Majin Tensei

Majin Tensei
Cover art for the first title
Genres	Strategy
Developers	Atlus, Multimedia Intelligence Transfer, Bbmf Corporation
Publishers	Atlus
Composers	Hidehito Aoki Misaki Okibe
Platforms	Super Famicom, Microsoft Windows, Sega Saturn, mobile phones
Platform of origin	Super Famicom
Year of inception	1994
First release	Majin Tensei January 28, 1994
Latest release	Majin Tensei: Blind Thinker II March 14, 2008

Majin Tensei (Japanese: 魔神転生^?, "Demon God Reincarnation") is a series of strategy video games published by Atlus. It is a spin-off from Atlus' Megami Tensei franchise, and began with 1994's Majin Tensei. Since then, four further titles have been released: Majin Tensei II: Spiral Nemesis (1995), Ronde (1997), Majin Tensei: Blind Thinker (2007) and Majin Tensei: Blind Thinker II (2008). The player navigates a field seen from a top-down or three-quarters perspective as a human character, and battles demons; they can also recruit demons, and fuse multiple allied demons to create new, stronger demons.

The various titles have been developed by Atlus, Multimedia Intelligence Transfer and Bbmf Corporation, and feature music by Hidehito Aoki and Misaki Okibe. Aoki made use of ambient music, while also incorporating other elements into the compositions, including funk and synthesized piano. Soundtrack albums for the first two games were published by Pony Canyon, and a Majin Tensei manga was published by Enix. The series' gameplay, visuals and music have all been well received by critics, with particular praise to the demon fusion, the large character art and backgrounds for the battle scenes, and the use of ambient music. An exception was Ronde, which was heavily criticized, particularly for its visuals.

The Majin Tensei titles are strategy games in which the player takes the role of a human character who battles against demons. They navigate a field – seen in a top-down perspective in Majin Tensei and in a three-quarters perspective starting in Majin Tensei II – with characters represented by small, stick figure-like sprites, and switch to scenes with large, detailed characters when engaging in battle; in the first Majin Tensei, only the opponent is shown in battle scenes, while Majin Tensei II uses a split-screen presentation to show both sides. Ronde is an exception, and instead uses 3D graphics with a scrolling camera. On the field, the player can access pools that regenerate their energy, and starting in Majin Tensei II, they can use the terrain to gain an advantage in battles, increasing their defense rating. The player can also use items, which are bought using money they earn from battles. To attack enemies or support allies, the player needs to move their units on the field so that they are adjacent to the target of the action.