When people think of the Shin Megami Tensei series started by Atlus, they probably first think of the PlayStation versions of Revelations: Persona or Persona 2 as the start of the series. It isn’t their fault, really. After all, for people in North America, that was probably their first encounter with Shin Megami Tensei.

However, the series has been along for much longer than that. It all began with Megami Tensei, which eventually underwent a slight title change and became Shin Megami Tensei. There are entries in the series going back as far as the Famicom, and in Japan the series considered as mainstream as Final Fantasy. Unfortunately, people outside of Japan will never get the opportunity to play through the older entries, unless there’s some sort of port or remake, which is unlikely due to the age of some of the older entries.

Today in Important Importables, we’ll look back at the surprisingly long history of the Shin Megami Tensei games, taking a brief overview of all of the entries in the series. Please bear in mind though, that more recent entries will probably have more detailed descriptions than the older ones…

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon is a bit of a surprise. While the prequel, Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army was also released in North America, it wasn’t a huge, blockbuster title, and the PS2 is nearing the end of its lifespan. However, Atlus decided that its fans deserved to see the rest of Raidou’s story, and decided to do a limited release of Devil Summoner 2.

While Devil Summoner 2 is a direct sequel, it does a great job of introducing newcomers to the characters that appeared in the original Devil Summoner. Also, the way the story is presented, the events of the original game aren’t mentioned all that often and an option to learn essential information from the first game is often offered. A nice touch for returning Devil Summoner players is that the original’s save data can be loaded into Devil Summoner 2.

Devil Summoner 2 transports players to 1930′s Japan. Raidou Kuzunohoha the 14th, the 14th devil summoner from Kuzunoha village to earn the Raidou Kuzunoha title, has once again been summoned by Yatagarasu to protect Japan’s Capital from an otherworldly influence…

Consider this fair warning procrastinators, there’ll be no crying when this game is no longer available.

The next chapter in the Devil Summoner series, the ridiculously long named Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon has been released today (May 12, 2009) for the PS2. This is your friendly reminder to get your orders in or finish doing what you have to do for that spending money because this title is niche and is going to be in very short print.

The biggest draw to purchase is the Jack Frost plushie dubbed Raiho, packaged with the deluxe launch edition game. Seriously, can you ignore that demon’s wide smile? The deluxe edition will definitely be in limited supplies only and will retail for the same $39.99 that the regular edition will go for which may or may not give you added incentive to race into your local retailer or online distribution site to place your order.