Shin Megami Tensei

***Shin Megami Tensei*** (真・女神転生?, literally "True Goddess Reincarnation") is a post-apocalyptic role-playing video game developed and published by Atlus. Originally released for the Super Famicom in 1992 in Japan, it has been ported to multiple systems and eventually released in the West for iOS in 2014. It is the third game in the *Megami Tensei* series and the first in the central *Shin Megami Tensei*
 series. The gameplay uses first-person navigation of dungeons and
turn-based battles against demons. The player can recruit demons as
allies by talking to them rather than fighting them, and two to three
demons can be fused to create new demons.

The story follows a nameless protagonist who lives in near-future
Tokyo. When a portal to the realm of demons is opened, United States
officials order a nuclear attack on Tokyo. Transported with two other
supporting characters thirty years into the future, the protagonist
finds the Earth ruined by a demon invasion, which is now the stage for
an escalating conflict between the Order of Messiah and the Ring of
Gaea, conflicting cults who wish to bring about kingdoms for their
respective patron deities (YHVH and Lucifer).
 The story is influenced by moral decisions the protagonist makes,
aligning him either with the Order, the Ring of Gaea, or setting him up
as an independent agent.

From the start of the production, Atlus staff saw *Shin Megami Tensei* as a chance to create a game with the company's brand on it. The staff saw it as a remake of the previous *Megami Tensei*
 game; because of this, they knew what was going to happen in the story,
 and the development went smoothly. The story went through multiple
revisions, and many settings were inspired by the staff's personal
lives. The character and demon designs were done by Kazuma Kaneko,
 who used mythical figures and multiple clothing styles in his designs.
Reception and sales for the game have been highly positive, and its
success helped launch Atlus as a developer and publisher, along with
popularizing the *Megami Tensei* series.

## Gameplay

In *Shin Megami Tensei*, players take the role of an unnamed
protagonist, a teenage boy who can communicate with demons using a
computer program. The gameplay is similar to that of other games in the
series: players make their way through dungeons and fight against demons
 in a first-person perspective.[1]
 The protagonist uses a variety of weapons and items, with the primary
weapons being swords and guns. Such items are bought from merchants
scattered around the world map. In special areas, the protagonist can
use the in-game currency to restore health and magic points for
themselves and their demons, remove status ailments, and revive fallen
demons. Special Terminals scattered across the world map allow the
player to save their game, and they can use them to teleport between
terminals in different areas of Tokyo.[2][3]

Battles are turn-based, and consist of players letting the characters
 in their party attack with swords or guns, summon demons, or cast magic
 spells; both demons and humans, with the exception of the player
character, are able to use magic.[3][4] By participating in battles, human characters in the player's party receive experience points; by accumulating these points, the characters' levels rise and new abilities are randomly learned.[1]
 Players can choose to talk to demons instead of fighting them; they can
 ask the demons for items or money, try to get them to go away, or try
to form an alliance with them. At some places, called "Cathedrals of
Shadows", players can fuse two to three allied demons into one single,
more powerful demon; as demons do not receive experience points, this is
 the only way for the player to increase their demons' power.[4][5]
 Magnetite is used as a fuel for allied demons, and is used up by
summoned demons as the player character walks around in the dungeons; if
 players run out of magnetite, summoned demons take damage.[4]

The way demons behave is based on their and the protagonist's
respective alignments. Alignments come in two types, Light-Neutral-Dark,
 and Law-Neutral-Chaos. A demon's alignment can range across both
alignments, resulting in nine possible stances that affect how they
behave and what actions in battle or story progression pleases them.[1]
 The protagonist's alignment changes depending on choices made during
the story, and in response the attitudes of people and demons change;
for instance, demons who are law-aligned will refuse to form an alliance
 with chaos-aligned players. Additionally, depending on their alignment,
 players will not be let into certain areas; for instance, the Order of
Messiah will not let chaos-aligned players into their churches.[4]

## Plot

### Setting and characters

*Shin Megami Tensei* takes place in a postmodern Tokyo, first in the year "199X", and then 30 years later in a post-apocalyptic version of the city.[1][4]
 A rift has been opened to another world, allowing demons to invade
Tokyo; by using a computer program, humans are able to communicate with
and summon the demons.[4][6]
 Across the story, moral alignments are portrayed in various ways:
alongside the middle "neutral" pathway, the "law" faction believes in
establishing a logical order at the expense of feeling and freedom,
while the "chaos" faction espouses unlimited freedom for the individual
while discarding the weak.[1]

The game includes four human "heroes": the player character, the Hero, who is a teenage boy living with his mother in Kichijōji
 in Tokyo; the Heroine, who is the leader of a resistance force which
tries to protect Tokyo; and the Law Hero and Chaos Hero, who represent
the alignments "law" and "chaos", respectively. Among other characters
are ambassador Thorman (トールマン *Tōruman*?) and general Gotou (ゴトウ?), who lead the United States military and the Japan Self-Defense Forces, respectively; the archangel Michael (ミカエル *Mikaeru*?) and the demon Asura-ou (アスラおう?), who lead the Order of Messiah and the Ring of Gaea, respectively; and the demons Lilith (リリス *Ririsu*?) and Lucifer (ルシファー *Rushifā*?), who use the pseudonyms Yuriko (由利子?) and Louis Cyphre (ルイ・サイファー *Rui Saifā*?), respectively.

### Plot

The game begins with the Hero dreaming that he meets the Law Hero,
the Chaos Hero, and a woman named Yuriko; she promises that she will
become the Hero's partner. He wakes up, and receives an e-mail with a
computer program for summoning demons attached. While out on an errand,
he learns that a scientist has opened a portal to the Abyss, which
allows demons to enter Tokyo. He also meets Yuriko, who says she will
fulfill her promise. The next night, the Hero again dreams that he meets
 the Law Hero and Chaos Hero, and that they save the Heroine from a
sacrificial ritual. The next day, he meets the Law Hero and Chaos Hero
in reality; they reveal that they had the same dreams. News of the
demons spread, and the US military, led by ambassador Thorman, decides
to intervene. The Japan Self-Defense Forces, led by general Gotou,
opposes them, as they see demons as the ancient spirits of the land. A
third group, led by the Heroine, tries to prevent conflict between the
other two. She gets captured by Gotou's forces; they are about to
publicly execute her under supervision by Yuriko, but she is saved by
the Hero, Law Hero, and Chaos Hero. Players can choose to support
Thorman or Gotou, or to reject both; regardless of what they choose, the
 conflict escalates until Thorman launches missiles towards Tokyo. The
Heroine is killed, but saves the Hero, Law Hero, and Chaos Hero by using
 magic to teleport them to another plane of existence.

When they return to Tokyo, decades have passed, and the world lies in
 ruins. Both demons and humans live in Tokyo, and two warring groups
have formed: the Order of Messiah, who is building a cathedral and wants
 to bring about the Thousand-Year Kingdom,
 and the Ring of Gaea, who intends to summon Lucifer and wants freedom.
While exploring the city, the Hero meets the Heroine, who has been
reincarnated, and she joins the group. They keep traversing the ruins,
until the Chaos Hero decides to leave, and fuses himself with a demon to
 gain power; they move on without him, until the Law Hero's soul gets
taken by an attacking demon. The Chaos Hero joins the Ring of Gaea,
while the Law Hero's soul gets reincarnated as the new Messiah. Both try
 to get the Hero to join their respective side; players can choose to
support either, or to reject both. Regardless of what they choose, the
Order of Messiah finishes building their cathedral, and a great flood
appears, drowning people who were not inside the cathedral at the time.
Survivors set up camps inside the cathedral; the Order of Messiah takes
control of the top floors, while the Ring of Gaea occupies the basement
floors.

After this point, the story continues differently depending on the
Hero's alignment. If it is "law", the Law Hero gets killed in a battle
with the Chaos Hero, while the Hero and the Heroine go to the basement.
On their way they have to kill the Chaos Hero and fight Yuriko, who
turns out to be the demon Lilith in disguise; she calls the Hero "Adam",
 and says she wanted to create a new age and live with him forever,
which is why she tried to execute the Heroine. After defeating her in
battle, the Hero and the Heroine reach the basement and kill the demon
Asura-ou; they then go to the cathedral's roof, where they are thanked
by a messenger from God. If the Hero's alignment instead is "chaos", he
and the Heroine must go to the top floor and kill the archangel Michael,
 and on their way kill the Law Hero; the Chaos Hero dies, too, because
of the magical ring he has been wearing. On the roof, they meet Lucifer,
 who says that a new era will begin, where both demons and humans are
free; he also warns them that God still is alive. If the Hero's
alignment instead is "neutral", he and the Heroine must kill the Law
Hero, the Chaos Hero, Asura-ou, and Michael, and fight Yuriko. On the
roof, they meet Taishang Laojun,
 who thanks them and says that balance is needed to achieve happiness;
he asks the Hero and the Heroine to lead humanity to a future that
doesn't rely on gods or demons. The game ends with the Heroine saying
that those who have died will be reborn, and that it is time for
creation and rebuilding.

## Development

From the beginning of production, Atlus staff saw *Shin Megami Tensei* as a chance to develop a game with the company's brand on it.[7] The main staff included director Yōsuke Niino, producer Hideyuki Yokoyama, programmer and future *Megami Tensei* director Kouji Okada, writers Ryutaro Ito and Kazunari Suzuki, and composer Tsukasa Masuko.[8] Kazuma Kaneko
 worked on multiple aspects of the game, including character and sprite
design, the world's concept and visual design, and the creation of
visual assets.[9][10] Atlus saw the game as a remake of the previous game in the *Megami Tensei* series, *Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei II*.
 As such, the staff knew what would happen with the story, so
development went smoothly. An early factor in the game was the inclusion
 of a Law Hero and a Chaos Hero, and a protagonist who would initially
be neutral and whose actions would affect their alignment.[7] Kaneko defined this blending of different alignments as "a sort of hodgepodge" when compared to future games in the series.[11]
 When designing it, the team slowly decided that they wanted to break
the then-current gaming status quo using its aesthetic and content. That
 feeling, along with granting it a sense of reality through use of dark
imagery, would later define the series. The main theme of *Shin Megami Tensei* was a person waking up to inevitable destruction and being able to do nothing but rely on their own abilities.[7][9]
 The scenario took a long time to finalize, being revised a number of
times by multiple staff members. During earlier drafts, it was planned
that the finale of the story would take place in Israel after an extensive journey across Japan.[12]

One of the reasons the development team chose Tokyo as the main
setting was that its turbulent history, going through multiple phases of
 development and often suffering severe damage in wars or due to natural
 disasters, made it comparable with the fantasy settings of other games
at the time.[13]
 In a later interview, an Atlus staff member stated that this setting
and style made it the antithesis of traditional fantasy RPGs, adding
that this resulted in the game developing a punk spirit.[14] Because of the post-apocalyptic setting of *Megami Tensei II*,
 the development team wanted to depict a time before the apocalypse. The
 decision to set the game in Tokyo was made by Suzuki and Kaneko, and
was influenced by manga such as *Violence Jack*, *Devilman*, and *Fist of the North Star*.
 Kichijōji was decided to be the game's starting point due to Kaneko,
Suzuki, and Ito all having lived in or near the area, or having visited
it often. The abandoned Terminal Echo building there fascinated them,
making them wonder how a building in such a prime location could remain
unoccupied; Ito described it as two floors of arcade cabinets, with the
rest of the building feeling like a ghost town. This fascination led to it being included as a dungeon in the game.[7] While designing the maps, Kaneko wanted to use wire-frame models, but the Super Famicom's limited capacities meant this idea was scrapped.[8]

By the end of development, multiple members of staff voiced
dissatisfaction with the final product. Ito and Suzuki felt that the
portrayals of the Law and Chaos Heroes were imbalanced, with the Chaos
Hero being too emotional and the Law Hero being unsympathetic. They also
 pointed out difficulties with the demon fusion system, which they saw
as being too difficult for players to master. Okada, while commenting on
 what improvements would be made for the next game, stated that there
were too many useless items in the game. Niino felt that the game's
pacing and flow needed to be addressed, as after naming entry the player
 immediately is prompted to divide their status points.[8]

### Character designs

In addition to handling the graphics, Kaneko designed the character and demon designs for the game.[9]
 The Hero's and the Heroine's clothes were designed to be futuristic;
the Heroine was designed to be a protector, with clothes inspired by American football
 equipment. The Law Hero and Chaos Hero have ordinary clothes at first;
the Chaos Hero was designed to look unsophisticated, with a bad posture
and military clothes. After their metamorphoses,
 the Law Hero wears clothes designed to look priestly; Kaneko did not
have a specific form in mind when designing them, but thought they
looked "Gucci-like". The Chaos Hero's clothes after his metamorphosis were designed to be similar to the character Piccolo from the *Dragon Ball* manga series; his hair style was also based on *Dragon Ball*,
 specifically on that of the "super saiyan" transformations in that
series. Kaneko wanted the Chaos Hero change back and forth between human
 and demon form to tie in more closely with this design theme, but the
concept was abandoned. During production, all the characters had names
attached to them to help with identification during event planning.[9] The character Louis Cyphre was inspired by the character of the same name from the 1987 movie *Angel Heart*. Some characters, such as Stephen and General Gotou, are based on real-life people; in the game files, they are identified as "hoking" and "mishima", respectively.[15] According to Ito, the character Thorman's name was originally inspired by the Norse god of thunder, but after release, he realized that the name was highly similar to that of Harry S. Truman, the American president who approved the atomic attacks against Japan.[7]

For the demon design, Kaneko took inspiration from Medieval woodblock
 prints, wooden carvings from South America, masks from Micronesia, and
terracotta figurines from the Middle East.[11]
 His designs of angelic characters were influenced by descriptions from
the Book of Ezekiel of angels having multiple strange forms, such as
multiple arms or heads. In addition to traditional demons and monsters,
Kaneko designed versions of less-frequented figures from Celtic and
Southeast Asian mythology. The theme he used when drawing them was
"fear", which extended to both obvious threats and the internal dread
the creatures evoked.[8] The graphics for most demons were directly drawn as sprites, without concept art,
 to make sure that the design and the graphics would work within the
hardware limitations of the Super Famicom. Certain important characters,
 and some demons who the player would be guaranteed to meet, were drawn
as concept art first. Several demons were designed in a way that allowed
 parts of their graphics to be reused; for instance, the demon Cerberus' body is also used for Shanhui and Nue, with a different color palette.[10]
 Demon fusions were designed around the dichotomy of Law and Chaos, but
in hindsight it was stated that this provided little fusion variety.[8]

### Music

The game's music was composed by Tsukasa Masuko, with arrangements by Masuko and Tatsuya Nishiwaki.[16] Masuko considered *Shin Megami Tensei*
 to be an experimental work: it was the first time he had created music
for the Super Famicom, so he was not familiar with the console's
specifications. During composition, he needed to check the
specifications repeatedly to see what he could do within the hardware
limitations.[8] For the PC Engine port, the music was arranged by Hitoshi Sakimoto.[17]

A soundtrack album, *Shin Megami Tensei Law & Chaos Disc*, was released on February 24, 1993 by Victor Entertainment under the catalog number *VICL-40046/7*.[16] It includes two discs: the first contains the music as it sounds in-game, and the second contains arrangements by Nishiwaki.[18] A second album, *Shin Megami Tensei Sound Collection*, was released on March 5, 2003, by SME Visual Works under the catalog number *SVWC-7175/6*. It includes music from the original and PlayStation versions of *Shin Megami Tensei*, *Shin Megami Tensei II*, and *Shin Megami Tensei if...*, along with selected tracks from *Shin Megami Tensei: NINE*.[19]

## Release

*Shin Megami Tensei* was first released on the Super Famicom on October 30, 1992 in Japan;[20] it remained exclusive to that region for 22 years.[6] It was the first *Megami Tensei* title not to be published by Namco. Instead, it was published by Atlus, which caused some complaints as to why Namco was not publishing the game.[7] A fan translation of the Super Famicom version has been developed.[5] Subsequent ports were released on the PC Engine (December 25, 1993), Mega-CD (February 25, 1994), the PlayStation (May 31, 2001), and Game Boy Advance (March 28, 2003).[21][22][23][24]
 Atlus was responsible for the PlayStation port, and the staff were
divided on whether to make it a complete port or something new. Those
who wanted a direct port won through.[12] The PC Engine port included added story scenes.[21] SIMS Co., Ltd. was in charge of the Mega CD port, which included additional demons.[22] The Game Boy Advance version, which was the first time *Shin Megami Tensei*
 appeared on a portable platform, included the ability to exchange
demons and items using the platform's data exchange capacities. It also
featured remastered music and alterations to ease the playing
experience.[25] The game was released in February 2012 for iOS and November of that year for Android.[26][27] These mobile ports were based on the Game Boy Advance version, including all the port's features.[28] The iOS port was localized and released in North America and Europe in March 18, 2014.[6][29]

### Localization

*Shin Megami Tensei*, as with many other early *Megami Tensei* titles, was initially not localized for the West due to its controversial content such as the portrayal of religious elements.[13][30] This content clashed with Nintendo's strict content policy guidelines.[31] The PlayStation port was also prevented from being localized by Sony's then-current approval policy.[32]
 The possibility of later localization after the series became
established in the West were stalled due to the age of the game, which
would have put it at a disadvantage in the modern gaming market.[33]

According to Nich Maragos, the editor of the English version of *Shin Megami Tensei*, it was already too late to localize the PlayStation and Game Boy Advance versions of the game by the time the *Megami Tensei*
 series had "taken off" in the US; Atlus normally does not have an
interest in localizing mobile games, but saw the iOS version of the game
 as a perfect opportuity to fill in one of the gaps in the series. The
localization project was slow at first, as it took time to extract the
files from the game, so the localization team started by playing the
game in order to find out what kinds of dialogue text and system
messages it contained. After receiving the files, they translated the
text, which was then sent to the editors; the edited text was sent back
to the translators, who checked that nothing had been lost in
translation, after which the text was inserted into the game. A
challenge for the localization team was character limitations: only four
 rows of text, with 28 characters each, were able to be displayed at a
time, and at some points this had to be limited even further in order to
 avoid graphical glitches. This was solved by modifying the game to
allow for more text boxes as needed. Later *Megami Tensei* games, which had been localized before *Shin Megami Tensei*, influenced the localization, as several of them include terms or quotes from the game. For instance, the catastrophe in *Shin Megami Tensei* is referred to as the "Great Cataclysm" in *Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army*, while *Persona 4* and *Shin Megami Tensei IV* include several quotes and terms from the game. The already translated *Shin Megami Tensei* quotes from the *Persona 4* localization were reused verbatim in the localization of *Shin Megami Tensei*.[34]

## Reception

 GameRankings
 Metacritic
 Publication
 *Famitsu* | 36/40 (SFC)[20]
25/40 (PCE)[21]
28/40 (MD)[22]
30/40 (PS)[23]

According to Ito, the Super Famicom release was a great success for
the company, helping establishing it as both a developer and publisher.[7]
 While a success, the game also received criticism from players for its
high encounter rate and difficulties using the map and in-game
instructions.[8]
 At the end of 2001, the PlayStation version was the 119th best selling
video game of the year in Japan, with 85,991 sold copies.[39]

On release, *Famitsu* magazine gave the original Super Famicom version a score of 36 out of 40, with all four reviewers giving it a 9 out of 10.[20] This made it one of their three highest-rated games of 1992, along with *Dragon Quest V* and *World of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck*. *Shin Megami Tensei* was also one of only eleven games to have received a *Famitsu* score of 36/40 or above up until 1992.[40] For subsequent console ports, *Famitsu* gave scores of 25/40 (PCE),[21] 28/40 (MD),[22] 30/40 (PS),[23] and 27/40 (GBA).[24]

The website Touch Arcade said that they loved the game, and that it
was one of their favorite role-playing games on iOS. They did however
think that the game was bad at explaining things, including the system
of saving one's progress.[35]
 Pocket Gamer, too, thought that things were not explained enough. For
instance, they said that the game does not guide players from point A to
 point B, and often does not even let players know where to start
looking for point B.[36] RPGFan echoed this, and said that it is not uncommon for players to wander around, wondering where to go.[6] Gamezebo
 said they did not think the battle system was particularly exciting,
but appreciated how the conversation system and the demon fusion adds
elements of risk and reward to the game.[38] The British newspaper *Metro* found the game more entertaining than most role-playing games from its time.[37] Gamezebo found the iOS version's touch screen-based virtual buttons clumsy to use,[38] while Pocket Gamer found the interface to work "reasonably well" while using the landscape mode,[36] and RPGFan found the interface to be excellent.[6]
 Both Gamezebo and Touch Arcade wished the game had been a "universal
app", so that it could have been played on other devices than iPhone and iPod Touch without having the graphics upscaled.[35][38]

Several reviewers appreciated the game's plot. Gamezebo said that it
was an aspect of the game that stood out in a positive way, and pointed
out how good they thought the English translation was.[38]
 Touch Arcade called the story one of the game's strengths, and said
that it was impressive, despite how it had a tendency to be
"ham-fisted".[35] *Metro* appreciated how the game avoided role-playing cliches, such as how it took place in a modern Japan rather than in a "Tolkien-esque fantasy world"; they also liked its "unrestrained style of storytelling".[37] RPGFan found the story to be good and macabre, and surprisingly relevant even in 2014.[6]
 They disliked that there was very little character development, and how
 scenes that "traditionally [would] be poignant", especially death
scenes, were handled in a nonchalant manner.[4]

Touch Arcade called the graphics "good, but not great", though
reasonable given the game's age, but that some demon designs were
"spectacular works of art".[35]
 RPGFan found the majority of the game's graphics to be "functional, but
 not too appealing", and said that it was easy to get lost due to the
bland textures of the walls and the floors. They did however like the
graphics used in battles and story sections, which they found well-drawn
 and detailed. They praised the designs of the game's female characters,
 especially Nekomata, Lamia, and Yuriko, but felt that the designs of the male characters were bland.[4] Touch Arcade found the music to be fantastic.[35]
 RPGFan said that every piece fits into the scene where it is played,
but that few were memorable. They did note "Ginza" as an exception,
which they felt was so well-composed that it would sound good in any
format.[6]

## Legacy

The success of *Shin Megami Tensei* led to multiple sequels over the coming years and made the *Megami Tensei* franchise more popular.[32] Development on a sequel began immediately after the success of *Shin Megami Tensei*.[8] *Shin Megami Tensei II*, which directly continued the story of *Shin Megami Tensei*, was released in 1994.[7][32] Multiple other *Shin Megami Tensei* titles have followed and brought the series acclaim overseas.[30] Kaneko's concept of the Chaos Hero's transformation was resurrected as the main gameplay mechanic of *Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga*.[9]

In 2015, developer Toby Fox cited *Shin Megami Tensei* as inspiration for *Undertale*, specifically its talking system.[41]