauges into a single two-step gauge (in which the Psycho gauge gets larger as the fighter loses vitality).

The game's story take place two years after the fall of the Psychiccer organization NOA. With the hero Burn Griffiths in stasis, two antagonistic forces fight for global domination: a renewed NOA (led by Keith Evans) and a new Psychiccer Army (led by Richard Wong). While the conflict is going on, some unaffiliated Psychiccers hunt those from both factions (including the main protagonist, a "Psychiccer Hunter" only known as "Might").

The game later received ports in 1999-2000 for the Dreamcast, PlayStation, and Windows PCs. The PS1 version, known as Psychic Force 2, was not released in North America and includes some bonus modes and characters (despite its graphical limitations). The PS1 version was later released on the PlayStation Network as a PSOne Classics title in Japan on September 10, 2008. The PC version was only released in Japan. Both the game and its predecessor, as well as an arranged version of the game (known as Psychic Force 2012 EX), were bundled together with the Japan-exclusive PS2 compilation Psychic Force Complete. It was later ported to Taito's Type X² arcade hardware, digitally released via the NESiCAxLive service on December 20, 2012.

The arcade version of the game is unique for its hardware at the time, which uses several off-the-shelf PC components. Sometimes known as WOLF System, it uses a Pentium MMX CPU and a 3dfx Voodoo Graphics GPU, as well as MS-DOS for its OS. It is notable for being one the earliest PC-based arcade games (alongside Area 51: Site 4), which would become commonplace beginning in the late 2000's (with Taito themselves using PC hardware for their Type X line).

Characters

The original version includes 13 playable characters, 3 of which were time-locked (and requires unlocking in the console versions). 6 of these characters returned from the previous game, with 7 new additions. The PS1 and EX versions includes 3 additional characters from the previous game as unlockables, bringing the total to 16.

Unaffiliated

• Might - New addition and the game's main protagonist. Fights with lightning.
• Patty Myers - New addition. Fights with tone.
• Genshin Kenjoh - New addition. Fights with magic.
• Wendy Ryan - Fights with wind.
• Burn Griffiths - Fights with fire. Time-released in the arcade version, unlockable in all other versions.
• Rokudo Genma - Fights with magic. Added in the PS1 and EX versions as an unlockable.

NOA

• Carlo Belfrond - New addition. Fights with water.
• Regina Belfrond - New addition. Fights with fire.
• Gates Oltsman - Fights with cyborg.
• Keith Evans - Fights with ice. Time-released in the arcade version, unlockable in all other versions.
• Brad Kilsten - Fights with gravity. Added in the PS1 and EX versions as an unlockable.
• Sonia - Fights with electricity. Added in the PS1 and EX versions as an unlockable.

Army

• Setsuna - New addition. Fights with darkness.
• Gudeath - New addition. Fights with gravity.
• Emilio Michaelov - Fights with light.
• Richard Wong - Fights with time. Time-released in the arcade version, unlockable in all other versions.