Atlus has one of the best back catalogs of JRPGs in the industry, and the company is finally embracing its older titles and bringing them to modern systems so that a new audience can experience them for the first time.
The Shin Megami Tensei series debuted on the NES & PC, but the mainline entries in the series didn't receive an English release until the PS2 era when Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne was released in 2004. The Persona series predated this in the states, with the first game and one entry in the Persona 2 duology being released on the original PlayStation, but none of these games found an audience. The title that brought Atlus' JRPGs into the limelight was Persona 3, which attracted a cult audience with its mixture of dungeon crawler and life simulator, both of which connected to the other in a unique way.
The Persona series has gone from strength to strength, with Persona 5 bringing the franchise to mainstream attention. This seems to be the impetus for Atlus bringing its older titles to modern systems, starting with the remastered version of Catherine, which had already earned a fanbase for its competitive multiplayer modes on the previous generation of systems.
It seems that Catherine: Full Body was just the first entry in a larger push by Atlus to bring its celebrated older titles to the Switch. Persona 4 Golden was shadow dropped on Steam over the summer, where it quickly sold over half a million copies. There is a good chance that we will see this version of the game brought to other systems in the future. The most recent Nintendo Direct revealed that Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne HD Remaster is coming to the Switch next year, alongside Shin Megami Tensei V. These are some of the best entries in the series, and their success on modern platforms will likely prompt Atlus to go further.
The question that fans now have to ask themselves is what will Atlus remaster next? Persona 3 seems like an obvious step, considering the success of the other entries in the series. There were several Shin Megami Tensei games released on the Nintendo DS and 3DS that could use HD ports, including the Devil Survivor series, Strange Journey, Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers, and Shin Megami Tensei IV & Apocalypse. All of these are incredible titles and it would be easy enough to remove the dual-screen functionality from them, as they were mostly used for maps. There are also older Shin Megami Tensei games from the NES/SNES era that could use remasters, in order to bring all of the entries in the series to modern platforms.
The JRPGs produced by Atlus are known for their brutal difficulty, but they each offer a unique experience in their genre, which has helped them to find an audience in this era of clones and chasing trends. It took a long time, but the Shin Megami Tensei name holds weight outside of Japan, and we hope that Atlus capitalizes on this success and brings even more classics to modern systems.
Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne HD Remaster will be released for Nintendo Switch in Spring 2021. Shin Megami Tensei V will be released for Nintendo Switch in 2021. Persona 4 Golden is available on Steam now.