Psychic Force

Psychic Force is an obscure 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.

The first Psychic Force game features this cast of characters:
 * Burn Griffiths: The main protagonist of the series who happens to be a hotheaded American member of Anti-NOA. Psychiccer of Fire. Burn happens to be an old friend of Keith and wants him to abandon his extreme ways.
 * Emilio Michaelov: A young Russian boy who is a member of Anti-NOA. Psychiccer of Light. Introverted and is fearful of his power.
 * Wendy Ryan: A happy, up-beat Australian girl who happens to be a member of Anti-NOA. Psychiccer of Wind. Tends to act like Emilio's Cool Big Sis in order to help him out. She's also on a personal mission to find her missing older sister Chris.
 * Sonia: A mysterious blue-haired woman who works as a member of NOA. Psychiccer of Electricity. She harbors a crush on Keith, and is hinted to be rather robotic.
 * Brad Kilsten: A German man with a Split Personality disorder. At one point he's a gentleman who scoffs at fighting, but let him see some blood and he'll turn into an Ax Crazy Psycho for Hire. He's a member of NOA and is the Psychiccer of Gravity.
 * Richard Wong: A bespectacled Chinese man who happens to be a member of NOA and is the Psychiccer of Time. He usually serves as Keith's consultant and strategist, but is one hell of Magnificent Chessmaster, manipulating everyone and everything for his own personal gain. Possibly the Big Bad of the entire series.
 * Rokudo Genma: A Japanese monk who's unaffiliated with any of the forces. He relies on Shinto monk magic and is convinced that psychic power is a double-edged sword, thus he's trying to rid the world of all Psychiccers.
 * Gates Oltsman: An American cyborg who's not affiliated with any of the groups and that he fights with any armaments and upgrades of his cybernetic body. An unexpected Psychiccer attack had severely injured him and killed his wife and daughter, thus he became a cyborg in order to get his revenge against all Psychiccers.
 * Keith Evans: The leader of NOA who happens to be the Psychiccer of Ice. Despite his extreme ambitions, Keith comes off as being a very charismatic person and manages to attract one of his followers, Sonia. Keith's goal is to create a perfect utopia for Psychiccers and that he seeks to recruit and convince his old friend Burn to help him out in his quest.

Psychic Force was then followed by a Dreamcast sequel called Psychic Force 2012, which later got a PS 1 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):


 * Might: The second protagonist of the series and Sonia's Spiritual Successor (he controls lightning). A 'Psychiccer Hunter' who makes a living by killing all other Psychiccers.
 * Patricia Myers: Nicknamed 'Patty', she is Might's closest friend (but it's not quite known if she's also a Psychiccer Hunter). A brand new addition to the cast, as she is the Psychiccer of Tones.
 * Wendy Ryan: Returning from the first game, she is now looking for the missing Burn..
 * Genshin Kenjoh: Very much identical to his Spiritual Successor Genma, he is a monk magician who uses Shinto monk magic and tries to rid the world of the evil that is Psychiccers. He's also on a personal mission to rescue a young Shinto miko named Shiori from Wong and the Army.
 * Carlo Belfrond: A new addition to the cast who happens to be the Psychiccer of Water. Carlo is Keith's new subordinate and supports his goal of a Psychiccer-only world. He has a little sister named...
 * Regina Belfrond: Carlo's little sister who happens to be a Psychiccer of Fire, but NOT Burn's Spiritual Successor. Other than serving Keith and supporting his ambition, she seeks to impress her brother as well.
 * Gates Oltsman: Another returning face, he now works for Neo NOA after Keith captures and reprograms him.
 * Emilio Michaelov: A third returning face from the first game, but this time he's in a completely different situation. Emilio is now in Wong's army and has been brainwashed into some sort of Ax Crazy boy. However, his good self still struggles to emerge.
 * Setsuna: A new Bishonen addition who is a Psychiccer of Darkness and serves as a part of Wong's Army. However, like Wong to Keith previously, Setsuna wants to usurp Wong's place and take control over The Army.
 * Gudeath: Somehow a Spiritual Successor to Brad (controlling gravity), despite being sooo slow. Gudeath is a member of Wong's Army and thinks that the world has no need of the weak and is out to eliminate weak Psychiccers.
 * Keith Evans: Still the leader of Neo NOA as he continues his conquest in creating a Psychiccer-only utopia. Although with Wong defecting, he got a new opposition that even disgusts him.
 * Richard Wong: Now the leader of his own organization called The Army, Wong seeks to topple both Keith and Neo NOA so that he can advance his own goal of world domination.
 * Burn Griffiths: Even though he went missing after the events of the first Psychic Force, Burn had soon re-emerged in order to stop the plans of both Neo NOA and the Army. He's also continuing his own personal mission of convincing Keith to give up the idea of creating a utopia for Psychiccers.

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.

Tropes associated:


 * Anime Hair - Might's hair. Burn's probably count too. Also Brad's.
 * Anti-Villain - Most of the NOA members, except Wong, even before the formation of his Army.
 * The Archer - Emilio's Shining Arrow
 * Ass Kicks You - Wendy
 * Ax Crazy - One of Brad's personality, and PF2 Emilio.
 * Badass Bookworm - Keith is fond of reading books
 * Battle in the Center of the Mind - The last battle of Emilio's story in Psychic Force 2 is a battle against his psycho side..
 * Beam Spam - Emilio's Trinity Ray, especially if there are prisms involved, particularly the one that splits a ray into eight.
 * Big No -
 * Big Brother Instinct: Carlo is rather protective to Regina.
 * Big Brother Worship - Regina worships Carlo
 * Blond Guys Are Evil - Setsuna. Hoo boy.
 * Brainwashed and Crazy - PF2 Emilio. Emphasis on CRAZY
 * The Chessmaster - Wong
 * Cool Big Sis - Wendy (Although Wendy herself has got her own Cool Big Sis in form of )
 * Cool Shades - Gates
 * Crucified Hero Shot - Emilio's ultimate move.
 * Dark Messiah - Keith
 * Downer Ending -
 * Bittersweet Ending -
 * Elemental Powers - BOY HOWDY:
 * Playing with Fire - Burn, Regina
 * An Ice Person - Keith
 * Blow You Away - Wendy
 * Shock and Awe - Sonia, Might
 * Dishing Out Dirt - While not exactly their main forte, Brad and Gudeath seem to utilize rocks in their arsenal
 * Kill It with Water - Carlo
 * Eyes Always Shut - Wong. He's an evil Chinese guy. Of course he'll have this.
 * Foe Yay / Ho Yay - Burn and Keith.
 * 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.
 * Gravity Sucks - Brad and Gudeath's ultimates.
 * Heroic Sacrifice -.
 * Hollywood Cyborg - Gates
 * Holy Hand Grenade - Emilio
 * Human Popsicle - Keith's Frigid Prison
 * Laser-Guided Amnesia -
 * Light Is Not Good - PF2 Emilio
 * Love Martyr - Sonia. Amnesia aside, she's willing to assist Keith in most of his questionable ways to achieve his goal because she did love him.
 * Luke, I Am Your Father - This also works vice versa.
 * Also,
 * Meaningful Name - Any wonders someone named Burn would be Playing with Fire?
 * Mighty Glacier - Gates and Gudeath
 * Ms. Fanservice - Sonia. That skin tight outfit really makes her hot.
 * Musical Assassin - Patty
 * 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.
 * Power Gives You Wings - Emilio's power manifests in a pair of light wings
 * Psycho for Hire - Brad's crazy personality, and probably Setsuna too
 * Psychotic Smirk - Wong is very rarely seen without this.
 * Razor Wind - Most of Wendy's attacks
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni - Burn and Keith
 * Ridiculously Human Robot - Sonia,
 * 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.
 * Shrinking Violet - Emilio might be a male example.
 * The Social Darwinist - Gudeath
 * Split Personality - Brad
 * The Starscream - Setsuna
 * Teleport Spam - Wong can be very fond of this. His throw move consists of teleporting around the opponent repeatedly, striking them from every angle.
 * That Man Is Dead -
 * Time Master - Wong
 * Time Stands Still - Wong's move, which DRAINS all his Psi powers.
 * Utopia Justifies the Means - Keith's explanation towards Burn during their confrontations in both games.
 * Video Game Cruelty Potential: Ringing out Patty when playing as Burn. There is something sickly satisfying about hearing him scream her name at the top of his lungs.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist - Keith's main goal is to create a peaceful utopia for united Psychiccers. Unfortunately, having to attack and kill innocent people seems to be a part of that goal.
 * White-Haired Pretty Boy - Keith
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair - Sonia and Patty
 * You Have Outlived Your Usefulness - Wong is very fond of saying this quote.