ナム

Black Matrix † Characters

Last updated: 2024-07-29
Author: Raindare

The following lists characters playable in Black Matrix †, along with an overview of their capabilities. Not every character is currently represented, but that is the goal.


Main Characters

In terms of gameplay, the main characters differ somewhat from other characters. None of them are able to wear Vile Armour, but they obtain Archvile Armour during the plot. Also, among every playable character, only two of the main characters are able to cast spells without equipping Horns as an accessory.

Illustration of Abel. Source: Sega Saturn Magazine 1998/Vol 24 8/21-28

Abel: The main character. A physical fighter whose "vertical slashing" weapon type allows him to hit enemies above or below him, and to equip slashing swords and axes. He obtains possibly the most powerful armour in the game early in the plot, and his stats are generally high, even his INT. Although he cannot cast spells without Horns and only learns two spells, they are both powerful: Heal, the staple healing spell, and Nemesis Blow, the ultimate light spell.

Illustration of Labolas. Source: Sega Saturn Magazine 1998/Vol 24 8/21-28

Labolas: A shirtless meathead who's nicer than he looks. His name, レブロブス, is a nightmare to translate, given that it can be anything from "Reburobas" to "LeBrobs." I've gone with Labolas, as in Glasya-Labolas, even though it isn't truly faithful. A pure physical beatstick who shares Abel's vertical attacks and ability to use swords and axes. His stats are not nearly as balanced, however. His movement is low, though not cripplingly so, and magic kills him very quickly. The spells he can learn are learned very late, and include a wimpy light attack and magic nullification.

Illustration of Gaius. Source: Sega Saturn Magazine 1998/Vol 24 8/21-28

Gaius: A cynical but just young man who killed the rich and gave the proceeds to the poor. He believes strongly in justice, and sometimes, that has to be at spearpoint. As a unit, he's a pure glass cannon who can get up to 5 movement easily, wields spears for an extra tile of range, hits hard, and dies quickly. He's well worth using for his flexibility in battle. Magically, he learns the spells Poison Cloud and Paralyze Call, strong status effects that will never hit due to his modest Intelligence. Leave the casting to someone else.

Illustration of Phillip. Source: Sega Saturn Magazine 1998/Vol 24 8/21-28

Philip: A black-winged boy who appears and acts weak but possesses serious courage deep down. He grows significantly throughout the journey. As a unit, though, he's good from the start and only gets better. He's your first archer. In Black Matrix, archers can fight and counterattack in melee range, but also have ranges from 4 to 6 depending on the equipped weapon. They can often target foes who can't even reach them due to elevation, avoid counterattacks from most of the enemies on the map, or make the first strike in any given engagement. Archery is broken. Use Philip. (He also learns a pair of support spells at levels 20 and 25, too late to be useful.)

Illustration of John. Source: Sega Saturn Magazine 1998/Vol 24 8/21-28

John: An old but still enthusiastic scholar who was once a renowned priest. His name is written "yohane" and can be rendered instead as Johannes, but given the use of his name in Black Matrix OO, John makes the most sense. At any rate, John is the party's resident mage, and his stats say as much. He is the most fragile character, can't even hit as hard as a gentle nurse, and can only theoretically wield maces instead of his default staves. On the other hand, he can turn defeated enemies into zombie meatshields, dish out area attacks with Lumina Cross as soon as he joins, inflict a bevy of status effects, and even cast Nemesis Blow if equipped with a Horn himself. John is exactly what he looks like: a D&D wizard who gets better as the game goes on and helps a great deal as long as he has the juice to do anything at all.

Illustration of Lupilupi. Source: Sega Saturn Magazine 1998/Vol 24 8/21-28

Lupilupi: A somewhat fickle witch who writes screeds of vengeance in her diary. Also potentially translated as Rupirupi, Lupilpi, RupiRupi, and so on and so forth. John's protege is a fantastic and versatile unit, gaining a large list of expensive but useful spells, including petrification, group healing, magic nullification, and attack spells of multiple elements. She uses swords and attacks horizontally, meaning she cannot hit high or low but can attack diagonally on flat ground, very useful for avoiding counterattacks. She starts with 4 movement and can get up to 5, which is very rare. She even comes with her own Vile Armour, which while not the strongest armour in the game by any means is free and improves with her level. Potentially the strongest character in the game, and good from the moment she joins.

Illustration of Marco. Source: Sega Saturn Magazine 1998/Vol 24 8/21-28

Marco: The last of the main cast to join. He's first met at the very start of Disc 2, and his time in the party is shorter as a result, but his devotion to their cause is no less sincere. Perhaps that's because he is actually the figurehead leader of a white-winged rebel army, operating in the sewers and shadows. He was actually inspired to claim this position by his first and most beloved friend, Seraphim, who sacrificed his life to protect Marco. As units go, Marco is surprisingly simple for someone who joins so late. He uses thrusting weapons such as rapiers and spears, comes with a pair of horns allowing him to use the attack spells Meteor Force and Hell Geyser and the magic-draining spell Lich. Like all Archvile Armour wearers, you never need to buy him new armour and he has good stats. But given how late he joins, you might think about not using him. Think twice, though: in the endgame, there are many chapters that require you to deploy every main character. Make sure you at least give him enough EXP to be functional.


Possible Masters

The possible masters are similar to side characters. They are able to wear Vile Armour, never obtain Archvile Armour, and cannot cast spells without equipping Horns. On the other hand, when equipped with Horns, they learn more spells than most characters — usually four each. However, they are often mutually exclusive with one another or locked to specific routes, and of course, you cannot obtain the character you choose as a master as a party member during the story.

Domina: Recruited in the Philip route of Chapter 4 (select the top dialogue choice at the start). A character that operates similarly to a D&D cleric. She is somewhat fragile, but has decent STR and acn wield maces as well as staves. She has two types of direct healing magic and the ability to heal status effects, as well as a powerful lightning spell, Thanatos, at level 30.

Purica: Recruited in Chapter 2, if Praha is not recruited. Has exceptionally poor movement, starting at 2, but can wield bows, one of the best weapon types in the game. She learns various attack spells of three different elements: light, fire, and acid. While any bow user can potentially be very useful, she immediately faces competition from Philip, whose physical stats and mobility are more favourable.

Courreges: Recruited in the Labolas route of Chapter 4 (bottom choice). She has an extremely unique build: she comes with a unique suit of Vile Armour, and learns several rare spells, including Draconell, the most expensive attack spell in the game, as well as Astral and Rage Ghost, spells that buff or debuff all statistics for a time respectively. Like Abel, she attacks vertically and wields swords and axes.

Michette: Recruited in the Philip route of Chapter 4. A solid combat unit who uses swords exclusively and attacks horizontally like Lupilupi. All three of the spells she learns are quite good: Lilim, to heal an area; Sandman, to inflict sleep on multiple enemies; and Thanatos. They are also all expensive. In many ways, she is a weaker Lupilupi, which is not a bad thing to be.

Prague: Recruited in Chapter 2, if you play the final map fast enough and choose to recruit her. Another character with an interesting name. プラハ is pronounced "puraha", but it is the Japanese name for Prague, which is not pronounced that way. In any case, she wields whips, a very rare weapon type similar to spears with two-tile reach, and learns fire, ice and light attack spells, similar to Purica. Because different weapons can have different infusions, and whips are not represented by any main characters, Prague has a niche that Purica does not.

Zero: Recruited in the Labolas route of Chapter 4, and requires Courreges to be recruited as well, so if she is your master he cannot be recruited either. He wields thrusting swords and spears, learns Heal and magic nullification as well as two attack spells, and is extremely mobile when levelled up, gaining 5 movement. Overall, a probably very powerful character who is tricky to recruit.

Domina and Abel in front of a fire, wrapped in a blanket.
Source: Hiroyuki Nishimura from the Black Matrix Saturn Novelization


Side Characters

The game's main side characters are primarily women, rounding out the male-dominated main cast a bit. They also have cuter, bigger-eyed designs than both the main characters and the masters, and we've speculated that they were designed by the artist for Black Matrix 00 instead of the game's primary character artist.

There are only eight deployment slots in each battle, and seven main characters, so as time goes on most of the sub-characters will be crowded out. Furthermore, their availability in the endgame chapters is spotty (in the original Black Matrix, you can't use them at all, and Phym is only available for one free battle!).

In pure gameplay terms, probably only one sub-character can stand shoulder to shoulder with the main characters and the masters: Parity. Make sure to use her when she joins!

Aquen: The first side character who joins you, a white-winged orphan who admires Gaius and treats him as if he were her master. She uses thrusting weapons like spears or rapiers (just like Gaius does), and quickly reaches 4 movement. Her spell list is mediocre, including Poison Cloud, Lilim, and Rulic Guard. She can be a useful support unit to your other fighters or healers.

Saturn version avatar of Parity.

Parity: A white-winged courier who delivers food to the town of gluttony overseen by Bael. She has a ditzy, childlike personality, and claims that cooking and understanding others are her best skills. In reality, her best skill is certainly archery. She has the best weapon type in the game, and high movement to use it with. She joins halfway through the game at a low level, but she is well worth training either as an offensive archer or a support caster. In particular, she learns the spells Astral and Raging Ghost, which increase or decrease all stats, and right when she joins you can get a bow skill that lets her swap positions with another unit on the battlefield. Despite her demeanour, she's very helpful on the battlefield. Almost suspicuously helpful...

Duna: A member of the White-Winged Liberation Front led by Marco, and thus his subordinate. She's a white-winged warrior we don't see much of, but she appears to have an aggressively can-do attitude. She learns only two spells, but one of them is Rulic Heal at level 10, so she can be a powerful healer if you want her to. But she also comes with decent Strength and she uses horizontal strikes like LupiLupi, so she can be an effective warrior.

Tharsis: Attendant to Lady Astarte, the lord of the town of lust Beguild. She is polite and courtly, and is sent by Astarte to help the heroes on their quest. She takes her job seriously, but remains loyal to her mistress, taking her side in the endgame if called upon. As a unit, Tharsis has a useful selection of spells including Sandman and Rulic Guard, to inflict sleep in an area or block magic. Notably, when you face her in battle, Astarte knows all of the same spells! She can be a capable unit, but she uses thrusting attacks (the most common type), she maxes out at 3 movement, and she joins late in the game, so she's only worth training if you like her.


Villains

Faust: A surprisingly powerful super boss in the Saturn version with no background to speak of, originally something of an asset swap with Gaius' head sprites. He received a backstory in the Saturn version Dengeki Bunko novelization where he was the last wingless one given immortality by Mephisto, though the novelization took some liberties over the original as the author only played the Saturn version and wasn't informed of what was planned for Black/Matrix AD on the Dreamcast. This backstory was reused almost wholesale in the Dreamcast version and dropped entirely in Cross. For Cross, Faust is an otherwise normal armored unit with a chance to land an overpowered single-target attack and only one scene with spoken dialogue.

Mephisto and John in front of a younger Luca.
Source: Hiroyuki Nishimura from the Black Matrix Saturn Novelization


Interesting Revelations

And here are just a couple notes on the characters that aren't listed in their profiles above. They're fun little secrets that you uncover in-game, and they're big parts of the relevant characters, so I thought they were worth recording.

As you might imagine, these are all spoilers. Scroll down at your own discretion!