Information

Quite simply, this is an FAQ telling you how to get Beatrix into your party (semi-)permanently. As those of you who have played through the game at least once will know, Beatrix is the General of Alexandria and all around kick-ass swordswoman. Of course, you will need a Gameshark or similar cheat device that mucks around with hex values first. I also recommend that you play through the game at least once "normally" so that 1. you will know most of the things I'm talking about and 2. using Beatrix is almost cheating, since she's so good.

The short of it is this:
To get Beatrix into your party...
1. Play to a point when you can switch characters. IIRC, the earliest point when this is possible is at Madain Sari, after Amarant joins you.
2. Save the game.
3. Input the following code:
E01F4761 00FF
301F4761 0008
According to Bottega delle Erbe, if you are using a Power Replay the code should be:
301F4761 00FF
301F4761 0008
The only difference between the codes is whether the code acts on the upper byte or not, apparently.
4. Start the game. When the title screen comes on, turn off the Gameshark.
5. Press continue and load the game normally.
6. Turn on the Gameshark.
7. Go to the change party screen and turn off the Gameshark again.
8. Put Beatrix into your party.
9. Save.
10. Leave the Gameshark off and restart the game normally.
If you follow these steps exactly you should not crash or anything.

Why Beatrix Rocks

Here are a few reasons Beatrix is awesome. She is like the Orlandu of FF9, almost.
Beatrix has two very useful Action Abilities, namely "Seiken" (holy sword in Japanese) which consists of Steiner's "Big Four" Swd Arts, and White Magic. Also, she has already learned all of these so you will not have to spend time running around getting AP for her.

Seiken	MP	Description
Thunder Slash	24	Lightning-elemental, however it seems to miss a lot..
Stock Break	26	Non-elemental damage to all enemies.
Climhazzard	32	Non-elemental damage to all enemies.
Shock	32	Physical damage to one enemy. Extremely powerful.

White Magic	MP	Description
Cura	10	The second-level heal spell, about 2000 HP or 1000 HP when done over the whole party.
Life	8	Raises an ally with partial HP.
Full-life	24	Raises an ally with full HP.
Esuna	20	Cures most status anomalies.
Silence	8	Causes mute status.
Reflect	6	Causes reflect status.
Blind	6	Causes darkness status.
Holy	36	Holy-elemental damage to one enemy.

Her most useful techs are Climhazzard, Full-life, Cura, and Holy, IMHO.

***Beatrix is classified as a "Heavy Armor" person, meaning she equips basically the same equipment as Steiner (and as far as armor goes, Freya), with very few exceptions. Beatrix can equip the "Rubber Suit", "Angel's Earrings", "Pearl Rouge", etc. while Steiner can't, because she is female.

***Beatrix is like a Steiner who can heal. She also is speedier and more magic-capable than Steiner, and also has more MP (meaning more consecutive Climhazzards before you run out of MP, woo.)

***Beatrix is just plain cool. I'm talking about the hair flip. You know what I'm talking about, right? ;).

Why Beatrix doesn't rock that much

Here's a few problems when using Beatrix, as well as solutions if any.

Problem: From time to time Beatrix will disappear from your party.
Solution: This happens when there is a change to your party's reserve configuration, i.e., somebody is taken out or put back in. To solve this problem just repeat the process above. You'll get Beatrix back in your party with all of her stats/equipment the same as before she disappeared.

Problem: Beatrix's face doesn't appear in the Load Game screen.
Solution: There is none. Just ignore it, it's harmless.

Problem: Beatrix cannot use any support abilities.
Solution: There is none, as far as I know. Since the game assigns sets of abilities rather than individual abilities, I don't know any way to use a Gameshark to get her to use support abilities without changing her action abilities. This is obviously the biggest drawback to using Beatrix.

Problem: Beatrix cannot Trance.
Solution: None. As if you need her to trance anyway; she can wipe out the enemies without it.

Problem: Fighting either the Silver Dragon or Necron with Beatrix makes the game crash. Solution: Don't put her in your active party. That's that.

Problem: Beatrix doesn't earn as many Magic Stones as the others.
Solution: Ignore it. She can't use Magic Stones anyway, I wonder why they bothered to give her any at all.

Problem: Cutscenes apppear buggy.
Solution: None. What this means is that during certain scenes, where everybody in your party shows up on the screen, Beatrix will not. She may not appear at all, or she may appear as Eiko or Amarant (or maybe others). Ignore this, I have not seen these cause any problems.

Other Tidbits

***Beatrix will start at whatever level you were after the Alexandria scene where she and Steiner fought all the Mistodons. Usually this is Level 21, unless you were sadistic and killed off Steiner so she could gain more XP...

***Beatrix is not as physically strong as Steiner, so don't be surprised if Steiner does more damage with the same sword.

Credits

--to Elranzer, whose Beatrix FAQ for the JP version of FF9 inspired me to write this.
--to the Gameshark Code Creators Club (www.cmgsccc.com) for the Gameshark codes.
--Bottega delle Erbe for the alternate code.