In their recent announcement for Shin Megami Tensei IV’s Summer release in North America, Atlus mentioned that the game is being worked on by developers who have been involved with games like Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne, Strange Journey, Persona and Soul Hackers.
Those are some of Atlus’ more notable games, so we decided to take a look at the staff list on Shin Megami Tensei IV’s Japanese website, to see just what the game’s lead designers have worked on in the past. You can find the translated list below. (Note that this is more of a literal translation to ensure accuracy.)
Scenario original draft: Kazuma Kaneko
Shin Megami Tensei series demon design
Director: Kazuyuki Yamai
Maken X – Level Design
Persona 2: Eternal Punishment (PS1) – Level design, EX dungeon supervisor
Maken Shao – Lead level design
Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne – Lead level design, NPC dialogue
Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne Maniacs – Director
Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army – Director
Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon – Director
Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey – Events, scenario support
Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers (3DS) – Director
Character Designer: Masayuki Doi
Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne – Concept art
Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne Maniacs – Concept art
Digital Devil Saga – Concept art
Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army – Concept art, sub-character design
Trauma Center: Second Opinion – Character designer
Trauma Center: New Blood – Art director, character designer
Trauma Center 2: Under the Knife – Character designer
Trauma Team – Art director, Character designer
Persona 2: Eternal Punishment (PSP) – New character design
Devil Summoner 2: Soul Hackers (3DS) – New character design
Art Director: Eiji Ishida
Kartia: The Word of Fate – Movie scenes
Maken X – Character modelling, motion
Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne – Background graphic supervisor
Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne Maniacs – Art director
Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army – Art director
Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon – Art director
Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey – Director
Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers (3DS) – Art director
Main Programmer: Satoshi Ooyama
Persona 2: Innocent Sin (PS1) – Dungeon tools programming
Maken Shao – Main programmer
Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne – Main programmer
Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne Maniacs – Main programmer
Digital Devil Saga – Main programmer
Digital Devil Saga 2 – Main programmer
Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army – Main programmer
Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon – Main programmer
Catherine – Bar Nightmare Stage Dance Floor program
Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers (3DS) – Technical director
Sound Director: Kenichi Tsuchiya
Revelations: Persona (PS1) – Sound creator [Composer, sound effects]
Shin Megami Tensei (PS1) – Series porting sound director [Composer, SE]
Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne – Sound creator [Composer, sound effects]
Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne Maniacs – Sound creator [Composer, SE]
Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army – Sound creator [Voice Recording & MA]
Persona 3 – Sound creator [Sound effects]
Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey – Sound creator [Sound effects]
Tokyo Mono Hara Shi – Sound director [Composition, sound effects]
Catherine – Sound creator [Composition, sound effects]
Persona 4: Golden – Sound creator [ Composition, sound effects]
Sound Composer: Ryouta Kozuka
Persona 4 – Sound creator [Composer]
Persona (PSP) – Sound creator [Sound effects/new movies BGM etc.]
Persona 3 Portable – Sound creator [Sound effect creation]
Trauma Team – Sound creator [Composer, sound effect creation]
Growlanser: Wayfarer of Time – Sound creator [New OP/ED songs]
Persona 2: Innocent Sin (PSP) – Sound creator [Arranged BGM, new song comp.]
Devil Survivor 2 – Sound creator [Composer]
Devil Survivor: Overclocked – Sound creator [New OP song]
Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers – Sound creator [New OP, composer, SE porting]
The team of designers working on Shin Megami Tensei IV is called the “Maniacs Team,” presumably due to their heavy involvement in the Maniacs edition of Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne (and in some cases, the original version, too).
Update: Added Kaneko’s involvement.
