Black Matrix

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Black Matrix
Developer(s)	InterChannel
Publisher(s)	InterChannel
Release date(s)
Genre(s)	Strategy game
Mode(s)	Single player
Platform(s)	Playstation, Dreamcast, Saturn, Game Boy Advance
Media	Cartridge, CD
Input	Controller

Black Matrix is a popular Japanese game series featuring Evil Angels and Holy Angels engaged in a conflict for power. You play Cain (or Abel, depending on the version), a young boy who always ends up on the side of Hell. In each game he must set off in search of a young girl, either his master or a friend, who has mysteriously disappeared. The game has not received a translated release due to its disturbing nature (there is a scene in which you murder four archangels - Michael, Gabriel, Raphael and Uriel). As a result, no detailed plot or rom translations exist.

Each game has a slightly different logo. "Black Matrix 0" is for Game Boy Advance; it is slightly easier than the other games in the series. "Black Matrix 00" (also called "Black Matrix Cross") is for Playstation. It has 2 disks and is a more detailed version of the Game Boy Advance game. "Black Matrix" on Sega Saturn is actually a sequel to the first two and is by far the most grisly version, with blood effects and Heavy metal music. An extended version of this game was released on the Dreamcast with added anime scenes. Three games feature voice acting by Japanese Seiyu and all have in-game artwork. There are early FMV introductions to all the games except for the Game Boy Advance version, where a pan across a tapestry-style drawing is used instead. FMV is also used for the four Japanese game trailers. A Black Matrix game is reputedly in progress for the PS2.

[edit] Gameplay

Black Matrix is a turn-based strategy game which usually takes the player through the various levels of hell until he reaches the surface. Various characters join up after talking scenes between levels. Usually they are dressed like members of the Goth subculture, unless they are holy angels, in which case they are dressed in Reich uniforms. The player and his party fights with various weapons, spells and summons on a gloomy isometric arena. The player and foe takes turns respectively and there is no speed order. Some versions feature a "Biorythm" bar which affects the strength of spells.

Unlike Tactics Ogre, you can reverse a turn if you make a mistake. Black Matrix relies on intermittent towns for distribution of weapons, buying of equipment, training sessions and so on. In the Saturn/Dreamcast versions you can infuse weapons with Blood Points to make them more powerful, but since Blood Points are scarce, it is difficult to develop weaponry fully.

• In most versions of the game, the main character is killed at the beginning of the game and resurrected by an unidentified injured angel who tears his wings off his back and gives them to the main character. The injured stranger then dies.
• When characters die their prostrate bodies can still be attacked. If this happens, the character will be lost for ever. They can be resurrected whilst lying on the ground using healing spells and potions.
• "Blood Points" take the place of magic points. They can be distributed through the party before battles.
• In most versions, the main character makes an early choice to determine whether he will wear devil (grey) or angel (white) wings.
• The Saturn version has a sound test which is accessible from the title screen.
• The characters can be set to parry or attack in the 00 version. This means the player can choose between offense and defence during an enemy turn.
• You can spend hours playing sub-games in the circus on the PSX version. In the Saturn version, you can only play sub-games in the house at the beginning (such as mole bopping).
• Training battles begin Player Turn in the Saturn version, instead of Enemy Turn in the DC version.
• The main character is blonde in the Saturn game, whereas in the Dreamcast version he is a brunette.
• In the Saturn version you can recruit white-winged angel prisoners. The war between the angels and devils lasted for 666 days. Eventually Mephisto sealed away the heavenly beings inside the city of Linear. In order to sustain the seal, angels must be sacrificed in Linear. If you rescue slaves, sometimes they will join your party.
• Love is a crime in the "Black Matrix" world and any character found guilty of love or kindness is hunted and punished.
• The heal spell is called Lilim. It is a disturbing spell which looks like a ghostly pink woman tearing open her breast to let loose a crowd of bats. In the Game Boy Advance version it is just a flapping pink bat.
• John uses a spell which can call back dead characters as Zombie decoys (Saturn version). He also has the option to detonate them in the middle of an army.

[edit] Characters

Black Matrix features only human or angel characters. Wings are either grey, white or leathery. Some characters have more than one pair of wings, depending on their rank. Saturn details are taken from Black Matrix expert Oogami. The 0/Cross names are taken from the official Playstation manual, where they are written in English. The seiyu from the Saturn version are listed next to the some of the characters' names.

Main/Saturn characters

Cain (or Abel) is the main character, a young boy who always ends up on the side of Hell. In each game he must set off in search of a young girl, either his master or a friend, who has mysteriously disappeared. Cain wears either white or grey wings. In some versions he bears a resemblance to Ramza Beoulve from Final Fantasy Tactics.

Domina, Purika, Michette, Kurreshes, Puraha (Noriko Hidaka, Mika Kanai, Yuko Miyamura, Junko Shimakata, Wakana Yamazaki) - Five girls you can choose between in the beginning of the Saturn game. Whoever you choose will become your "master", i.e. companion. Domina has straight brown hair and blue eyes, Purika is a small blue-eyed, blonde girl and Michette is a sexy blue-eyed, blonde girl. Kurreshes is a blue-haired, blue eyed girl and Puraha has purple hair and purple eyes. The girl you choose will affect the ending CG.

Matia is the girl who cares about you in the 0/Cross versions. She disappears at the beginning of the game.

Zero (Kentarou Itou) is a secret character for all the games. Several codes are required to unlock this character, such as pressing L1, R1, L2, R2 and Start (Playstation) very fast. There are other codes which unlock Zero features.

Luca (Yuko Nagashima) is a devil girl who accompanies the main character from the beginning in the 0/Cross versions. She uses a whip and casts healing spells. She has light purple hair, a black cap and red eyes.

John (Takeshi Aono) is a very important wise man who first appears in the 0/Cross games and later in the other versions, when he is older. He is searching for four special armors in the later version. John (sometimes pronounced "Yohane" or "Sho-ha" due to the addition of an "h"-type syllable in his name after the European way of spelling "John") has grey wings and long, dark hair. He usually carries classified information, so uses a mask and a cape so that the devils won't recognise him. The mask is either white or black depending on the version. He is a powerful spell user.

RupiRupi (Kikuko Inoue) is a former student of John with pink hair. She casts powerful healing spells.

Leburobs (Hideyuki Hori) looks exactly like Canopus from Tactics Ogre. He is very tough and uses swords and other heavy weapons. You meet him in prison at the beginning of the game and he helps you to escape.

Gaius (Kaneto Shiozawa) is a delicate young swordsman who is a friend of Leburobs. You meet him in prison at the beginning of the game and he helps you to escape.

Phillipe (Hiro Yuuki) is a blonde-haired young boy who you meet in prison at the beginning of the game. He accompanies your escape and becomes a weak archer.

Juda (Keiichi Nanba) is one of the demon bosses, a drag queen. He is extremely powerful. He has long hair and often creates a sense of comedy. He is evil and tried to equal the Holy tribe of Judah.

Parity is a cute waitress who you meet at Baal's mansion. If you recruit her, she will become an archer.

Dyuna is a girl who you can recruit after battling in Cherubim Mansion.

Tarshis is another character you can recruit after battling in Cherubim Mansion. You have to ask Astarte for an ally (third option).

Lin, Minion are two secret characters who you can recruit if you choose to fight for Gomorrah in Chapter 7.

Moses is a sage character who uses his power to open the Tower of Babel.

Fim is a secret character you can recruit in the promised land.

Playstation/Game Boy Advance characters

Abel is usually the player's "Evil Twin". He has white hair and black wings.

Nico is an NPC. He is a cute little boy with brown hair who lives with Cain and their guardian, a priest. He wears a green jumper, a green hat and dungarees.

Father Furie is an NPC. He is Cain and Nico's guardian, a priest. He wears holy robes and if you choose devil wings in the Game Boy Advance version, you have to kill him in the first stage.

Zion is Luca's admirer, a very strong devil who uses axes. He has leathery wings, blonde hair and a pair of goggles around his neck.

Exai is a lively, dark-haired swordsman with a bandanna on his head who you meet early in the game. He is characterised by his bright red scarf.

Stayen is a young human girl who can be recruited into your army. She is a black-haired girl with glasses who wears a white uniform with heavenly armbands, black stockings, a white hairband and heavy-duty boots. She uses rapiers.

Syria is a double-winged angel who is the sister of the Seraph Zeir Perendale. She wears a big blue dress, has short blonde hair and resembles the main character. She uses bows and status-cure spells, as well as a powerful healing spell called Rulic Heal.

Zeir Perendale is an NPC. He is a high-ranking angel who uses powerful magic. He has no tolerance for devils and argues with his sister, Syria.

Lilis is a young human girl, a friend of Matia, who you rescue from prison. She has short brown hair, a thin white dress and a chain around her neck. She casts healing spells.

Arag is an enemy character. He is an aggressive demon who looks and dresses like Marilyn Manson. He has white hair, leathery wings and a chain around his neck. In the Game Boy Advance version he has bats tattooed into his chest.

Plan is a fiesty human girl who runs the local circus. Therefore she is in charge of the minigames in the Cross version. Plan looks like a Chinese hostess in a pink dress, long gloves and a fur collar. She wears clips and a rose in her short black hair.

Kulota is a young boy about the same age as Lilis. He has blue hair and glasses and uses bows to fight. He is the brother of Stayen.

Galtoss (?) A devil with long blonde hair who wears a brown coat and a beige mantle.

Dahlia (?) A human lady with a brown ponytail who wears hoop earrings, a yellow scarf, a large belt and a leather corset.

Claldia (?) A human lady with a blonde bun who wears a blue suit.

Omhite Face (?) An old man with white wings and grey hair who wears ornate white robes.

Telios Santogalde (?) A fiesty young angel with black hair and a white cap.

Chris Radllon (?) A solemn young man with black hair wearing a Reich-style uniform.

Rubiel Didone (?) An angel with curling red hair who wears leather gear underneath her white coat.

Rhipsalis Sapphire (?) A quiet angel girl about Lilis' age who looks like Rei Ayanami. She dresses in black Gothic clothes and carries a doll in the tradition of Japanese Lolicon.

Red Mouflon (?) A red-haired angel. He wears a white assault suit.

Grisna Wien (?) A young, blonde-haired angel boy with blue eyes who wears a blue fur collar like Plan's.

Flighi (?) A young boy about Lilis' age who wears Chinese-style robes, a large green hat and a golden belt. He resembles Ascot from Magic Knight Rayearth.

Unda (?) A devil lady who resembles a nun in her brown robes.

Soryu (?) A lively young devil girl with a purple plait who wears a red suit and a striped shirt.