The Shin Megami Tensei deserves much better treatment by Atlus, it literally doesn’t make sense that some of those titles are NOT on modern platforms yet.
For those of you unaware, Atlus was not always “the Persona dev”. Way back when Shin Megami Tensei was their main source of revenue and attention. Together with various spinoffs and branch-offs of said series. Devil Summoner, the Persona franchise, and Tokyo Mirage Sessions are some examples of being “children” of the SMT series.
Persona outgrew its daddy though. And while Persona is very much its own thing, it’s still a spinoff that owes A LOT to its Shin Megami Tensei roots.
Shin Megami Tensei, On Modern Platforms? Not if Atlus Has Anything to Say About That!
Up until 2 years ago, Persona was in the same boat with Shin Megami Tensei. A tedious and baffling stand-off with Atlus called, “they literally refuse to take the money from the table”!
Persona 3 Portable was stuck on PlayStation Portable. But Persona 4 Golden met a fate way worse than that, as it was stuck on the PlayStation Vita. And I don’t want to disrespect the PS Vita, but… not many people bought that console.
But suddenly after 8 YEARS of refusing to take the money that was sitting on their desk, Atlus finally noticed the huge pile and decided to skim a little off the top. Persona 4 Golden was released to steam in 2020, almost immediately selling 1 mil copies. Compared to 1,5 mil on the PS Vita back in 2013.
Atlus was SHOCKED to the core by the fact that people want to play Persona on anything that remotely resembles a modern system doubled down. They followed up with Persona 4 Arena Ultimax release on PS4, Switch, and PC. Now, the announcement that Persona 3 Portable and Persona 5 Royale are coming to Xbox Game Pass, PC and modern PlayStation consoles set the internet ON FIRE.
Shin Megami Tensei? What’s That?
During that time SMT enthusiasts got a little bit of that love. Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne HD Remaster was released for the PC, Switch, and PS4 in 2020. But other than that? It’s the Persona 4 Golden situation all over again.
The most obvious port of any SMT game would have to be SMT V. An excellent game, that sold very well. But it’s stuck on Nintendo Switch. A console that is very obviously struggling with the game, as the performance CHUGS so hard during certain sections. There are barely any excuses as to why this is not on the PC and PS4. Replaying that gem at 4k 60FPS on a PS5 would be a golden experience.
Many hope that this is just a case of a timed exclusivity deal with Nintendo and that the game re-releases for other consoles.
But now, we get into the TRULY depressive territory of the state of SMT. Shin Megami Tensei 4, SMT 4: Apocalypse, and Strange Journey. The 3 games are currently stuck on the 3DS, a discontinued console with an e-shop that is due to shut down next year.
Shin Megami Graveyard, Population: Anything That’s Not Persona or SMT V and III.
The act of porting SMT 4, 4A, and S might require a fair amount of work since the 3DS is a very specific console with 2 screens. Not to mention that the games would have to receive some graphical touch-ups to not look like a mess on modern hardware.
But things like that DO HAPPEN. To much smaller and less known games! 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors, and Virtue’s Last Reward by Spike Chunsoft got repackaged as Nonary Games and rereleased for PS4 and PC via Steam to great success. Both Nintendo DS games.
But if you go back even further you just cannot play those games in any meaningful way. To play Shin Megami Tensei 1 and 2 legally and legit you need to have the original disks and a PlayStation 1. You cannot play them at all otherwise.
Some of you might check out the Wikipedia article for these games and notice that they are indeed available for iOS and Android. And while not ideal, that’s still “modern”, right? Well, Atlus did not bother to update them since 2012, and various software updates made these games UNPLAYABLE even if you paid for them, and still have them.
Don’t even get me started on the Digital Devil Saga or Raidou Kuzunoha games…
So please Atlus! Take my god damn money, and let me play your damn games!
In other news:
- The Last Of Us Part 2 Could Be Getting Another PS5 Upgrade With How Things Are Going
- Sonic Frontiers Cyberspace Levels Were Revealed During The Latest Nintendo Direct, And They Look Awesome!
- Capcom is Seeing a Sharp Increase In Sales On Steam – Let’s Hope This Encourages More Japanese Devs To Follow Their Lead
