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* MetalSlime: The three Fiends (David, Pale Rider, and Daisoujou). Each one only has a 1/256 chance of appearing in certain areas and each one drops one of three ultimate weapons...with a drop rate of 1/256. Happy hunting!
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The first game in the ''ShinMegamiTensei'' JRPG series, and SpiritualSuccessor to ''Megami Tensei''. It was released in Japan in 1992 for the [[Creator/{{Nintendo}} Super Nintendo]] and later released for the PC Engine Super CD-Rom and Sega CD. Remakes for the Playstation and Gameboy Advance came out in 2002, which was eventually ported to {{iOS}} in 2012. It later got a direct sequel in ''ShinMegamiTenseiII''.
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The first game in the ''ShinMegamiTensei'' JRPG series, and SpiritualSuccessor to ''Megami Tensei''. It was released in Japan in 1992 for the [[Creator/{{Nintendo}} Super Nintendo]] and later released for the PC Engine Super CD-Rom and Sega CD. Remakes for the Playstation and Gameboy Advance came out in 2002, which was eventually ported to {{iOS}} in 2012. It later got a direct sequel in ''ShinMegamiTenseiII''.
''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiII''.
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* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: About not too long after the game begins, [[spoiler:Tokyo is destroyed and you are whisked to a future Tokyo that has undergone a [[ApocalypseHow/Class1 Class 1 Apocalypse]].]]
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* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: About not too long after the game begins, [[spoiler:Tokyo is destroyed and you are whisked to a future Tokyo that has undergone a [[ApocalypseHow/Class1 [[ApocalypseHow/{{Class1}} Class 1 Apocalypse]].]]
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The first game in the ''ShinMegamiTensei'' JRPG series, and SpiritualSuccessor to ''Megami Tensei''. It was released in Japan in 1992 for the [[Creator/{{Nintendo}} Super Nintendo]] and later released for the PC Engine Super CD-Rom and Sega CD. Remakes for the Playstation and Gameboy Advance came out in 2002. It later got a direct sequel in ''ShinMegamiTenseiII''.
to:
The first game in the ''ShinMegamiTensei'' JRPG series, and SpiritualSuccessor to ''Megami Tensei''. It was released in Japan in 1992 for the [[Creator/{{Nintendo}} Super Nintendo]] and later released for the PC Engine Super CD-Rom and Sega CD. Remakes for the Playstation and Gameboy Advance came out in 2002.2002, which was eventually ported to {{iOS}} in 2012. It later got a direct sequel in ''ShinMegamiTenseiII''.
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The game [[NoExportForYou never got a release in the West]], but a group called Aeon Genesis has released a translation patch for the ROM.
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The game [[NoExportForYou never got a release in the West]], but a group called Aeon Genesis has released a translation patch for the ROM.SNES ROM; a second patch by a modder called Orden was released, fixing some of the bugs in the Aeon Genesis patch and making some translation changes to get the script more in line with the official translations. [[AvertedTrope However]], Atlus has [[http://atlus.com/smti/ recently announced]] that the iOS port is finally being translated and released in the West. It will be available on the iOS app store on March 18, 2014.
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* BonusBoss: This game has Beelzebub as the ultimate opponent...supposedly. He has far less HP than Final Bosses Michael and Asura, and while Beelzebub's Level 108, Asura's Level 110 and Michael's Level 116.
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Also, Zero Context Examples. Elaborated on the ones I know, commented out the ones I don\'t know how to elaborate.
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* ButThouMust
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%% * ButThouMust
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* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt
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* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowItTheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: About not too long after the game begins, [[spoiler:Tokyo is destroyed and you are whisked to a future Tokyo that has undergone a [[ApocalypseHow/Class1 Class 1 Apocalypse]].]]
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* GatelessGhetto
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%% * GatelessGhetto
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* HellOnEarth
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%% * HellOnEarth
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* MultipleEndings
* NintendoHard
* NintendoHard
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* MultipleEndings
MultipleEndings: Three, depending on your alignment.
%% * NintendoHard
%% * NintendoHard
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* {{Synchronization}}
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%% * {{Synchronization}}
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You should explain what these \"obvious reasons\" are.
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The game [[NoExportForYou never got a release in the West]] (for real obvious reasons), but a group called Aeon Genesis has released a translation patch for the ROM.
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The game [[NoExportForYou never got a release in the West]] (for real obvious reasons), West]], but a group called Aeon Genesis has released a translation patch for the ROM.
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We probably shouldn\'t be presenting one set of names as \"right\". Personally, I\'d think the Kaneko Works set is \"more right\", since SMTIV references them
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* Hero (Kazuya) - The [[HeroicMime silent]] main character. Possesses an innate talent for summoning, which allows him to use the Demon Summoning Program successfully.
* Heroine (Yuka) - Leader of LaResistance. ActionGirl. Has very strong magical abilities. AfterTheEnd she goes missing, but eventually becomes your main female companion and your only human companion.
* Law Hero (Yuji) - A young, idealistic man who you meet while he's looking for his missing girlfriend. Possesses a [[{{Determinator}} fierce willpower]]. AfterTheEnd, he gravitates towards the message of peace broadcast by the Messians.
* Chaos Hero (Takeshi) - A young, arrogant punk. When you first meet him, he's getting the crap kicked out him by Ozawa and his gang. Despite his tough talk, he's a wimp on his own. AfterTheEnd, he fuses himself with a demon [[EvilMakeover to gain incredible power]] and dumps you for the Gaians.
* Heroine (Yuka) - Leader of LaResistance. ActionGirl. Has very strong magical abilities. AfterTheEnd she goes missing, but eventually becomes your main female companion and your only human companion.
* Law Hero (Yuji) - A young, idealistic man who you meet while he's looking for his missing girlfriend. Possesses a [[{{Determinator}} fierce willpower]]. AfterTheEnd, he gravitates towards the message of peace broadcast by the Messians.
* Chaos Hero (Takeshi) - A young, arrogant punk. When you first meet him, he's getting the crap kicked out him by Ozawa and his gang. Despite his tough talk, he's a wimp on his own. AfterTheEnd, he fuses himself with a demon [[EvilMakeover to gain incredible power]] and dumps you for the Gaians.
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* Hero (Kazuya) - The [[HeroicMime silent]] main character. Possesses an innate talent for summoning, which allows him to use the Demon Summoning Program successfully.
* Heroine(Yuka) - Leader of LaResistance. ActionGirl. Has very strong magical abilities. AfterTheEnd she goes missing, but eventually becomes your main female companion and your only human companion.
* Law Hero(Yuji) - A young, idealistic man who you meet while he's looking for his missing girlfriend. Possesses a [[{{Determinator}} fierce willpower]]. AfterTheEnd, he gravitates towards the message of peace broadcast by the Messians.
* Chaos Hero(Takeshi) - A young, arrogant punk. When you first meet him, he's getting the crap kicked out him by Ozawa and his gang. Despite his tough talk, he's a wimp on his own. AfterTheEnd, he fuses himself with a demon [[EvilMakeover to gain incredible power]] and dumps you for the Gaians.
* Heroine
* Law Hero
* Chaos Hero
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* FusionDance: The Jakyou Manor, making its first appearance in its current incarnation, [[hottip:*:In ''Megami Tensei'', the Minister was not present.]] performs these between two our your demons. Takeshi and Pascal also do it, with the former becoming a cross between a Samurai and Spider-Man, and the latter becoming Cerberus.
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* FusionDance: The Jakyou Manor, making its first appearance in its current incarnation, [[hottip:*:In [[note]]In ''Megami Tensei'', the Minister was not present.]] present[[/note]] performs these between two our your demons. Takeshi and Pascal also do it, with the former becoming a cross between a Samurai and Spider-Man, and the latter becoming Cerberus.
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* TookALevelInBadass: Chaos Hero. {{Deconstructed}}; [[spoiler: EvilIsNotAToy, as he found out after spending the entire game fighting to become the strongest of all]].
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* TookALevelInBadass: Chaos Hero. {{Deconstructed}}; [[spoiler: EvilIsNotAToy, [[spoiler:EvilIsNotAToy, as he found out after spending the entire game fighting to become the strongest of all]].
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* TakeAThirdOption: Law, Chaos, or...[[spoiler:''[[OmnicidalNeutral murder everyone]]''.]]
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* TakeAThirdOption: Law, Chaos, or... [[spoiler:''[[OmnicidalNeutral murder everyone]]''.]]
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* StupidSacrifice: [[spoiler:The Law Hero]]'s sacrifice. Demons are readily expendable; at best they return to the comp, at worst you would have to spend some money on bribes to recruit a new one, and would have easily held of the enemies he blocks off.
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* StupidSacrifice: [[spoiler:The Law Hero]]'s sacrifice. Demons are readily expendable; at best they return to the comp, at worst you would have to spend some money on bribes to recruit a new one, and would have easily held of off the enemies he blocks off.
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* DungeonTown: Tokyo as a whole, along with almost every individual district also qualifying. By the end of the game, there's only one safe sector in existence (The Mesian fort in the Cathedral.)
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* DungeonTown: Tokyo as a whole, along with almost every individual district also qualifying. By the end of the game, there's only one safe sector in existence (The Mesian Messian fort in the Cathedral.)
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And so begins ''Shin Megami Tensei''. Tokyo is under martial law, demons are prowling the streets, strange old men are telling you that your destiny awaits and you've been thrown in jail accused of murder. Soon you encounter the same people you saw in your dream the previous night, and meet up with LaResistance who are trying to stop a Japanese general from using the demons to commit a coup-d'etat ''and'' trying to prevent America from dropping a dozen nukes on the city. All you have to help you survive is a knife and a [[PowersAsPrograms Demon Summoning Program]] that you received with the email that morning, which allows you to converse with demons and bind them to your service, storing them in your computer as digital data. Of course, not all is as it seems and before you know it, the Earth has been destroyed and you're lost in a different plane of reality.
to:
And so begins ''Shin Megami Tensei''. Tokyo is under martial law, demons are prowling the streets, strange old men are telling you that your destiny awaits and you've been thrown in jail accused of murder. Soon you encounter the same people you saw in your dream the previous night, and meet up with LaResistance who are trying to stop a Japanese general from using the demons to commit a coup-d'etat ''and'' trying to prevent America from dropping a dozen nukes on the city. All you have to help you survive is a knife and a [[PowersAsPrograms Demon Summoning Program]] that you received with the email that morning, which allows you to converse with demons and bind them to your service, storing them in your computer as digital data. Of course, not all is as it seems and before you know it, the Earth Tokyo has been destroyed and you're lost in a different plane of reality.
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The game [[NoExportForYou never got a release in the West]], but a group called Aeon Genesis has released a translation patch for the ROM.
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The game [[NoExportForYou never got a release in the West]], West]] (for real obvious reasons), but a group called Aeon Genesis has released a translation patch for the ROM.
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''Shin Megami Tensei'' is a first-person dungeon crawler much in the same vein as the [=RPGs=] of its time, such as ''A Bard's Tale''. It uses a turn-based battle system, though you are given the option to talk to a demon before you battle to see if you can endear yourself to it. By winning the favour of a demon, you can ask it for money, items, healing or to join your party. However, demons do not gain experience points so the only way to strength your party is to fuse two or more demons together at the Jakyou Manor, creating vastly more powerful demons that can exceed your own level.
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''Shin Megami Tensei'' is a first-person dungeon crawler much in the same vein as the [=RPGs=] of its time, such as ''A Bard's Tale''.Tale'' or ''Wizardry''[[note]]in fact, the early ''Megami Tensei'' games in general seem to take a lot of their design beats from ''Wizardry IV'', what with recruiting monsters, limited numbers of human heroes, and very complex dungeons[[/note]]. It uses a turn-based battle system, though you are given the option to talk to a demon before you battle to see if you can endear yourself to it. By winning the favour of a demon, you can ask it for money, items, healing or to join your party. However, demons do not gain experience points so the only way to strength your party is to fuse two or more demons together at the Jakyou Manor, creating vastly more powerful demons that can exceed your own level.
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* UnwinnableByMistake: Due to the game's failure to "lock" the player into any alignment's endgame at any given point, players may find that they have accidentally "switched" alignments, rendering the game unbeatable. [[http://lparchive.org/Shin-Megami-Tensei-1/Update%2063/ For example!]]
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The graphics aren't that great and the game itself is NintendoHard. It also suffers from some baffling design choices, like having to go through three menu screens to access a sorely-needed minimap. But it was a revolutionary game for its time: in an age where seemingly every RPG was [[NoSidepathsNoExplorationNoFreedom linear]], had [[ExcusePlot little plot]] and was stuck in the [[MedievalStasis medieval]] [[HighFantasy high fantasy]] genre, ''Shin Megami Tensei'' had a wide, sprawling overworld where you could do what you wanted, delivered a truly outstanding plot and was a radical post-apocalyptic UrbanFantasy.
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The graphics aren't that great and the game itself is NintendoHard. It also suffers from some baffling design choices, like having to go through three menu screens to access a sorely-needed minimap. But it was a revolutionary game for its time: in an age where seemingly every RPG was [[NoSidepathsNoExplorationNoFreedom linear]], had [[ExcusePlot little plot]] and was stuck in the [[MedievalStasis medieval]] [[HighFantasy high fantasy]] genre, ''Shin Megami Tensei'' had a wide, sprawling overworld where you could do what you wanted, delivered a truly outstanding plot for its time and was a radical post-apocalyptic UrbanFantasy.
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from wallpapers released in leadup to IV
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[[quoteright:250:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ShinMegamiTenseiI.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:250:The Hero, JustBeforeTheEnd and AfterTheEnd.]]
[[caption-width-right:250:The Hero, JustBeforeTheEnd and AfterTheEnd.]]
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* ATasteOfPower: Played with. Early in the game, you can fuse your dog with a demon to create Cerberus, a high-level demon that would, under normal circumstances, be impossible to attain without doing some major level grinding. With this Cerberus, you can easily make it through early parts of the game. It will leave your party before long, though, but it can rejoin you during the game's latter half.
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There\'s a very good reason why someone might be resetting the console a lot.
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* EasterEgg: The SNES version had a rather... sadistic one. Starting the game up enough times (Random, and highly unlikely unless you're resetting the console a lot for some reason) will result in being greeted with a screen of text that repeatedly says "TURN IT OFF IMMEDIATELY" in Japanese, complete with a loud buzzing noise. In a game rife with NightmareFuel, this is some on a very meta level. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhfZVd9N9ww Here's a video of it occurring.]]
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* EasterEgg: The SNES version had a rather... sadistic one. Starting the game up enough times (Random, and highly unlikely unless you're resetting the console a lot [[SaveScumming for some reason) reason]]) will result in being greeted with a screen of text that repeatedly says "TURN IT OFF IMMEDIATELY" in Japanese, complete with a loud buzzing noise. In a game rife with NightmareFuel, this is some on a very meta level. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhfZVd9N9ww Here's a video of it occurring.]]
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The first game in the ''ShinMegamiTensei'' JRPG series, and SpiritualSuccessor to ''Megami Tensei''. It was released in Japan in 1992 for the [[{{Nintendo}} Super Nintendo]] and later released for the PC Engine Super CD-Rom and Sega CD. Remakes for the Playstation and Gameboy Advance came out in 2002. It later got a direct sequel in ''ShinMegamiTenseiII''.
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The first game in the ''ShinMegamiTensei'' JRPG series, and SpiritualSuccessor to ''Megami Tensei''. It was released in Japan in 1992 for the [[{{Nintendo}} [[Creator/{{Nintendo}} Super Nintendo]] and later released for the PC Engine Super CD-Rom and Sega CD. Remakes for the Playstation and Gameboy Advance came out in 2002. It later got a direct sequel in ''ShinMegamiTenseiII''.
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* CrutchCharacter: Cerberus, which you get by fusing ''your family dog'' with a demon. When you first get it will likely dish and take more damage than everything else you have ''COMBINED'', and will ignore the rules that a demon as powerful as it is should be uncontrollable for you at that point. Unfortunately you only get it briefly.
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* CrutchCharacter: Cerberus, which you get by fusing ''your family dog'' with a demon. When you first get it will likely dish and take more damage than everything else you have ''COMBINED'', and will ignore the rules that a demon as powerful as it is should be uncontrollable for you at that point. Unfortunately you only get it briefly.him briefly, and by the time you get him back, he's become average in true CrutchCharacter fashion.
** The Chaos Hero as well, after he fuses himself with a demon. But his time with you is even more brief than Cerberus's; once you walk down a hallway and fight a boss, he leaves you.
** The Chaos Hero as well, after he fuses himself with a demon. But his time with you is even more brief than Cerberus's; once you walk down a hallway and fight a boss, he leaves you.
* FusionDance: The Jakyou Manor, making its first appearance in its current incarnation, [[hottip:*:In ''Megami Tensei'', the Minister was not present.]] performs these between two our your demons. Takeshi and Pascal also do it, with the former becoming a cross between a Samurai and Spider-Man, and the latter becoming Cerberus.
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* JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind: You need to do this to save [[spoiler:Heroine]] from a demon infesting her mind and devouring it from the inside out.
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* JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind: You need to do this to save [[spoiler:Heroine]] from Arachne, a demon infesting her mind and devouring it from the inside out.
** However, you never see Lucifer's true form in this game.
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** [[spoiler: Subverted. He's YHVH's lapdog, and in the Law Path the Hero becomes the real Messiah. In the Chaos and Neutral paths, he loses the mantle by superior firepower.]]
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** [[spoiler: Subverted. He's YHVH's lapdog, and in the Law Path the Chaos Hero kills him and the Hero becomes the real Messiah. In the Chaos and Neutral paths, he loses the mantle by superior firepower.]]
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** This does make some sense: Dark demons are portrayed as uncontrollable, as they can never be recruited. And Lawful/Chaotic is not a way of measuring morality; although they are both evil, the Hero is good.
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* DirtyCop: It is learned ''very'' early on that the police have aligned with the Demons, kidnapping innocents so a demon at the town hospital can experiment on them.
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* CrutchCharacter: Cerberus, which you get by fusing ''your family dog'' with a demon. When you first get it will likely dish and take more damage than everything else you have ''COMBINED'', and will ignore the rules that demon as powerful as it is should be uncontrollable for you at that point. Unfortunately you only get it briefly.
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* CrutchCharacter: Cerberus, which you get by fusing ''your family dog'' with a demon. When you first get it will likely dish and take more damage than everything else you have ''COMBINED'', and will ignore the rules that a demon as powerful as it is should be uncontrollable for you at that point. Unfortunately you only get it briefly.
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[[caption-width-right:250:The Hero, before and after TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.]]
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[[caption-width-right:250:The Hero, before JustBeforeTheEnd and after TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.AfterTheEnd.]]
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* Pascal, the Hero's dog who fuses himself with a demon to aid the Hero.
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* BodyHorror: The Chaos hero does this ''to himself'' by pretty much [[LampshadeHanging going right for one of the obvious questions around "demon fusing"]].
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* BodyHorror: The Chaos hero does this ''to himself'' by pretty much [[LampshadeHanging going right for one of the obvious questions around "demon fusing"]]. Of course, when Pascal tries it, you get the useful Cerberus instead of any horrific creature.
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* CrutchCharacter: Cerberus, which you get by fusing a demon with ''your family dog''. When you first get it will likely dish and take more damage than everything else you have ''COMBINED'', and will ignore the rules that demon as powerful as it is should be uncontrollable for you at that point. Unfortunately you only get it briefly.
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* CrutchCharacter: Cerberus, which you get by fusing a demon with ''your family dog''.dog'' with a demon. When you first get it will likely dish and take more damage than everything else you have ''COMBINED'', and will ignore the rules that demon as powerful as it is should be uncontrollable for you at that point. Unfortunately you only get it briefly.
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* Hero (Kazuya) - The [[HeroicMime silent]] main character. Possesses an innate talent for summoning, which allows him to use the Demon Summoning Program successfully. While his alignment is determined by the player, ''ShinMegamiTenseiII'' [[CuttingOffTheBranches operates on the assumption that he chooses the Neutral path.]]
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* Hero (Kazuya) - The [[HeroicMime silent]] main character. Possesses an innate talent for summoning, which allows him to use the Demon Summoning Program successfully. While his alignment is determined by the player, ''ShinMegamiTenseiII'' [[CuttingOffTheBranches operates on the assumption that he chooses the Neutral path.]]
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* MadScientist: The Police Station is ruled by an insane genius who sends out armies of reprogrammed police robots to slaughter both demon and human alike. He is in charge of the MechaMooks you fight.
* MechaMook: The enemies within the Machine Clan.
* MechaMook: The enemies within the Machine Clan.
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* MadScientist: The Police Station is ruled by an insane genius who sends out armies of reprogrammed police robots government war machines to slaughter both demon and human alike. He is in charge of the MechaMooks you fight.
* MechaMook: The enemies within the Machine Clan. Oddly enough, the legendary [[BigfootSasquatchAndYeti Bigfoot]] is in the Machine Clan as well, though it doesn't appear to be mechanical.
* MechaMook: The enemies within the Machine Clan. Oddly enough, the legendary [[BigfootSasquatchAndYeti Bigfoot]] is in the Machine Clan as well, though it doesn't appear to be mechanical.
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* ZettaiRyouiki: The Heroine.
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* ZettaiRyouiki: The Heroine.Heroine AfterTheEnd.
* ZombieApocalypse: Tokyo appears to be undergoing a zombie crisis during Gotou's coup, which worsens throughout the early game. The first zombies you encounter appear to be men in hospital gowns and middle-aged women, but eventially, zombie police and zombie soldiers are encountered as enemies, until finally, the only zombies you see are towering blobs of rotting green corpses.
* ZombieApocalypse: Tokyo appears to be undergoing a zombie crisis during Gotou's coup, which worsens throughout the early game. The first zombies you encounter appear to be men in hospital gowns and middle-aged women, but eventially, zombie police and zombie soldiers are encountered as enemies, until finally, the only zombies you see are towering blobs of rotting green corpses.
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* YourMoneyIsNoGoodHere: AfterTheEnd, Yen becomes obsolete. After that, Makka will become your new pay, and all the Yen you have will be discarded. There is an old man in Shinjinku who takes interest in your old money, and he will trade in your Yen for some Makka if you find him.
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* STEVEN - A crippled genius in a wheelchair who created the Demon Summoning Program. Later gives you upgrades that allow you to store and summon more demons. [[{{NoCelebritiesWereHarmed}} Totally not Steven Hawking]].
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* STEVEN - A crippled genius in a wheelchair who created the Demon Summoning Program. Later gives you upgrades that allow you to store and summon more demons. [[{{NoCelebritiesWereHarmed}} Totally not Steven Stephen Hawking]].
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[[quoteright:250:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ShinMegamiTenseiI.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:250:The Hero, before and after TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.]]
The first game in the ''ShinMegamiTensei'' JRPG series, and SpiritualSuccessor to ''Megami Tensei''. It was released in Japan in 1992 for the [[{{Nintendo}} Super Nintendo]] and later released for the PC Engine Super CD-Rom and Sega CD. Remakes for the Playstation and Gameboy Advance came out in 2002. It later got a direct sequel in ''ShinMegamiTenseiII''.
It's a fairly average day for you, aside from the vaguely prophetic dream you had the night before. The dog needs to be walked, your mother wants you to run down to the cafe and pick up some coffee, and you received an email claiming that a portal to Hell has been opened and that demons are invading the world.
Wait, what?
And so begins ''Shin Megami Tensei''. Tokyo is under martial law, demons are prowling the streets, strange old men are telling you that your destiny awaits and you've been thrown in jail accused of murder. Soon you encounter the same people you saw in your dream the previous night, and meet up with LaResistance who are trying to stop a Japanese general from using the demons to commit a coup-d'etat ''and'' trying to prevent America from dropping a dozen nukes on the city. All you have to help you survive is a knife and a [[PowersAsPrograms Demon Summoning Program]] that you received with the email that morning, which allows you to converse with demons and bind them to your service, storing them in your computer as digital data. Of course, not all is as it seems and before you know it, the Earth has been destroyed and you're lost in a different plane of reality.
This is only the beginning.
The real meat of the game takes place thirty years AfterTheEnd in the ruins of Tokyo. Two factions are trying to create a new world in their image: first, the Messians, whose goal is to establish a Thousand Year Kingdom of God under the (rather unforgiving) guidance of [[CouncilOfAngels the angels]]. Opposing them are the Gaians, who wish to return the world to a primal state of anarchy with the demons. Your former companions have chosen their sides, and it's now up to you to decide how this new world should be ruled.
The first four main characters have [[HelloInsertNameHere no default name]]; however, they were later given "official" names in the instruction manual of the PSX remake. Those names are given in parenthesis:
* Hero (Kazuya) - The [[HeroicMime silent]] main character. Possesses an innate talent for summoning, which allows him to use the Demon Summoning Program successfully. While his alignment is determined by the player, ''ShinMegamiTenseiII'' [[CuttingOffTheBranches operates on the assumption that he chooses the Neutral path.]]
* Heroine (Yuka) - Leader of LaResistance. ActionGirl. Has very strong magical abilities. AfterTheEnd she goes missing, but eventually becomes your main female companion and your only human companion.
* Law Hero (Yuji) - A young, idealistic man who you meet while he's looking for his missing girlfriend. Possesses a [[{{Determinator}} fierce willpower]]. AfterTheEnd, he gravitates towards the message of peace broadcast by the Messians.
* Chaos Hero (Takeshi) - A young, arrogant punk. When you first meet him, he's getting the crap kicked out him by Ozawa and his gang. Despite his tough talk, he's a wimp on his own. AfterTheEnd, he fuses himself with a demon [[EvilMakeover to gain incredible power]] and dumps you for the Gaians.
* STEVEN - A crippled genius in a wheelchair who created the Demon Summoning Program. Later gives you upgrades that allow you to store and summon more demons. [[{{NoCelebritiesWereHarmed}} Totally not Steven Hawking]].
* Yuriko - A beautiful woman who appears in your dreams and pledges to be your "eternal partner". [[StalkerWithACrush Quickly shows her true colours]]. Doesn't mind [[MurderTheHypotenuse disposing of any romantic rivals]].
* Ozawa - A gang leader who is first shown kicking around Chaos Hero. Later shows himself to have some talent at Demon Summoning and joins up with the Gaians. AfterTheEnd, he's a cranky old man who struck a deal with the demons so he could rule over Shibuya.
''Shin Megami Tensei'' is a first-person dungeon crawler much in the same vein as the [=RPGs=] of its time, such as ''A Bard's Tale''. It uses a turn-based battle system, though you are given the option to talk to a demon before you battle to see if you can endear yourself to it. By winning the favour of a demon, you can ask it for money, items, healing or to join your party. However, demons do not gain experience points so the only way to strength your party is to fuse two or more demons together at the Jakyou Manor, creating vastly more powerful demons that can exceed your own level.
Your CharacterAlignment is a huge focus of the game. Depending on the choices you make, the demons you recruit and the missions you accept, the main character's alignment will change to Law, Balance or Chaos. This mainly affects the ending you receive, but also affects what demons you can recruit (Law demons will refuse to join you if you are Chaotic and vice versa), what items you can equip and what healing stations that you can use (each faction has its own healing station; using an opposing faction's healing station will cost you more). There's no "right" path to follow- in fact, the game strongly encourages the player to find their own philosophy and treats you as the hero no matter what side you follow, if any.
The graphics aren't that great and the game itself is NintendoHard. It also suffers from some baffling design choices, like having to go through three menu screens to access a sorely-needed minimap. But it was a revolutionary game for its time: in an age where seemingly every RPG was [[NoSidepathsNoExplorationNoFreedom linear]], had [[ExcusePlot little plot]] and was stuck in the [[MedievalStasis medieval]] [[HighFantasy high fantasy]] genre, ''Shin Megami Tensei'' had a wide, sprawling overworld where you could do what you wanted, delivered a truly outstanding plot and was a radical post-apocalyptic UrbanFantasy.
The game [[NoExportForYou never got a release in the West]], but a group called Aeon Genesis has released a translation patch for the ROM.
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!This game contains the following tropes:
* AdamAndEvePlot: [[spoiler:By the end, there's only a handful of humans and demons left alive in Tokyo, and most of them are in the Cathedral. The Protagonist and the Heroine are thus left with the fate of Earth in their hands.]]
** Note that [[spoiler: Yuriko/Lillth actually ''believes'' the main character is Adam, suggesting the possibility the Protagonist and the Heroine are the {{Reincarnation}}s of Adam and Eve.]]
* ApatheticCitizens: While the coop forces are a big deal in Tokyo JustBeforeTheEnd, barely anybody mentions how there are demons running around in public malls and on the inhabited city streets.
* BlackAndGreyMorality: Neither the Law or Chaos sides are very nice, and [[spoiler: rejecting both [[OmnicidalNeutral leaves a lot of bodies lying on the floor.]]]] Borders on EvilVersusEvil; there really is no "good" choice here.
* BodyHorror: The Chaos hero does this ''to himself'' by pretty much [[LampshadeHanging going right for one of the obvious questions around "demon fusing"]].
* {{Brainwashed}}: What happens to anyone who tries to stand up to the older Ozawa. This is done through a reluctant psychic man named the Psycho-diver, who he has imprisoned.
* ButThouMust
* ChurchMilitant: The Messians are the obvious one, at least AfterTheEnd (JustBeforeTheEnd they're not hostile or corrupt). The Gaians as well, though befitting [[SocialDarwinist their philosophy]], in practice they act more like an especially large street gang.
* ControllableHelplessness: After defeating Thor, [[spoiler:you have 30 seconds to move around before Tokyo is [[NukeEm nuked]]. There isn't anything you can do, other than wait for the on-screen timer to hit zero and have the Heroine teleport you out in time.]]
* CrapsackWorld: Tokyo JustBeforeTheEnd is already kind of bad, as the city is in a battle between the Americans, Gotou and his demons, and the rebels who want to stop them both. AfterTheEnd, demons are everywhere, the Messians and the Gaians are even more prominent and are now in an all-out war, [[spoiler:and eventually it all gets flooded by God, killing everybody not inside the giant Cathedral at the time.]]
* CrucifiedHeroShot: Our first glimpse of the Law Hero.
* CrutchCharacter: Cerberus, which you get by fusing a demon with ''your family dog''. When you first get it will likely dish and take more damage than everything else you have ''COMBINED'', and will ignore the rules that demon as powerful as it is should be uncontrollable for you at that point. Unfortunately you only get it briefly.
* CrystalDragonJesus: The Messians are Judeo-Christians in everything but name. Their members wear white and blue robes, and they also have hooded monks, priests, and bishops.
** ChurchMilitant: The Messians, AfterTheEnd, are portrayed as extreme [[KnightTemplar Knights Templar]]. They tend to demand you join their church and donate generously or they'll kill you. On the positive side, they're the closest thing to a social services network that exists in what's left of Tokyo, at least for those who believe (or say they do), and in the [[spoiler: Cathedral]] they're the only faction capable of protecting the survivors in their town from demons.
* CuttingOffTheBranches - The canonical ending is [[spoiler: the Neutral path]], which sets up ''ShinMegamiTenseiII''.
* DarkMessiah: The Hero (in every path, including Law). The Chaos Hero isn't, incidentally.
** YHVH is the biggest example of this.
* DeathByIrony: [[spoiler:Chaos Hero in the Chaos Path, who spends the entire game greedily searching for ways to increase his own power and is destroyed after being overwhelmed by the raw power of the Devil Ring (which he stole from the Hero)]].
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Arioch's stomach mouth and Astaroth riding ass-naked on a snake.
** Not to mention the [[GagPenis dreaded]] [[FreudWasRight Mara]].
* DominoRevelation: Once you learn demons are real, then you get angels, and God eventually.
* DungeonTown: Tokyo as a whole, along with almost every individual district also qualifying. By the end of the game, there's only one safe sector in existence (The Mesian fort in the Cathedral.)
* {{Eagleland}}: The American soldiers are much friendlier than Gotou's coup forces, to the point that you never even fight them, and they're all amusing due to their broken, italicized way of speaking, representing their inability to speak Japanese very well. [[spoiler:However, the American Messians turn out to be heartless religious fanatics who are responsible for the destruction of the world and the corruption of the once friendly Messians in Tokyo.]]
* EasterEgg: The SNES version had a rather... sadistic one. Starting the game up enough times (Random, and highly unlikely unless you're resetting the console a lot for some reason) will result in being greeted with a screen of text that repeatedly says "TURN IT OFF IMMEDIATELY" in Japanese, complete with a loud buzzing noise. In a game rife with NightmareFuel, this is some on a very meta level. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhfZVd9N9ww Here's a video of it occurring.]]
* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt
* EndOfTheWorldSpecial: ''Of your choice'', no less, establishing a longtime SMT tradition.
* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: [[spoiler:You get to choose to side with Law or Chaos JustBeforeTheEnd. Working with Chaos causes Law to bring the apocalypse in revenge. Working with Law has you preparing the world for the apocalypse they were going to bring anyway. Working with neither makes Law bring the apocalypse anyways. It would be a waste of perfectly good missiles if they weren't used, y'know.]]
* FanDisservice: The boss of the JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind area. [[spoiler:Spider webs]] shouldn't come out of your ass.
* FlyingSeafoodSpecial: Demons such as Forneus.
* GatelessGhetto
* GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere: A few of the bosses, but especially Ladon, as there is no indication of him whatsoever in the plot or even the actual gameplay; he just sort of appears.
* GodIsEvil: [[spoiler:YHVH is directly responsible for flooding all of Tokyo, which of course, kills off most of the people who didn't die during the nuclear holocaust.]]
* [[spoiler:TheGreatFlood: Happens near the end of the game.]]
* GuideDangIt: So you get rare items from certain locations during certain phases of the moon. Good luck finding out what phase is the right one, by the way.
* HellOnEarth
* ItsAllUpstairsFromHere: The final dungeon in particular. All the demons live downstairs and all the angels live upstairs, but regardless, if you're following the Chaos or Neutral Path, one of the final bosses will be waiting for you at the very top the the dungeon.
* JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind: You need to do this to save [[spoiler:Heroine]] from a demon infesting her mind and devouring it from the inside out.
* JustBeforeTheEnd -> AfterTheEnd
* KillEmAll: [[spoiler:Your mother is killed and eaten by a demon. Tokyo is ruined in a nuclear strike from the USA, starting a catastrophic war that leaves the rest of the world in a similar state. You kill lots and lots of demons, and do the same to quite a few humans too. In the Neutral Path, you kill all your friends. You kill their demonic or godly leaders. Then, there's a ''second'' apocalypse where a great tectonic movement causes gargantuan amounts of water to flow into Tokyo, plunging pretty much the entire post-apocalyptic Japan underwater, killing pretty much everyone you haven't yet killed yourself. The only habitable area within the '''entire city''' is a small island holding a large 'cathedral' tower where the final confrontations take place. TakeAThirdOption by killing both bosses and there will be only three characters and a handful of nondescript demons and humans left alive ''in all of Japan'' at the end of the game. ]]
* KnightTemplar: The angels of the Messians, and the Messians themselves. Temple Knights are in fact elite Messian soldiers.
* LightIsNotGood: Sort of. LIGHT is more or less good (in that Light demons are ''usually'' friends of humanity, and do not bother humans), but Law most definitely is not good. [[spoiler:YHVH himself is the major exception to this, being the poster-boy for GodIsEvil.]]
* LikeABadassOutOfHell: The Kongokai is where the Heroine teleports you to save you from being killed in the nuclear attack from the USA. It is an ethereal universe where demons roam the plains among the illusions. Once you leave, you access the second part of the game.
* LouisCypher: [[TropeNamer The original!]] Also, the American ambassador's name is Thorman - and he eventually turns out to have a red beard and a [[NukeEm damn large hammer]].
* MadScientist: The Police Station is ruled by an insane genius who sends out armies of reprogrammed police robots to slaughter both demon and human alike. He is in charge of the MechaMooks you fight.
* MechaMook: The enemies within the Machine Clan.
* TheMessiah: Law Hero. [[spoiler:Later on, this becomes literal. No, seriously. He dies and {{God}} ''resurrects him as the Saviour of Mankind'']].
** [[spoiler: Subverted. He's YHVH's lapdog, and in the Law Path the Hero becomes the real Messiah. In the Chaos and Neutral paths, he loses the mantle by superior firepower.]]
* MultipleEndings
* NintendoHard
* NoCampaignForTheWicked: While protagonist's Law-Chaos alignment can be changed, his virtue is fixed to Light.
* NothingIsScarier: In this game, pretty quickly, you fight a lot of demons, everywhere, no exceptions. When for some reason there is an exception, something is going on.
** Averted by the Mesian town in the Cathedral. Despite the Mesians generally being dicks towards everyone everywhere else, the town is at peace and even Mesian fanatics won't pick on you inside.
* OmnicidalNeutral: [[spoiler: The Neutral path often consists of killing ''both'' the Law and Chaos leaders, including your own friends.]]
* OneSteveLimit: Averted. Both the heroine and the Law Hero's girlfriend share the same name. [[spoiler: That's what gets the girlfriend kidnapped early on by soldiers looking for the heroine.]]
* OrderVersusChaos: Law vs Chaos.
* PhlebotinumBreakdown: You require Magnetite to keep your demons summoned. If you have none, their HP starts to go down very quickly.
* PoliceState: Ironically, run by the Chaos faction during the first part of the game after a demon-backed military coup, led by the temporary BigBad Gotou. AfterTheEnd, the Messians are trying to enforce one, but it's essentially ineffective and Tokyo's in complete anarchy.
* RandomEncounters: ''Almost everywhere''. It doesn't matter if it's the mall, the Tokyo Governmental Palace, another world completely, or a giant cathedral. You're going to get into a whole lot of fights. This can be rather grating in places where shops, save points/teleport points, and temples/inns can be found.
* SaintlyChurch: Some of the Messians are actually pretty square guys. In 199X, they're just a hospitaller order that provides healing for your party (the Lawful nutcases being represented by the Americans) and in the Cathedral town, they provide food and safety for anyone who arrives, essentially no-questions-asked. (Outside of this, they tend to be [[{{Jerkass}} jerkasses]], of course.)
* StupidSacrifice: [[spoiler:The Law Hero]]'s sacrifice. Demons are readily expendable; at best they return to the comp, at worst you would have to spend some money on bribes to recruit a new one, and would have easily held of the enemies he blocks off.
** On the other hand, it ''was'' God's will...
* SuspiciousVideoGameGenerosity: Completely averted. You will almost never find a place to heal for free, and there are no save points before bosses... or ''any indication that a boss in the next room at all.''
* {{Synchronization}}
* TakeAThirdOption: Law, Chaos, or...[[spoiler:''[[OmnicidalNeutral murder everyone]]''.]]
* TookALevelInBadass: Chaos Hero. {{Deconstructed}}; [[spoiler: EvilIsNotAToy, as he found out after spending the entire game fighting to become the strongest of all]].
* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: The Thousand Year Kingdom.
* YourMoneyIsNoGoodHere: AfterTheEnd, Yen becomes obsolete. After that, Makka will become your new pay, and all the Yen you have will be discarded. There is an old man in Shinjinku who takes interest in your old money, and he will trade in your Yen for some Makka if you find him.
* ZettaiRyouiki: The Heroine.
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[[caption-width-right:250:The Hero, before and after TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.]]
The first game in the ''ShinMegamiTensei'' JRPG series, and SpiritualSuccessor to ''Megami Tensei''. It was released in Japan in 1992 for the [[{{Nintendo}} Super Nintendo]] and later released for the PC Engine Super CD-Rom and Sega CD. Remakes for the Playstation and Gameboy Advance came out in 2002. It later got a direct sequel in ''ShinMegamiTenseiII''.
It's a fairly average day for you, aside from the vaguely prophetic dream you had the night before. The dog needs to be walked, your mother wants you to run down to the cafe and pick up some coffee, and you received an email claiming that a portal to Hell has been opened and that demons are invading the world.
Wait, what?
And so begins ''Shin Megami Tensei''. Tokyo is under martial law, demons are prowling the streets, strange old men are telling you that your destiny awaits and you've been thrown in jail accused of murder. Soon you encounter the same people you saw in your dream the previous night, and meet up with LaResistance who are trying to stop a Japanese general from using the demons to commit a coup-d'etat ''and'' trying to prevent America from dropping a dozen nukes on the city. All you have to help you survive is a knife and a [[PowersAsPrograms Demon Summoning Program]] that you received with the email that morning, which allows you to converse with demons and bind them to your service, storing them in your computer as digital data. Of course, not all is as it seems and before you know it, the Earth has been destroyed and you're lost in a different plane of reality.
This is only the beginning.
The real meat of the game takes place thirty years AfterTheEnd in the ruins of Tokyo. Two factions are trying to create a new world in their image: first, the Messians, whose goal is to establish a Thousand Year Kingdom of God under the (rather unforgiving) guidance of [[CouncilOfAngels the angels]]. Opposing them are the Gaians, who wish to return the world to a primal state of anarchy with the demons. Your former companions have chosen their sides, and it's now up to you to decide how this new world should be ruled.
The first four main characters have [[HelloInsertNameHere no default name]]; however, they were later given "official" names in the instruction manual of the PSX remake. Those names are given in parenthesis:
* Hero (Kazuya) - The [[HeroicMime silent]] main character. Possesses an innate talent for summoning, which allows him to use the Demon Summoning Program successfully. While his alignment is determined by the player, ''ShinMegamiTenseiII'' [[CuttingOffTheBranches operates on the assumption that he chooses the Neutral path.]]
* Heroine (Yuka) - Leader of LaResistance. ActionGirl. Has very strong magical abilities. AfterTheEnd she goes missing, but eventually becomes your main female companion and your only human companion.
* Law Hero (Yuji) - A young, idealistic man who you meet while he's looking for his missing girlfriend. Possesses a [[{{Determinator}} fierce willpower]]. AfterTheEnd, he gravitates towards the message of peace broadcast by the Messians.
* Chaos Hero (Takeshi) - A young, arrogant punk. When you first meet him, he's getting the crap kicked out him by Ozawa and his gang. Despite his tough talk, he's a wimp on his own. AfterTheEnd, he fuses himself with a demon [[EvilMakeover to gain incredible power]] and dumps you for the Gaians.
* STEVEN - A crippled genius in a wheelchair who created the Demon Summoning Program. Later gives you upgrades that allow you to store and summon more demons. [[{{NoCelebritiesWereHarmed}} Totally not Steven Hawking]].
* Yuriko - A beautiful woman who appears in your dreams and pledges to be your "eternal partner". [[StalkerWithACrush Quickly shows her true colours]]. Doesn't mind [[MurderTheHypotenuse disposing of any romantic rivals]].
* Ozawa - A gang leader who is first shown kicking around Chaos Hero. Later shows himself to have some talent at Demon Summoning and joins up with the Gaians. AfterTheEnd, he's a cranky old man who struck a deal with the demons so he could rule over Shibuya.
''Shin Megami Tensei'' is a first-person dungeon crawler much in the same vein as the [=RPGs=] of its time, such as ''A Bard's Tale''. It uses a turn-based battle system, though you are given the option to talk to a demon before you battle to see if you can endear yourself to it. By winning the favour of a demon, you can ask it for money, items, healing or to join your party. However, demons do not gain experience points so the only way to strength your party is to fuse two or more demons together at the Jakyou Manor, creating vastly more powerful demons that can exceed your own level.
Your CharacterAlignment is a huge focus of the game. Depending on the choices you make, the demons you recruit and the missions you accept, the main character's alignment will change to Law, Balance or Chaos. This mainly affects the ending you receive, but also affects what demons you can recruit (Law demons will refuse to join you if you are Chaotic and vice versa), what items you can equip and what healing stations that you can use (each faction has its own healing station; using an opposing faction's healing station will cost you more). There's no "right" path to follow- in fact, the game strongly encourages the player to find their own philosophy and treats you as the hero no matter what side you follow, if any.
The graphics aren't that great and the game itself is NintendoHard. It also suffers from some baffling design choices, like having to go through three menu screens to access a sorely-needed minimap. But it was a revolutionary game for its time: in an age where seemingly every RPG was [[NoSidepathsNoExplorationNoFreedom linear]], had [[ExcusePlot little plot]] and was stuck in the [[MedievalStasis medieval]] [[HighFantasy high fantasy]] genre, ''Shin Megami Tensei'' had a wide, sprawling overworld where you could do what you wanted, delivered a truly outstanding plot and was a radical post-apocalyptic UrbanFantasy.
The game [[NoExportForYou never got a release in the West]], but a group called Aeon Genesis has released a translation patch for the ROM.
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!This game contains the following tropes:
* AdamAndEvePlot: [[spoiler:By the end, there's only a handful of humans and demons left alive in Tokyo, and most of them are in the Cathedral. The Protagonist and the Heroine are thus left with the fate of Earth in their hands.]]
** Note that [[spoiler: Yuriko/Lillth actually ''believes'' the main character is Adam, suggesting the possibility the Protagonist and the Heroine are the {{Reincarnation}}s of Adam and Eve.]]
* ApatheticCitizens: While the coop forces are a big deal in Tokyo JustBeforeTheEnd, barely anybody mentions how there are demons running around in public malls and on the inhabited city streets.
* BlackAndGreyMorality: Neither the Law or Chaos sides are very nice, and [[spoiler: rejecting both [[OmnicidalNeutral leaves a lot of bodies lying on the floor.]]]] Borders on EvilVersusEvil; there really is no "good" choice here.
* BodyHorror: The Chaos hero does this ''to himself'' by pretty much [[LampshadeHanging going right for one of the obvious questions around "demon fusing"]].
* {{Brainwashed}}: What happens to anyone who tries to stand up to the older Ozawa. This is done through a reluctant psychic man named the Psycho-diver, who he has imprisoned.
* ButThouMust
* ChurchMilitant: The Messians are the obvious one, at least AfterTheEnd (JustBeforeTheEnd they're not hostile or corrupt). The Gaians as well, though befitting [[SocialDarwinist their philosophy]], in practice they act more like an especially large street gang.
* ControllableHelplessness: After defeating Thor, [[spoiler:you have 30 seconds to move around before Tokyo is [[NukeEm nuked]]. There isn't anything you can do, other than wait for the on-screen timer to hit zero and have the Heroine teleport you out in time.]]
* CrapsackWorld: Tokyo JustBeforeTheEnd is already kind of bad, as the city is in a battle between the Americans, Gotou and his demons, and the rebels who want to stop them both. AfterTheEnd, demons are everywhere, the Messians and the Gaians are even more prominent and are now in an all-out war, [[spoiler:and eventually it all gets flooded by God, killing everybody not inside the giant Cathedral at the time.]]
* CrucifiedHeroShot: Our first glimpse of the Law Hero.
* CrutchCharacter: Cerberus, which you get by fusing a demon with ''your family dog''. When you first get it will likely dish and take more damage than everything else you have ''COMBINED'', and will ignore the rules that demon as powerful as it is should be uncontrollable for you at that point. Unfortunately you only get it briefly.
* CrystalDragonJesus: The Messians are Judeo-Christians in everything but name. Their members wear white and blue robes, and they also have hooded monks, priests, and bishops.
** ChurchMilitant: The Messians, AfterTheEnd, are portrayed as extreme [[KnightTemplar Knights Templar]]. They tend to demand you join their church and donate generously or they'll kill you. On the positive side, they're the closest thing to a social services network that exists in what's left of Tokyo, at least for those who believe (or say they do), and in the [[spoiler: Cathedral]] they're the only faction capable of protecting the survivors in their town from demons.
* CuttingOffTheBranches - The canonical ending is [[spoiler: the Neutral path]], which sets up ''ShinMegamiTenseiII''.
* DarkMessiah: The Hero (in every path, including Law). The Chaos Hero isn't, incidentally.
** YHVH is the biggest example of this.
* DeathByIrony: [[spoiler:Chaos Hero in the Chaos Path, who spends the entire game greedily searching for ways to increase his own power and is destroyed after being overwhelmed by the raw power of the Devil Ring (which he stole from the Hero)]].
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Arioch's stomach mouth and Astaroth riding ass-naked on a snake.
** Not to mention the [[GagPenis dreaded]] [[FreudWasRight Mara]].
* DominoRevelation: Once you learn demons are real, then you get angels, and God eventually.
* DungeonTown: Tokyo as a whole, along with almost every individual district also qualifying. By the end of the game, there's only one safe sector in existence (The Mesian fort in the Cathedral.)
* {{Eagleland}}: The American soldiers are much friendlier than Gotou's coup forces, to the point that you never even fight them, and they're all amusing due to their broken, italicized way of speaking, representing their inability to speak Japanese very well. [[spoiler:However, the American Messians turn out to be heartless religious fanatics who are responsible for the destruction of the world and the corruption of the once friendly Messians in Tokyo.]]
* EasterEgg: The SNES version had a rather... sadistic one. Starting the game up enough times (Random, and highly unlikely unless you're resetting the console a lot for some reason) will result in being greeted with a screen of text that repeatedly says "TURN IT OFF IMMEDIATELY" in Japanese, complete with a loud buzzing noise. In a game rife with NightmareFuel, this is some on a very meta level. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhfZVd9N9ww Here's a video of it occurring.]]
* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt
* EndOfTheWorldSpecial: ''Of your choice'', no less, establishing a longtime SMT tradition.
* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: [[spoiler:You get to choose to side with Law or Chaos JustBeforeTheEnd. Working with Chaos causes Law to bring the apocalypse in revenge. Working with Law has you preparing the world for the apocalypse they were going to bring anyway. Working with neither makes Law bring the apocalypse anyways. It would be a waste of perfectly good missiles if they weren't used, y'know.]]
* FanDisservice: The boss of the JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind area. [[spoiler:Spider webs]] shouldn't come out of your ass.
* FlyingSeafoodSpecial: Demons such as Forneus.
* GatelessGhetto
* GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere: A few of the bosses, but especially Ladon, as there is no indication of him whatsoever in the plot or even the actual gameplay; he just sort of appears.
* GodIsEvil: [[spoiler:YHVH is directly responsible for flooding all of Tokyo, which of course, kills off most of the people who didn't die during the nuclear holocaust.]]
* [[spoiler:TheGreatFlood: Happens near the end of the game.]]
* GuideDangIt: So you get rare items from certain locations during certain phases of the moon. Good luck finding out what phase is the right one, by the way.
* HellOnEarth
* ItsAllUpstairsFromHere: The final dungeon in particular. All the demons live downstairs and all the angels live upstairs, but regardless, if you're following the Chaos or Neutral Path, one of the final bosses will be waiting for you at the very top the the dungeon.
* JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind: You need to do this to save [[spoiler:Heroine]] from a demon infesting her mind and devouring it from the inside out.
* JustBeforeTheEnd -> AfterTheEnd
* KillEmAll: [[spoiler:Your mother is killed and eaten by a demon. Tokyo is ruined in a nuclear strike from the USA, starting a catastrophic war that leaves the rest of the world in a similar state. You kill lots and lots of demons, and do the same to quite a few humans too. In the Neutral Path, you kill all your friends. You kill their demonic or godly leaders. Then, there's a ''second'' apocalypse where a great tectonic movement causes gargantuan amounts of water to flow into Tokyo, plunging pretty much the entire post-apocalyptic Japan underwater, killing pretty much everyone you haven't yet killed yourself. The only habitable area within the '''entire city''' is a small island holding a large 'cathedral' tower where the final confrontations take place. TakeAThirdOption by killing both bosses and there will be only three characters and a handful of nondescript demons and humans left alive ''in all of Japan'' at the end of the game. ]]
* KnightTemplar: The angels of the Messians, and the Messians themselves. Temple Knights are in fact elite Messian soldiers.
* LightIsNotGood: Sort of. LIGHT is more or less good (in that Light demons are ''usually'' friends of humanity, and do not bother humans), but Law most definitely is not good. [[spoiler:YHVH himself is the major exception to this, being the poster-boy for GodIsEvil.]]
* LikeABadassOutOfHell: The Kongokai is where the Heroine teleports you to save you from being killed in the nuclear attack from the USA. It is an ethereal universe where demons roam the plains among the illusions. Once you leave, you access the second part of the game.
* LouisCypher: [[TropeNamer The original!]] Also, the American ambassador's name is Thorman - and he eventually turns out to have a red beard and a [[NukeEm damn large hammer]].
* MadScientist: The Police Station is ruled by an insane genius who sends out armies of reprogrammed police robots to slaughter both demon and human alike. He is in charge of the MechaMooks you fight.
* MechaMook: The enemies within the Machine Clan.
* TheMessiah: Law Hero. [[spoiler:Later on, this becomes literal. No, seriously. He dies and {{God}} ''resurrects him as the Saviour of Mankind'']].
** [[spoiler: Subverted. He's YHVH's lapdog, and in the Law Path the Hero becomes the real Messiah. In the Chaos and Neutral paths, he loses the mantle by superior firepower.]]
* MultipleEndings
* NintendoHard
* NoCampaignForTheWicked: While protagonist's Law-Chaos alignment can be changed, his virtue is fixed to Light.
* NothingIsScarier: In this game, pretty quickly, you fight a lot of demons, everywhere, no exceptions. When for some reason there is an exception, something is going on.
** Averted by the Mesian town in the Cathedral. Despite the Mesians generally being dicks towards everyone everywhere else, the town is at peace and even Mesian fanatics won't pick on you inside.
* OmnicidalNeutral: [[spoiler: The Neutral path often consists of killing ''both'' the Law and Chaos leaders, including your own friends.]]
* OneSteveLimit: Averted. Both the heroine and the Law Hero's girlfriend share the same name. [[spoiler: That's what gets the girlfriend kidnapped early on by soldiers looking for the heroine.]]
* OrderVersusChaos: Law vs Chaos.
* PhlebotinumBreakdown: You require Magnetite to keep your demons summoned. If you have none, their HP starts to go down very quickly.
* PoliceState: Ironically, run by the Chaos faction during the first part of the game after a demon-backed military coup, led by the temporary BigBad Gotou. AfterTheEnd, the Messians are trying to enforce one, but it's essentially ineffective and Tokyo's in complete anarchy.
* RandomEncounters: ''Almost everywhere''. It doesn't matter if it's the mall, the Tokyo Governmental Palace, another world completely, or a giant cathedral. You're going to get into a whole lot of fights. This can be rather grating in places where shops, save points/teleport points, and temples/inns can be found.
* SaintlyChurch: Some of the Messians are actually pretty square guys. In 199X, they're just a hospitaller order that provides healing for your party (the Lawful nutcases being represented by the Americans) and in the Cathedral town, they provide food and safety for anyone who arrives, essentially no-questions-asked. (Outside of this, they tend to be [[{{Jerkass}} jerkasses]], of course.)
* StupidSacrifice: [[spoiler:The Law Hero]]'s sacrifice. Demons are readily expendable; at best they return to the comp, at worst you would have to spend some money on bribes to recruit a new one, and would have easily held of the enemies he blocks off.
** On the other hand, it ''was'' God's will...
* SuspiciousVideoGameGenerosity: Completely averted. You will almost never find a place to heal for free, and there are no save points before bosses... or ''any indication that a boss in the next room at all.''
* {{Synchronization}}
* TakeAThirdOption: Law, Chaos, or...[[spoiler:''[[OmnicidalNeutral murder everyone]]''.]]
* TookALevelInBadass: Chaos Hero. {{Deconstructed}}; [[spoiler: EvilIsNotAToy, as he found out after spending the entire game fighting to become the strongest of all]].
* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: The Thousand Year Kingdom.
* YourMoneyIsNoGoodHere: AfterTheEnd, Yen becomes obsolete. After that, Makka will become your new pay, and all the Yen you have will be discarded. There is an old man in Shinjinku who takes interest in your old money, and he will trade in your Yen for some Makka if you find him.
* ZettaiRyouiki: The Heroine.
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