Best Shin Megami Tensei Games On Switch And Nintendo Systems

damn these are some hot takes

I feel like a lot of the votes for Devil Survivor DS meant to vote for Overclocked. It's literally better in every way

This is an interesting order, but I do agree - Vengeance is the best in the series. I honestly would have never considered Tokyo Mirage Sessions, but that game is great as well. I would love to see IV/Apocalypse get remastered or ported to the Switch.

So if a game was never localized outside of Japan it doesn’t count I suppose. SMT 1 and 2 certainly were originally on Nintendo platforms, I want to say SMT if was too, probably some other spinoffs I’m not thinking of and most if not all of these have seen fan translations so they are certainly playable if you have the means. Speaking of spinoffs, P3P and P4G belong in this list. I would argue P5R as well but at least the original Persona 3 and Persona 4 were originally released as Shin Megami Tensei Persona 3/4 at least for the US releases. You guys have TMS#FE and Jack Bros on there and they don’t feature SMT anywhere in their titles….

Shocked to see Soul Hackers that low. It's a product of its time, but it's incredible.

We don't seen that kind of atmosphere or calibre of demon designs often. And it's far better than the sequel IMO.

Apocalypse is WAYYYY too low on this list. One of my favorite JRPGs. It may have lost a lot of the atmosphere the series typically excels at, but the QoL fixes compared to SMT IV, and the actually really smooth difficulty progression, makes it one of the funnest games in the series.

Having played about 40 hours of Vengeance now, it's definitely a top three MegaTen game overall. Is it the best? I'll have to see how it sticks the landing. It's already a gigantic improvement from base SMT V, though, which I enjoyed but was obviously flawed in certain respects.

And yeah, the 3DS Devil Survivor games should be where the DS ones are currently. They're literally just all-around improvements on the original.

I finally recently went back to playing Devil Survivor 2 for the 3DS. Love the Devil Survivor series, and I highly recommend them.

No way V is better than IV

"Persona without the heart" is reductive.
SMT is about the gameplay, environmental storytelling, and broader worldviews. It's different from but not less than Persona.

The best one is SMT IV imo

Reminds me that I picked up DS2 Overclocked before the eShop closed. Might be time to give it a whirl soon.

I've yet to play one of these games despite having Tokyo Mirage Sessions for Wii U on my shelf. Maybe I should get around to firing it up.

I don't enjoy SMT gameplay all that much, but I will say that Tokyo Mirage Sessions is a fantastic game. Probably because it lacks the demon recruitment thing that I absolutely detest.

Overclocked is my vote for number one. Indelible strategic combat and one helluva story. Should be higher, but then again this same list has Vengeance at number one, so I'll take this list with a grain of NaCl.

"Strange Journey Redux inferior to original", "SMT is Persona without the heart"... never change, fans.

@FishyS and this list is still leaving out a whole bunch of games (as the main series entries not going back beyond III should indicate), some still exclusive outside Nintendo domain, others still exclusive to Japan... and some dealing with both factors. That said, the lack of a whole few more spinoffs here (three numbered Personae plus Arena, Tactica and Strikers on Switch, Persona Q dilogy on 3DS) is arguably more conspicuous.

EDIT: and as it just struck me, at least one Last Bible spinoff on Game Boy Color DID get a western release as "Revelations: Demon Slayer" ("Revelations" being the title they once tried to attach to the whole franchise westside, as the first Persona can also attest). Branched-off and obscure, perhaps, but surely not much moreso than the present Jack Bros? This article really warrants an update.☝🤓

@nhSnork In fairness, I do prefer the way OG Strange Journey handles app upgrades and saving. And the new character art is less evocative than Kaneko's art.

That said, the degree to which fans exaggerate the impact of the changes made to Redux is a little ridiculous.

Don’t get me wrong, I liked vanilla SMT:V quite a bit - but SMT:IV Apocalypse is the better game. Its characters, story and bigger cast of demons and monsters are a more than worthy trade-off for SMT:V’s admittedly great Xenoblade-style environments.

I’ve got both Devil Survivors in my 3DS backlog. One day, Atlus, one day.

V is not even close to IV… SH also way to low.

@FishyS I love SMTV! Great game. Vengeance brings not only additional story elements but a lot of quality of life mechanics. An example, in the original you could only save at leylines (save points, fast travel, shop, demon fusions, etc.). But in vengeance you can save anywhere. Really makes it awesome playing on the switch so I can play on the go.

@Saizo Agreed! I really love the stories in IV & Apocalypse! Just so great. I also thought that SH would be higher. I do wish that SH2 would make it to the Switch though, maybe some day… One can dream.

@Ralizah yeah, personal prefs here and there are nothing to raise eyebrows at. I treasure many Switch ports from the dual-screeners (Rune Factories, Etrian Odyssey, Wonderful 101) but would likewise still award the originals a point above them just for the bygone luxury of having a larger map or UI portion available at all times on a separate screen (not to mention the examples that had to alter the gameplay like TWEWY did). But there's no excuse for being asinine about this stuff, especially to the point of denying the newer releases all the stuff they did gain instead.

As for Kaneko, we may have to get used to SMT without his art anyway, although I suppose freelancing for the former employers might still be a possibility.

This is a high standard list to be fair.

However, I'd have IV Apocalypse as my no.3 behind Vengence and V. Also DS2 Overclocked as no.4. A clear top 4 there for me. Strange Journey and Soul Hackers are "underrated" here in a way. Mirage Session, though good, a bit too high up here IMO.

@nhSnork Strange Journey Redux is inferior in every way. One of the worst Atlus rereleases ever, only beaten out by Catherine Full Body.

Nocturne, Strange Journey DS and Devil Survivor/Overclocked are the best games in the series and Soul Hackers is way too low here.

@drunk_guy
Not really though. IV, V and Strange Journey being the best is kind of the usual thing, albeit maybe not in that order but yeah.

SMT is Persona without whiny/stereotyped/boring teenage drama and waifus.

Have I already done that one on this site? Might be the case but it's always what I answer to the "without the heart" comment.

@gamering yikes, sounds horrible! Thank goodness I apparently bought and have been playing a different Strange Journey Redux, then. :V

@gamering why is SJ inferior and what was wrong with Catherine Full Body?

Genuinely curious. I played original strange Journey to the final Dungeon but haven't played redux yet (hopefully starting soon).

I beat both OG Catherine and Full Body.
I personally really liked what they added but realize the story change might not be for everyone. Was it just the story or were there other reasons Full body was inferior?

@Ayuawake
Strange Journey Redux waters down the gameplay with removing the subapp limit, overpowered commander skills and new subapps to make the game easier. The game also adds save anywhere in a game not really designed around this.

Aside from the gameplay being worse, the art direction is inferior, obligatory remake girl is a Mary Sue, the three new endings miss the point of the original endings entirely. It doesn't feel respectful to the original game at all.

There are a few decent additions. I liked the womb of grief enough gameplay wise. But I would never recommend SJR over the original.

" It strikes a middle ground and boasts an energetic and dynamic combat system wrapped in a setting that takes J-Pop cheesiness to astral heights"

Someone get whoever wrote this drivel to play Idolmaster or something similar because this just sounds insincere....

Also both the encore port and the western original aren't really worth playing due to the pointless censorship made to both.

In any of the cases were the original was on DS, and they made an upgraded 3DS port, I only have the original. I'm surprised to see the originals higher on the list than the 3DS ports. Where they really better, or are the 3DS ports taking a hit because they're remakes?
And I got to say, I would rank SMTV (not Vengeance, never played it) below several of the others. I still like the game, but I thought Strange Journey and IV were better.

Any newcomers looking at this list please don't give it any merit. It really is all over the place.