Shin Megami Tensei — stories left

It is the 1st work in the "Shin Megami Tensei series", which branched off from the "Megami Tensei series" handled by Atlus, the developer of this work.

As stated above in "#Overview", this work is an original game derived from the preceding 2-part series made up of the 1st work Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei (for the FC, Namco, 1987) and the 2nd work Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei II (for the FC, Namco, 1990).

According to Koji Okada, who served as director on this game, he took on the development of the 2nd title in order to work through what had been left undone when it was abandoned for lack of capacity at the planning stage of the 1st title, and he says, "even so it was not enough, so for Shin Megami Tensei we decided to put in branching".

Development was carried out by Atlus and Yu Kikaku; the producer was Yosuke Shinno, the music was handled by Tsukasa Masuko, continuing from the 1st work, and the character design by Kazuma Kaneko, continuing from the 2nd work.

While the hardware for the preceding 2-part series was the FC, in this work, in developing it as SFC software, permission was received from the original-work side of the 1st work, the title was changed to Shin Megami Tensei, and it is a completely original development set in an entirely different world, with the setting and the characters renewed.

In addition, in Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner (for the SS, Atlus, 1995), the 1st work in the "Devil Summoner series" that branched off from the "Shin Megami Tensei series", there was also a scene suggestive of a parallel world, in which a character from this work is arrested in a television news report shown in the game.

It received 22.80 out of 30 in the "Game Report Card" based on reader votes in the game magazine Family Computer Magazine.

That score places it 49th among all Super Famicom software (out of 323 titles, as of 1993).

In addition, in the "Best 30 by Category" included at the end of the "Super Famicom All Catalog '93", the special supplement to the 1993-8 information issue of SUPER FAMICOM Magazine, it took 28th place for originality.

In the "Cross Review" of the game magazine Famitsu it received 7, 7, 6 and 5 for a total of 25 out of 40; in Gekkan PC Engine, 90, 90, 90, 85 and 90 for an average of 89 out of 100; in Dengeki PC Engine, 70, 60, 60 and 60 for an average of 62.5; and 22.8 out of 30 in the "Game Report Card" based on reader votes in PC Engine FAN.

In the "Cross Review" of the game magazine Famitsu it received 8, 7, 7 and 6 for a total of 28 out of 40, and 21.9 out of 30 in the "Game Report Card" based on reader votes in Mega Drive FAN.

In the "Cross Review" of the game magazine Famitsu it received 9, 8, 7 and 6 for a total of 30 out of 40, earning a place in the Silver Hall of Fame.

In the "Cross Review" of the game magazine Famitsu it received 7, 7, 6 and 7 for a total of 27 out of 40.

According to Koji Okada, who served as director on this game, he took on the development of the 2nd title in order to work through what had been left undone when it was abandoned for lack of capacity at the planning stage of the 1st title, and he says, "even so it was not enough, so for Shin Megami Tensei we decided to put in branching".

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.

Okada, while commenting on what improvements would be made for the next game, stated that there were too many useless items in the game.

The website TouchArcade said that they loved the game, and that it was one of their favorite role-playing games on iOS.

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.

RPGFan echoed this, and said that it is not uncommon for players to wander around, wondering where to go.

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.

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.

TouchArcade 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".

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.

RPGFan said that every piece fits into the scene where it is played, but that few were memorable.

Although it was developed by the company as with the preceding 2-part series Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei and Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei II, it was the first in that series to be sold by the company itself (see "#Development" below).

It is modelled on the contemporary Japan of the 1990s, with the Kichijoji arcade street, a hospital, and the Echo Building (later the Keio Kichijoji station building). This was rare in the RPG market of the time, in which fictional worlds in the style of Western fantasy were the mainstream, and it gained popularity, with the first illustration collection in the Megami Tensei series being released.

The first two Megami Tensei titles were developed by Atlus and published by Namco as part of a media expansion for Digital Devil Story, a series of science fiction novels written by Aya Nishitani and published by Tokuma Shoten.

Shin Megami Tensei was first released on the Super Famicom on October 30, 1992, in Japan; it remained exclusive to that region for 22 years.

It was the first Megami Tensei title not to be published by Namco.

Shin Megami Tensei was also one of only eleven games to have received a Famitsu score of 36/40 or above up until 1992.

The iOS port was localized and released in North America and Europe on March 18, 2014.

Shin Megami Tensei, as with many other early Megami Tensei titles, was initially not localized for the West, likely due to its controversial content such as the portrayal of religious elements, which would have clashed with Nintendo's strict content policy guidelines.

In 2021, another team released a translation patch for the GBA version that carries over the official iOS localization.

For the port to the Mega Drive Mini 2, some depictions were changed under the supervision of Atlus.

Shin Megami Tensei, as with many other early Megami Tensei titles, was initially not localized for the West, likely due to its controversial content such as the portrayal of religious elements, which would have clashed with Nintendo's strict content policy guidelines.

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.