Fun Fact: Thorman is actually a Japanese pun that gets lost in translation. In the original Japanese release it would be pronounced closer to "Toru" rather than "Thor", which is both how you'd pronounce "Thor" but also how you'd start "Tru", making it both "Thorman" and "Truman", president of the US starting in 1945.
SMT1 was a surprisingly fun experience for someone who doesn't usually like old school RPGs. The story is extremely engaging and the art is beautiful. It does get frustrating at points due to the high encounters and difficulty spikes. Of course the biggest downside is that a guide is a nessesity for people who want to make constant progression. Interesting fact about SMT...if the main character is canonically a girl named Tamaki who ends up transferring to the highschool in P1 after ...if's events and is a college student by P2. She doesn't have any major roles but it's nice that she not only returns but maintains her knowledge of her game.
And the designs too, like i dont thinj it would be necessary to redesign anything, just 3d model what kaneko already did back in the day and watch the fans orgasm (tho as an artist he'd prpbably want to change some things)
@@marko-gj1uj they literally have no real reason to go back 700 years to the old smt games. They'd probably be better off remaking the spinoffs of the spinoffs of the spinoffs of the.. yeah
@@tylerlackey1175 Considering Sega rebooted the Yakuza franchise and Sega owns Atlus now, it is possible for them to revitalize their other series. Capcom is rebooting Resident Evil so this is becoming a trend especially with Japanese companies.
Definitely one of the best SMT related videos on the internet, even after 6 years. You do a good job explaining what made the early games unique, and I like how you give some details about the development. I think anyone who’s interested in the series should watch this.
@@FireMinstrel Glad to hear, I just started going through the old games and was very disappointed to hear if... wasn't translated. Now I can look forward to it with the peace of mind that I'm not going to be cockblocked by an incomplete translation like I was with the books.
The only reason I don't like the early SMT games is because I always get lost because of the first person view. All the interiors looks the same and I found myself reentering the same rooms often and getting into random encounters.
just use your map and talk to people, pretty hard to get lost, you don't even need a guide for most of SMT I-II, unless you're doing sidequests and shit
I'm really curious as to what Atlus' relationship is to religion. They seem to use lots of figures from the Judeo-christian mythos whether it be Satan or Yahweh, I think it's super interesting but then again I'm new to the whole smt franchise
Do you mean Atlus or the team working on SMT? Japan isn't religious, perhaps superstitious if anything because of tradition. Given the original team is an older generation, they likely still might have traditional views, spiritual perhaps, but if any have occult leanings because of spiritualism, it's best to have them say themselves than guess. A product may either reflect personal views or the message may be the opposite, a cautionary tale, yet it's up to the writer to get those sentiments across. It's actually based on Luciferianism, which is an occult amalgamation of occultism, Judeo-Christian and Satanic elements. That is where the dualistic nature/personas/posession in Persona comes from and the summoning, Good being Law (not actually good), Evil being Chaos and Neutral the inbetween/indecisive. Law is based on the occult version of Lucifer, not God, who represents order and freedom from God. God is the antagonist of Lucifer (I understand this was not Kaneko's intention yet to many that don't pay look deeper, God is bad and most reviews or info paint it that way), thus why you see Lucifer attempt to ally himself with the protagonist in different games or at least plays an important role. Satan is the occult version of the devil, representing carnality and materialism. However, if you've played SMT games, the Chaos route actually has more to it and benefits compare to the lawful path. Neutral represents the balance in Luciferianism, neither good nor evil, utilizing both. It's the same concept as Yin-Yang and you see in most Japanese games where balance is mentioned. It goes all the way back to dualism, the number 11, black/white and other symbolism found in the "mystery schools". It's why this path mainly ends up being the canon path. That's my understanding of research first done into the occult and then seeing all the signs and philosophy/influences of the game. My personal opinion on the use of this is entirely different, yet that's Shin Megami Tensei and what the creators put forth. PS- I will add that SMT IV Apocalypse went as far as making YWH a pure antagonist, that in itself directly aligning with what I was talking about or reflecting sentiments of creators. Kaneko seems to have tried to make his stance clear, but when all that is seen as you can fight God and kill him, that's what happens.
Basically, it's part of a larger cultural thing in Japan. They see Judeo-Christian symbolism the way we might look at pre-Christian polytheism or even Buddhism and Hinduism: foreign and exotic, cool, but also spooky and strange. A lot of games use Judeo-Christian symbolism as exotic set dressing to make everything feel cooler to a Japanese audience. Many of them, MegaTen included, often mash it up with paganism and Eastern religions; for example,you often meet pagan gods like Dagda, or Buddhist figures like the Four Heavenly Kings, in addition to angels and demons.
@@SonofSethoitae Actually they tend to focus on Catholicism as it's filled with the mysticism and pagan elements required to make weird stuff up. So it ends up being that and paganized Judaism used, aside from the aesthetics possessed in each for imagery.
@@SonofSethoitae Not at all. Jude-Chrstianity or Protestantism is very different from Catholicism, thus the split. It took on many pagan religions and why you see so much mysticism and things you don't find in the actual Bible. Actual Christianity lacks all mythical creatures, naming of angels (except two, Lucifer and Gabriel) and fallen angels/demons while Catholicism has and adopted a lot of ritual practices.
I played the first game and loved it but yeah sometimes a random encounter can kill you easily while the bosses are easy for the most part and tats something i didnt liked. Im gonna play 2 later.
@@CJojo_13_ but it is far more available and cheaper than the retro market that tries to charge 100s to 1000s per cartridge in an attempt to exploit nostalgia
Megaten if... sounds a lot like the story of the first book "Megami Tensai", a highschool student is bullied and figures out how to communicate with demons through a homemade computer program. He ends up linking with loki who then procedes to posses his entire computer class to sacrifice themselves so he can materialize in our world by opening a portal with this program. Yes this is also the basis of the megaten series but atlus did cool things with it xD
13:41 Strangely even if you did the law route I remember YHWH just makes up an excuse or backstabs you, meaning you had to fight him even though on the law route you're just following his orders.
I think the older games should get major remakes. I guess they were good for the time but they feel so ridiculously dated. Unfortunately, atlus always does the absolute bare minimum with remakes. Hopefully smt v will be a good example of what a next gen smt will be like.
No, you misunderstood. Atlus was a small developer that made a lot of stuff for other publishers, including LJN. LJN was just a publisher, which is basically the guys that fund developing studios and re-sell their games.
Xyzzulous because there isn't much of a plot at all basically you meet your friends your world ends you get a 30 year time skip one gets fused with a demon the other dies and is reborn as Bald Jesus, you find the reincarnation of your Waifu and your demon dog pick an alignment fight leaders of the factions that are your enemies and the end
smt 2 is one of my favourite jrpgs, also some of my first since back then i just loved edgy aesthethics lol, or at least i thought, smt is much more than pokemon with demons and a wannabe deep story, it's actually pretty awesome lol. like persona, i used to think it was just weeaboo garbage but again i was surprised by p1 and p2, atlus is just full of surprises. i think they're what jrpgs need rn, considering most big franchases have stagnated, most notably final fantasy just becoming trash and phantasy star not existing, meanwhile dragon quest is as irrelevant as ever, but smt seems to be constantly renovating, unique you could say
Fun Fact: Thorman is actually a Japanese pun that gets lost in translation. In the original Japanese release it would be pronounced closer to "Toru" rather than "Thor", which is both how you'd pronounce "Thor" but also how you'd start "Tru", making it both "Thorman" and "Truman", president of the US starting in 1945.
Wow! That's actually quite facinating. Nice insight
@Shaman Xeed Shots fired
Wow. I'd love it if there was a compiled list of all these puns that were lost in translation for each game
@Shaman Xeed That's... not what the word means.
I don't think so buddy, in Japanese thor is トール ( pronounced tooru, "too" similar to The "to" in toll and "ru" like the "ru" in rude) not suru.
SMT1 was a surprisingly fun experience for someone who doesn't usually like old school RPGs. The story is extremely engaging and the art is beautiful. It does get frustrating at points due to the high encounters and difficulty spikes. Of course the biggest downside is that a guide is a nessesity for people who want to make constant progression.
Interesting fact about SMT...if the main character is canonically a girl named Tamaki who ends up transferring to the highschool in P1 after ...if's events and is a college student by P2. She doesn't have any major roles but it's nice that she not only returns but maintains her knowledge of her game.
It's kinda sad she doesn't keep the power or any Guardians she got in the Expanse tho
Hopefully someday they will remake those games with 3D graphics and better playing quality. The plot is great.
And a world wide release.
Better sprites and press turn would make this a master peace
And the designs too, like i dont thinj it would be necessary to redesign anything, just 3d model what kaneko already did back in the day and watch the fans orgasm (tho as an artist he'd prpbably want to change some things)
Hd 2d would be cool
They just have to translate the damn games because the first two are already on Switch 😡
My god, my dad would disown me if he knew I liked a game series where you can beat God.
I would love to see smt 1 and 2 remake into 3ds or switch
No.Atlus will only respond with:"Persona 3,4,5".
I like these games,but I think Atlus should give Persona a break.
@@marko-gj1uj they literally have no real reason to go back 700 years to the old smt games. They'd probably be better off remaking the spinoffs of the spinoffs of the spinoffs of the.. yeah
@@tylerlackey1175 Considering Sega rebooted the Yakuza franchise and Sega owns Atlus now, it is possible for them to revitalize their other series. Capcom is rebooting Resident Evil so this is becoming a trend especially with Japanese companies.
It has been on switch but only for Japanese accounts
Alberto Garcia the comment was posted 2 years ago
Definitely one of the best SMT related videos on the internet, even after 6 years. You do a good job explaining what made the early games unique, and I like how you give some details about the development. I think anyone who’s interested in the series should watch this.
Would be cool a full remake of Megami Tensei 1-2, Shin Megami Tensei 1-2 and If.
This is too cool! It's great to see these games get some spotlight.
This channel is the best thing ever!
Great work here Nyth.
Rtyuiope danced furiously!
I'm really interested in shin megami tensei if
DivineLion it what inspired persona mostly persona 1 and 2
@@greena.j.production9012 That game is canon in the persona universe since Tamaki appeared in P1 & P2 so it is basically Persona 0.
@@chongxxx and Raidou the prequel
You can play it in English now! I got pretty far, but it started to get rather repetitive towards the end.
@@FireMinstrel Glad to hear, I just started going through the old games and was very disappointed to hear if... wasn't translated. Now I can look forward to it with the peace of mind that I'm not going to be cockblocked by an incomplete translation like I was with the books.
The only reason I don't like the early SMT games is because I always get lost because of the first person view. All the interiors looks the same and I found myself reentering the same rooms often and getting into random encounters.
Don't hesitate to use a map to guide you.
Narlaw1199 They are classic guide games fun to play when you know what you are doing and a nightmare when you are lost
Same hapened to me untill i just gave up and started using guides
just use your map and talk to people, pretty hard to get lost, you don't even need a guide for most of SMT I-II, unless you're doing sidequests and shit
The games have maps, you know.
Thank you for this amazing video!
heads up with if its now been translated you can easly find it online so if ya wanted to check it out nows your chance
As of 2018 (SMT IF)has been fully translated
I love your videos! I hope the next one is an hour long!
I'm really curious as to what Atlus' relationship is to religion. They seem to use lots of figures from the Judeo-christian mythos whether it be Satan or Yahweh, I think it's super interesting but then again I'm new to the whole smt franchise
Do you mean Atlus or the team working on SMT? Japan isn't religious, perhaps superstitious if anything because of tradition. Given the original team is an older generation, they likely still might have traditional views, spiritual perhaps, but if any have occult leanings because of spiritualism, it's best to have them say themselves than guess. A product may either reflect personal views or the message may be the opposite, a cautionary tale, yet it's up to the writer to get those sentiments across.
It's actually based on Luciferianism, which is an occult amalgamation of occultism, Judeo-Christian and Satanic elements. That is where the dualistic nature/personas/posession in Persona comes from and the summoning, Good being Law (not actually good), Evil being Chaos and Neutral the inbetween/indecisive. Law is based on the occult version of Lucifer, not God, who represents order and freedom from God. God is the antagonist of Lucifer (I understand this was not Kaneko's intention yet to many that don't pay look deeper, God is bad and most reviews or info paint it that way), thus why you see Lucifer attempt to ally himself with the protagonist in different games or at least plays an important role. Satan is the occult version of the devil, representing carnality and materialism. However, if you've played SMT games, the Chaos route actually has more to it and benefits compare to the lawful path.
Neutral represents the balance in Luciferianism, neither good nor evil, utilizing both. It's the same concept as Yin-Yang and you see in most Japanese games where balance is mentioned. It goes all the way back to dualism, the number 11, black/white and other symbolism found in the "mystery schools". It's why this path mainly ends up being the canon path.
That's my understanding of research first done into the occult and then seeing all the signs and philosophy/influences of the game. My personal opinion on the use of this is entirely different, yet that's Shin Megami Tensei and what the creators put forth.
PS- I will add that SMT IV Apocalypse went as far as making YWH a pure antagonist, that in itself directly aligning with what I was talking about or reflecting sentiments of creators. Kaneko seems to have tried to make his stance clear, but when all that is seen as you can fight God and kill him, that's what happens.
Basically, it's part of a larger cultural thing in Japan. They see Judeo-Christian symbolism the way we might look at pre-Christian polytheism or even Buddhism and Hinduism: foreign and exotic, cool, but also spooky and strange. A lot of games use Judeo-Christian symbolism as exotic set dressing to make everything feel cooler to a Japanese audience.
Many of them, MegaTen included, often mash it up with paganism and Eastern religions; for example,you often meet pagan gods like Dagda, or Buddhist figures like the Four Heavenly Kings, in addition to angels and demons.
@@SonofSethoitae Actually they tend to focus on Catholicism as it's filled with the mysticism and pagan elements required to make weird stuff up. So it ends up being that and paganized Judaism used, aside from the aesthetics possessed in each for imagery.
@@blumiu2426 Catholicism is still part of "Judeo-Christian symbolism", so this is redundant.
@@SonofSethoitae Not at all. Jude-Chrstianity or Protestantism is very different from Catholicism, thus the split. It took on many pagan religions and why you see so much mysticism and things you don't find in the actual Bible.
Actual Christianity lacks all mythical creatures, naming of angels (except two, Lucifer and Gabriel) and fallen angels/demons while Catholicism has and adopted a lot of ritual practices.
I played the first game and loved it but yeah sometimes a random encounter can kill you easily while the bosses are easy for the most part and tats something i didnt liked. Im gonna play 2 later.
Sr Nigromante I tried to play the SNES version but it made me motion sick with those jaged turns, I wish the PS1 version had a translation
I just beat SMT1 today and am taking a break before playing SMT2, lol these games can sometimes be a pain to get through.
@Black Chandelier Mirage for me, I found many enemies are exploitable with zio spams and just permastuns them all and beat them all to death
@@RizalBoon zio and bufu skills in SMT are very annoying.....
.... unless if your party can spam it tho
Great thing iOS 11 doesn't support 32 bit apps, meaning it's no longer possible to buy / play SMT on iOS using a modern phone...
Fuck apple :(
SNES emulator and SMT englsh translation patch has been floating around for years
@@ThyRavenWings of course, but emulation isn't as convenient as pick up and play.
@@CJojo_13_ but it is far more available and cheaper than the retro market that tries to charge 100s to 1000s per cartridge in an attempt to exploit nostalgia
@@ThyRavenWings I was referring to digital downloads over searching the internet for roms / isos.
Megaten if... sounds a lot like the story of the first book "Megami Tensai", a highschool student is bullied and figures out how to communicate with demons through a homemade computer program. He ends up linking with loki who then procedes to posses his entire computer class to sacrifice themselves so he can materialize in our world by opening a portal with this program.
Yes this is also the basis of the megaten series but atlus did cool things with it xD
If... has an English translation now. Fun game!
Yes😊😊
Screw the persona series I want the untranslated smt games on switch
The best gen, we still have to get Majin Tensei though :(
We can play it in English now my friend. :)
I was so worried you weren't doing one for this month :O I don't scare me like that bro
13:41 Strangely even if you did the law route I remember YHWH just makes up an excuse or backstabs you, meaning you had to fight him even though on the law route you're just following his orders.
He dropped a boulder on the SMT 1 protagonist literally in a dungeon, you can find his body in SMT 2
Don't worry, Howard. I did it.
ninjasolidsnake wat
I went to the space pyramid to fight Patrick Stewart.
ninjasolidsnake thank u
I'm at the Cathedral..I feel like I'm almost done with it
What about the two Majin Tensei SRPGs for the Super Famicom!?
If Persona didn't exist maybe we'd be getting a remake of all the main line games..but oh no there's still plenty of cows to get milked by Atlus
We are getting a Nocturne remaster :)
i don´t think atlus would make a remake of the first smt bc is not very famous compared to nocturne or dds
14:02 there’s a theory about hijiri from smt nocturne being aleph Reincarnated, what are you thoughts?
14:07 "judo christian god" that sounds way cool but you meant "judeo" surely.
I ever realized that the look of hazama is actually the prototype version of shinji matou
I've always preferred the original Tetragrammaton as opposed to the SMT Pentagram. I'd love that as a window sticker.
a sticker?, are you by any chance secretly doing occultisme to summon persona/demon?
When I watched Devil May Crybaby and read the original manga, I could clearly see the inspiration that SMT took from it.
Devil Man Crybaby, you just combine two separate things lol!
You will do a nocturne LP? Please?
I think the older games should get major remakes. I guess they were good for the time but they feel so ridiculously dated. Unfortunately, atlus always does the absolute bare minimum with remakes. Hopefully smt v will be a good example of what a next gen smt will be like.
to bad the ios version is gone now too
Aaron Dostal *cough*emulation*cough*
Aaron Dostal what, its gone?
How?
Howard Heyman they took it off when they released the newest iOS firmware
peace & love yeah but I dislike emulation because I didn't buy it plus I heard the English patch causes problems with the game
Aaron Dostal That fucking suuuucks. I didnt even get a chance to play it.
ATLUS hates android users I guess.
Are we gonna have a look at the books?
Ikr. They should've started with those.
Ljn? Laughing Jokin Numbnuts wanted to do Megaten?
No, you misunderstood. Atlus was a small developer that made a lot of stuff for other publishers, including LJN. LJN was just a publisher, which is basically the guys that fund developing studios and re-sell their games.
Nocturne review when???????M!M!
Did he pronounce yhvh as "yaoi"?
he said "yaweh" which is just another name for YHVH
oh my god ljn make shin megami tensei 1.
Zacharia Armstrong publish
Nice vid
Just hacked the game onto my SNES. It's not as dated as I thought it'd be, it's actually pretty fun.
Definitely more fun to play than SMT 3
"More fun than SMT 3"
Lol cool story bro
Cap
So the MT games are like gen 0 then?
I want this game to be remade because it's not an SMT game without Meguro and voice acting, IMO.
I FUCKING KNEW IT WAS INSPIRED BY DEVIL MAN AND FIST OF THE NORTH STAR
Its a pitty your not cover Digital Devil Saga series. DDS 2 is one of my favourite games of all time.
Jacoby Noctis It's a Spin off not SMT in Japan it didn't have SMT in the title
You can play Shin Megami Tensei 1 and 2 on the Nintendo Switch
They should do all around the world on smt 5
What gen are the game boy games?
yhvh doesn't curse aleph in the law ending
you know smt if had translate now
Why did you spoil the entirety of SMT 2 but not SMT 1?
Xyzzulous because there isn't much of a plot at all basically you meet your friends your world ends you get a 30 year time skip one gets fused with a demon the other dies and is reborn as Bald Jesus, you find the reincarnation of your Waifu and your demon dog pick an alignment fight leaders of the factions that are your enemies and the end
Demi-Fiend of Time I am NOT reading that. Disliked.
>Spoils smt2
smt 2 is one of my favourite jrpgs, also some of my first since back then i just loved edgy aesthethics lol, or at least i thought, smt is much more than pokemon with demons and a wannabe deep story, it's actually pretty awesome lol. like persona, i used to think it was just weeaboo garbage but again i was surprised by p1 and p2, atlus is just full of surprises. i think they're what jrpgs need rn, considering most big franchases have stagnated, most notably final fantasy just becoming trash and phantasy star not existing, meanwhile dragon quest is as irrelevant as ever, but smt seems to be constantly renovating, unique you could say
Not disco. Prog. Maybe fusion.
Your Japanese pronunciation is killing me, but love all the info here. Thanks for the video!
I wish we could see more good MegaTen games like the early ones, sadly now it's all about dating sim and cringey waifu/loli/moe trash.
If we're still alive in 2021, we can finally get smtv
@@nerothewateruser8030 Let's hope, friend.
@@Giffsen we're so close 🙏🙏🙏
Judo Christian ??
😂