Shin Megami Tensei
1992 · RPG · SNES
Overview
Shin Megami Tensei (1992) is Atlus's Super Famicom RPG of a demon-overrun Tokyo, in which the player recruits demons by talking to them and fuses them into new ones, and the player's choices push them towards Law or Chaos.
Deep Dive
In a near-future Tokyo of "199X" a portal to the demon world opens and the United States orders a nuclear strike on the city; the story continues in the ruined Tokyo thirty years later. Exploration is in first person and battles are turn-based. Demons can be recruited through conversation and fused, two or three at a time, at the Cathedrals of Shadows. The player's choices move them along two axes, Light–Dark and Law–Chaos, which change how demons and factions respond.
Developer Story
Atlus released it for the Super Famicom in Japan on 30 October 1992, directed by Yōsuke Niino with art by Kazuma Kaneko and music by Tsukasa Masuko. It was the third Megami Tensei game, a series that began with adaptations of Aya Nishitani's Digital Devil Story novels, and the first under the Shin name. Shin Megami Tensei II followed in 1994.
Did You Know?
- It was not localised at the time, partly because of its religious content; the first official English release came on iOS in 2014.
- Toby Fox cited it as an inspiration for Undertale, especially its dialogue system.
Sources & further reading
- Shin Megami Tensei (video game) — Wikipedia
