Megami Tensei, known internationally as Shin Megami Tensei (previously called Revelations), is a Japanese video game series created by Aya Nishitani, Kouji "Cozy" Okada, Ginichiro Suzuki, and Kazunari Suzuki. The series is mainly developed and published by Atlus. It includes several subseries and features different types of role-playing games, such as strategy-based games, action-based games, and online multiplayer games. The first two games in the series were published by Namco (now Bandai Namco Entertainment), but Atlus has published most games in Japan and North America since the release of Shin Megami Tensei. In Europe, Atlus works with other companies to publish the games.
The series began as a science fiction novel series called Digital Devil Story, written by Aya Nishitani. The name "Megami Tensei" comes from the subtitle of the first book. Most games in the series have their own unique stories and characters. Common features include story choices that affect the plot, the ability to fight with and recruit creatures (such as demons or Personas) during battles, and themes from philosophy, religion, mystical topics, and science fiction.
Although it is not as well-known globally as series like Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest, Megami Tensei is very popular in Japan and has a strong fan base in the West. The series is praised for its artwork, challenging gameplay, and music, but has also faced criticism for its adult themes, dark content, and use of Christian religious symbols. Other media related to the series include manga, anime movies, and TV shows.
In Japan, some games in the series do not use the name "Megami Tensei," such as the Persona subseries. Many early games were not translated into English because of potentially controversial content, such as religious references, or because they were very old. Since the release of Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne in 2004, English versions of the games have used the name "Shin Megami Tensei."
Titles
The first game in the series, Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei, was released on September 11, 1987. Most later games in the series are not connected to each other, except for shared themes and gameplay ideas. The Megami Tensei and Shin Megami Tensei games form the main part of the series, while other games like Persona, Devil Children, and Devil Summoner are spin-offs that are part of the larger franchise. Some games are completely separate from the main series.
Two games were released for the Famicom: Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei in 1987 and Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei II in 1990. These games have no story connection but introduced the basic gameplay and story ideas that became important for the series. Three games were released for the Super Famicom: Shin Megami Tensei in 1992, Shin Megami Tensei II in 1994, and Shin Megami Tensei If… in the same year.
Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne was released in 2003 for the PlayStation 2. A special edition called the Maniax Edition was released in Japan and North America in 2004 and in Europe in 2005. The number "III" was removed for the North American version, and the title became Shin Megami Tensei: Lucifer's Call in Europe. Shin Megami Tensei IV for the Nintendo 3DS was released in Japan and North America in 2013 and in Europe in 2014 as a digital-only game. Another game in the same universe, Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse, was released for the 3DS in Japan in February 2016. Shin Megami Tensei V was released for the Nintendo Switch in 2021. An improved version, Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance, was released in June 2024 for multiple platforms, including Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
In addition to the main series, there are many spin-off games. Shin Megami Tensei: Nine was released for the Xbox in 2002. It was originally planned as a multiplayer online game but was later split into single-player and multiplayer versions. The multiplayer version was delayed and eventually canceled due to technical issues. Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine, a true multiplayer online game, was released for Windows in 2007 in Japan, 2008 in North America, and 2009 in Europe. Its Western service ended in 2014 when the company managing it closed its online gaming department. Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey was released for the Nintendo DS in Japan in 2009 and North America in 2010. Its Japanese service ended in May 2016. A smartphone game, Shin Megami Tensei: Liberation Dx2, was released in 2018.
The Persona series is the most popular spin-off from the Megami Tensei series. The first Persona game, Megami Ibunroku Persona (released overseas as Revelations: Persona), was released in Japan and North America in 1996. The first Persona 2 game, Innocent Sin, was released in Japan in 1999. The second Persona 2 game, Eternal Punishment, was released in Japan and North America in 2000. Persona 3 was released in Japan in 2006, North America in 2007, and Europe in 2008. Its sequel, Persona 4, was released in Japan and North America in 2008 and Europe in 2009. The sixth Persona game, Persona 5, was released in Japan on September 15, 2016, and in North America and Europe on April 4, 2017, and received high praise from critics. The Persona series includes spin-offs like Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth and Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth, fighting games Persona 4 Arena and Arena Ultimax, the crossover game BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle, tactical role-playing game Persona 5 Tactica, action role-playing game Persona 5 Strikers, and rhythm games Persona 4: Dancing All Night, Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight, and Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight. In the West, Persona 3 and 4 used the Shin Megami Tensei name, but it was removed for Persona 4 Arena and Persona 4 Golden to keep the titles short.
The Devil Summoner subseries began in 1995 with Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner. It was followed by Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers in 1997 and Soul Hackers 2 in 2022. Two action role-playing prequels set in 1920s Tokyo were released: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army in 2006 and Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon in 2008.
Other spin-off series include Last Bible, a game for younger players with a fantasy setting; Devil Children, inspired by the Pokémon series; and Majin Tensei, a strategy game series. Stand-alone spin-offs include Jack Bros, an action game, and Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE, a crossover with the Fire Emblem series.
Many games in the franchise have been adapted into anime and manga. Persona 3 had four movie adaptations and a spin-off series called Persona: Trinity Soul. Persona 4 had two anime adaptations: Persona 4: The Animation and Persona 4: The Golden Animation. A live-action TV show based on Devil Summoner aired from 1997 to 19
Common elements
The games in the series take place in different storylines, but they share some common features. One key similarity is that most games are set in modern-day Tokyo, a city in Japan. Many games include post-apocalyptic settings, which means they show a world after a major disaster. This choice was made to make the games different from other fantasy-themed games at the time, as modern Tokyo was rarely shown in games. The Persona series is the only one that focuses entirely on this setting, following a group of young people’s adventures.
Shin Megami Tensei II is an early example that breaks this pattern, as it is set in a futuristic science fiction world. The Last Bible series also moves to a full fantasy setting. More recent games, like Strange Journey and Shin Megami Tensei IV, take place in different locations, such as Antarctica and a medieval society, respectively. The Devil Summoner games are set in modern-day detective stories, not post-apocalyptic ones.
The series’ title means "Reincarnation of the Goddess," a theme that continues in the current Shin Megami Tensei series, now called "True Goddess Metempsychosis." The word "metempsychosis" refers to the cycle of reincarnation, which appears in many stories. The reborn goddess represents both a female character in each game and the changes a place undergoes during the story. This theme is also included in gameplay and story elements. Fans often shorten the series’ name to "MegaTen." In Chinese, the Persona series is called "Nǚshén Yìwénlù," which translates to "Alternate Tale of the Goddess."
The games are known for their difficulty and lasting gameplay systems. Since the first game, players can recruit demons to fight alongside them and combine two demons to create a stronger one. These systems appear in later Persona games. A key battle system, the Press Turn system, was first introduced in Nocturne. This system lets players or enemies gain extra turns by attacking weaknesses or landing critical hits, but they may lose turns if attacks miss. Some games also use a Moon Phase System, where the moon’s phases or weather affect enemy behavior.
The first two Megami Tensei games had different layouts. The first used a 3D first-person view, while the second combined 3D battle scenes with 2D navigation maps. This change was made to help players avoid getting lost in large 3D environments. The 2D/first-person view continued until Nocturne, which switched to a third-person perspective to avoid "3D sickness," a condition linked to motion sickness. A first-person view was later used in Strange Journey and Shin Megami Tensei IV.
Each game explores how extraordinary events affect the ordinary world. The Shin Megami Tensei series focuses on a protagonist gaining power to survive in a world ruled by powerful gods, while Persona emphasizes relationships and the psychology of a group. Most Shin Megami Tensei games feature a male protagonist, though some games allow players to choose a female lead or select a character’s gender. The series includes ideas from Gnosticism, world religions like Christianity and Buddhism, science fiction, Jungian psychology, and cyberpunk. These themes are connected through philosophical ideas, blending different styles.
Stories in the core Shin Megami Tensei games often involve fighting against a tyrannical god. Some games use cutscenes and dialogue (like Persona), while others use simple text to focus on atmosphere (like Nocturne). The series usually follows one main character instead of a group. Lucifer, a fallen angel who opposes God, appears in many forms. Since Shin Megami Tensei II, the series uses a morality system where player choices affect the story. Early games had two paths: "Law" (supporting God) and "Chaos" (supporting Lucifer). Later games added a "Neutral" path, where players avoid choosing sides. Some games are linked to specific paths, such as Shin Megami Tensei II focusing on "Law" and Nocturne aligning with "Chaos." Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse limits players to the "Neutral" path but still offers multiple endings. The three-tiered system (Law, Chaos, Neutral) was used in Strange Journey and continued in Shin Megami Tensei IV.
Development and history
The Megami Tensei series started as an expansion of the Digital Devil Story series, which was a set of three science-fantasy novels written by Aya Nishitani in the 1980s. The expansion was managed by Nishitani and his publisher, Tokuma Shoten. The game was created by Atlus and published by Bandai Namco (then called Namco). While the team wanted to include as much of the original story as possible, the Famicom’s limited technology made this difficult. The series’ creators included Kouji Okada (known as Cozy Okada in English), Ginichiro Suzuki, and Ginichiro’s son, Kazunari. The game was popular in Japan and started the Megami Tensei franchise, with a more ambitious sequel released in 1990. During the development of Shin Megami Tensei, the team aimed to create a Super Famicom game with the company’s brand. They decided to challenge the usual gaming trends with the game’s style and content. However, they considered Shin Megami Tensei a remake of Megami Tensei II. Many Atlus staff members made appearances in earlier games.
Most Megami Tensei games were developed by Atlus’ R&D Department 1. Other companies involved in the series include Multimedia Intelligence Transfer (Last Bible series), Lancarse (Strange Journey), CAVE (Imagine), Nex Entertainment (Nine), and Arc System Works (Persona 4 Arena). Until 2003, most games were handled by Okada, but when he left to start his own company, Gaia, Kazuma Kaneko became the series’ creative director. Two main writers for the franchise are Shogo Isogai and Ryutaro Ito. Ito first worked on Megami Tensei II, joining the team after development to write the script and assist with testing. Isogai’s first work was the script for Shin Megami Tensei II. Ito also wrote the next game, If…, which was set in a school environment instead of the grand scale of earlier games. His final work for the series was the first Devil Summoner. Isogai worked on Shin Megami Tensei II and If…, and later on multiple Devil Summoner games, Nocturne, and Strange Journey. The music for the first five main Megami Tensei games was composed by Tsukasa Masuko. For Nocturne, Shoji Meguro was brought in, having worked on earlier spin-off titles. He later became known for his work on the Persona series.
The art styles for Shin Megami Tensei and Persona were shaped by two artists: Kazuma Kaneko and Shigenori Soejima. Kaneko had worked on the original Megami Tensei titles. His first major work for the series was on Shin Megami Tensei, where he designed the game’s characters and demons, as well as promotional artwork. He also suggested many of the game’s darker features, helping define the series’ identity. Before designing each demon, Kaneko researches the subject’s mythological background and uses it in his designs. His work was influenced by creatures and deities from world mythology and monsters from popular culture, like Godzilla. He also designed characters for the first three Persona games. Kaneko’s style is described as “cold [and] stoic,” and he creates line drawings for his artwork. He starts with pencil sketches, scans them into a computer, and allows other artists to work on them digitally.
Soejima first worked on the first Devil Summoner as part of the digital coloring team. He later helped with artwork and character design for the first Persona and Soul Hackers games. He also designed secondary characters for the Persona 2 series and checked the PlayStation ports of the first three Shin Megami Tensei games. Soejima became the lead designer for Persona 3, as Kaneko wanted younger staff to gain experience. Designing Persona 3 was challenging for Soejima, as he had to refine his style and meet fans’ expectations. He later designed characters for Persona 3/FES and Portable, Persona 4, and Persona 5. Soejima’s style is lighter-toned compared to Kaneko’s work on Shin Megami Tensei.
Other artists contributed to the series. For Nine, animator Yasuomi Umetsu designed characters to match the game’s original vision. Masayuki Doi, known for the Trauma Center series, became the main designer for Shin Megami Tensei IV. Inspired by Kaneko’s work, he blended Japanese and Western fashion in character designs, incorporating elements from the Star Wars series. After the success of IV, Doi became the main demon designer for Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse and Shin Megami Tensei V, while continuing as lead character designer. For the Devil Survivor games, Atlus hired Suzuhito Yasuda as a character designer to attract a wider audience and revitalize the franchise. Some monsters in the second Devil Survivor game were designed by manga artist Mohiro Kitoh.
For many years, the Megami Tensei franchise was not released in Western countries, even though there was a market for it. Early games avoided overseas release due to religious themes and symbols, which were considered inappropriate in Western markets, and Nintendo’s strict content rules for international releases. Later, older games were blocked from being released abroad because they were outdated compared to modern games. Early PlayStation titles were also blocked by Sony of America’s approval policies. The first game in the franchise to be localized was Jack Bros. The first role-playing game to be released overseas was the first Persona game. This was done to give Atlus’ North American branch a flagship RPG franchise to compete with titles like Final Fantasy and Suikoden. Okada mentioned that creature and enemy names were changed in Persona to make them more acceptable for Western audiences. Despite these efforts, localization was difficult due to a small team and the need to adjust many aspects for a North American audience, including removing Japanese cultural references and changing one character’s background to African-American. These changes were later fixed in the PlayStation Portable re-release. The first Persona 2 title, Innocent Sin, was not localized due to a lack of staff and because development focused on the second title, Eternal Punishment.
Nocturne was the first Shin Megami Tensei game released overseas. After its release, Atlus’ overseas branches decided to use the Shin Megami Tensei name for future games in the Megami Tensei franchise to help market
Reception
Before becoming popular in the West, the game was a major franchise in Japan, having sold more than four million copies by 2003. Excluding the Persona series, the Megami Tensei series sold about 7.2 million copies by October 2017. By October 2018, the Megami Tensei main series had sold approximately 12.4 million copies worldwide, including both packaged and digital versions, such as free-to-play titles. The Persona sub-series sold 9.3 million copies, bringing the total franchise sales to 21.7 million units by 2018, including digital versions of free-to-play titles. Excluding the Persona series, the Megami Tensei series had sold 19.2 million copies by 2023, including free-to-play titles. As of March 5, 2024, the Persona series has sold 22.6 million units worldwide. According to a survey by Nikkei Entertainment on December 16, 2023, the combined fanbase of the Shin Megami Tensei and Persona series in Japan has an average age of 32 years, with a male-to-female ratio of 40:60.
Japanese website 4Gamer.net called the series one of Japan's largest role-playing franchises. UGO Networks writer K. Thor Jensen noted that the first Megami Tensei game was the first successful use of cyberpunk aesthetics in video games, combining science fiction and the occult to create a unique cyberpunk world. Nintendo Power mentioned that Atlus often mixes familiar gameplay with surprising settings, using Persona as an example, which features modern-day horror stories and teams of Japanese high-school students. The editor also said that Strange Journey followed a similar style, calling it a "science-fiction makeover" of the series. In an article about Japanese and Western gaming culture, 1UP.com listed the Shin Megami Tensei subseries alongside Nippon Ichi Software's Disgaea series. Kurt Kalata wrote that these games may not be top sellers, but they have gained underground popularity and attracted many dedicated fans. GameSpot writer Andrew Vestal called the series the third largest RPG series in Japan after Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. IGN's Matt Coleman mentioned Nocturne in an article about console RPGs, describing its content as "challenging stuff for a genre that used to focus on saving princesses and fighting evil."
Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei II and Shin Megami Tensei both appeared on Famitsu's 2006 "Top 100 Favorite Games of All Time" audience poll, ranking at No. 58 and No. 59, respectively. RPGFan's "Top 20 RPGs of the Past Decade" list was led by the two Digital Devil Saga games, followed by Persona 3 in second place and Persona 4 in fourth place. Kalata, writing for Gamasutra, called Nocturne one of the 20 essential RPGs for players of the genre. GameTrailers highlighted the Press Turn system as one of the best JRPG battle systems, especially in Shin Megami Tensei IV.
The series has received both praise and controversy in Japan and other countries. Issues include its demon negotiation mechanic, depictions of suicide and cannibalism, religious criticism, the use of Christian and occult imagery, political references, depictions of homosexuality, and unusual demon designs. Western journalists have pointed out specific examples, such as the original release of Persona, which raised concerns due to its religious themes. In 2007, 1UP.com gave Persona 3 the "Most controversial game that created no controversy" award, noting its suicide-related battles and subplot involving student-teacher relationships. GamesRadar listed the series on its "Controversies Waiting to Happen" list, explaining that the lack of public backlash was due to its niche status compared to other games with similar content. Kalata later traced the use of controversial content back to the Digital Devil Story novels, which included violent scenes involving demons. A Chinese game regulation document from 2021 cited Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse as an example of unsuitable depictions of religious figures.
In a review of the Shin Megami Tensei series in Black Gate, Josh Bycer compared it to Pokémon, noting both use a changing group of characters to play with. However, he added that Shin Megami Tensei was created first and is more mature in design and storytelling.