Black/Matrix

Black/Matrix
Cover art for Black/Matrix 00
Developer(s)	Flight-Plan
Publisher(s)	NEC Interchannel
Designer(s)	Gou Bitou, Kyoko Tsuchiya
Platform(s)	Sega Saturn, Dreamcast, PlayStation
Release	August 27, 1998 (SAT) September 30, 1999 (DC) February 14, 2000 (PS1)
Genre(s)	Tactical RPG
Mode(s)	Single player

Black/Matrix (ブラックマトリクス) is a series of tactical role-playing games developed by Flight-Plan and published by NEC Interchannel. All titles in the series are Japan-exclusive.

Each installment in the series combines standard tactical RPG gameplay with a pastiche of Judeo-Christian religious themes, particularly concerning the nature of good and evil and the interplay between Heaven, Hell, and Earth and the denizens thereof. One title was considered for North American release in 1999,^[1] and it is believed that it was eventually passed over due to its religion-derived themes.^[2]

The original Black/Matrix title was released August 27, 1998 for the Sega Saturn console in Japan. There were two subsequent remake releases that add more detailed graphics and additional content: Black/Matrix AD (Advanced) for Dreamcast was released in 1999,^[3] and Black/Matrix + (Cross) for PlayStation was released in 2000.

The world of Black/Matrix is fictional and fantasy-based, and in it the forces of Hell won a decisive war against the forces of Heaven.^[4] The victorious devils rewrote history and redesigned society to suit their purposes, reversing the concepts of good and evil. The descendants of the devils, known as black-wings because of the bat-like wings that grow from their backs, rule over the white-wing descendants of the angels, whom they treat as sub-human slaves. In their society love is considered the worst of crimes, and any one found guilty of love or kindness is hunted and punished.