Shin Megami Tensei If… Was Persona Before Persona - Kotaku Australia

Despite being a spin-off of a spin-off, Persona’s runaway success made it the most recognisable of the Shin Megami Tensei RPG series.

But in 1994, two years before the very first Persona game arrived on PlayStation, the blueprint for those future games was laid down in another lesser-known side story with a peculiar title.

Shin Megami Tensei if… for Nintendo’s 16-bit Super Famicom offered a more scaled-back take on the Shin Megami Tensei formula.

If that sounds familiar, there’s good reason: Shin Megami Tensei if… ended up being the basis for the Persona series.

The school setting was apparently so well received that Atlus greenlit 1996’s Megami Ibunroku Persona — which Atlus USA localised as Revelations: Persona — as the first game in a new series about “the inner struggles of young adults.”.

Shin Megami Tensei if… opens as the Japanese campus of Karukozaka High School is transplanted from our everyday reality to a decidedly more demonic dimension.

(There’s a fourth character, Akira Miyamoto, who’ll only join you in a second playthrough.) It’s not quite as involved as the Persona series’ “Social Link” system, in which working on your relationships improves your party’s combat abilities, but the idea of friendship affecting how the story progresses wasn’t prevalent in previous Shin Megami Tensei games.

A big part of Shin Megami Tensei if… also revolves around unique demons known as Guardians.

Yep, death isn’t the end of the story in Shin Megami Tensei if…, even if the main character bites the dust.

Again, not quite as involved as games in the Persona series, wherein the protagonist can freely switch their equipped Persona demon and the other party members have specific, often story-based partners, but the idea clearly has its foundations in the Super Famicom classic.

“The first title I worked on after I joined Atlus was Shin Megami Tensei if…, where I was put in charge of the Guardian system,” Hashino said.

Apart from those aspects, however, Shin Megami Tensei if… plays pretty much the same as the mainline Shin Megami Tensei games of that era.

Sure, it’s still pretty damn difficult, with a lot of backtracking and other oddities that so often make these specific role-playing games a chore to revisit, but you’ll probably find a lot to enjoy in Shin Megami Tensei if… assuming you already like Shin Megami Tensei

After its Super Famicom debut, Shin Megami Tensei if… would go on to be ported to the PC and original PlayStation

Shin Megami Tensei proper may not be as stylish or well-received as the more recent Persona games, but it’s hard to deny the former has a certain underlying charm that went on to serve as a foundation for Persona’s eventual, explosive success