Part 22: EX Update 1 - Akuma Zenshou

Akuma Zenshou opening

The world
Many people call this place home
But throughout time, creatures other than humans have laid claim to it as well
Sometimes they're called gods, sometimes they're called demons
Again and again, a neverending process
Love... hate...And fear.
"Welcome to the Goumaden..."

Akuma Zensho (Demonic Compendium) was a special disc produced for the Sega Saturn that contained the art, mythology, and stats for every demon in Devil Summoner, including the bosses. Since none of the MegaTen games before SMT3 had an in-game demonic compendium, this was the only way to get all of the demon info. It was released April 26, 1996, four months after Devil Summoner was released, and cost a reasonable 2900 yen (~$27 at the time of release) compared to most Saturn prices of 6000-8000 yen.

Apart from being a cool piece of MegaTen's olden days, it's also been an invaluable asset to me during this LP. Interestingly, it seems that the mythology written for this disc was also used for the compendium descriptions in Soul Hackers, Strange Journey, both Devil Survivors, and SMT4.



Alright, into the game itself.



After the title screen, this is your first sight. If you had been using this software before, then the last demon you looked at will appear instead.



You can sort demons by their race, name, or level. Demons you haven't looked at will appear in white, while demons you have looked at will appear in orange. Bosses are put on a separate screen than regular demons.



Moving onto when you pick the demon you want. Over on Data, there are four different sections to look at. The first contains basic stats about the demon, with the second containing more stats and a list of their moves. Atlus actually made a pretty big mistake with the second screen, as every demon's magic power as displayed on this disc is half of what it actually is in-game. Whoops~



The third screen provides their personality and loyalty type as well as some possible fusions. I didn't bring it up in any main updates, but a demon's personality determines what actions they'll take when told "GO" during battle. The Pixie here is Cowardly, so she'll guard herself and use buffs on the team.



The fourth and last screen shows a snippet of their mythology. If you want more, then you'll have to click on View first.



Here's what you'll see when you click View. You can switch what music is playing in here, with the default being the Goumaden theme. The other music you can listen to is:
Sewer
Safety Zone
Otherworld Dungeon 3
Dr. Thrill
Title



You can zoom in and out on the art.



Clicking on Note gets you the full, two-screen mythology, including their location of origin. This is where I obtained all of the information on demons I included in my posts. You can quickly get to the next demon by clicking on the Devil buttons, and can set the pictures to automatically scroll with the Auto button.

That's all for the software itself, but there's a few things hidden on the disc. The hidden track from the original game disc returns here along with another hidden track that contains an interview with the game's director Kouji "Cozy" Okada and artist Kazuma Kaneko. Unfortunately my spoken Japanese isn't good enough to translate the entire interview, so you'll have to make do with just hearing some Japanese men talk.
Cozy and Kaneko interview

The demon pictures from the game's intro are included as wallpapers, and the staff also included a Read-Me file talking about them:




In order, the demons are: Jack Frost, Leanan Sidhe, Culebre, Brigid, Gabriel, Phoenix, and Sleipnir.

Lastly, there is a bibliography containing all of the books Shougo Isogai used for research to write the mythology for this disc. Probably not that useful for you guys unless you live in Japan and speak Japanese.