Shin Megami Tensei: If...



Shin Megami Tensei: If... is the third installment in the Shin Megami Tensei series and the prequel to the Persona series. The main protagonist is Tamaki Uchida and the antagonist is Ideo Hazama. The villainous faction are the demons from the Expanse.

It is the precursor to the entire Persona series, introducing the "Guardian" system, which eventually evolved into the Personas, and the school setting that would become a mainstay of the subseries.

If... was originally released in 1994, and never released outside of Japan, but has been ported to many different consoles.

In 1995, If... received a single volume manga adaptation written by Kazuaki Yanagisawa, Kazuma Kaneko, and Cozy Okada. and illustrated by Kazuaki Yanagisawa.

In July 1995 a novel adaptation was written by Muneo Kubo with illustrations by Kazuma Kaneko and published by Aspect Novels.

In 2002, If... received a remake the original PlayStation featuring updated graphics and music.

Official Description
At Karukozaka High School, bullied and brilliant student Ideo Hazama attempts to summon a demon from the Expanse to exact revenge on his tormentors. The summoning goes wrong and Hazama is possessed by the demon, declaring himself as the "Demon Emperor" and throws the school into the demon's realm. The protagonist is among those trapped in the school, along with fellow students Reiko Akanezawa, Yumi Shirakawa, Shinji "Charlie" Kuroi and Akira Miyamoto. Should the protagonist side with Yumi or Shinji, they navigate the demon-infested school and towers, finally confronting and killing Hazama. In Yumi's route, the school is restored as if nothing happened, while in Shinji's route the school and its students remain trapped in the Expanse. If the Protagonist allied with Reiko, they enter the Demon Emperor's mind after he is first defeated, and see Hazama's motivations for his actions. Reiko, Hazama's sister, calms him and stays with him in the Expanse while the protagonist is teleported back to the human world and the school is returned to normal.

Summary
Ideo Hazama, a student of Karukozaka High School who is bullied by his peers, performs an occult ceremony in the school's gym in order to obtain power and get his revenge. As a result, Hazama managed to become the Expanse's ruler under the alias of Deity Emperor and transport the whole school there. The protagonist is one of the school's students who decides to explore the Expanse in hopes of going back home.

However, the Expanse is crawling with dangerous and powerful demons. Shortly before the school was sent to the Expanse, a copy of the Demon Summoning Program was uploaded into the school's computer network. With the help of the president of the school's computer club, the protagonist installs the program into a COMP custom-made by one of the teachers. With this, the protagonist can summon and negotiate with the demons that inhabit the Expanse.

At the beginning of the game, the protagonist must choose a partner to accompany them in their journey from a group of four students: Yumi Shirakawa, Shinji "Charlie" Kuroi, Reiko Akanezawa, or Akira Miyamoto. Each partner has a defined route and once one has been chosen, the protagonist is locked on that path. The first three options visit multiple worlds based on most of the Seven Deadly Sins while Akira's route explores a massive tower known as Tower of Confinement.

Charlie's Route
In this route, Charlie and the protagonist are only preoccupied with going back home and honestly don't care about the fate of the other students. As they are not a threat to Hazama's plan, he sends the two of them back to the human world after the final battle, but the school and all other students remain trapped there forever. The school's disappearance is blamed on an explosion caused by a gas leak. Charlie and the protagonist try to go back to their normal lives, but spend the rest of their days in fear that Hazama will one day come to the human world and try to conquer it.

Yumi's Route
Yumi and the protagonist want to stop Hazama and save the school. After much hardship, they defeat Hazama and the school building, as well as all living students, is safely returned to the human world. Life goes back to normal as all students try to forget what happened.

Reiko's Route
Mostly identical to Yumi's Route, Reiko's continues for one extra dungeon after Hazama's defeat, exploring his past and why he decided to get revenge. At the end, Reiko decides to stay behind with Hazama's spirit while the protagonist and the school are sent back to the human world safely.

Akira's Route
In the Super Famicom version, this route is only available if the game's cartridge has a save file in which final dungeon is unlocked (or, in Charlie's case, right before the fight with Hazama). In the PlayStation port, it is instead available in a New Game Plus.

Akira and the protagonist try to escape the school via a secret manhole, but end up trapped in the Tower of Confinement. Hazama appears before them saying that escaping is forbidden and starts attacking them with demons. Akira is severely injured and on the verge of death but is saved by fusing himself with the demon Amon. The now half-demonic Akira has Amon's memories and tells the protagonist that Hazama used the Demon Summoning Program to fight his way to the top of the tower and obtain the powers of the Deity Emperor, sealing Amon in the process. After defeating Hazama, Akira tells the protagonist that he and Amon are now one and the same and so he has no place in the world of humans. The protagonist is then sent back while the school and the other students remain in the Expanse.

Shin Megami Tensei: Kahn (2002)
sequel to the manga adaptation of Shin Megami Tensei: if...Nobu and Yumi Shirakawa were the only students of Karukozaka High School to survive while the rest of the school appears to have disappeared entirely. Nobu and Yumi transfer to different schools and lose touch with one another, but they have not escaped the attention of two groups that are interested in the gateway to the Expanse that was opened within Karukozaka. On one side is Gotou, who is seeking to enact martial law within Tokyo to contain what he sees as an imminent demonic threat and on the other side is Ambassador Thorman (Tollman in the Tokyopop translation), an American ambassador and a founder of the Order of Messiah. Thorman works as a pastor and missionary in Japan while seeking out the survivors of Kaukozaka.

Shin Megami Tensei: If... Hazama Chapter (2004)
A cell phone game published in 2004 as a prequel to Shin Megami Tensei: if.... The game explains how Hazama has ascended to become the Deity Emperor and sent Karukozaka High into the Expanse. In it, Hazama can use the COMP and cast magic, and the alignment system was tweaked from the original games in that alignment no longer influences negotiation (for example, you can recruit Chaos demons despite being Law aligned). Despite its status as a prequel to if..., the gameplay of Hazama's Chapter is closer to Shin Megami Tensei II than the original if...; for example, the Guardian System from the original if... did not return.

Trivia

 * if... is the first game in the entire Megami Tensei franchise to feature a protagonist whose gender can be chosen by the player as well as the first game to feature a canonical female protagonist.
 * Shin Megami Tensei: if... is considered by Atlus to be a part of the main Shin Megami Tensei series, although it's not a numbered entry due to its gaiden premise.
 * The 50th Anniversary Pack (in celebration of the in-game school) was a deluxe edition of the game that included things like a pen and a school handbook.
 * Shin Megami Tensei: if... is set in the same continuity as the Persona and Devil Summoner series.
 * According to Persona series director Katsura Hashino, if... provided the basis for the creation of the series, carrying over its high school setting and focus on adolescent troubles.
 * The main characters of Shin Megami Tensei appear in this game as Fiends and Guardians.
 * Megidola made its first appearance in this game.
 * The title "if..." is a reference to the 1968 British drama if... starring Malcolm McDowell. The same font is used for both titles.
 * Limited Edition copies of the PlayStation remake came with a DVD containing info and special interviews about the then upcoming Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne.
 * Like Shin Megami Tensei and Shin Megami Tensei II, the Super Famicom version has been translated by Aeon Genesis, released October 25th, 2018.

Continuity

 * In all of if... 's endings, Tamaki is depowered to level 1 after returning to the human world, which would explain why she is not nearly as powerful as her status as a previous protagonist would suggest in the Persona series, retaining only the memories of the events of if... as experience about how to deal with demons.
 * In if... Tamaki uses an Arm Terminal custom-made by Yahata, one of Karukozaka High School's teachers as her COMP. In Persona 2 however, she uses a GUMP from the Devil Summoner series when fighting against King Leo/Tatsuya Sudou.