The plot centers on Ballot, a young child living in a small town with his father; a scientist. One day, Ballot's dad spots a blue moon while observing via telescope, and the following night, meteors come crashing down upon the surface of Earth, transforming animals and certain other objects into powerful beings known as "Beasts", including Ballot's own dog, whom transforms into the mighty and powerful Bladeberus. Afterwards, Ballot meets many other characters he befriends or battles during his journey to locate his father and to put a stop to a greater evil.
This game provides examples of:
- After-Combat Recovery: If a player's Beast is defeated during battle, it will reincarnate at 1HP when the player returns to the overworld, regardless if the player wins or loses a fight. Losing to a boss simply boots the player to to the point prior to facing the boss.
- Animal Talk: Claude's beast, Chromanix, allows this ability. Late in the game, there are certain animals that would sell you items or heal your party if talked to as Claude, but will battle you with a team of Beasts if you attempt to communicate with them as any other character.
- Anti-Frustration Features: Explained above, If a Beast faints during battle, it will revive itself at 1HP when the player returns to the overworld. If every Beast in your party is knocked out, you automatically escape the fight with all Beasts at 1HP, or in the case of a major plot-centric fight, revert directly to before you start the event.
- Artificial Human: Buck.
- Astral Finale: The Fritz Galaxy, the last of two areas in the game to take place in outer space; containing all the final bosses.
- Bad Moon Rising: What starts off the plot; Ballot and his father spot a blue-colored Moon during the prologue that signals the eventual overnight meteor shower that mutates all the animals on Earth into the Beasts encountered in the game. It returns to normal in the ending, though it's uncertain what happens to the Beasts.
- Cap: The max level each Beast can reach is 99.
- Captain Ersatz:
- Most, if not all, of the Star Beasts, are blatant edits of Pokemon sprites from Pokémon Gold and Silver, Denjuu sprites from Telefang and character sprites from Devil Children.
- Buck's Partner Beast, Beattro, resembles Beat from the Mega Man series, but green and with a parachute.
- Character Portrait: Every character's dialogue features one; the main heroes (sans Buck) use multiple.
- Darker and Edgier: To Pokemon, and especially so for a Mon-style game of its time: While the first few episodes of the game are generally light-hearted, it gets unexpectedly darker in Episode 4, with several characters fatally dying left and right.
- To begin, the first to go is Hal, a mermaid that saves your life when you drown underwater. She sacrifices herself to save a small child that was captured by a pink octopus on shore. The octopus was lying, and ultimately lured Hal to her death. Only after Ballot and co battle and defeat the octopus do they save the child.
- Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: If all of your Beasts are defeated, you simply respawn in the overworld where you lost with all of your Beasts at 1HP. From there, you can either heal up everyone or- if you have strong enough (or over-leveled) Beasts, rely on outspeeding and one-shooting every enemy Beast before they can touch you and wipe your party.
- Defeat Means Friendship:
- In Fritz Galaxy, you can capture many of the previously unavailable Boss beasts you met earlier in the game and use them to challenge the final bosses.
- Lante starts off as an enemy, but after he is defeated in battle, he joins the team.
- Degraded Boss: The wild Beasts that emerge in Fritz Galaxy are the boss Beasts from previous chapters: Vulcano, Firecracky, Frostobear, Kracken, Redeater, Protzteka, Time Bomber, Wooly-Wooly, Coffee Demon, and Genkinos.
- Disappeared Dad: After the prologue, Ballot's own father goes missing overnight during the meteor shower. It's not until much later when he is found in an underwater lab located in an oasis.
- Dungeon Crawling: Compared to Pokemon, all the caves and dungeons in Shi Kong Xing Shou are much more linear, with very narrow halls and incorrect paths usually leading to chests or switches.
- The Fellowship Has Ended: Following their adventure, the main party breaks up and resumes their normal lives.
- Helen is offered to stay in the Dong-Yu City with the humans, but after gaining a distrust for it's citizens (see Wham Episode below), she returns to her hometown underwater.
- Lante returns to his family on their personal ferry.
- Newton recites the events of the Final Boss to two children in Asgardian Town.
- Buck returns to Dr. Sheila as she repairs fellow android Bell.
- Claude and Nina return to Skypolis, followed by some banter between each other and the Banglin CEO.
- Ballot is reunited with his father as they lay stranded in the desert, observing the moon, which has returned to normal.
- Forced Transformation:
- A Magic Meteor shower is what causes the animals on the planet to mutate into Beasts.
- Ingame, there's the "Mutation" status effect, which locks you into a basic melee attack with a chance of a buffing move. In battles against wild Beasts, you are completely unable to capture Beasts.
- Game-Breaking Bug: The Beast Deposit System is chucked full of these. The game also has a very slim chance of crashing when using moves in battle, and will always crash if you decide to use Roar note when fighting bosses.
- Magic Meteor: Caused by a strange blue moon in the sky, this is what causes the animals on the planet's surface to mutate into Beasts.
- Mon: As to be expected from a Pokémon clone. Also, much like Digimon, each of the heroes have a specific monster partner that can be used by their assigned human companion only. Switching characters also swaps the partner Beast in the player's party.
- Permanently Missable Content: Once Mitt receives his Disney Villain Death near the end of the game, he and his Partner Beast, Draevile, become this, including Draevile's ability to spawn certain items.
- Point of No Return: A "Tough" example, Shi Kong Xing Shou has these between most chapters. Thankfully The Very Definitely Final Dungeon has beasts to level grind with, as well as a shop and Restore Center, so this can only bite players who want to acquire every Beast in the game, sans certain Bosses.
- Random Encounters: Beasts will show up in any route/cave/dungeon regardless of how it's built. Each area spawns Beasts in a set order each with a set level and move set, which repeats after the last Beast appears.
- Required Party Member: The partner Beasts can not be deposited in the Beast Deposit System and must be with you at all times. By switching characters, you also switch your active partner Beast.
- Wham Episode: Episode 4. The protagonists witness a mermaid being boiled to death in an a giant cauldron to save a boy that got dragged underwater and the nearby town goes nuts after learning that Helen is a mermaid, killing her boyfriend Anton and hanging Helen for a public execution.
