Shin Megami Tensei

Jack Bros. isn't a "real" Megami Tensei title, but rather a cutesy spin-off game starring Jack Frost, Jack Lantern and Jack Skelton (named Jack Ripper in the Japanese version.) Technically, it IS the first time any Megami Tensei related title left Japan, since it predated Persona. Regardless, this is a pretty simplistic maze game where you run around, shoot bad guys, collect keys, and find the exit. You have a time limit to adhere to, and getting hit will decrease it. At the end of each stage is a boss. And... that's pretty much it. It's one of the rarest and most sought-after Virtual Boy games out there, and I couldn't tell you why. There's no 3D in it either - other than the cool scaling effect when you jump down levels, this easily could've been a Game Boy game.

Giten Megami Tensei: Tōkyō Mokushiroku is something of an oddball. Unlike the rest of the series, it's never seen life on a console - it was originally released for the PC98, then upgraded for Windows 98. It seems to have been published by ASCII and based off the artwork/music of the rest of the series (Kazuma Kaneko is credited as "original character designs", and they're definitely reminiscent of the designs from the Super Famicom games. There is also a robotic dog in there.) As far as I can tell, it starts off similarly to Megami Tensei II - as a young boy living in a shelter, you and your friends are training to be Devil Busters. Everything seems to be okay, until you begin your training, when one of the programs seems to go out of control. And that's about all I've been able to figure out. There's a lot of obnoxious fetch questing and some very heavy Japanese, so I'm lost on most of it.

The graphics in the Windows 98 version are smooth scrolling, although the interface is both keyboard driven (for movement) and mouse-driven (for selecting from menus.) Unlike the rest of the series, character and enemies are visible on the screen at all times, though they aren't scaled properly when you move, so it looks a little silly. The battle system seems to be a weird mix between turn-based and real-time, as enemies will attack you from across the room before you engage them. It's incredibly clunky, especially when issuing orders, but it's definitely a cool idea. The music is a bit abrasive, but much of it is very similar to older Megami Tensei titles, despite being completely original. Unfortunately, the standard MIDI format means it doesn't sound nearly as cool as the SFC titles. All around, it's unfortunate that this one is so obscure (Japanese PC games are very difficult and expensive to find, although you can find copies floating around the internet), though I certainly wish it were less confusing.

Shin Megami Tensei: NINE, one of the few Japan exclusive games for the original Xbox, is a bit of an outlier amongst the series. The NINE is not to denote that this is the ninth Megaten game (it isn't), but instead it refers the number of alignments in the original series of game (Law, Neutral, Chaos, and Good, Neutral, and Evil.) Like Megami Tensei II, you play as a human living in an underground base after a nuclear disaster. You spend most of your time in the "Idea Space", a Snow Crash-ish virtual world modeled after 1990s Tokyo.

Shin Megami Tensei: NINE

The game sort of resembles an MMORPG, as you walk around parts of the city, customize your avatar, and find other NPCs, each with their own demon following them. Of course, right as you start, trouble begins, as a disturbance called the "Noise" is sending evil demons out into Idea Space. You and your friend are drafted as "Debuggers" to put a stop to this menace. The character designs are provided by Yasuomi Umetsu, who also did the designs for the violent porn/action animes Kite and Mezzo Forte.

Characters

Kei Azuma

You can choose to be male or female, but the default name is the same.

Baraki

The male friend, who joins you on your quest and shows you the ropes.

Sumire

The female friend, whom you save from a Noise attack at the beginning of the game.

Shin Megami Tensei: NINE tries to be a bit of a throwback to the original Shin Megami Tensei, mostly with the modern setting, although traveling around the districts of Tokyo is accomplished through a simple map menu. Most of the music consists of arranged versions of the original Super Famicom music, which is pretty cool. Most of the shops are also run by friendly Jack Frosts. However, the actual gameplay is very nontypical. All of the battles are fought in real time, and most of the actions are dictated through AI settings, although you can tell your demons to target specific characters in the middle of the fight. It ends up making you feel very disconnected from the action.

This worked in later games like Final Fantasy XII, partially because it was visually engaging. Shin Megami Tensei: NINE is not. The battles are ugly affairs, with barely animated attacks and poorly modeled demons. Even though it's on more powerful hardware, the graphics are pretty bad, and totally fail in comparison to the PS2 titles, even though they came a few years later. All of the backgrounds are prerendered, and look okay, although the spongy controls make navigating them somewhat difficult.

There are also "hacking" segments, which play out using the little "character" markers usually relegated to map screens. These are a bit confusing at first but it plays out like a very simplistic real time strategy game.

Shin Megami Tensei: NINE was planned as an online title, but a "Standalone" version was initially released to satiate gamers until the online version was completed. Alas, the online version was cancelled because no one really owned an Xbox in Japan, so nothing came of it. And it makes sense if you play the game - it feels weirdly incomplete. It got into the "bestseller" line of games over in Japan, although that doesn't necessarily mean much, and it's largely regarded as a flop. It's not really worth tracking down.