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KO Seiki Beast Sanjuushi: Gaia no Fukkatsu (K.O. Century Beast Warriors: Rebirth of Gaia), or "K.O. Beast" is a somewhat odd JRPG developed by Matrix in 1992... and guess what? It's a PC-98 game I don't have to censor as it's pretty clean-- YEAH! This game is based on the (obscure) original K.O. Beast anime of the same name. The basic overview of the anime is that, in the future, the Earth is split in two halves. Humans control the Southern hemisphere (which, due to the seperation, is in another dimension) and various half-human/half-beast or "Demi-Human" tribes control the Northern hemisphere. In the land of the Demi-Humans exists sacred statues called "Jinn", which are said to harbor great power, and the humans, led by Uranus, want to conquer the Northern hemisphere and steal the statues.

Three young warriors of three great beast tribes were assigned the task of protecting the Jinn: Wan Dabadatta of the tiger clan, Bud Mint of the bird clan, and Mei Mer of the mermaid tribe. Our three heroes are also aided by Tuttle (Mei Mer's partner who is with the Mermaid Tribe but is a turtle) and a special human girl named Yuuni, who complete a party of five, though they are sometimes aided by other good or neutral characters (like Liger) as well. Known as the "Beast Three" (Sanjuu) or "Three Beasketeers", they are out to stop Uranus, Uranus' cohorts, and Uranus' three most-trusted minions: V-Darn the mage-knight, V-Sion the warrior woman, and Akumako (V-Darn's wicked imp-like female partner). They are also looking for Gaia, something they believe to be a great treasure that may help bring an end to the conflict between the North and South. The game starts partway, where the primary five characters already know each other and escape from Uranus' trusted three.

As far as basic gameplay, this game is mostly typical of many other JRPGs; you walk about in a top-down fashion, can enter towns and dungeons, talk with NPCs, find treasure, buy items, fight monsters, gain levels, and you can save in different locations. Regarding a few of the finer details, I read some things about this game on the net and there are a few errors floating around. There is a suitable amount of characters in which to interact with, but you'll find yourself going back and forth a lot as there aren't too many major towns. Characters can equip weapons and armor, though there is no "Equip" selection, you have to choose the item and assign it to a character. You can unequip the item by selecting a highlighted item and just selecting it twice. The items a character can wear is usually obvious; fangs/claws/fur for the tiger character, beaks/talons/feathers for the bird character, and gills/scales/etc. for the mermaid character. Items are expensive but there is also a way to make easy money early, though I won't spoil what to do regarding that.

When it comes to the battle system, the game is somewhat unconventional. Battles are fought on an isometric field, with your characters on the bottom and the enemies on the top. Each character's HP/MAX is displayed, as well as stars and hearts, which are earned as a character's turn comes up. Enemies have HP, but you won't know exactly "how much" as their health is displayed with Magatama-like icons. There are also a number of options broken into two sets: Offensive and Defensive. The Offensive Set has things like Attack, Item, Magic, Beast, and Call. On the Defensive Set exist a few similar options followed by Defend, Escape, and Auto (Auto Battle). You can't use a support spell in the Offensive Set; you must choose the magic command on the bottom, so this may cause a little confusion to those new to the game. Speaking of magic and all that jazz, you'll notice there is no "MP".

In order to use Beast and Call abilties, you need to build a character's hearts and stars. When a character has all four stars filled, they can attack in their beast form, which is a little stronger that their normal form. "Call" varies. Magic requires hearts, with higher levels of spells consuming more hearts. Additionally, in order to use magic, you need to buy things like "Batteries", otherwise you won't even be able to use them even if you have the necessary hearts. You can run out of batteries, but they aren't terribly expensive. The game has pretty good audio/visuals for 1992, though the game has what I'd consider "minimalist" special effects, so don't expect anything too fancy. The dialogue is mostly typical and light-hearted, but Bud Mint is particularly funny as he parodies America somewhat as he speaks in an English dialect using a lot of Katakana and he's a bird sometimes portrayed as a chicken because one of the various symbols of America is the Eagle... he's also portrayed as a bit of a womanizer. He says funny things.

It's a fairly basic game. My main complaint? The frequency for random encounters is too high. We have an intro video and fifteen minutes of assorted gameplay footage. Enjoy.