Digital Devil Story: A History of Shin Megami Tensei

The Megami Tensei series of (mostly) JRPGs has become popular in North America, to the point that Shin Megami Tensei V was announced alongside the Nintendo Switch as a major exclusive for Nintendo’s then-new console. It took years, but Shin Megami Tensei V finally got a November 12, 2021 release date. It’s a big release for fans of the genre, and the series, of which there are many.

That wasn’t always the case. Atlus’ flagship franchise is over three decades old, and for almost half the time it was a nearly purely Japanese sensation. It took many tries and false starts before anything related to Shin Megami Tensei really clicked in the west. Here’s the history of the meta-series and its many spin-off series, and how Megami Tensei grew from a Japan-only RPG property to a global phenomenon with a dedicated American fanbase.

This list doesn't cover the entire Megami Tensei meta-series, and games that have never received western releases (and aren't otherwise notable) have been largely left out. Bolded names indicate particularly important releases.

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Genesis of the Franchise: 1986-1990

• Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei (Famicom, MSX, PC)

• Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei II (Famicom)

• Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei (Novel)

• Digital Devil Story 2: Warrior of the Demon City (Novel)

• Digital Devil Story 3: Demise of the Reincarnation (Novel)

This is where the Megami Tensei franchise starts, and not with a video game (and yes, technically the entire franchise is called Megami Tensei, not Shin Megami Tensei). The entire meta-series that spans dozens of games starts with three novels by Aya Nishitani: the Digital Devil Story trilogy. It introduces many concepts that the games would embrace and experiment with, including a computer program that summons demons.

The games themselves started with Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei, which is directly based on the first novel. It gets the ball rolling by following Nishitani’s story, but it’s Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei II that really pointed the series in a direction that makes Shin Megami Tensei happen. It was a departure from the books, and was about people using demons to survive in a post-apocalyptic world. That will be a big theme for the entire SMT series.

Shin Megami Tensei Begins (in Japan): 1990-1994

• Majin Tensei (Super Famicom)

• Majin Tensei Gaiden: Last Bible (Game Boy)

• Shin Megami Tensei (PC Engine, Playstation, Mega-CD, Super Famicom)

• Shin Megami Tensei II (Super Famicom, PlayStation)

• Shin Megami Tensei If… (Super Famicom, PlayStation)

The Super Famicom (SNES in North America) is what put the Shin in Shin Megami Tensei, and established the Megami Tensei series as a franchise, and Atlus as a major game developer. Shin Megami Tensei heavily built on Megami Tensei II’s story and mechanics, and it introduced several series staples, such as the conflict between law and chaos, and fusing demons to create more powerful demons.

Shin Megami Tensei would get a sequel and one of the series’ first spin-offs, Shin Megami Tensei If…. It took the series back to high school for the first time since Megami Tensei, and really ran with the setting, planting the first seeds of the Persona franchise.

Then there's Megami Tensei Gaiden: Last Bible, another spin-off that puts Megami Tensei mechanics in a more traditional fantasy setting. It only lasted a few years, but received four games.

None of these games would actually be released in the U.S. at launch, though Megami Tensei Gaiden: Last Bible's Game Boy Color re-release would be localized for the west in 1999. Like most of Atlus' early attempts to bring the series here, it didn't do very well. Shin Megami Tensei would be released on iOS in English in 2014, but wasn't updated much since then, and has since been delisted presumably because it won't work on modern Apple devices. This isn’t surprising, because JRPGs as a genre hadn’t really found their footing in the west, and all of the games had extensive religious imagery that likely would have run afoul of Nintendo of America’s strict policies against that.

Persona Begins (Mostly in Japan): 1995-2000

• Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers (PlayStation, Sega Saturn)

• Jack Bros (Virtual Boy)

• Persona 2: Innocent Sin (PlayStation)

• Persona 2: Eternal Punishment (PlayStation)

• Revelations: Persona (PlayStation)

• Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner (Sega Saturn)

The late 1990s were the first time Atlus tried to introduce the Megami Tensei series to the west, and it failed. It doesn’t help that the west’s first exposure to the Megami Tensei series was a top-down, run-and-gun game on the Virtual Boy. Yes, Jack Bros. was the very first Megami Tensei game to come out in North America. Like the Virtual Boy itself, it didn’t do well.

Jack Bros. wasn’t Atlus’ only attempt, though. Just a year later, Atlus swung hard by releasing the first game in its new Persona spin-off series in North America, Revelations: Persona on the PlayStation. It was well-received by critics, but gamers didn't give it much of a chance. It didn’t help that Final Fantasy VII would come out only two months after that, on the same system.

Atlus tried again in 2000 with Persona 2: Eternal Punishment. This was a very confusing choice, because Persona 2 is a duology and Eternal Punishment is the second game in it; the first game, Persona 2: Innocent Sin, wasn’t released in North America until the PSP remake in 2011. Then the PSP version of Eternal Punishment wasn’t released in North America, so it really baffled all around.

Nocturne and the Devil Children: 2001-2004

• DemiKids (PS2)

• Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne (PS2)

Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne was the first game in the main series since 1994, and the first one released in North America. It replaced the first two games' first-person dungeon crawling with a third-person perspective that featured a more intricate level design that leveraged the PlayStation 2's graphical power. This became a darling for JRPG fans in North America, to the extent that it was re-released on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Windows earlier this year. Finally, the Megami Tensei series was starting to get a foothold and a fandom in the west.

Atlus also released DemiKids Light Version and Dark Version on the Game Boy Advance in North America. It was part of the Devil Children series that took the main series' themes and mechanics, and made it cuter to appeal to kids. It didn’t even come close to unseating Pokemon.

Persona and the Spin-Off Golden Age: 2005-2012

• Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army (PS2)

• Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon (PS2)

• Persona 3 (PS2, PSP)

• Persona 4 (PS2, Vita)

• Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor (DS)

• Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2 (DS)

• Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga (PS2)

• Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 2 (PS2)

• Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey (DS)

Nocturne had primed a western JRPG audience for more Megami Tensei games, and Atlus was happy to deliver. A new main series Shin Megami Tensei game wouldn’t come out until 2013, but the series would have plenty of spin-offs to appeal to fans. 

This started with Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga, a big departure from previous games. Instead of recruiting and fusing demons, Digital Devil Saga directly merged characters with individual demons, making the party dynamic much more fixed—like a conventional JRPG. It also completely abandoned the Japanese setting for a wasteland called the Junkyard, making the entire game feel much more alien than other Megami Tensei games. It would get a sequel later that year following up on its cliffhanger ending, making it the direct Megami Tensei duology to be coherently released in North America.

Atlus then turned the Devil Summoner spin-off series on its head with Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army, an action-RPG set in an alternate 1931 Japan that was completely unrecognizable from the futuristic dungeon crawler Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers that came out before it. These games were well-received by niche fans, but didn’t really hit the larger JRPG audience. 

Then, in 2007, Persona 3 came out in North America. This gave the Persona series a foothold in North America with far superior graphics and mechanics to the previous Persona games. Fans and critics both liked it, and it represented as big a step in appealing to a western audience, as Nocturne did. 

It wasn’t the hit that 2008’s Persona 4 would become, though. When Atlus invited players to solve a murder mystery by diving into a television and explore peoples’ subconscious, the Megami Tensei series broke out of its niche with record sales and critical acclaim. Even after the fantastic Persona 5 came out, many fans consider Persona 4 (especially the enhanced PlayStation Vita and PC port, Persona 4 Golden) one of the best JRPGs of all time.

Speaking of portable game systems, this era was when Atlus really started to give handhelds some love in the west after the disastrous DemiKids. Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey was an enthralling dungeon crawler with a similar first-person view to the first two Shin Megami Tensei games, and until Shin Megami Tensei IV came out four years later, many people considered it to be the spiritual fourth game in the series. Meanwhile, Devil Survivor and Devil Survivor 2 took Shin Megami Tensei's storytelling and put it in an isometric, turn-based strategy RPG similar to Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre. These two games are unforgiving in their difficulty, but excellent in their depth.

True Goddess Resurrection: 2013-2021

• Persona 4: Dancing All Night (PS4, Vita)

• Persona 4 Arena Ultimax (Arcade, PS3, Xbox 360)

• Persona 5 (PS3, PS4)

• Persona 5 Strikers (Switch, PS4, Windows)

• Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth (3DS)

• Shin Megami Tensei IV (3DS)

• Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse (3DS)

• Shin Megami Tensei V (Switch)

• Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE (Wii U, Switch)

Now we come to the Megami Tensei series' modern age, with it being well-established in North America. Persona 5 came out in 2017 to massive sales and lots of critical love, building on the style that Persona 4 cultivated. It also created its own jazz-funk identity.

The Persona series received its own spin-off games covering a variety of genres, such as fighting games (Persona 4 Arena and Persona 4 Arena Ultimax), rhythm games (Persona 4: Dancing All Night and its sequels), action games (Persona 5 Strikers), and first-person dungeon crawlers (Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth).

The main Shin Megami Tensei series also came back after over a decade with Shin Megami Tensei IV, a Nintendo 3DS exclusive. It was followed up with Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse, and together they form another Megami Tensei duology.

The mash-up of Fire Emblem and Shin Megami Tensei, Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE, also came out on the Nintendo Switch. It was a Persona-like JRPG that used characters from the Fire Emblem series instead of demons in your party, and while its release on the unpopular Wii U held it back, it was well-received enough to get a re-release on the Switch.

And that brings us to Shin Megami Tensei V. This Switch-exclusive chapter in the main Shin Megami Tensei series comes out November 12, with a story that seems to be much more of an isekai (Japanese genre of a character from the “normal” world, often a high school student, being taken to a strange land for adventures) rather than a story centered around an apocalypse, but we’ll have to see where it goes. After all, Shin Megami Tensei IV first appeared to be a simple fantasy adventure with demons, and quickly became much more.