So, the other day I got thinking about Megami Tensei, you know, the games with all the demons. And it just hit me, like, how many of those guys are there, actually? It feels like a ton whenever you play, right? So, I figured, let me try and figure this out. Just a little side project for myself.
First off, I just kinda sat there and thought about the games I played. Shin Megami Tensei III, V, some Persona games… even back then, the compendium felt massive. My first guess was maybe, like, 500? But then I remembered all the different games, the spin-offs, the older titles I never even touched. Nah, gotta be more.
Getting Started
Okay, so where do you even begin counting something like this? It’s not like Atlus puts a big number on the game box. I started just poking around online. You know, searching stuff like “list of all Megami Tensei demons” or “how many demons in SMT”.
Pretty quickly, I found myself wading through fan wikis and forums. Lots of lists, lots of names. It was kinda cool seeing them all written down, but also, wow, it was a lot. Just scrolling felt like work.
The Complication
Then I hit a snag. What exactly counts as a ‘demon’? Like, is Pyro Jack different from Jack Frost? Yeah, obviously. But what about those slightly different colored versions of the same demon? Or bosses that you can’t recruit? Do fusion accidents that pop up randomly count towards the total?
I realized I needed some ground rules for my own count. I decided, okay, let’s focus on unique demon entries that generally appear in the compendium or are recruitable across the main series and maybe major spin-offs. That seemed fair, trying to avoid counting every single variant that technically exists but isn’t really a distinct ‘character’.
Diving into the Lists
With that rough idea, I started looking at specific game lists. Some wikis are amazing, honestly. They try to catalogue demons by game. So, I’d look at the SMT III list, then the SMT V list, maybe Persona 5’s list. I tried to mentally (and sometimes physically, with notepad) cross-reference them. See who’s new, who’s a returning favorite.
This took a while. It’s tedious work! You see a name, you think “Okay, got Pixie,” then you see her again in another game’s list. You gotta make sure you’re not double-counting too much, but also catching everyone.
- Checked lists for mainline SMT games.
- Looked into Persona games too, since they share a lot.
- Tried comparing lists to spot unique ones vs returning ones.
The Big Picture
After spending a good chunk of time on this, looking through various sources and trying to piece things together, I started to get a sense of the scale. It wasn’t hundreds. It felt more like… well, way over a thousand, easily. Some people online throw around numbers like 1500, maybe even more if you count every little thing across every single obscure release and mobile game.
Finding one single, solid, official number? That seems pretty much impossible. The series is huge, it’s been around forever, and new demons get added with new games. Plus, different people count differently based on those rules I was wrestling with earlier.
My Takeaway
So, what did I find out? How many Megami Tensei demons are there? The short answer is: a lot. More than you can easily count without dedicating serious time and making some judgment calls. The exact number is fuzzy and always changing.
But honestly, the process was kinda fun. It really makes you appreciate the sheer creativity and history packed into this franchise. It’s not just about the number, it’s about the incredible variety and the world they’ve built with all these mythological figures. So yeah, couldn’t give you a precise digit, but I definitely have a newfound respect for the demon cataloguers out there!
