Psycho Dream Review

Originally released in 1992 for the Super Famicom, Psycho Dream is set around a new dangerous trend where young people are being hypnotized by a new virtual reality trend call DMovies. Some of them remain so long in the new alternate reality that they eventually die. The government has created a new special division known as Diamond Dogs to help young people. Ryo and Maria are tasked to save young Sayaka from the DMovie she’s trapped in.

Psycho Dream is a straight forward 2D action platformer where players have to clear a handful of levels, going from start to finish, fight off a boss and then move on to the next level. When starting the game, you can choose between Ryo and Maria; with their unique default weapon. Ryo has a sword while Maria has what looks to be a whip.

Players also have a screen clearing attack they can use when it trouble; be the usage is limited so keep an eye on the amount left. In order to give you a bit of help, killing enemies will reward players with gems, referred to as Protein. Depending on the color, they give additional perks. For example, the purple one adds another special attack, red ones will replenish your health or the green one gives players temporarily invincibility.

As expected, with most classic games unearthed from the past, Psycho Dream features a few enhancements. You can rewind if you make a mistake or fast forward to move faster (although this is risky because you might not see enemies in time to dodge them), and there’s also a feature that allows you to save anywhere. Or if you’re just lazy, cheats such as infinite lives, invulnerability can be enabled.

Psycho Dream still looks great as a whole by today’s standards. But there are some things that haven’t aged that well as sometimes, enemies or their projectiles, mesh with the background making them barely noticeable and causing damage that could’ve been avoided under normal circumstances. Thankfully, each level is uniquely designed and provide a fair challenge. The soundtrack is fine; there’s nothing inherently wrong with the game’s score, but it’s far from other classics from that generation.

The game’s biggest nuisance is the controls. While the game controls fine as a whole, it feels mechanical and blocky; as if you had cement boots. Making some simple movements more complex than they should. The other main problem is the final level. It has a piss poor level design that requires a lot of platforming made impossible by the knock down damage caused the neverending onslaught of enemies. The design mixed with the sluggish control makes this near impossible to do. For some reason, the final level is also longer than all previous levels combined.

Psycho Dream is a fun, challeging 2D action platformer; it’s one of those Japan only game that never had the chance outside of the land of the Rising Sun and it’s fun seeing it getting a new lease on life. It has all the classic features; straight forward, challenging boss fights, enjoyable level design and interesting power ups. Once you get adapted to the “heavy” movements and weapon short range, you’ll find a nice hidden gem. If you’re a fan of 2D action games, Psycho Dream is a no-brainer.