History VideoGame / ShinMegamiTenseiI

* BonusBoss: This game has Beelzebub as the ultimate opponent...supposedly. He has far less HP than {{Final Boss}}es Michael and Asura, and while Beelzebub's Level 108, Asura's Level 110 and Michael's Level 116. In addition, if you're Chaos aligned, [[spoiler:instead of fighting him, he joins you]].

* EveryoneHasStandards: Even after [[spoiler: Tokyo gets nuked and the whole world is overrun with demons]], bartenders will refuse to sell you drinks because you're underage.

* DiscoDan: There's an undead enemy called a Bodyconian. It's speculated that their design is a joke based off of a subculture that pretty much died around the mid-80s.

* InstrumentOfMurder: Implied. The three strongest 'sword' weapons are a violin (Stradivari), a trumpet (Angel's Trumpet), and a bell (Reaper's Bell).

* 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!]]

The game [[NoExportForYou never got a release in the West]], but a group called Aeon Genesis has released a translation patch for the 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]], an English version was made available on the iOS app store on March 18, 2014. Although technically, the Japanese version was available worldwide on the iOS app store for a while until it was apparently region locked, [[{{Irony}} with the description reading that the game would never get an English translation]]. Unfortunately, it is no longer compatible with current [=OSes=], with Atlus not appearing interested in updating it. Not to let the work on the official translation go to waste, another modder called Gymzatan started working on porting the iOS script to the GBA version.

* Stephen - 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 Stephen Hawking]].

The game [[NoExportForYou never got a release in the West]], but a group called Aeon Genesis has released a translation patch for the 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]], an English version was made available on the iOS app store on March 18, 2014. Although technically, the Japanese version was available worldwide on the iOS app store for a while until it was apparently region locked, [[{{Irony}} with the description reading that the game would never get an English translation]]. Unfortunately, it is no longer compatible with current [=OSes=], with Atlus not appearing interested in updating it.

* 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.

* ZettaiRyouiki: The Heroine AfterTheEnd.

The first game in the ''Franchise/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 UsefulNotes/{{iOS|Games}} in 2012[[note]]Though it no longer works with the current operating system, and Atlus has shown no interest in updating it[[/note]]. It later got a direct sequel in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiII''.

* 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. ]]

* ShootTheShaggyDog: [[spoiler: The first third of the game, set in 199X. Thor has set the plot on rails, and whether you kill him, Gotou or both doesn't matter: Tokyo is destroyed and you're trapped in Makai for 30 years.]]
* 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 off the enemies he blocks off.
** On the other hand, it ''was'' God's will...

* 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.

* NoCampaignForTheWicked: While protagonist's Law-Chaos alignment can be changed, his virtue is fixed to Light.
** 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.
* 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.

* FusionDance: The Cathedral of Shadows, making its first appearance in the "rebooted" Shin series, [[note]]The Minister first appears as the enigmatic bearded old man n blue robes starting in ''VideoGame/MegamiTenseiII''[[/note]] performs these between two or three of your demons. The Chaos Hero and Pascal also do it, with the former becoming a cross between a Samurai and Spider-Man, and the latter becoming Cerberus.

* CuttingOffTheBranches - The canonical ending is [[spoiler: the Neutral path]], which sets up ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiII''.

As the devil known as "desire" grows, anxiety born from uncertainty has brought forth the teachings of "Gaia", which espouses the birth of a new world from the ashes of the old; and the "Messiah", acting on behalf of God\\

* 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.

* DarkMessiah: The Hero (in every path, including Law). The Chaos Hero isn't, incidentally.

%% * GatelessGhetto

* 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.

* 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.

* 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 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.

** 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.

* 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 Messian fort in the Cathedral.)

* TheCuckoolanderWasRight: Plenty of people at the beginning of the game are labelled as crazy or hallucinating when they ramble on about [[UsefulNotes/ConspiracyTheories demons appearing in the streets, the government kidnapping and experimenting on people, and the world coming to an end]]. That doesn't even ''begin'' to cover what happens AfterTheEnd.
** It's not just at the beginning of the game. If you're willing to sift between the [[CassandraTruth Cassandra Truths]] and the people who actually ''are'' crazy, you can learn some important plot points far earlier than you normally do. Some things you can learn early: [[spoiler:Everyone in Roppongi is a zombie, the Basilica is the Millennium Kingdom, and Thorman isn't human]].

* JustBeforeTheEnd -> AfterTheEnd

* 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]].
** However, you never see Lucifer's true form in this game [[spoiler: but you get to see his angelic Form in the Chaos ending]] .