In addition to Shadow Madness, Crave is slaving away on localizing Jade Cocoon, an intriguing RPG which merges elements from traditional RPGs with the monster breeding system of Pokémon. The anime intro is lovely, created by Katsuya Kondoh, who also worked on the anime classics Kiki's Delivery Service, Nausicaa, and Princess Mononoke.

   Jade Cocoon uses pre-rendered backgrounds and real-time 3D environments, much like Square's Final Fantasy series. Most of the adventure takes place in a nearby "Holy Forest," which is divided into several sub-sections: the Beetle Forest, the Moth Forest, the Spider Forest, and so forth. The forest is where all the monsters in the game are found and captured.

   The ability to combine monsters is absolutely stunning. Genki has created a proprietary polygonal mesh system which can combine two creatures and come up with a hybrid creature exactly in between. The effect is similar to the morphing dragon of Panzer Dragoon Saga, only on a near-infinite scale. Each of the 150 monsters can be combined with any of the others to form a new, hybrid creature with a meld of the physical characteristics and abilities of each of the originals. And these combinations can be melded with other combinations, ad inifinitum. The hero Levant can carry three "creatures" with him at any time.

   Beautiful graphics, above-average voice-acting, and a battle system which holds promising depth make Jade Cocoon look like a winner.