It’s only been a little more than three years ago since I had first heard of Atlus. Having just gotten a bit of money for my birthday in April ’05, I went looking to buy a game that I’d been reading a lot of good things about online. That game was Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga. There was only one small problem though, I couldn’t find the game in any of the local GameStop stores (there are three within five minutes of my house) I’d checked. Even more puzzling, at the time, was that the game had only been released two days before I'd went out to buy it. It wasn’t until I went to ToysRUs -as a last resort- that I miraculously found the game, the only copy they had gotten.

After getting the game home, excited as I was since this was going to be the first RPG I’d played in many years, I looked at all of the extra stuff that came in the LE case, and then, before I even started playing, I made a point to go online and find out why it was so difficult to get a copy. After asking around on various forums, I was informed of how Atlus does business. So used to the ‘print a bunch of copies and let them sit on store shelves until they sell’ formula, like almost every other game publisher, I was surprised to learn that Atlus prints only enough copies that will be guaranteed to sell quickly to their fans and little more. In other words, I found out right then and there that if I wanted to buy any more Atlus games in the future, I’d better pre-order them to make sure I got copy. At the time, pre-ordering games was something that I had almost never done before, with the rare exception of a special edition game release.

Having just gotten a PS2, which was my first PS console (I skipped the PS1), this might have played a larger role in my growing interest for RPGs than the Atlus game I’d just purchased. Don’t get me wrong, SMT: DDS 1+2 are good games with great battle systems that I enjoyed a lot, but at the time I was simply on an RPG buying spree. Some of the old PS1 era RPGs that I’d missed, such as the Final Fantasy games, were acquired quickly and for cheap, but soon it came time to buy the older releases with the bigger price tags. At first, I thought games like Lunar 1 and Lunar 2 were expensive, but then I tried to find a copy of Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne. Needless to say, as I’m a collector and wanted it in great condition, it cost quite a bit of coin.

As time moved on, I kept on buying more and more RPGs and it was then I realized how Atlus had me hooked. Seeing as I really enjoyed Atlus releases, it got to the point that I couldn’t stand to miss any of them (with rare exception), so I started pre-ordering every game they published (due to the limited print runs mentioned before). Over time, I amassed quite a bit of Atlus games and my fandom started to grow to the point that just a few months ago, I imported copies of SMT1 and SMT2 from Japan for the SFC.

Even now as I write this story of my love for Atlus, there are many future releases that I’ve already pre-ordered. Games like Etrian Odyssey 2, Izuna 2, Luminous Arc 2, Spectral Force 3, Operation Darkness and Trauma Center 2 have had me saving money months in advance to buy them as soon as they hit retail. Of course, I can only hope that Atlus appreciates the strain they put on my wallet by releasing so many new games this close together, not that I’m really complaining though.

Before I stop writing, I like to mention that this isn’t a one-way affair. Atlus seems to really care about their fans, more so than any other company I’ve ever seen. Since I’d signed up for the Atlus newsletter a long time ago, it has now grown into what has become known as the “Atlus Faithful”. Over the past few months, Atlus has been sending their fans exclusive content through these emails such as official artwork and more. Atlus even sent a $5 coupon to announce that their online store would now be handled by Amazon.com. If you go to the websites for certain games like Etrian Odyssey 2 or Izuna 2, in addition to new desktop wallpapers and avatars being added weekly, they also have things such as funny comics about the games that are worth checking out.

Anyways, after all of this gushing over my favorite company, I bet anyone still here is pretty tired of reading by now. So, I’ll just finish with a couple of pictures of my Atlus collection so far. Thanks for reading.



Steambot Chronicles and Stella Deus were pasted in, since I somehow forgot to grab them for the picture. SMT:DDS2 is inside the DDS1 boxset.

Cheers.