Psycho Soldier
Encyclopedia
is an action
arcade game
developed
by Japan
ese software company SNK
that was originally released in 1986
and internationally in 1987
. It is somewhat of a sequel
to Athena
released a year earlier, Psycho Soldier continues the adventures of Athena, and is noteworthy for being the first video game with a vocal in-game soundtrack. Ocean Software
on their Imagine label released home computer versions of the game for the ZX Spectrum
, Commodore 64
and Amstrad
in 1987.
Psycho Soldier takes place many years after the plot of the Athena arcade. In the Athena arcade, the title character of it was a mystical, almost divine figure loosely based on the goddess
of Greek myth who fought her way through several otherworldly lands in order to destroy various monsters and evil beings who threatened the peace of the land. After her journey was complete, she returned to heaven
, only to fade completely from the minds of the mortals who lived below.
In the modern times of Psycho Soldier, a young girl named Athena Asamiya
, who is actually the descendant of the original Athena, displays special psychic abilities that allow her to unlock a number of hidden powers within herself, and hopes to one day use these skills not only to help others, but to advance her stage career as a future pop idol. It is believed she is the reincarnation of the Athena of lore, but this is speculation. What is known, however, is that several evil beings have been appearing in her hometown in Japan
, and along with her friend and fellow gifted psychic Sie Kensou, attempts to use her talents to protect her friends and home from this new menace.
Both Athena and Kensu share the same abilities, and whichever one the player chooses has no real bearing on the difficulty of the game. The only real difference comes when the player happens upon a special item resembling a green egg which, if the player's energy bar happens to be full, will transform them into a powerful "Psycho Creature", in Athena's case a phoenix
and for Kensu a green dragon
, yet they share the same abilities: a powerful fire breath attack that hits enemies in front of them, or a move which rams them into a single nearby enemy.
. The Japanese
and English
versions of the game have different vocals for the main song.
The Japanese version of the song was released as a single in 1987 on a special cassette
that was available only to those who purchased the Nintendo Famicom
version of Athena in Japanese retail stores. The cassette also included a special vocal version of the ending theme.
The Japanese version of the theme song
used in this game (sans vocals) became the theme song for the Psycho Soldiers team in The King of Fighters '94 and The King of Fighters '96. It also served as Athena's individual character theme in The King of Fighters '97 and The King of Fighters 2002.
by Imagine Software
, and was coverted by Ross Harris (as Source Software). This port received moderate critical success. Your Sinclair
awarded 8 out of 10, praising the smooth sprite movement and well-tried formula gameplay but lamenting the monochrome graphics and weak sound effects. CRASH
awarded 69% and 75%, one reviewer criticising the boring gameplay and Athena's slow reactions.
, Athena can be seen wearing her winter school uniform from Psycho Soldier) as well as reworking his abilities to differentiate him from Athena. The version of Kensu seen in this game, however, has made cameo in one of the special endings in The King of Fighters '97
. He was also featured in The King of Fighters 2000
in his original costume as a special striker called "Psycho Soldier Kensu". This version of Kensou also appears in the recent SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters DS
trading card game as an SNK character card. The characters Kensu and Athena, as well as the items Psycho Armor and Psycho Shield both appear in the game Crystalis
for the NES a post-apocalyptic RPG. Also, it appears that Athena and Kensu wear their Psycho Soldier outfits in The King of Fighters XII
as their default outfits. Ever since KOF XIIs release, The King of Fighters XIII
default outfit of Kensu was left unchanged, but for Athena however, her Psycho Soldier outfit was changed from default to alternate, leaving her more popular sailor fuku
outfit as her default outfit for the game.
Action game
Action game is a video game genre that emphasizes physical challenges, including hand–eye coordination and reaction-time. The genre includes diverse subgenres such as fighting games, shooter games, and platform games, which are widely considered the most important action games, though some...
arcade game
Arcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
developed
Video game developer
A video game developer is a software developer that creates video games. A developer may specialize in a certain video game console, such as Nintendo's Wii, Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's PlayStation 3, or may develop for a variety of systems, including personal computers.Most developers also...
by Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese software company SNK
SNK Playmore
SNK Playmore Corporation is a Japanese video game hardware and software company. SNK is an acronym of , which was SNK's original name. The company's legal and trading name became SNK in 1986....
that was originally released in 1986
1986 in video gaming
-Events:-Notable releases:*Namco releases Sky Kid Deluxe, Hopping Mappy, Toy Pop, The Return of Ishtar, which is the sequel to Tower of Druaga, Genpei Tōma Den, and Rolling Thunder....
and internationally in 1987
1987 in video gaming
-Notable releases:* January 14, Nintendo releases Zelda II: The Adventure of Link in January for the Famicom Disk System in Japan only. The game would go unreleased in America for nearly two years afterwards.* February 20, Konami releases Contra...
. It is somewhat of a sequel
Sequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...
to Athena
Athena (video game)
is a platform arcade game, produced and published in 1986 by SNK. It was later ported to the NES, developed by Micronics. The NES version was the only one released in North America. Conversions were done also for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and Amstrad CPC in 1987 by Ocean Software under their...
released a year earlier, Psycho Soldier continues the adventures of Athena, and is noteworthy for being the first video game with a vocal in-game soundtrack. Ocean Software
Ocean Software
The British company Ocean Software was one of the biggest European video game developers/publishers of the 1980s and 90s...
on their Imagine label released home computer versions of the game for the ZX Spectrum
ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd...
, Commodore 64
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
and Amstrad
Amstrad
Amstrad is a British electronics company, now wholly owned by BSkyB. As of 2006, Amstrad's main business is manufacturing Sky Digital interactive boxes....
in 1987.
Story
Athena
In Greek mythology, Athena, Athenê, or Athene , also referred to as Pallas Athena/Athene , is the goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, warfare, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts, justice, and skill. Minerva, Athena's Roman incarnation, embodies similar attributes. Athena is...
of Greek myth who fought her way through several otherworldly lands in order to destroy various monsters and evil beings who threatened the peace of the land. After her journey was complete, she returned to heaven
Heaven
Heaven, the Heavens or Seven Heavens, is a common religious cosmological or metaphysical term for the physical or transcendent place from which heavenly beings originate, are enthroned or inhabit...
, only to fade completely from the minds of the mortals who lived below.
In the modern times of Psycho Soldier, a young girl named Athena Asamiya
Athena Asamiya
is a character originally from the former SNK's video game Psycho Soldier and a descendant of Princess Athena in its Athena. She later appears in The King of Fighters series of fighting games as a female fighter character and has appeared in each of its thirteen editions...
, who is actually the descendant of the original Athena, displays special psychic abilities that allow her to unlock a number of hidden powers within herself, and hopes to one day use these skills not only to help others, but to advance her stage career as a future pop idol. It is believed she is the reincarnation of the Athena of lore, but this is speculation. What is known, however, is that several evil beings have been appearing in her hometown in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, and along with her friend and fellow gifted psychic Sie Kensou, attempts to use her talents to protect her friends and home from this new menace.
Gameplay
Psycho Soldier is an action sidescroller. While advancing through the game's levels, the player may come across rocks and other destructible objects that have a chance of holding items that either increase Athena or Kensu's power, or make enemies more difficult to defeat. The game is advanced by traveling horizontally across the screen, transversing several harmful objects and enemies and utilizing a special force known as "Psycho Energy" to perform a number of attacks, including creating a shield of rotating spheres around the character's body to protect them. The amount of Psycho energy is measured by the energy bar located to the left of the player's health bar, and can be increased by obtaining certain items.Both Athena and Kensu share the same abilities, and whichever one the player chooses has no real bearing on the difficulty of the game. The only real difference comes when the player happens upon a special item resembling a green egg which, if the player's energy bar happens to be full, will transform them into a powerful "Psycho Creature", in Athena's case a phoenix
Phoenix (mythology)
The phoenix or phenix is a mythical sacred firebird that can be found in the mythologies of the Arabian, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Chinese, Indian and Phoenicians....
and for Kensu a green dragon
Dragon
A dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits, that feature in the myths of many cultures. There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragon, derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Greek and Middle Eastern...
, yet they share the same abilities: a powerful fire breath attack that hits enemies in front of them, or a move which rams them into a single nearby enemy.
Soundtrack
Psycho Soldier is noteworthy for being the first video game to utilize a vocal track during in-game play, with vocals provided by Japanese pop idol Kaori ShimizuKaori Shimizu (idol)
is a Japanese idol notable for doing the voice and theme song to the video game Psycho Soldier, the first video game with a vocal soundtrack. In 1991 she retired from show business to marry baseball player Kazuhiro Sasaki. They had a son and daughter together...
. The Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
and English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
versions of the game have different vocals for the main song.
The Japanese version of the song was released as a single in 1987 on a special cassette
Compact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
that was available only to those who purchased the Nintendo Famicom
Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
version of Athena in Japanese retail stores. The cassette also included a special vocal version of the ending theme.
The Japanese version of the theme song
Theme music
Theme music is a piece that is often written specifically for a radio program, television program, video game or movie, and usually played during the title sequence and/or end credits...
used in this game (sans vocals) became the theme song for the Psycho Soldiers team in The King of Fighters '94 and The King of Fighters '96. It also served as Athena's individual character theme in The King of Fighters '97 and The King of Fighters 2002.
Ports
The ZX Spectrum version was published in 19871987 in video gaming
-Notable releases:* January 14, Nintendo releases Zelda II: The Adventure of Link in January for the Famicom Disk System in Japan only. The game would go unreleased in America for nearly two years afterwards.* February 20, Konami releases Contra...
by Imagine Software
Imagine Software
Imagine Software was a British video games developer based in Liverpool which existed briefly in the early 1980s, initially producing software for the ZX Spectrum and VIC-20...
, and was coverted by Ross Harris (as Source Software). This port received moderate critical success. Your Sinclair
Your Sinclair
Your Sinclair or YS as it was commonly abbreviated, was a British computer magazine for the Sinclair range of computers, mainly the ZX Spectrum.-History:...
awarded 8 out of 10, praising the smooth sprite movement and well-tried formula gameplay but lamenting the monochrome graphics and weak sound effects. CRASH
CRASH (magazine)
Crash was a magazine dedicated to the ZX Spectrum home computer. It was published from 1984 to 1991 by Newsfield Publications Ltd until their liquidation, and then until 1992 by Europress.-Development:...
awarded 69% and 75%, one reviewer criticising the boring gameplay and Athena's slow reactions.
In other games
Both Athena and Kensu have been seen in other games. The character of Kensu was at the same time introduced as a teammate for Athena in The King of Fighters series as Sie Kensou and underwent several cosmetic changes (in previews of The King of Fighters XIIThe King of Fighters XII
is the twelfth installment of The King of Fighters series. SNK Playmore announced that it is abandoning the Atomiswave system and is moving its most popular game franchises to the Taito Type X2 arcade system. KOF XII uses newly-drawn 2D sprites on 2D backgrounds...
, Athena can be seen wearing her winter school uniform from Psycho Soldier) as well as reworking his abilities to differentiate him from Athena. The version of Kensu seen in this game, however, has made cameo in one of the special endings in The King of Fighters '97
The King of Fighters '97
The King of Fighters '97 is a fighting game produced by SNK for the Neo Geo arcade and home console. It is the fourth game in The King of Fighters series. It was ported to the Neo-Geo CD, as well as the PlayStation and the Sega Saturn in Japan only...
. He was also featured in The King of Fighters 2000
The King of Fighters 2000
The King of Fighters 2000 is a competitive fighting game produced by SNK for the Neo Geo arcade and home platforms. It is the seventh installment in The King of Fighters series for the Neo Geo, as well as the final one produced by SNK before the bankruptcy. The game was ported to the Sega...
in his original costume as a special striker called "Psycho Soldier Kensu". This version of Kensou also appears in the recent SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters DS
SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash
SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash is a series of SNK Playmore games between 1999 and 2006 for hand-held consoles.This game has a CCG theme, spun off from the popular series of fighting games by SNK and Capcom, and also including references to many other kinds of games from both companies. The...
trading card game as an SNK character card. The characters Kensu and Athena, as well as the items Psycho Armor and Psycho Shield both appear in the game Crystalis
Crystalis
Crystalis, known in Japan as , is an action RPG/action-adventure video game produced by SNK for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It was released on April 13, 1990 in Japan and later that July in the United States. Though Crystalis never became a runaway hit, it is now considered a cult classic...
for the NES a post-apocalyptic RPG. Also, it appears that Athena and Kensu wear their Psycho Soldier outfits in The King of Fighters XII
The King of Fighters XII
is the twelfth installment of The King of Fighters series. SNK Playmore announced that it is abandoning the Atomiswave system and is moving its most popular game franchises to the Taito Type X2 arcade system. KOF XII uses newly-drawn 2D sprites on 2D backgrounds...
as their default outfits. Ever since KOF XIIs release, The King of Fighters XIII
The King of Fighters XIII
is the latest installment of The King of Fighters fighting game series developed and published by SNK Playmore. The game is set after the events from The King of Fighters XI and is also the conclusion of Ash Crimson's story arc, which started in The King of Fighters 2003...
default outfit of Kensu was left unchanged, but for Athena however, her Psycho Soldier outfit was changed from default to alternate, leaving her more popular sailor fuku
Japanese school uniform
Japan introduced school uniforms in the late 19th century. Today, school uniforms are common in many of the Japanese public and private school systems. The Japanese word for this type of uniform is .-Usage:...
outfit as her default outfit for the game.