Psychic World (Game Gear)

For the Sega Master System game, see Psychic World (Master System).

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US/EU JP
Psychic World
System(s): Sega Game Gear
Publisher: Sega (JP,US,CA,EU) Tec Toy (BR)
Developer: Sanritsu
Licensor: Hertz
Original system(s): MSX
Developer(s) of original games: Hertz
Genre: Action
Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code JP 1991-02-02 ¥3,5003,500 G-3203 US 1991-04-26 2306 EU 1991-06-29 2306 UK 1991-06-29 £19.9919.99 2306 BR 199x 012090
Non-Sega versions MSX

Psychic World is a Sega Game Gear action platform game developed by Sanritsu and published by Sega in early 1991. Like its Master System counterpart, it is a port of Hertz's 1988 MSX game Psycho World with notably fewer levels. Unlike the Master System version, it was released in Japan and the United States. During development, it was titled Psycho World in Japan, the same as the original.

The Game Gear version has redesigned graphics and levels from the Master System version. Despite the smaller screen size of the Game Gear, the playable area is nearly the same height as the Master System game because of the large HUD in that version.

Story

Lucia

Dr. Knavik, a research scientist doing experiments with animals, hired the twin sisters Cecile and Lucia to work as his assistants. One evening, when Dr. Knavik and Cecile were working late and Lucia had gone to bed, an explosion burst from the lab. Lucia rushed to the lab to find that Cecile had been taken by the animals. Lucia asks Dr. Knavik how she can get Cecile back, and Dr. Knavik gives her the ESP Booster, a special helmet he developed that gives her psychic powers.

Gameplay

Psychic World is an action platform game. Players control Lucia through a supernatural world as she pursues the monster abducting her sister. Each round presents numerous platforming challenges, a mini-boss partway through, and a boss at the end. Lucia can be moved with and ; holding either button causes her to run after a few seconds. She can jump with and crouch with . She enters doorways with . She climbs ladders with and descends them with . She can switch to a standing pose on a ladder with or so she can fire her weapon.

Lucia has a projectile weapon that she fires with . She can fire while crouching or jumping. Lucia starts the game with a Psy Cannon and obtains new weapons by defeating bosses. Her weapon is weak at first but can be upgraded over the course of the game. Some weapons are more effective against certain enemies, and some grant Lucia special abilities such as the ability to freeze water into ice blocks to create platforms.

Lucia also has four special ESP abilities that grant her special powers such as temporary invulnerability or levitation. Unlike her weapons, which are unlimited, these abilities cost ESP when they are used. Lucia's ESP can be restored by items and is also fully replenished every 1,000 points earned by the player. The rounds are designed so the player must use Lucia's various weapons and abilities to overcome specific challenges.

The player can change Lucia's weapon or use an ESP ability at any point by holding and pressing , which pauses the game and replaces the HUD at the bottom of the screen with an ESP Window. The player can scroll the icons in the ESP Window with and and release when the desired weapon or ability is selected. Weapons and abilities are upgraded by finding and collecting their icons, which are dropped by defeated enemies, throughout the game.

Lucia's hit points are shown in the bottom-right corner of the screen. Her hit points decrease when she takes damage from enemies and hazards and can be replenished by finding items or using the Shield ability. Unlike most platform games, Lucia does not receive temporary invulnerability when she takes damage (though she is knocked back if there is room), so it is possible to take a large amount of damage from a single foe if the player is not careful. If Lucia loses all of her life, she dies and the game ends, but it can be continued any number of times from the beginning of the current round. The player's score is reset, but items and upgrade levels are retained.

Attack Capabilities

	Psy Cannon
	The starting weapon. Damages all enemies.
	Hydro Wave
	Gives Lucia the ability to freeze moist air.
	Burning Bullet
	Gives Lucia the ability to break blocks of ice.
	Freeze Ray
	Freezes smaller enemies but does not damage them. Lucia can pass through frozen enemies.
	Ultra Sonic
	Gives Lucia the ability to break metal and other barriers.

ESP Capabilities

	Shield
	Activates a temporary shield that renders Lucia invulnerable initially and then drains ESP instead of health for the rest of its duration. Lucia can still be knocked back by enemies while invulnerable. If used again while the shield is active, it heals Lucia for a small amount. It can be used repeatedly to fully restore Lucia's health if the player has enough ESP.
	Explosion
	Damages all enemies on the screen.
	Levitation
	Allows Lucia to levitate briefly by holding , enabling her to reach platforms she cannot reach by jumping. Cannot be used simultaneously with the Shield ability.
	Teleportation
	Teleports Lucia back to the beginning of the round. Meant to be used to escape dangerous situations or to be used if the player gets Lucia stuck.

Items

In addition to these items, all of Lucia's weapons and ESP abilities can be found as item pick-ups. If she does not already have the weapon or ability, the item gives it to her. If she already has the weapon or ability, the item upgrades it for her (with the exception of Teleportation, which does not have any upgrades).

	Partial Heart
	Restores 10% of Lucia's health.
	Full Heart
	Completely restores Lucia's health.
	Partial ESP
	Restores 10% of Lucia's ESP.
	Full ESP
	Completely restores Lucia's ESP.
	Bonus
	Awards the player with 500 points.

Rounds

	Prairie
	This round combines elements of the Prairie and Volcanic Area rounds from the Master System version.
	Ice Field
	Ruins
	Fortress
	Final Boss

Production credits

• Original Planners: K.Matumoto, H.Maejima
• Planner: Kanchan
• Design: Kanchan, T.Asano
• Program: T.Asano
• Sound: Ippo
• Special Thanks to: S.Kawa, T.Kita, Kou, Nonchan
• Presented by: Sega

Source:

In-game credits

Magazine articles

Main article: Psychic World (Game Gear)/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Print advert in Beep! MegaDrive (JP) #1991-03: "March 1991" (1991-02-08)

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score ACE (UK) 30 Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J 63 Consoles + (FR) 84 Console XS (UK) PAL 32 GamePro (US) NTSC-U 84 Games-X (UK) 78 Hippon Super (JP) NTSC-J 60 Hobby Consolas (ES) 75 Joystick (FR) 83 Mean Machines Sega (UK) PAL 55 Power Play (DE) 60 Sega Power (UK) 74 Sega Pro (UK) 34 Sega Pro (UK) PAL 12 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 54 User (GR) 70

	59
Based on 16 reviews

Psychic World (Game Gear)

Game Gear, JP
Cover
Cart

Game Gear, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Game Gear, EU
Cover
Cart Manual

Game Gear, BR
Cover
Cart Manual

Technical information

ROM dump status

System	Hash	Size	Build Date	Source	Comments
?	CRC32 afcc7828 MD5 a764b44555aadb48c519e7c85bdf7895 SHA-1 1c0074c811ed4eb369be31c1bc7d851e40ae8797	128kB		Cartridge (JP)
?	CRC32 73779b22 MD5 52cfddc12af6a3a64030f62ccf6aca83 SHA-1 3be13f79eeb26b82343afab3e740b3a1d35978eb	128kB		Cartridge (US/EU)