The Digital Bestiary: Buer

Buer, Dictionnaire Infernal (1863)

"Buer is a great president, and is seene in this signe; he absolutelie teacheth philosophie morall and naturall, and also logicke, and the vertue of herbes: he giveth the best familiars, he can heale all diseases, speciallie of men, and reigneth over fiftie legions."

Welcome to the inaugural entry of The Digital Bestiary, where I'll be taking some time to trace the depictions of various mythological and supernatural beings as they appear across the infant medium of "videogames". I've chosen Buer as our first subject, being one of the most lovable members of the Ars Goetia, a text that is eternally sourced for representation in popular media (particularly in Japanese media, where it signifies the premier font of occult knowledge).

One of many such demons to be described in exclusively beneficent terms, Buer owes much of his fame to Louis Le Breton, illustrator of the 1863 edition of the Dictionnaire Infernal, and given the lack of textual description regarding his appearance, the originator of this design that curiously resembles the Sicilian flag. It is simple, but remarkable: the face of a lion framed by five wooly goat legs. While rarely depicted imparting the vertue of herbes, his bizarre appearance and unmistakable silhouette have marked him for inclusion in many a fictional bestiary, as friend and foe. So, without further ado, let us examine his manifold forms in no particular order!

"Chimera", Grim Grimoire (2007)

While dubbed "Chimera", this design courtesy of Grim Grimoire is pure, unadulterated Buer. Actually, I should say that this design embeds the animal forms of the Chimera into the image of Buer, preserving the lion's head and goat's legs while rounding out the triple form of the Greek monster with alternating dragon (snake) appendages. With a fairly gruesome, skinless maw, mane fashioned in the style of a pentagram, and the lovely rendering typical of Vanillaware fare, this is probably the most visually striking depiction in the medium!

Buer by way of Bristol D., Groove on Fight (1997)

A single decade prior Buer appeared in Groove on Fight (1997) for the Sega Saturn, developed and published by Atlus as the third installment of the Power Instinct series. Summoned as a familiar of the conjurer Bristol D., Buer seems to be fashioned after his master, with a matching countenance modified with a bright red mane. This is not the only design to favor the face of a man over that of a lion, although in this instance it recalls the appearance of a Wanyudo through its fiery apparition. In fact, it is incredibly rare for any adaptation to emulate the peculiar face of Le Breton's design, a countenance fixed halfway between man and lion.

Buer(s), Megami Tensei Series (1994 - 1997)

Buer has naturally appeared, albeit never in a terribly popular incarnation, several times in the Megami Tensei series, particularly in Shin Megami Tensei: If..., Majin Tensei II: Spiral Nemesis, and Giten Megami Tensei. 

He appears in this first game alongside a slate of other abandoned designs (including his friend Caim) sporting a frumpy bald head from which a pentagram necklace hangs, apparently maneless but with shocks of red fur on the legs that seem to evoke the same; fairly distinct but recognizable. In Majin Tensei II he shares the spindly proportions that mark much of the game's sprite design, demonstrating a more abstracted look with toothy maw and shaggy hair reminiscent of Shigeru Mizuki's oeuvre. Finally, his Giten Megami Tensei take is simply an adaptation of the design created for Decarabia in the original Shin Megami Tensei, only cloaked in the fleshy texture that defines a good portion of the game's suggestive art design.

Chrono Ma:Gia (2018)

Like nearly all mythological creatures from across the annals of history, Buer eventually made his way into a Japanese TCG for mobile devices, in this case Chrono Ma:Gia, a now defunct offshoot of the Puzzles and Dragons series developed by GungHo Online Entertainment. He is again depicted in a form more readily associated with Decarabia, a cyclopic starfish whose five points loosely evoke the pentagram shape of the original. Pretty weak, but remarkably tame considering the design tendencies of this genre. And unfortunately: no flavor text. 

Buer (?), Faussetté Amour (1993)

This is a real stretch, but a figure which, according to the Giant Bomb wiki, "resembles Buer" appears in the obscure 1993 action-platformer Fausseté Amour, notable largely for its extensive voice-acting and a visual style which suggests an unrealized pornographic nature. His figure is rendered in a style reminiscent of Ghouls 'n Ghosts, a sort of green gargoyle grasping a golden ring with all four limbs, his egg-shaped head forming the 5th point of the usual form. This figure could in fact be a representation of the apparently oft-conflated Decarabia, who received a fairly similar interpretation in Bloodstained. Still, this rendition is notable for situating him in his natural environment: Hell, the famous home of Buer. 

Buer, La Mulana Remake (2012)

Although not quite so explicitly situated in his homeland, Buer guards the entrance to the hellish Inferno Cavern in both the freeware and official releases of La Mulana. A fairly straightforward adaptation, although one of few to sport six rather than five legs, this is probably one of the more adorable depictions oweing to the very exaggerated feline countenance. He takes on a much more sinister appearance in the manual of the original freeware release, with features that recall one of the many sneering demons of Go Nagai's handiwork.

"Buel", Final Fantasy VIII (1999)

Buer, mistranslated in this case as "Buel", makes his Final Fantasy debut in the 8th installment of the storied franchise. In terms of source-form retention, he actually fares better than many mythological figures when channeled through the loose interpretive lens of the series, trading his five caprine legs for a set of six wings, alternating in form between angelic and demonic. Hardly surprising considering the iconography associated with the series during this era, but pretty amusing when applied to a figure as benign as this. 

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (2003)

Buer likewise appears alongside his brethren in the Castlevania series, with his debut on the GBA via the 2003 release of Aria of Sorrow. The series takes advantage of his kinetic form by hurling him down slopes toward the player, as he gathers momentum on the descent (or comes helplessly to a halt if evaded properly). The design itself is a fairly plain, albeit crisply rendered, restatement of the concept. You better believe this is a lion with five legs. Actually, this design does dispense with the goat legs in favor of the paws of a lion, eliminating the chimeric element of the original.

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (2019)

Perhaps his most recent appearance, and keeping with the precedent established in Castlevania, Buer features as one of several Goetic demons in Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (2019). There is little noteworthy in this particular rendition, beyond the slightly awkward integration of the stained glass motif. Regardless, Bloodstained is the winner by sheer Bueric volume: he appears as a common enemy, a giant variant, as the discus of an armored foe, and even in tripartite form as the wheels of a luxurious chariot. He is even free to follow the player as an unlockable familiar, clumsily spinning across the screen and wedging himself in the level geometry. 

An absolute banner day for Buer. If you were a fan of Buer in 2019 then this was like being in the front-row of Woodstock 69' while Hendrix grinds out a solo with his teeth and it basically sounds like shit but you're just grateful to be at the only one of these things where they didn't keep track of all the people that died in the audience.

10/23/2021 UPDATE: Thanks to @luvcraft for bringing the La Mulana appearance to my attention!