Continuing their long tradition of platform-hopping, NEC Interchannel is now bringing the Black Matrix series to the Game Boy Advance. This GBA game will have the same name as the PlayStation 2 release that was originally scheduled for release last week, Black Matrix Zero, but NEC's traditionally uninformative website does little to clear up any other connections between the two releases. Langrisser Millenium for the WonderSwan and Dreamcast, anyone?

What *is* known is that the GBA game is set in the world of BM 100 years earlier than the original game, in a world where angels, devils, and humans coexist. Angels and devils must have a fairly long lifespan, though, because some of the cast from the original series will also be making an appearance in the game, including the traditional protagonist, Cain....who is represented as a young boy. The heroine of the game, Matia, is also supposedly quite young...which seems a bit strange, given Black Matrix's themes of religious controversy and the system of using blood to infuse weapons and cast spells.

Anyhow, Black Matrix Zero is scheduled for release in May 2002 for a suggested retail price of 5800 yen ($44.15 USD). The release date for the PS2 Black Matrix Zero has been moved back to March 28th with 6800 yen ($51.76 USD) SRP, and the PlayStation game Black Matrix Cross has already made it to the Best collection at 2900 yen ($22.17 USD) SRP. March brings much for fans of this strategy RPG series to rejoice about, it would seem.