Over 100k views! That's incredible! I honestly had no idea how this project would be received but to see it just continually grow has been absolutely fulfilling. I've made it a point to read every comment and I truly appreciate all the kind words, the feedback, and places where I could improve in the future. Thank you! ~Derrick
I'm honestly so glad this video is getting the recognition it deserves because with the amound of time and research that obviously went into it, it would've been a shame if it underperformed.
Huge smt fan. First got into the series w/ Survivor. Every few years I went back to the well to try to understand the whole history and legacy of remixed game or narrative elements. This video is a welcomed treat. Going to bookmark for whenever I need to explain smt to friends.
ATLUS did what everyone beg Pokemon to do for decades, they refined their formula to so many different genres, taking many risks. They should be praised for that.
@@dwrayswez And it mostly became the biggest media franchise in history thanks to one very lucky, and brilliant, marketing move. Pokemon was originally on the same level of popularity in japan as Megami tensei, but prepared all their commercial advertising, toy manufacturing, Merchandise and TV deals for one massive push into the US all at the same time. Having pokemon become popular in the US at the same time toys and a TV show were playing created a marketting feedback loop that allowed them to saturate the market in under 2 years.
The title literally means - True Goddess Reincarnation. Now here are some questions : Who is this Goddess ? Who is her reincarnation ? What is her relationship with the protagonist ?
I've finished 15 of these, in almost any other series that'd be a massive chunk, but there are so many blind spots for me in this series. It's crazy how big it is.
I hope as many people can see this as possible. I love Shin Megami Tensei franchise but I often find it hard to explain to people why. I applaud Derrick for putting all that effort into this video.
Honestly, my biggest issue, as someone completely new to these games, is just how many there are. There's multiple series. There's multiple games in each series. There's some games that were released only in Japan, then later ported/remade for later consoles in English. There's also all the alternate versions like Person 3 on PS2, and P3 Portable on PSP, and a full remake of P3 releasing soon. And even THEN, I don't know if the different series connects at all. Plus the fact that I've heard older games in these series don't feel as good to play nowadays. So, I have zero idea where to start, or what order I should play them in.
Technically speaking, Catherine was my first megami tensei game even before I played Persona 3, but I obviously didn't know that at the time. Who would've thought that a cheating man having nightmares about tower climbing sheeps would lead into me becoming a huge SMT fan?
Well seems like the "SMT elements" are just perfect for you It's amazing how no matter game did they develop you can feel them even if they're massively changed like Persona series
I didn't even know Catherine was an SMT game until this comment right now (havent watched the video yet). I bought Catherine years ago for PS3 and never finished it. Should go back, it looked great.
@@AleksandrStrizhevskiy It's a great story. I wasn't so much for the puzzle gameplay personally as it felt very "mobile game-esque" but the story was out of this world. The animation in the cutscenes was awesome as well, I'd happily watch a whole series. Definitely avoid the later version though as it changes massive parts of the story and cheapens the whole thing.
Always amaze how this series managed to avoid controversies with religious people, yet things like Dungeons and Dragons or Pokémon unleashed a satanic panic.
The reason for that is cause for a ling time, this series only existed in Japan and in Japanese only. The whole religious paranoia was a western thing, so religious people were not aware of its existence and by the time smt got popular in the west, the religious paranoia had already passed. After all, smt was popular among jrpg fans, but in the bigger picture, it was pretty niche, it wouldn’t be till persona 5 that both persona and by consequence smt would become more well known. That said, I’m glad things happened this way. Parents were panicking in the 90s cause of pokemon, if they had seen smt, they probably would’ve gone on a witch hunt haha 😆
@@perk423that's a good explanation of it. Its also possible that part of the popularity of SMT in the west was due to the fatigue caused by that very same religious paranoia.
There's an aspect of this game being more upfront about it, whilst it might be seen that other series are trying to keep their darker aspects hidden in a way.
I was worried about this video spoiling too much of theses game stories, but it felt like it spoiled nothing! Loved to learn about all the obscure games and how the franchise evolved
That's something I always appreciate in these kinds of videos. A lot of time I'm watching this kind of thing BEFORE I try out the games, to kinda hype myself up and get some history before I jump in.
As someone who is just getting into the series and was absolutely baffled by all the titles, this was a godsend. I'm really enjoying SMT V and this was great for figuring out what I might be interested in playing next. I'm sure this video was a massive undertaking. Thanks for taking the time!
I highly recommend Persona 3 Reload. I haven't played the Original Persona 3 but this remake is seriously one of the best games I've ever played. Took me around a month to finish.
Persona is my favorite game franchise and in the last few years I've really started diving into all the other Megami Tensei games so it's great to see a video like this. You guys did an amazing job on the video, thank you for making it.
You organized and narrated everything so well, i've seen a lot of SMT game timelines but they all seem to complicate things on purpose. As someone who started the series with persona and gradually got more interested in the other games, i seriously apreciate all the work put into this.
This was enlightening. I came to SMT pretty late for lack of Sony consoles. My first contact was long after P4G was released (borrowed the console + game from a friend back then), and that was it for a long time. Eventually, I fell in love with the Devil Survivor games (Nintendo child lol), later got a used PS2 and borrowed P3. Until now that's where most of my touch points with this massive series are - Persona and Devil Survivor. I did enjoy the SMT IV titles, so I was hyped af when they announced SMT V and the switch ports... never really got around to truly looking into the franchise though. I definitely want to look into Digital Devil Saga now. Thank you for this extensive piece of work, I had so many "oh, huh!"-moments and flashes of nostalgia during this.
starting to watch now I can't wait. great work Derrick and any and everyone who helped bring this project to life! EDIT: after finishing this video I have to say this retrospective has no lulls the pace is lightning fast and draws you in. no game is over explained nor spoiled giving the viewer incentive to give the series a try. personally I want to try the raidou games.
It has arrived! Even before watching it, I gotta congratulate this herculean effort of research, recording footage, talking and editing a video this size.This is literally feature length! Now I gotta find some time in my schedule to actually watch this...
As a long time fan since Persona II (PS1) I have to say this is the most comprehensive, in depth video I’ve ever seen for RPG genre. Captivating attention to detail. Thank you!
Man the 2010s were such a depressing era for MegaTen. You can tell ATLUS was going through a rough time back then because of just how much they had to rely on Persona to keep the company afloat and that at best they could only allow themselves to put focus in the mainline projects and re-releases besides it. Now that they at least have the P4 and P5 money and recognition, I'm hoping Soul Hackers 2 succeeds and leads to other new cool experiments to follow.
Apparently Atlus ran out of money whilst making Persona 5 which led to them being bought by Sega, thankfully Sega seems to mostly sit back and let them do there own thing, whilst allowing them to publish games in territories like europe without having to rely on companies like Square Enix (persona 4), Ghostlight (Persona 3 portable) and Deep Silver (Persona 5).
I started with SMT IV: Apocalypse after seeing it forever and being tantalized by a rated M 3DS game with cool cover art, and I finally bought it when Toy's R Us was closing and it was cheap. I was hooked immediately and it eventually became my first JRPG I completed, as I have a bad habit of not finishing games. Years later I own every SMT/Persona game you can buy from PS4/Vita/3DS. It's an excellent series, and I'm looking forward to Soul Hackers 2.
I've been waiting for this ever since you brought this up in a podcast I believe. This series is an amazing gift to the world. I've spent an insane amount of hours in almost all of the games since I was 13. This is sure to be a great retrospective, I'll update this comment once I finish watching it, but great job as always!
It's even bigger. Atlus's mobile games actually include original stories and plots and full universes too. They've been one of the developers that don't treat mobile as exclusively shovelware, since the early days.
That was so comprehensive! I’ve wanted to learn more about the SMT series for a while, but it’s such an impenetrable wall of identical sounding names that I had a difficult time researching it all
I’ve seen this video through all the way and used it a couple of times as background noise, but lately it’s helping me sleep. Thanks for all the great info.
Took me quite a while to get around to this, but this was a fantastic retrospective of the giant that is the Megami Tensei Franchise. Due to being deeply fascinated with this franchise, I had already known of all the entries, along with have played over half of them as of 2022-2023. Nonetheless, seeing the entries laid out in chronological release order is truly something to behold. Genuinely hope for a continued success and fruitful future for these absolutely amazing and masterful pieces of media.
@@DragonKingX78 most games in the series can only be played most recently on the 3ds or vita which is a shame because both of those aren’t being produced anymore
Awesome to see you do this retrospective, There's a lot of things here I didn't know. SMTIV was my first SMT game and remains my favorite MegaTen game, though Devil Survivor comes close. I love this series. I can only imagine how much time and effort must have went into detailing this series extensive history. Amazing work!
Now all I need is Devil Survivor 3. 🙏 I've been wanting a third entry for years. Seeing the treatment they gave Soul Hackers just gives me more hope. A third Devil Survivor on PC, Xbox Series consoles and PS5 would be a dream come true.
Wow this an amazing effort! Thank you. Megaten is my fav franchise and I love seeing videos like these explaining it to people who don't know or only played Persona. As a feedback, Raidou 2 & P5 Strikers segments had the wrong songs. Also there is minor misinformation, like: - The card summoner being a devil children game, It's not. This is Digital Devil Story TCG, which is the devil children game is based on with simpler rules. - SMT 1 & 2 are not the only ones connected, *Maybe a spoiler* SMT 5 is a continuation of SMT 3's True Demon Ending - *There's anther one in the middle of the video but totally forgot now what it was lol* Because I like this vid and what's trying to do, these are some stuff I hoped there were included: - It needed a segment talking about one of the most important pillars of this franchise, the demon artist Kazuma Kaneko and the legendary composer Shoji Meguro. - And you didn't mention how SMT 1 was localized to the west through iOS and how it was removed from the App Store. - Also since you touched on the upgraded ver for some games, others needed too especially SMT 3 Nocturne Maniax & P4 Golden since these upgrades expanded the fanbase if not double them. - Also the upgrades for Kyuuyaku Megami Tensei which is basically a remake for the two Megami Tensei games, SMT 1 & 2 for PS1, Devil Survivor 1 & 2 for 3DS, P3 Portable & FES, Catherine Full Body, P5 Royal and the latest one P4 Arena Ultimax remaster. - And the fact that this series started the idea of collecting monsters before Pokemon >_> lol Sorry for the paragraph, I know there's a lot to this franchise and even 5 hours won't be enough to talk about everything but the important stuff needs to be mentioned. Thank you again for shedding light to this criminally misjudged series.
This went from being a great piece of work that explains my favourite franchise to my favourite go-to bedtime "podcast" about my favourite franchise. Timeless video!
I got into Megaten with Strange Journey Redux in 2020 (I'd heard about SMT and Persona beforehand, but that was before I was into JRPGs in general), and it became one of my favorite games ever. Now I've played or am playing every 3DS Megaten game except PQ2, I've played P4G, Nocturne and SMT V, and am currently playing P5R. Amazing franchise.
Great video, Derrick! I've been in love with this franchise for over ten years now. There's no other RPG series quite like SMT. My personal favorite game in the series is Shin Megami Tensei IV because of its brilliant story, incredible soundtrack, and masterful gameplay. It's easily the best game on 3DS and one of the greatest games ever made, imo. It's a true masterpiece.
Same. I mostly like everything Megaten related. It's maybe my favorite game series. But SMTIV remains my favorite out of all. Despite its flaws. It's an excellent game. 10 out of 10 for me.
If you *somehow* want to do another one of these I think Dragon Quest is the way to go- just so people get more eyes and ears on the series and its lesser-known entries Great work man
Weird fact for all you into unused content... For whatever weird reason, Catherine contains several unused songs from other Atlus games, including "Omen" from Persona 4, "Assignment" and "Seraphita" from Digital Devil Saga, and "Palace of Pleasure" from Strange Journey. Weirdest of all, however, is their original arrangement of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl's wild battle theme. Yeah. It's a thing, apparently.
I really hope this video does well. Enjoyed it a ton. Was worried that it would end up being "x game did this, x game did that" with little variation, but it all flowed really well and kept me interested all the way through. Well worth the wait!
This game series is so damn good, wonderful job putting this together! I literally just woke up after having this video on repeat, and I had a dream a friend of mine was explaining the series to me 😂
That was an excellent retrospective! I would love to see more videos like this on other franchises. Derrick deserves all the best for all the research and work he put into this
To correct you on something, Catherine isn't part of the SMT series, it's a new IP game made by the same company. Don't let the cross-overs or cameos fool you. It's like that Simpsons episode where they cross-over with Futurama, it's a fun cross-over, sure, but both are pretty much in two different universes and thus, the cross-over can't really be considered to be canon for either of the two franchises.
@@digimonlover1632 Exactly. In fact, Johnny 2 Cellos explains this situation perfectly in his video about lost Futurama stories where he talked about the cross-over episode I brought up. Everything he explains there perfectly sums up the whole 'Catherine and Persona being in the same universe' discussion.
I can't believe i watched this whole ass video. great job, also i really appreciate the way you didn't carry too much personal bias into your descriptions of each game, lots of people get very passionate about their dislike of specific games and that wasn't felt in this video.
As someone who genuinely didn’t know this franchise existed until Joker got added to Smash, I’ve spent the past couple years trying to catch up and being in awe of just how many games there were and fascinated by figuring out how they all connected together. There’s a few decent histories of the MegaTen franchise on UA-cam already, but nothing like this. Watched it all from beginning to end. All the work that went into this was certainly appreciated by me. Thanks for doing this!
I can't believe you were able to piece this all together 😮 This must've taken ages to research and put together. You deserve every like and sub you have!
this video is perfect, glad i got it recommended to me. i started on persona 3 a couple years ago and only recently started getting into mainline SMT after playing 5, this is now one of my most favorite game series now and i cant wait to play through all the games i havent gotten to yet
You mentioned P5 but skipped over Royal's release post-Strikers. It added in a few features that appeared in Strikers such as the Showtime, along with an extended third chapter semester arc with a new storyline.
This must have taken forever to make... wonderful work! Huge Persona fan myself and I've started to dig into the main shinmagami tensei series. I played Tokyo Mirage and now I get why it had a familiar feel to it, I honestly did not know the connection before, just that it was an Atlus game. :) I hope you take more game series under the microsocope like this one, I have a few more games to add to my backlog of 'have-to-play' games.
Only 50k views? I know this video will have a ton of long term views, but still. Such a great video and probably one of the most if not the most earned sub of all time for me. I had zero doubt I was subbing.
Thank you so much for this video it’s so much informative. My one and only minor complaint would be that you didn’t talk about additional versions like golden or royal, at least by mentioning them quickly. Seeing for example how they are considered definitive versions that could have been interesting. But other than that I don’t regret a minute passed on this video.
So many games here that I didn't know about. And I though I had a fairly decent SMT franchise collection, Japan-only notwithstanding. Thanks for this comprehensive look on the whole franchise, Derrick. The massive amount of work you put on this shows.
Persona is one of those series that interests me but for some reason I just can’t get 100% into it, but I loved this video! So cool seeing how vast this series is and definitely gave me some ideas of where I’d want to start if I do play.
The man the myth the legend, Derrick Bitner has done it! I'm sure this video will hold the test of time, and be one of those that new and old fans of the series alike will come back to. So nice to have everything neatly compiled here!
Thank you very much for this long SMT history video. I'm a fan of the games but I haven't played many of them because they almost never came to my country so this was really fun to watch through, thanks for the good vibes.
The fact that soul hackers is on the the thumbnail shows it is want talus hope it becomes a pillar series. I remember trying get people to buy soul hackers for the 3ds during Espoo sale
this finally elucidated the whole megami tensei series for me and helped fill in some gaps for hard to find games and ones i haven't played yet! thank you for this
That wasn't my issue with Arena's story, my issue is knowing where exactly parts of the story connect. Which is why I honestly think in my opinion the manga is the best way to experience Arena's story
This showed up on my front page, love these deep dives. Don't make it shorter, make it longer! This is great background noise like an audiobook while I'm working
I love this list and the massive amount of information, though I was a bit let down to not see the remasters/re-releases of some games like Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne Remastered, Persona 3 FES, Persona 3 Portable, Persona 4 Golden, Persona 4 Arena Max, Persona 5 Royal (yes, it’s mentioned once, but not talked about)… Just a little disappointed to not see some of these games talked about, especially the differences between them versus the original releases. Still, what a wealth of information and history lesson about this outstanding series. Thanks so much for your hard work and excellent video. ❤
My history with this series started like it did for many: with Persona 3. I'd heard about the game at a young age while browsing video game music online, and stumbled upon the final battle theme. I fell in love with the song, but had no means to try the game, so my love only extended as far as the music back then. About six years later when I'd graduated high school and started working, I purchased a PS3 and found that Persona 3 was available on PSN. Recognizing the title from the music I used to listen to as a kid, I decided to buy it, and since then, I've gotten my hands on every Megaten title I could. I fell in love immediately with the works of Atlus, and even did my best to play the first two Megami Tensei titles (namely, their SNES remakes.) I haven't beaten them yet, but I at least have access to them and love them all the same. This retrospective has increased my appreciation for this absolutely massive series so much, and it makes me want to properly complete the games in the series even more. As of now, the only games I've beaten in the series are Personas 1, 4, and 5, since I have a tendency to get intimidated by the difficulty of the older games or the more mainline SMT titles, but I eventually want to complete them all.
The sheer amount of research that had to be done to put together this video is absolutely insane to me. Massive props man, I'm loving the video so far while over an hour in.
So much respect for Derrick pushing through and getting this out. I can’t promise I’ll be 100% attentive but I will let the whole thing play while I’m at my desk today. Thanks for the vibes, Derrick
I just realized something. In SMT 3: Nocturne, the apocalypse is referred to by Yuko as The Conception as a way of foreshadowing the eventual birth of a new world. Which means that the Vortex World is essentially an Egg cell, and the PC is the sperm that may or may not fertilize it.
This is one of the most impressive videos I've seen covering the history of a gaming franchise, I certainly learnt more about the Shin Megami Tensei series than I ever have before! I wonder if they will remake any of the earlier older games now its getting so popular! Also interesting that they vary what console the games come out on. A lot are now trapped on DS/3DS... (thankfully I have them)
Just some things worthy to note: - Megami Tensei games is not a retelling of the novel, but more of a different path. The main novels have different story, which led to the second novel series that has different characters. - Kyuuyaku Megami Tensei is a SNES remake of the two Famicom games, and officially tying them up as a connected series (along with less brutal dungeon exploring for the first game). That being said, I commend you for this video. Personally started with Persona and Devil Survivor, with my SMT V as my favorite. SMT V set the bar for me when it comes to animation, and story. I find the pacing enjoyable and the characterisations clicks. Others seem to wait until the characterisation present itself, while I piece together all the interactions I had with them and find the characters to be compelling. I will, however, admit that the game can be better. More voice acting, especially during the "true neutral" quests, would be more than welcome. Cheers. ^^
I'm going to have to watch this in part but 😱 I'm so happy you made this!! I remember a long video being mentioned during the GVG cast and was wondering what it was. I'm so exited!
Over 100k views! That's incredible! I honestly had no idea how this project would be received but to see it just continually grow has been absolutely fulfilling. I've made it a point to read every comment and I truly appreciate all the kind words, the feedback, and places where I could improve in the future. Thank you! ~Derrick
Congrats!
Just finished watching, you did a fantastic job!
I'm honestly so glad this video is getting the recognition it deserves because with the amound of time and research that obviously went into it, it would've been a shame if it underperformed.
Huge smt fan. First got into the series w/ Survivor. Every few years I went back to the well to try to understand the whole history and legacy of remixed game or narrative elements. This video is a welcomed treat. Going to bookmark for whenever I need to explain smt to friends.
we needed this as the modern games are coming to PC THANK YOU
ATLUS did what everyone beg Pokemon to do for decades, they refined their formula to so many different genres, taking many risks. They should be praised for that.
Yeah the biggest media franchise in history has only stuck to one genre.
@@dwrayswez And it mostly became the biggest media franchise in history thanks to one very lucky, and brilliant, marketing move. Pokemon was originally on the same level of popularity in japan as Megami tensei, but prepared all their commercial advertising, toy manufacturing, Merchandise and TV deals for one massive push into the US all at the same time. Having pokemon become popular in the US at the same time toys and a TV show were playing created a marketting feedback loop that allowed them to saturate the market in under 2 years.
@@blackjoker2345 Maybe doing it wrong, was actually doing it right.
Atlus should pay you for this. This is a really great portfolio for them.
For real. This is the most comprehensible and enjoyable overview of SMT I’ve see
Yeah, I never heard of a lot of these and not just the Japan exclusive ones either.
Or at least sponsor the vid.
The title literally means - True Goddess Reincarnation. Now here are some questions : Who is this Goddess ? Who is her reincarnation ? What is her relationship with the protagonist ?
The chart at the end is especially nice, need a copy for when I'm deciding what to play next.
The compendium is complete!
are you guys going to post an article on your website about this retrospective? because this video is quality!
Nice
The day has finally arrived!
How do ya do fellow megatenists
@@alexsullivan2677
Pretty gud, you?
I've finished 15 of these, in almost any other series that'd be a massive chunk, but there are so many blind spots for me in this series. It's crazy how big it is.
I've only played 3, Persona 4 Golden and 5 Royal, and SMT V.
@@averypatrick5279 You should try out SMT IV! It's my favourite in the series and just my favourite game in general.
@@Froge0 I second this! It's also my favorite!
@@averypatrick5279 Going for SMT recommendations, I'd like to suggest the Devil Survivor duology and Strange Journey.
@@bretginn1419 These are great picks, all of these would be in my Top 5 along with Persona 3 and SMT IV.
I hope as many people can see this as possible. I love Shin Megami Tensei franchise but I often find it hard to explain to people why. I applaud Derrick for putting all that effort into this video.
Honestly, my biggest issue, as someone completely new to these games, is just how many there are. There's multiple series. There's multiple games in each series. There's some games that were released only in Japan, then later ported/remade for later consoles in English. There's also all the alternate versions like Person 3 on PS2, and P3 Portable on PSP, and a full remake of P3 releasing soon. And even THEN, I don't know if the different series connects at all. Plus the fact that I've heard older games in these series don't feel as good to play nowadays.
So, I have zero idea where to start, or what order I should play them in.
Only SMT fans will watch this
Technically speaking, Catherine was my first megami tensei game even before I played Persona 3, but I obviously didn't know that at the time. Who would've thought that a cheating man having nightmares about tower climbing sheeps would lead into me becoming a huge SMT fan?
Well seems like the "SMT elements" are just perfect for you
It's amazing how no matter game did they develop you can feel them even if they're massively changed like Persona series
I didn't even know Catherine was an SMT game until this comment right now (havent watched the video yet). I bought Catherine years ago for PS3 and never finished it. Should go back, it looked great.
@@AleksandrStrizhevskiy It's a great story. I wasn't so much for the puzzle gameplay personally as it felt very "mobile game-esque" but the story was out of this world. The animation in the cutscenes was awesome as well, I'd happily watch a whole series. Definitely avoid the later version though as it changes massive parts of the story and cheapens the whole thing.
@@_d0ser unbased take, the new version is the superior one
@@bruhjonson1131 While that's the case with most Atlus re-releases, it seems like Catherine Full Body made it cringe by adding a trap character.
Always amaze how this series managed to avoid controversies with religious people, yet things like Dungeons and Dragons or Pokémon unleashed a satanic panic.
The reason for that is cause for a ling time, this series only existed in Japan and in Japanese only. The whole religious paranoia was a western thing, so religious people were not aware of its existence and by the time smt got popular in the west, the religious paranoia had already passed. After all, smt was popular among jrpg fans, but in the bigger picture, it was pretty niche, it wouldn’t be till persona 5 that both persona and by consequence smt would become more well known. That said, I’m glad things happened this way. Parents were panicking in the 90s cause of pokemon, if they had seen smt, they probably would’ve gone on a witch hunt haha 😆
@@perk423that's a good explanation of it. Its also possible that part of the popularity of SMT in the west was due to the fatigue caused by that very same religious paranoia.
There's an aspect of this game being more upfront about it, whilst it might be seen that other series are trying to keep their darker aspects hidden in a way.
Is nobody going to acknowledge that TMS:FE literally called it’s persona equivalent “Performa”?
I was worried about this video spoiling too much of theses game stories, but it felt like it spoiled nothing! Loved to learn about all the obscure games and how the franchise evolved
That's something I always appreciate in these kinds of videos. A lot of time I'm watching this kind of thing BEFORE I try out the games, to kinda hype myself up and get some history before I jump in.
I wouldn't mind more retrospectives, but I also do not want Derek to work himself to death.
GameXplain moment
You could totally do SMT Hot takes by the way, especially boss designs. Would work really well with your style
Hi Skyen! Love your work (I don't usually do these embarrassing "omg another person I like lemme annoy them" comments but yeah you have good takes)
I absolutely adore the variety on this channel and how much passion you guys put into each video. Great work, guys! 💖
Oziach
I wish there was more videos like this for this franchise. Hell I wish more people would play SMT and related games.
The fact Derek put this together is an achievement in and of itself; this man has earned his Giga Chad status😎
As someone who is just getting into the series and was absolutely baffled by all the titles, this was a godsend. I'm really enjoying SMT V and this was great for figuring out what I might be interested in playing next. I'm sure this video was a massive undertaking. Thanks for taking the time!
I highly recommend Persona 3 Reload. I haven't played the Original Persona 3 but this remake is seriously one of the best games I've ever played. Took me around a month to finish.
@@MadfellaDuke thanks for the recommendation! It looks very cool, I'll definitely check it out
Persona is my favorite game franchise and in the last few years I've really started diving into all the other Megami Tensei games so it's great to see a video like this. You guys did an amazing job on the video, thank you for making it.
I'm so glad such a unique series is finally hitting the giant success it deserves
It's been decades coming.
It would help if Atlus actually released a lot of these games on current consoles.
@@DragonKingX78 ong
@@DragonKingX78SMT III remake would go so hard ngl
@@AoxKitit’s on steam….
Smt card summoner is not a devil children game, the references and card game are based on the main card game series.
Did they go on the... wikipedia 😭
@@Antichthon it is info on Wikipedia sourced by the bigot Kurt Kalata so probably yeah
NOT THE WIKIPEDIA
liking the video just for the length... can't imagine the amount of time/effort that went into this
Can't believe there was an Megaten spinoff on the frikkin virtual boy.
You organized and narrated everything so well, i've seen a lot of SMT game timelines but they all seem to complicate things on purpose.
As someone who started the series with persona and gradually got more interested in the other games, i seriously apreciate all the work put into this.
This was enlightening. I came to SMT pretty late for lack of Sony consoles. My first contact was long after P4G was released (borrowed the console + game from a friend back then), and that was it for a long time. Eventually, I fell in love with the Devil Survivor games (Nintendo child lol), later got a used PS2 and borrowed P3. Until now that's where most of my touch points with this massive series are - Persona and Devil Survivor. I did enjoy the SMT IV titles, so I was hyped af when they announced SMT V and the switch ports... never really got around to truly looking into the franchise though. I definitely want to look into Digital Devil Saga now. Thank you for this extensive piece of work, I had so many "oh, huh!"-moments and flashes of nostalgia during this.
I love the DDS games, really wish they would release those and SMT5 on PS4, PS5, PC, etc.
starting to watch now I can't wait. great work Derrick and any and everyone who helped bring this project to life!
EDIT: after finishing this video I have to say this retrospective has no lulls the pace is lightning fast and draws you in. no game is over explained nor spoiled giving the viewer incentive to give the series a try. personally I want to try the raidou games.
As a guy who played both the 2nd game specifically is really really fun gameplay wise
@@satAMfox noted thanks 👍
It has arrived! Even before watching it, I gotta congratulate this herculean effort of research, recording footage, talking and editing a video this size.This is literally feature length!
Now I gotta find some time in my schedule to actually watch this...
As a long time fan since Persona II (PS1) I have to say this is the most comprehensive, in depth video I’ve ever seen for RPG genre. Captivating attention to detail. Thank you!
Man the 2010s were such a depressing era for MegaTen.
You can tell ATLUS was going through a rough time back then because of just how much they had to rely on Persona to keep the company afloat and that at best they could only allow themselves to put focus in the mainline projects and re-releases besides it. Now that they at least have the P4 and P5 money and recognition, I'm hoping Soul Hackers 2 succeeds and leads to other new cool experiments to follow.
I also hope Soul Hackers 2 is successful and leads to other cool experiments along with reviving franchises like Digital Devil Saga and Raidou.
Apparently Atlus ran out of money whilst making Persona 5 which led to them being bought by Sega, thankfully Sega seems to mostly sit back and let them do there own thing, whilst allowing them to publish games in territories like europe without having to rely on companies like Square Enix (persona 4), Ghostlight (Persona 3 portable) and Deep Silver (Persona 5).
wen Giten 2?
I started with SMT IV: Apocalypse after seeing it forever and being tantalized by a rated M 3DS game with cool cover art, and I finally bought it when Toy's R Us was closing and it was cheap. I was hooked immediately and it eventually became my first JRPG I completed, as I have a bad habit of not finishing games. Years later I own every SMT/Persona game you can buy from PS4/Vita/3DS. It's an excellent series, and I'm looking forward to Soul Hackers 2.
Have you gotten soul hackers 2 yet?
Lol that was kind of how I got into SMT, except with Strange Journey Redux and getting it on Amazon.
Have you been playing persona 3 reload?
I ADORE the intro to the original Shin Megami Tensei. It's so striking
It would be nice if they made these games available to current consoles.
Watching this, I realize how much Pokemon was and still is inspired by the Tensei series.
I've been waiting for this ever since you brought this up in a podcast I believe. This series is an amazing gift to the world. I've spent an insane amount of hours in almost all of the games since I was 13. This is sure to be a great retrospective, I'll update this comment once I finish watching it, but great job as always!
whats your top 3 games
This is an incredible retrospective on the Megami Tensei franchise and has made me realise how big the franchise truly is.
It's even bigger. Atlus's mobile games actually include original stories and plots and full universes too. They've been one of the developers that don't treat mobile as exclusively shovelware, since the early days.
The hard work to track down every games and acknowledge both SMT and its side games and Persona and the spin offs
That was so comprehensive! I’ve wanted to learn more about the SMT series for a while, but it’s such an impenetrable wall of identical sounding names that I had a difficult time researching it all
I’ve seen this video through all the way and used it a couple of times as background noise, but lately it’s helping me sleep. Thanks for all the great info.
Took me quite a while to get around to this, but this was a fantastic retrospective of the giant that is the Megami Tensei Franchise.
Due to being deeply fascinated with this franchise, I had already known of all the entries, along with have played over half of them as of 2022-2023. Nonetheless, seeing the entries laid out in chronological release order is truly something to behold. Genuinely hope for a continued success and fruitful future for these absolutely amazing and masterful pieces of media.
I would love to play a lot of these games.....maybe if Atlus cared we could get them on current consoles.
@@DragonKingX78 most games in the series can only be played most recently on the 3ds or vita which is a shame because both of those aren’t being produced anymore
Derrick! You have slaved AWAY on this video for AGES.
This video absolutely DESERVES the full watch.
Awesome to see you do this retrospective, There's a lot of things here I didn't know. SMTIV was my first SMT game and remains my favorite MegaTen game, though Devil Survivor comes close. I love this series.
I can only imagine how much time and effort must have went into detailing this series extensive history. Amazing work!
Now all I need is Devil Survivor 3. 🙏 I've been wanting a third entry for years. Seeing the treatment they gave Soul Hackers just gives me more hope. A third Devil Survivor on PC, Xbox Series consoles and PS5 would be a dream come true.
Wow this an amazing effort! Thank you. Megaten is my fav franchise and I love seeing videos like these explaining it to people who don't know or only played Persona.
As a feedback, Raidou 2 & P5 Strikers segments had the wrong songs. Also there is minor misinformation, like:
- The card summoner being a devil children game, It's not. This is Digital Devil Story TCG, which is the devil children game is based on with simpler rules.
- SMT 1 & 2 are not the only ones connected, *Maybe a spoiler* SMT 5 is a continuation of SMT 3's True Demon Ending
- *There's anther one in the middle of the video but totally forgot now what it was lol*
Because I like this vid and what's trying to do, these are some stuff I hoped there were included:
- It needed a segment talking about one of the most important pillars of this franchise, the demon artist Kazuma Kaneko and the legendary composer Shoji Meguro.
- And you didn't mention how SMT 1 was localized to the west through iOS and how it was removed from the App Store.
- Also since you touched on the upgraded ver for some games, others needed too especially SMT 3 Nocturne Maniax & P4 Golden since these upgrades expanded the fanbase if not double them.
- Also the upgrades for Kyuuyaku Megami Tensei which is basically a remake for the two Megami Tensei games, SMT 1 & 2 for PS1, Devil Survivor 1 & 2 for 3DS, P3 Portable & FES, Catherine Full Body, P5 Royal and the latest one P4 Arena Ultimax remaster.
- And the fact that this series started the idea of collecting monsters before Pokemon >_> lol
Sorry for the paragraph, I know there's a lot to this franchise and even 5 hours won't be enough to talk about everything but the important stuff needs to be mentioned. Thank you again for shedding light to this criminally misjudged series.
This went from being a great piece of work that explains my favourite franchise to my favourite go-to bedtime "podcast" about my favourite franchise. Timeless video!
I got into Megaten with Strange Journey Redux in 2020 (I'd heard about SMT and Persona beforehand, but that was before I was into JRPGs in general), and it became one of my favorite games ever. Now I've played or am playing every 3DS Megaten game except PQ2, I've played P4G, Nocturne and SMT V, and am currently playing P5R. Amazing franchise.
Have you played the Digital Devil Saga games?
It's finally out! Congratulations, Derrick!
The long awaited video is finally here! I'll go get the popcorn
A lot of work clearly went into this. Good job honestly, exactly the video i was looking for.
I really loved this!
One small thing is the exclusive of P3P, Golden, FES and Royal
Great video, Derrick! I've been in love with this franchise for over ten years now. There's no other RPG series quite like SMT.
My personal favorite game in the series is Shin Megami Tensei IV because of its brilliant story, incredible soundtrack, and masterful gameplay. It's easily the best game on 3DS and one of the greatest games ever made, imo. It's a true masterpiece.
Same. I mostly like everything Megaten related. It's maybe my favorite game series. But SMTIV remains my favorite out of all. Despite its flaws. It's an excellent game. 10 out of 10 for me.
Both SMTIV and SMTIV:A for me.
If you *somehow* want to do another one of these I think Dragon Quest is the way to go- just so people get more eyes and ears on the series and its lesser-known entries
Great work man
Weird fact for all you into unused content...
For whatever weird reason, Catherine contains several unused songs from other Atlus games, including "Omen" from Persona 4, "Assignment" and "Seraphita" from Digital Devil Saga, and "Palace of Pleasure" from Strange Journey.
Weirdest of all, however, is their original arrangement of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl's wild battle theme. Yeah. It's a thing, apparently.
Everyone share this with everyone you know, dammit.
They put in way too much work for this not to spread across the entire internet.
I really hope this video does well. Enjoyed it a ton. Was worried that it would end up being "x game did this, x game did that" with little variation, but it all flowed really well and kept me interested all the way through. Well worth the wait!
I think my favorite entry in this series might be SMT V so far. I also enjoyed the HD remaster of SMT III a lot on Switch.
HOLY FRICK! I had a feeling that If had some sort of connection to the Persona universe, but the Devil Summoner series?! That's insane!
This made for a great listen while grinding in an RPG (admittedly not SMT). Huge props and thanks for all the effort that went into this!
SMT5 was my first in the series, and I really love it. Great video, this makes me want to explore more of the series and spin-offs
Super long, super good. Thanks for the retrospective!
Not long enough.....many of these games could use a whole video all their own.
This madlad just gave us a fully timeline of the ENTIRE SMT franchice? wow
Derrick your demonology dissertation is very impressive and provides a good summation of the series. Worthy of a honorary Doctorate I'd say.
lol
This game series is so damn good, wonderful job putting this together! I literally just woke up after having this video on repeat, and I had a dream a friend of mine was explaining the series to me 😂
I just started Persona 5 Royal and STM5 as my first games in this franchise and this video was amazing to wrap my head around its history thanks!
My first was Persona 1 and SMT Nocturne is the only mainline SMT I have played.
That was an excellent retrospective! I would love to see more videos like this on other franchises. Derrick deserves all the best for all the research and work he put into this
Nyarly one hour long videos: Finally a worthy opponent!
To correct you on something, Catherine isn't part of the SMT series, it's a new IP game made by the same company. Don't let the cross-overs or cameos fool you. It's like that Simpsons episode where they cross-over with Futurama, it's a fun cross-over, sure, but both are pretty much in two different universes and thus, the cross-over can't really be considered to be canon for either of the two franchises.
Eh a crossover is a crossover and Simpsons and Futurama are connected just like Catherine and SMT are. At least persona.
@@digimonlover1632 Exactly. In fact, Johnny 2 Cellos explains this situation perfectly in his video about lost Futurama stories where he talked about the cross-over episode I brought up. Everything he explains there perfectly sums up the whole 'Catherine and Persona being in the same universe' discussion.
Derrick! Congratulations on finally finishing your retrospective of the SMT series! Now, get me lost in the world of animeee!
I can't believe i watched this whole ass video. great job, also i really appreciate the way you didn't carry too much personal bias into your descriptions of each game, lots of people get very passionate about their dislike of specific games and that wasn't felt in this video.
I wish they'd put compilations out, so I don't have to get like 20 consoles to play the whole series.
As someone who genuinely didn’t know this franchise existed until Joker got added to Smash, I’ve spent the past couple years trying to catch up and being in awe of just how many games there were and fascinated by figuring out how they all connected together. There’s a few decent histories of the MegaTen franchise on UA-cam already, but nothing like this. Watched it all from beginning to end. All the work that went into this was certainly appreciated by me. Thanks for doing this!
So did you actually play any of the games or did you just binge "history" or "retrospective" videos on UA-cam?
Cant wait to watch this through. Great work man!
I do hope you add timestamps in the future cause it would be greatly benefitial :)
I'll get on that right away
@@GVG :D
I can't believe you were able to piece this all together 😮 This must've taken ages to research and put together. You deserve every like and sub you have!
Wooooo this is a meaty boy!
It took me three days to watch all of this, but it was worth it. Awesome comprehensive guide!
this video is perfect, glad i got it recommended to me. i started on persona 3 a couple years ago and only recently started getting into mainline SMT after playing 5, this is now one of my most favorite game series now and i cant wait to play through all the games i havent gotten to yet
You mentioned P5 but skipped over Royal's release post-Strikers.
It added in a few features that appeared in Strikers such as the Showtime, along with an extended third chapter semester arc with a new storyline.
This must have taken forever to make... wonderful work! Huge Persona fan myself and I've started to dig into the main shinmagami tensei series. I played Tokyo Mirage and now I get why it had a familiar feel to it, I honestly did not know the connection before, just that it was an Atlus game. :) I hope you take more game series under the microsocope like this one, I have a few more games to add to my backlog of 'have-to-play' games.
Only 50k views? I know this video will have a ton of long term views, but still. Such a great video and probably one of the most if not the most earned sub of all time for me. I had zero doubt I was subbing.
Thank you so much for this video it’s so much informative. My one and only minor complaint would be that you didn’t talk about additional versions like golden or royal, at least by mentioning them quickly. Seeing for example how they are considered definitive versions that could have been interesting. But other than that I don’t regret a minute passed on this video.
So many games here that I didn't know about. And I though I had a fairly decent SMT franchise collection, Japan-only notwithstanding. Thanks for this comprehensive look on the whole franchise, Derrick. The massive amount of work you put on this shows.
Persona is one of those series that interests me but for some reason I just can’t get 100% into it, but I loved this video! So cool seeing how vast this series is and definitely gave me some ideas of where I’d want to start if I do play.
The man the myth the legend, Derrick Bitner has done it! I'm sure this video will hold the test of time, and be one of those that new and old fans of the series alike will come back to. So nice to have everything neatly compiled here!
Thank you very much for this long SMT history video. I'm a fan of the games but I haven't played many of them because they almost never came to my country so this was really fun to watch through, thanks for the good vibes.
The fact that soul hackers is on the the thumbnail shows it is want talus hope it becomes a pillar series. I remember trying get people to buy soul hackers for the 3ds during Espoo sale
this finally elucidated the whole megami tensei series for me and helped fill in some gaps for hard to find games and ones i haven't played yet! thank you for this
That wasn't my issue with Arena's story, my issue is knowing where exactly parts of the story connect. Which is why I honestly think in my opinion the manga is the best way to experience Arena's story
This showed up on my front page, love these deep dives. Don't make it shorter, make it longer! This is great background noise like an audiobook while I'm working
I love SMT and Persona so it's awesome to hear Derrick talk about it
I love this list and the massive amount of information, though I was a bit let down to not see the remasters/re-releases of some games like Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne Remastered, Persona 3 FES, Persona 3 Portable, Persona 4 Golden, Persona 4 Arena Max, Persona 5 Royal (yes, it’s mentioned once, but not talked about)… Just a little disappointed to not see some of these games talked about, especially the differences between them versus the original releases.
Still, what a wealth of information and history lesson about this outstanding series. Thanks so much for your hard work and excellent video. ❤
Great video, but one problem I have is it doesn’t feature Dante from the Devil My Cry series
My history with this series started like it did for many: with Persona 3. I'd heard about the game at a young age while browsing video game music online, and stumbled upon the final battle theme. I fell in love with the song, but had no means to try the game, so my love only extended as far as the music back then. About six years later when I'd graduated high school and started working, I purchased a PS3 and found that Persona 3 was available on PSN. Recognizing the title from the music I used to listen to as a kid, I decided to buy it, and since then, I've gotten my hands on every Megaten title I could. I fell in love immediately with the works of Atlus, and even did my best to play the first two Megami Tensei titles (namely, their SNES remakes.) I haven't beaten them yet, but I at least have access to them and love them all the same.
This retrospective has increased my appreciation for this absolutely massive series so much, and it makes me want to properly complete the games in the series even more. As of now, the only games I've beaten in the series are Personas 1, 4, and 5, since I have a tendency to get intimidated by the difficulty of the older games or the more mainline SMT titles, but I eventually want to complete them all.
This was great! Really appreciate all the work you have put into this!
Honestly this is one of the best and most impressive videos I’ve ever seen. Amazing job Derrick
And if anybody wants a deep dive into older Megaten games, watch Marsh
The sheer amount of research that had to be done to put together this video is absolutely insane to me. Massive props man, I'm loving the video so far while over an hour in.
Really nice to see such an in-depth look at all the games. Some of which I never even knew about.
So much respect for Derrick pushing through and getting this out. I can’t promise I’ll be 100% attentive but I will let the whole thing play while I’m at my desk today. Thanks for the vibes, Derrick
33:00 the best Persona is always in need of more recognition!
40:51 I am one of those people.
I just realized something. In SMT 3: Nocturne, the apocalypse is referred to by Yuko as The Conception as a way of foreshadowing the eventual birth of a new world. Which means that the Vortex World is essentially an Egg cell, and the PC is the sperm that may or may not fertilize it.
So insightful, outstanding work. Definitely subscribing.
This is one of the most impressive videos I've seen covering the history of a gaming franchise, I certainly learnt more about the Shin Megami Tensei series than I ever have before! I wonder if they will remake any of the earlier older games now its getting so popular! Also interesting that they vary what console the games come out on. A lot are now trapped on DS/3DS... (thankfully I have them)
Just some things worthy to note:
- Megami Tensei games is not a retelling of the novel, but more of a different path. The main novels have different story, which led to the second novel series that has different characters.
- Kyuuyaku Megami Tensei is a SNES remake of the two Famicom games, and officially tying them up as a connected series (along with less brutal dungeon exploring for the first game).
That being said, I commend you for this video. Personally started with Persona and Devil Survivor, with my SMT V as my favorite.
SMT V set the bar for me when it comes to animation, and story. I find the pacing enjoyable and the characterisations clicks. Others seem to wait until the characterisation present itself, while I piece together all the interactions I had with them and find the characters to be compelling.
I will, however, admit that the game can be better. More voice acting, especially during the "true neutral" quests, would be more than welcome.
Cheers. ^^
I'm going to have to watch this in part but 😱 I'm so happy you made this!! I remember a long video being mentioned during the GVG cast and was wondering what it was. I'm so exited!
Final Fantasy: "I have 16 games, It's going to take multiple years of you want to play them all!"
Shin Magami Tensei:
Final Fantasy has way more games than the 16 main titles, but yeah, Idk if it goes as deep as SMT
I love learning about games I've never played through hours long videos XD
Great video, really enjoyed it! :D