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The main character is usually unable to use magic. To make up for this, he has the ability to talk to demons and recruit them into his own party. The games usually have only a couple human characters in your party, so amassing a small army of demons who can use magic is essential for progress. These demons either don't earn experience points or earn them at an incredibly slow rate, so to create stronger demons in a practical timeframe you have to fuse two or more of your demon allies together, creating a brand new demon.
 
A huge part of the series is the emphasis on following your own beliefs: "You are the only one who knows what is right." The games generally involve factions based on the alignments of Law and Chaos battling it out for supremacy, and the game gives you complete freedom in deciding which side is "right". If neither side takes your fancy, you can even kick both their butts and declare yourself as supreme ruler. The Law factions usually include the Christian worldview with a heavy dose of [[Knight Templar]] and [[God Is Evil]], while the Chaos side views itself as [[The Unfettered]] and [[Social Darwinist]]. Neutrality would seem a safe bet, being the "island of stability" where humans thrive, ''except'' for [[Humans Are Bastardsthe Real Monsters|one or two]] [[Vicious Cycle|teensy flaws]] we happen to be lugging around.
 
The games also tend to be [[Nintendo Hard]]. Elemental affinities, buffing and debuffing are much more important here than in regular JRPGs: they can make or break battles. ''[[Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne]]'' introduced the Press Turn battle system to the series, where hitting an enemy's elemental weakness would reward you with more actions while hitting their elemental strengths would cost you actions. In an aversion of [[Useless Useful Spell]], buffing, [[One-Hit Kill|instant death]] and [[Standard Status Effects|ailment]] attacks are both effective and encouraged. Press Turn would go on to be adopted in various forms in the ''[['''Shin Megami Tensei]]''''' games that followed, such as the "One More!" system in ''[[Persona 3]]'' and ''[[Persona 4]]''.
 
The Shin Megami Tensei series has multiple [[Spin-Off|spinoffs]]: the ''[[Persona (video game)|Persona]]'' series, the ''Devil Summoner'' series and ''[[Digital Devil Saga]]'' are the best-known in the US. Others include ''Majin Tensei'', ''[[Last Bible]]'', and ''Devil Children''/''Demi Kids''. It also has an [[MMORPG]] called ''[[Shin Megami Tensei Imagine|Shin Megami Tensei: IMAGINE]]''. Despite being spinoffs, many include references to other Megaten games or feature character cameos. The games have been released outside Japan under the ''Shin Megami Tensei'' label since ''[[Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne|Nocturne]]'', while in Japan only a handful of the games bear that name; the rest are unofficially known as MegaTen titles.
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'''This section is for universal tropes related to the series as a whole. Please place tropes related to specific games in their own article, if it exists.'''
* [[Academy of Adventure]]: High school is Hell. Literally.
* [[Absurdly High Level Cap]]: A crowning example of how to avert this trope: make every boss (on average) five levels higher than the best [[Mook]] in the dungeon, and force the player to gather higher-level [[Mon|Mons]]s. In a normal playthrough, you'll end up in the mid-seventies by the end of the game, mid-ninties for ultimate summons, and max level for [[Bonus Boss|Bonus Bosses]]es.
* [[Absurdly Spacious Sewer]] - The series has a bit of a bad habit with these. Particular offenders include the Great Underpass of Ginza in ''Nocturne'' and the Anahata Waterways in ''[[Digital Devil Saga]]''.
* [[Alice Allusion]] - Alice, the recurring [[Cute Ghost Girl]] who has appeared since ''Shin Megami Tensei''. Has many [[Shout-Out|Shout Outs]] to ''[[Alice in Wonderland]]'' but doesn't seem to have any connection.
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** The Innocents in ''IMAGINE'' are also entirely artificial. However, exposure to the [[Green Rocks|Obelisks]] is warping their programming, making them think more like humans.
* [[As Long as There Is Evil]] - Try as you might, as long as at least one person believes in him as a god, {{spoiler|YHVH}} can never be destroyed.
** Nor can you truly destroy {{spoiler|[[Persona 2|Nyarlathotep]], [[Persona 3|Nyx, Erebus]], [[Persona 4|Izanami]], or [[Raidou Kuzunoha VS King Abaddon|Shinato]]}}; their existence come from weakness in the human heart. [[Not So Different|Sort of like]] {{spoiler|YHVH}}, really, except applied to {{spoiler|[[Eldritch Abomination|Eldritch Abominations]]s}} instead.
*** In a minor subversion of the trope, {{spoiler|Izanami (and her offshot, Ame-no-Sagiri) say they'll be able to recorporate but concede the philosophical point to the heroes and agree to stop their plans for the time being after getting their asses kicked in royal fashion. And then there's Shinato, who basically decides he's underestimated humanity after you give him a sound thrashing, and changes his mind about punishing the world for its lack of faith. [[Shin Megami Tensei]]: [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?|you can't destroy evil, but you can apparently punch it into submission!]] }}
** The implication is that [[Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey|the Schwartzwelt]] is actually Earth's defense mechanism and has appeared before. So did destroying it {{spoiler|or changing Earth to a chaotic/lawful state}} really change anything?
* [[Nintendo Hard|Atlus Hard]] - These games have been known to make players cry.
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** ''Persona 3'' and ''4'' are notable in deftly working ''around'' this trope, as well; while things like eating or bathroom usage are never mandatory per se, the "segments of a typical day" style of gameplay, with visual transitions between parts of the day, leave room for things like eating, waste excretion, etc., and you even go to bed at home (almost) every night. A lot of [[Level Up At Intimacy 5|Social Links]] and plot segments have scenes over meals and the like, too, giving the world of both games a very realistic feel.
*** Also, while you don't ''need'' to go to the bathroom, it does improve the protagonist's condition (though this may or may not be useful).
* [[Bragging Rights Reward]] - The Pierce skill in ''[['''Shin Megami Tensei]]''': Nocturne'', the Amala Ring in ''Digital Devil Saga'', the Magatama Ammo in ''Digital Devil Saga 2'', the ultimate Persona in ''Persona 4''. The {{spoiler|Demi-Fiend}} especially has infamously been called the most difficult JRPG hidden boss ''ever'' by many seasoned gamers.
* [[Call Back]] - Quite a few demons in later games were major characters in earlier ones. A major example is Alice, who shows up in the ''Persona'' series. Complete with a skill called "Die For Me!"
** The reason why Cerberus is usually portrayed with one head is not because of graphical limitations (somewhat) but because that's how he was portrayed in the novel.
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* [[Changing of the Guard]]: While the demons generally remain the same, the original ''Shin Megami Tensei'' series always features a new main cast with each sequel.
** Similarly, in the Persona series Igor is the only true consistent between numbered iterations; while Philemon appears from time to time he doesn't play a crucial role outside of ''Persona'' and ''Persona 2''.
* [[Character Alignment]] - This plays a huge role in the ''[['''Shin Megami Tensei]]''''' series. Each monster is classed on the [[Order Versus Chaos|Law-Neutral-Chaos]] axis and the Light-Neutral-Dark axis. The former is the important one: monsters that are Chaotic will refuse to join you if the main character is Lawful and vice-versa. The alignment of the main character is determined by the type of monsters he summons (e.g. Lawful creatures will move your alignment towards Law), by his responses to philosophical questions asked at key points of the game and by whose dirty work (The Messians or the Gaians) he carries out. The ending of the game is determined by the final alignment of the main character. Interestingly, Neutrality is presented neither as the uncaring or balancing alignment, but rather one that focuses on individual choice and inner strength, as opposed to relying on outside power.
** ''Megami Tensei I & II'' for the Famicom feature alignments along the axis of Good-Neutral-Evil.
** ''[[Shin Megami Tensei I]]'' features an alignment system along the axis of both Light-Neutral-Dark and Law-Neutral-Chaos. It is the earliest known videogame to have an alignment system that directly affects the direction of the storyline and which of the [[Multiple Endings]] the player is given, through the choices and actions the player makes that alter the player character's alignment. ''[[Shin Megami Tensei II]]'' uses the same kind of alignment system.
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* [[Cute Monster Girl]] - Majority of the female demons (aka the Succubi). Not all of them, though.
* [[Dark Is Not Evil]]: A major offender of this trope. To counter the [[Crapsack World]], you have the option to ally with [[The Dark Side]] in order to produce a peaceful world. ''[[Devil Survivor]]'' stands out for one of it's endings running on this trope.
* [[Deconstructor Fleet]] - A very odd case, in that they [[Deconstruction|tear apart]] every trope related to [[Mon|Mons]]s... [[Unbuilt Trope|while still being]] the [[Trope Maker]].
* [[Degraded Boss]] - Former bosses may return as [[Elite Mooks]]. This may cost them their best moves, but occasionally they also wind up being recruitable.
* [[The Dev Team Thinks of Everything]] - What makes the [[Bonus Boss|Bonus Bosses]]es so difficult is this. Each [[Bonus Boss]] has some kind of anti-cheese feature built into them so you ''have'' to fight them in a "fair" fight. Otherwise, expect them to give unavoidable 9999 damage to you each turn.
* [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?]] - Played straight in some, subverted in others.
** Hell, Cthulhu itself is usually a [[Random Encounter]], so you get to punch it out ''repeatedly''!
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* [[Gods Need Prayer Badly]]: The demons, angels, monsters, and spirits only exist in many of the games because people remember and believe in them. Oddly, if the supernatural creatures believe hard enough, they create fake duplicates of other supernatural entities.
** This has some interesting bearing in the game. In general, the more people in [[Real Life]] that believe in a particular god/demon/angel/etc., the stronger they are in game. God, Lucifer, and the Arch Angels [[Archangel Michael|Michael]], [[Archangel Gabriel|Gabriel]], Raphael and Uriel are obvious examples, but Shiva and Vishnu, both primary gods in Hindu (which remains one of the oldest active religions in the world) are also among the strongest. Exceptions do exist though, like Metatron (less than one quarter of one percent of the world's population are Jewish) being among the strongest.
** The Persona games use this to explain why various incarnations of death and madness are ready to end the world... they're doing it because humanity (or sometimes a few select individual** The Persona games use this to explain why various incarnations of death and madness are ready to end the world... they're doing it because humanity (or sometimes a few select individuals) secretly wants them to. If not for that, those [[Eldritch Abomination|Eldritch Abominations]]s would be completely harmless.
** Sometimes, even demons' beliefs can produce greater entities to manifest. This is more clearly seen in ''[[Shin Megami Tensei II]]'', with the False YHVH fought after the death of the Archangels.
* [[Good Is Boring]] - Often played relatively straight in the earlier games - things got interesting if you went hard for one side or another. Later games played with the idea somewhat, though.
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*** Kind of odd to think about when fusing a monster with a Mitama, which just increases stats.
*** The sacrificial fusions in Nocturne would look redundant if you think about it.
* [[Hurricane of Puns]] - Mara. [[Gag Penis|Good god, Mara.]]<ref> ''mara'' is a slang term for "penis" in Japanese. Mara is a demon from Buddhism that used various temptations on the Buddha to prevent him from achieving enlightenment. Since sex is a common temptation... yeah... or the part where Mara has PIERCE. And is fire attribute.</ref>
* [[I Don't Like the Sound of That Place]] - But you will wind up going there anyway. Even if it's the stuff of your darkest nightmares.
* [[Incredibly Lame Pun]] - Ja-aku Frost (Woolseyed but [[Lost in Translation]] as Black Frost), the [[Super-Powered Evil Side]] of resident [[Mascot Mook]] Jack Frost. "Ja-aku" (邪悪) means "evil" and also a transliteration of Jack.
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* [[Mad Scientist]] - [[Shin Megami Tensei I|STE]][[Shin Megami Tensei II|VEN]], [[Shin Megami Tensei II|Dr. Mekata]] and [[Soul Hackers|Dr]]. [[Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army|Victor]] all qualify.
* [[Mad Scientist Laboratory]] - Every single incarnation of the Gouma-Den.
* [[Magic From Technology]] - Devil Summoners throughout the franchise usually carry around [[Magitek|a device]] --arm—arm-mounted COMPs in the original games, GUMPs in the ''Devil Summoner'' subseries, [[Nintendo DS]]-shaped COMPs in ''[[Devil Survivor]]'', the [[Powered Armor|Demonica]] in ''[[Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey]]''-- that—that runs the Demon Summoning Program and allows the user to summon and control his or her [[Mons]]. And in ''[[Devil Survivor]]'', it outright gives the user access to magic spells of his/her own.
* [[Market-Based Title]] - In the West, from ''Nocturne'' onwards the games have been branded under the ''Shin Megami Tensei'' label. In Japan, though every game is considered a MegaTen title they aren't marketed as such.
* [[Mascot Mook]] - Jack Frost. He's even the official mascot of Atlus itself, making this a literal example of the trope.
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* [[One Steve Limit]] - You cannot have more than one of any given demon in your team. In [[Devil Survivor]] this only applies to certain demons, genereally unique individuals over species e.g. [[Norse Mythology|Thor and Odin]].
* [[Order Versus Chaos]] - A recurring theme. Law tends to be [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|well-meaning]] but very [[Knight Templar]] about the whole thing. Chaos strongly emphasises freedom but in the form of a brutal [[Might Makes Right]] anarchy. Neutrality focuses on [[Ubermensch|self-empowerment]] and the [[Humans Are Special|potential of humanity]], as opposed to reliance on a greater force for guidance.
** Of course, [[Humans Are Bastardsthe Real Monsters|Neutrality isn't completely good]]. {{spoiler|The fact that [[Vicious Cycle|most of the time the Neutral Ending brings back the world as it used to be doesn't helps either]].}}
** The classic Chaos has more or less split into two belief systems in later games where it's used. As mentioned under [[Characterization Marches On]], the [[Social Darwinist]] aspects are seen as more or less outright evil, while the [[Rage Against the Heavens]] aspect is usually shown in a more [[Anti-Hero|antiheroic]] light.
* [[Orochi]] - Usually a major boss in some of the games and is possible to fuse after beating him.
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** While annoying, it's done with ''style'' '''''twice''''' in SMT 1: {{spoiler|the first time is when "Ambassador Thorman" nukes the hell out of Tokyo and your hero is sent to a corner of the Abyss to survive until he can return; the second time is when the Mesians flood the ruins of Tokyo to wash away all sin and coincidentally trap you in the massive final dungeon.}} Sadly, none of the other games that feature a [[Point of No Return]] managed to pull it off with quite the same panache.
** Done in [[Devil Survivor]] on the Last Day and [[Majin Tensei II]] in each Time Period/{{spoiler|Dimension}}
* [[Powers as Programs]] - Fused demons or Personae may inherit skills the "parent" demons had. Learning to exploit this can lead to [[Disc One Nuke|Disc One Nukes]]s and [[Game Breaker|Game Breakers]]s. This is also a vital part in fusing for its ability to impart priceless immunities and strengths to new demons.
* [[Practical Taunt]] - Most of the games have a "Taunt" spell, which increases enemy attack power while lowering their defense.
* [[Psychotic Smirk]] - Tatsuya Sudou, a.k.a. {{spoiler|King Leo}} in ''Persona 2: Innocent Sin'' and {{spoiler|JOKER}} in the sequel ''Eternal Punishment''.
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* [[Soaperizing]] - ''[[Persona 3]]'' and its sequel ''[[Persona 4]]'', while still RPG's, add [[Dating Sim]] [[Level Up At Intimacy 5|elements]]. This games are [[Cash Cow Franchise|INSANELY]] popular, and Persona 3 was the mainstream english market introduction to the Shin Megami Tensei franchise.
* [[Soundtrack Dissonance]] - Averted as far as genre goes. Whereas most RPG's use orchestral and symphonic music for their soundtracks, [[Mega Ten]] uses rock and more modern sounds for its. Turns out to work pretty well considering [[Mega Ten]] is usually in a modern setting or, at it's worst, [[Cyberpunk]].
* [[Standard Status Effects]] - Almost all standard effects are present, as normal spells or physical attacks capable of additionally inflicting these. Chains of these are possible, leading to easy [[Game Breaker|Game Breakers]]s.
* [[Stripperiffic]] - Many female demons are outright [[Ms. Fanservice]].
* [[Summon Magic]] - The Personas in the ''Persona'' series, Naomi's spells in Soul Hackers.
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* [[There Can Be Only One]] - The others are still ''not'' gonna let you [[The Rival|steal "their" thunder]], though.
* [[The End of the World as We Know It]] - If the world hasn't already ended before the game started, then it's about to. ''Nocturne'' starts off with '''everyone''' being destroyed. There are only five humans left alive (not including yourself!) after the first 30 minutes of the game.
* [[The Fair Folk]] - Many demons have their designs based on these, as well as their personalities. [['''Shin Megami Tensei]]''' games like to remind you every so often that you are definitely ''not'' dealing with human beings.
* [[The Magic Comes Back]] - Every game of the main series has this in some capacity. Explained in ''[[Shin Megami Tensei I]]'' by Mother Echidna as a result of the demons returning from the banishment imposed by YHVH. [[Do Not Go Gentle|They're not leaving again without a fight]].
* [[The Power of Friendship]] - Especially prevalent in the later Persona games.
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* [[We Cannot Go on Without You]] - A frustratingly high number of these games will give you a game over if your main character gets knocked out, regardless of whether this should make sense in all of them or not. Mudo and Hama spells are particularly devastating in that respect as some of the games give the player almost no recourse against them early on.
* [[Wind Is Green]]
* [[What If]] - Literally embodied a game called ''Shin Megami Tensei If''. Beyond that, the ''Devil Summoner'' series is also based around a [[What If]] - one which ties into the aforementioned game, which represents the branching point that leads to either the ''Devil Summoner/Persona'' continuity or main-series ''[['''Shin Megami Tensei]]'''''. ''If'' presents a what-if question... and ''Devil Summoner'' is the answer to it. On top of all this, the ''Raidou Kuzunoha'' prequel games in the ''Devil Summoner'' line provide a historical What If scenario, hinging, at least in part, on the Taisho period lasting longer than it did in our world.
* [[What Is This Thing You Call Love?]] - ''Digital Devil Saga''
* [[World of Badass]] - Three options here. You start as a [[Badass]]. [[Took a Level In Badass|You become a Badass]]. [[Yet Another Stupid Death|You die]]. Choose.
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[[Category:Trope Overdosed]]
[[Category:Nintendo DS]]
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[[Category:Shin Megami Tensei]]
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