Development and History
Megami Tensei, the first game in the series, was based on Megami Tensei, the first volume of the Japanese horror novel series Digital Devil Story by Aya Nishitani. Although the series originated in Japan in 1987, Revelations: Persona was the first game to be localized for North America, in 1996. While Persona is set in Japan, when localizing the game for North America, developer Atlus attempted to remove as many references to Japan in the game as possible. In addition to being given more English-sounding names, the appearance of several of the game's characters was changed. The character Masao "Mark" Inaba, just named Mark in the English version, had his appearance changed from asian to caucasian. The hair color of several other characters was also changed. The characters were returned to their original appearances in the PSP remake.
Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey was the first game in the series to be developed with localization in mind. Kazuma Kaneko, the game's producer and creative designer revealed that he set the game in Antarctica instead of Japan to appeal to audiences outside of the game's native country. Also, Atlus decided not to designate a number in the title in order to cause less confusion outside of Japan where players were not as familiar with the series.
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