Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Children

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Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Children
Devil Children White Book.jpg
White Book cover art, featuring its main character and multiple demons
Genre(s) Role-playing
Developer(s) Multimedia Intelligence Transfer, Enterbrain, Index Corporation
Publisher(s) Atlus, Enterbrain
Artist(s) Yuji Himukai
Composer(s) Tomoyuki Hamada
Platform(s) Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, PlayStation, mobile phones
First releaseBlack Book and Red Book
November 17, 2000
Latest releaseShin Megami Tensei: Devil Children
July 13, 2011
Parent series Megami Tensei

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Children, [lower-alpha 1] also known as DemiKids, is a series of role-playing video games primarily developed by Multimedia Intelligence Transfer and published by Atlus. It is a spin-off from Atlus' Megami Tensei franchise, and began in 2000 with the Game Boy Color games Black Book and Red Book. Five more role-playing games and three games in other genres were released until 2004, followed by no new releases until the 2011 social game Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Children. In addition to the games, the series has been adapted into manga, anime, and a trading card game, and two soundtrack albums have been released by First Smile Entertainment.

Contents

The series follows demon-human hybrids called devil children, who journey from Japan to the demon world, and are joined by talking companion monsters who give them guidance. The player takes the role of one such devil child, and battles against demons; the devil children do not fight directly themselves, however, but have allied demons in their party fight for them. The player can choose to talk to demons instead of fighting them, to try to make them join the player's party, and can increase their allied demons' power by fusing multiple demons with each other.

While Multimedia Intelligence Transfer developed most of the games in the series, Enterbrain and Index Corporation also developed one game each. The music for the first two games was composed by Tomoyuki Hamada, who made use of both orchestral music and rock. Yuji Himukai, known for his work on the Etrian Odyssey series, worked as character designer and illustrator on the 2011 game, creating new art for returning characters. The series received a wide range of reviews, from negative to positive. Reviewers enjoyed the demon fusion, while the music and visuals were criticized.

Titles

Timeline of release years
2000Black Book and Red Book
2001White Book
2002Light Version and Dark Version
2003Puzzle de Call!
Book of Fire and Book of Ice
2004Messiah Riser
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Children

Role-playing games

Others

Common elements

While the Devil Children games are released in pairs, similarly to the Pokémon series, each release is its own separate game, with its own story and protagonist, although the stories in each pair's two releases sometimes intertwine. The series' protagonists are the titular "devil children", or "demikids" – children who are demon-human hybrids, and wield superpowers. They all live in modern-day Japan, but end up traveling to the demon world as part of their adventures. The devil children are given weaponry, such as guns, and are joined by guiding companion monsters who can speak human language. [3]

The player battles enemy demons using their own allied demons, shown as icons at the bottom of the screen. Devil Children battle.png
The player battles enemy demons using their own allied demons, shown as icons at the bottom of the screen.

The Devil Children titles are role-playing games in which the player battles against demons. While the player controls a devil child, that character does not directly fight themselves; instead, they send in their allied demons to fight against the opponents. [3] This was changed in Book of Fire and Book of Ice, where the devil children are able to fight by using cards. [8] If one of the player's demons falls in battle, another is automatically sent in to take the first one's place. To recruit new demons to their party, the player needs to choose to talk to the demon instead of fighting it, with the demon's response mostly being based on chance. [3] The player can trade demons with other players, which is required to be able to collect all demon types. [15] While the player's character gains experience points, their allied demons do not; to increase their power, the player needs to fuse their demons with each other. [3]

The non-role-playing games all have different gameplay: Puzzle de Call! is a puzzle game in which the player pushes around boxes to make their way to the pentagram at the end of each screen. Additionally, there is an egg placed in each screen, which disappears if the player does not reach it in a certain number of turns; if they reach it in time, it hatches, giving the player a new demon that can be used when solving the puzzles. Each level, which consists of a number of screens, ends with a boss battle in which the player needs to collect icons while avoiding the bosses' attacks. Messiah Riser is a real-time strategy game in which the player battles by giving their demons commands. It focuses entirely on combat, with no exploration segments between battles. [16] The 2011 Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Children is a social game in which the player collects demons, referred to as "devils", and complete quests to become the strongest Devil King; the player can test themselves in daily tournaments. Like in the earlier games, collected demons can be fused with each other; there is also an added "social fusion" feature, where the player can fuse one of their demons with another player's demon. Players can also help one another by giving them demons and money. [13]

Development

TMS Entertainment created the 2000-2001 DeviChil anime. TMS Entertainment logo.svg
TMS Entertainment created the 2000–2001 DeviChil anime.

Devil Children was created presumably as a response to the popularity of the Pokémon series of games, and as an alternative take on the game Shin Megami Tensei for younger players, featuring child characters and cute monsters. [3] Most of the games were developed by Multimedia Intelligence Transfer and published by Atlus, [3] [16] and the 2011 Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Children, which was developed by Index Corporation. [11] The only games in the series to have been released in English are Dark Version and Light Version. [17] The soundtracks for Black Book and Red Book were composed by Tomoyuki Hamada from the group T's Music, using orchestral music blended with elements of rock. [18] For the 2011 game, Yuji Himukai, known for his work on Atlus' Etrian Odyssey series, was tasked with creating new designs and illustrations of Mirai and Setsuna; they were designed to look older than in their original appearances in Black Book and Red Book. [14]

The popularity of the series in Japan led to the creation of two anime series and two manga series, [17] as well as a trading card game. [16] The first anime, Shin Megami Tensei: DeviChil, was produced by CBC, Dentsu, and TMS Entertainment, with additional animation provided by Actas. It aired for 50 episodes from October 7, 2000 to September 29, 2001; [19] the second, Shin Megami Tensei: D-Children – Light & Dark, aired for 52 episodes from October 5, 2002 to September 27, 2003, and was produced by TV Tokyo and NAS. Actas animated the first half of the series, and Studio Comet animated the second half. [20] Two Devil Children music albums were released by First Smile Entertainment on December 20, 2000 and February 21, 2001: Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Children Perfect Soundtracks, which features the soundtracks of Black Book and Red Book, as well as one vocal theme composed by Hiro Takahashi and one by Nao Ito; [18] and Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Children Arrange Tracks, which features new arrangements by Hamada and Motoi Sakuraba of Black Book and Red Book music. There were plans for individual soundtrack albums for Black Book and Red Book, but they were cancelled due to low demand. [21]

  1. ↑ Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Children (真・女神転生 デビルチルドレン, Shin Megami Tensei: Debiru Chirudoren, lit. "True Goddess Reincarnation: Devil Children")

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References

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