History VideoGame / MegamiTensei

* SequenceBreaking: The game almost encourages you to, given that it gives you the means to teleport to the final section of the dungeon less than halfway through the dungeon.

* ContinuingisPainful: The game gives you one small mercy against its NintendoHard tendencies in that you have the option to be resurrected without having to use your last password or save. You'll keep all your experience and progress, but you will lose half your Makka (money) and all your Jewels.

* MiniGame: The franchise tradition of offering gambling mini-games started here. One is a slots game and the other is a numbers guessing game, and both are in Bien.

* Mini-Game: The franchise tradition of offering gambling mini-games started here. One is a slots game and the other is a numbers guessing game, and both are in Bien.

* EarlyGameHell: A staple of RPGs like these, but especially true here. Just outside the game's starting point, Micon Village, one Gnome can wipe you out with one Zan spell.

* GuideDangIt: Freeing Izanami, which requires you to put three items into her mask in the right order. Failing to do so gets you zapped back to the ''very beginning'' of the game, and your only real clue is a vague riddle cited by a {{NPC}}.

* GuideDangIt: Freeing Izanami, which requires you to put three items into her mask in the right order. Failing to do so gets you zapped back to the ''very beginning'' of the game, and your only real clue is a vague riddle cited by a {{NPC}}. It's actually not necessary to win the game, however.

** Although in a few ways it's arguably less this than its more famous ''Shin Megami Tensei'' follow-ups. Up until the second town in the Corridor of Mazurka, there are no random encounters in the towns, and the demon negotiation system is much simpler, with you usually being able to bribe demons into joining you (although this is offset by there being far fewer recruitable demons).

** Although in a few ways it's arguably less this than its more famous ''Shin Megami Tensei'' follow-ups. Up until the second town in the Corridor of Mazurka, there are no random encounters in the towns, and the demon negotiation system is much simpler, with you usually being able to bribe demons into joining you.

* DungeonTown: All the towns in the game are all ''in'' a dungeon, but the first town, Micon Village, and all the nameless towns you run into up until the fourth region of the underworld do not have random encounters. After that, however...

* DiscOneNuke: Cerberus, who can be recruited on the first floor of the dungeon's first section, Daedalus Tower. He's not quite the nuke he is when you first have him in ''ShinMegamiTenseiI'', but he's considerably stronger than any demons you can recruit at that point and even better than most if not all of the demons you'll likely be able to fuse then. He also has the [[MythologyGag game's resurrection spell Recarm]], something no demon you'll probably be able to recruit soon will have. Likely enough you'll want to keep him in your active party up until you get halfway through Valhalla.

* BonusDungeon: ''Megami Tensei: Old Testament'' adds a bonus section, Hades, that's accessible through Valhalla if you have Cerberus in your active roster. It's a confusing maze full of teleportation tiles and damage tiles with a few strong enemies (although also a lot of weak enemies), and worst of all you can't use your COMP which bars you from seeing the auto-map (although you can still use the spell Mappara) and from summoning demons. The rewards for going there, besides challenge, are...not clear.

* FloatingContinent: The Sky City of Bien. After you save its citizens from Medusa, you can fly it between three different spots, including the final section.

* DiscOneNuke: Cerberus, who can be recruited on the first floor of the dungeon's first section, Daedalus Tower. He's not quite the nuke he is when you first have him in ''ShinMegamiTenseiI'', but he's considerably stronger than any demons you can recruit at that point and even better than most if not all of the demons you'll likely be able to fuse then. He also has the [[MythologyGag game's resurrection spell Recarm]] sooner than any demon you're likely to get. Likely enough you'll want to keep him in your active party up until you get halfway through Valhalla.

* DiscOneNuke: Cerberus, who can be recruited on the first floor of the dungeon's first section, Daedalus Tower. He's not quite the nuke he is when you first have him in ''ShinMegamiTenseiI'', but he's considerably stronger than any demons you can recruit at that point and even better than most of the demons you'll be able to fuse then. He also has the [[MythologyGag game's resurrection spell Recarm]] sooner than any demon you're likely to get. Likely enough you'll want to keep him in your active party up until you get halfway through Valhalla.

* BonusDungeon: ''Megami Tensei: Old Testament'' adds a bonus section that's accessible through Valhalla if you have Cerberus in your active roster. It's a confusing maze full of teleportation tiles and damage tiles with a few strong enemies (although also a lot of weak enemies), and worst of all you can't use your COMP which bars you from seeing the auto-map (although you can still use the spell Mappara) and from summoning demons. The rewards for going there, besides challenge, are...not clear.

* BonusDungeon: ''Megami Tensei: Old Testament'' adds a bonus section that's accessible through Valhalla if you have Cerberus in your active roster. It's full of damage tiles with a few strong enemies (although also a lot of weak enemies), and worst of all you can't use your COMP which bars you from seeing the auto-map (although you can still use the spell Mappara) and from summoning demons. The rewards for going there, besides challenge, are...not clear.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The plot's connections to the first two ''DigitalDevilStory'' novels and the lack of any post-apocalyptic elements or anything having to do with Order versus Chaos alone gives ''Megami Tensei'' this. Gameplay-wise, there are ties to the 16-bit ''ShinMegamiTensei'' games, like the presence of the COMP and having a male protagonist and a magic-using female protagonist, but the spell names are completely different, lacking the distinctive ''MegaTen'' names, and there's far less emphasis on buffing/debuffing magic. The ''Old Testament'' remake changes this somewhat, by renaming the spells and introducing ''ShinMegamiTensei'''s auto-mapping system.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The plot's connections to the first two ''DigitalDevilStory'' novels and the lack of any post-apocalyptic elements or anything having to do with Order versus Chaos alone gives ''Megami Tensei'' this. Gameplay-wise, there are ties to the 16-bit ''ShinMegamiTensei'' games, like the presence of the COMP and having a male protagonist and a magic-using female protagonist, but the spell names are completely different, lacking the distinctive ''MegaTen'' names, and there's less emphasis on buffing/debuffing magic. The ''Old Testament'' remake changes this, both by renaming the spells and introducing ''ShinMegamiTensei'''s auto-mapping system.

* DungeonTown: All the towns in the game are all ''in'' a dungeon, but the first town, Macon Village, and all the nameless towns you run into up until the fourth region of the underworld do not have random encounters. After that, however...

* FetchQuest: Lucifer and each of the Tyrants except the first, Minotaur, require one of these to make them beatable. For example, without the White Dragon Gem, Lucifer can completely heal his HP whenever he wants.