Psychic Force 2012

The fighting system of Psychic Force 2012 remains the same as its predecessor, but the control has been redefined and the balance has been adjusted while the playing mechanics of the previous game has been fleshed out and new ones have been introduced as well.

On the side of the screen are two bars (one for each player). Each bar is separated into 2 gauges, the Life Gauge and the Psycho Gauge. To execute most moves, you will deplete your Psycho Gauge. As your Life Gauge decreases, the space for your Psycho Gauge increases. Hence, your Psycho Gauge can go beyond 100% (max 200%) Above there's a Power Indicator. This indicator shows a number that represents the strength of the character (default is 100%, max 200%).

There are 4 walls of the cube (battle arena) that the characters can contact with. Note that finishing off the opponent with a special move during the last round will cause the opponent to be smashed out of the arena (most of the time). It only applies to the left and right sides.

A light attack will execute small projectiles from far away. These projectiles will not deplete your Psycho Gauge and are weak. A strong attack will fire a bigger projectile, and depletes your Psycho Gauge by 30%. When both characters are close together, the light and strong attacks will execute punches and kicks. The light attack can be pressed multiple times for a combo while the strong attack will deliver a powerful blow. As noted before, the strong attack will consume 30% of the Psycho Gauge. So when the Psycho Gauge is depleted, the character will fire small projectiles just like pressing the light attack from far away. Another thing to note is the two commands that are available for the first move of every character. As the strong attack will deliver a strong physical attack up close, the other will be used to fire a projectile.

Returning tactics from the first Psychic Force includes the Psycho Charge, Barrier Guard, the Normal Dash, and the Quick Dash while the new tactics introduced in Psychic Force 2012 includes the Retreat Barrier, which can interrupt attacks from the opponent, but it will not break combos as it just prevents the opponent from attacking you after being knocked away while it consumes 50% of the Psycho Gauge, a Slide Dash which allows the character to side-step into the opponent's defense, a Hyper Charge which increase the Psycho Gauge while depleting the Life Gauge though it helps raise the attack power, hence the purpose of the Power Indicator that appears at the top, a Psy-Impulse which is a form of counter-attacking in which the character can unleash a repelling force after being knocked into a wall by the opponent while it consumes 25% of the Psycho Gauge, and a Barrier Break in which a character can break through an opponent's barrier and cause damage, but the move can only be guarded by a normal guard and that it consumes 50% of the Psycho Gauge.

The Arcade Mode of Psychic Force 2012 has the playing character going through eight stages of combat against random opponents, being timed on how fast they can complete the game while the Story Mode has the playing character facing off against a specific set of opponents, with the addition of cut-scenes in order to advance the story of the playing character. Once the player reaches the eighth and final stage, they will battle against a specific final boss for their playing character and once the final boss is defeated, an ending will be presented for the playing character.

Taking place two years after the events of Psychic Force, the sequel finds the world caught in the crossfire between two factions who vie for control over the Earth. Upon returning after his fateful past battle against his old friend Burn Griffiths, Keith Evans resurrects NOA as Neo NOA and once again resumes his conquest of establishing a utopia for united Psychiccers. Richard Wong, who had broken away from NOA, establishes his own group of Psychiccers known as "The Army" and seeks to eliminate Neo NOA in an attempt to conquer the world. As the two groups fight for control over the fate of the Earth, independent Psychiccers who find themselves being drawn into the conflict seek to hunt down members of Neo NOA and The Army in an attempt to find the truth and help locate their missing family and friends.[5]

This version includes features from the Dreamcast port of the game, and Glide/DirectX support.

The re-release version includes only the DirectX version of the game, and added a character gallery.

In Japan, Game Machine listed Psychic Force 2012 on their August 1, 1998 issue as being the second most-successful arcade game of the month.[7]

Jeff Lundrigan reviewed the Dreamcast version of the game for Next Generation, rating it one star out of five, and stated that "A waste of money and time."[8]

• Computer and Video Games (Dec, 1999)[9]
• Consoles Plus (Jan, 2000)[9]
• Game Revolution (Nov 01, 1999)[10]
• Futuregamez.net (Feb 26, 2000)[11]
• GameSpot (Mar 16, 1999)[12]
• Absolute Games (Jul 16, 1999)[13]
• IGN (Nov 09, 1999)[14]
• NowGamer (Oct 07, 1999)[15]
• Jeuxvideo.com (Mar 20, 2000)[16]
• Gaming Age (1999)[17]
• NowGamer (Oct 31, 1999)[18]
• Planet Dreamcast (Dec 01, 1999)[19]
• Revista Oficial Dreamcast (Jan, 2000)[20]

• Gamespot Review of Psychic 2012
• Unbalance Corporation page
• Taito pages: Arcade, NESiCAxLive