Shin Megami Tensei Part 1: The Origins of a Gothic RPG

So the game in mind I wanted to review was Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne. But before I do, I want to go over a light history of the franchise from its early origins to what we are experiencing now.


In the 1970's and 80's, Japan was growing into a technological conglomerate and had recently been introduced to Computer technology with the aspirations to use and even improve the system already made by the Americans. Inspired by their desire to change as a world power after heated tensions of the Second World War, Japan marketed itself as a technology company giant and being part of a global Westernized Market especially in the entertainment industry with an example being Toshiba making TVs and VCRs, as well as home computers later. But one man looked onto the new marketplace with inspiration, excitement, and fear. His name was Aya Nishitani.

Nishitani was working for an electronics manufacturer when he noticed the possibilities of this technology and was inspired to write a short serialized story for Oh PC  magazine which would later become a new basis for a short pulp novel called Digital Devil Saga: Megami Tensei.

To be honest, I know very little to nothing about this novel's plot other than from bootleg translations, very poorly done though. The novel focuses on two teenagers (male and female) and the female love interest is said to be the reincarnation of the Death Goddess Izanami-no-Okami. Also, the main villain was the trickster God Loki. And that a bunch of demons were unleashed because of accessing computer programing into devil summoning (Nishitani was interested in astrology and black magic and used technology as a basis for summoning demons which are featured quite predominantly in SMT games) which sets the main story in motion. The only ideas we have of the story is the anime adaptation which is a one hour OVA you can find on YouTube if interested. I wasn't too interested in it personally. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgk4BFIp6G8)

But from what we do know, is very telling with the themes of the story. The story, in essence, deals with the techno-skepticism philosophy of thought with the advancements in the electronic technology of TV and Home Computers. It gives off an aura of being difficult to specifically genre explain since it deals with different levels of Science Fiction, Fantasy, Drama, Horror, Dystopia, Cyberpunk, and Mythology as the main genre vocal points. But this is also odd because it's in such a weird way that this is but the foundational shell of what would later be the Shin Megami Tensei Franchise because it departs so far from the original resource material that it's hard to say that it is a true adaptation and would be more of an inspired game with its own original story.

And a little after the success of this novel, describing the cyberpunk storyline being a fresh take on the Fantasy Hero storyline with bleak tones added to the popularity and the anime also helped too. But where the story made success was when it came to the adaption of the story, not be made as a movie, but instead ... a video game.

In my next article, I'll be talking about The Namco Gaming Company and the small Company that would later be an Underdog Titan in the RPG Gaming Market and how a cult novel became a cult video game.