Chronological List of Demons and Similar Entities in Megami Tensei/Guidelines

This is a detailed list of guidelines for subjects listed on the Chronological List of Demons and Similar Entities in Megami Tensei.

Guidelines

The following are guidelines for listing a subject's first appearance:

• This list is largely intended to function similarly to a bestiary that records all subjects that represent cultural figures or concepts across the Megami Tensei franchise (including non-video game media) who serve a narrative role or appear in combat as enemies or recruitable allies. This list may include Demons, Persona, Atma Avatars, Beasts, and Guardians. Other types of characters such as Atlus original human characters who are related to a Megami Tensei story or who are part of an unique encounter, crossover characters, Mirages, etc. may also be included if they meet certain conditions:
  • Atlus original human characters who are related to a Megami Tensei story or who are part of an unique encounter must appear in multiple Megami Tensei games and function as a generic recruitable ally or enemy in gameplay in at least one of them.
    • For example, Demifiend would be listed under Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne due to his appearance in Shin Megami Tensei V; however, characters like Gaston from Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse or Judah Singh from Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers would not be included on the list. Similarly, Daleth is not be listed despite being fought multiple times as a boss, while Yakuza is listed because it is considered a generic encounter.
  • Crossover characters must function as an enemy or generic recruitable ally in gameplay. When listing crossover characters, input the name of their associated series after the Megami Tensei media they debuted in within the following code: <small>''TEXT''</small>.
    • For example, Guts from Berserk would be listed under Shin Megami Tensei: Liberation Dx2; however, characters only featured in event dialog would not be included on the list.
  • Mirages must represent a specific Fire Emblem character.
  • Any Megami Tensei characters who do not belong to any of the aforementioned categories may be listed if they function as an enemy or generic recruitable ally or enemy in combat. Alternatively, if they are not involved in gameplay, they may be included if they directly interact with another character(s), object(s), or setting(s) present in the events of the media they appear in.
• The subject must personally appear in a scene to be listed. If not physically present, the subject must interact with another character, object, or setting that is present at the time.
  • For example, a subject will not be listed if it is only referenced by other characters or if an object or spell is simply named after and/or empowered by them (i.e. the weapon Hinokagutsuchi).
• The listing of a given subject should be based on the name of its wiki article; however, there are exceptions to this:
  • When there is a canon dispute for the name of the subject between the original text of its media appearance and its localization. Refer to the wiki's policy on canon for more information: Guidelines:Canon.
    • For example, the demon known as Chronos in the Revelations: Persona localization should be considered Throne. Ashura (Asura) and Asura Lord are also listed separately because "Asura" is generally used to represent the class of beings as a whole, while Asura Lord consistently represents a specific Asura.
  • When multiple versions of a figure are featured in the same media and both are treated as distinct, the version(s) debuting should be referred to as their name in that media.
    • For Shin Megami Tensei: Liberation Dx2, if both instances of the subject use the same name they should not be counted (e.g. Dimensional variants, Malice variants, and the multiple versions of Masakado and Alice).
• In regards to multiple subjects who can technically be considered the same figure, the subjects should be listed separately if they fall under one of the following conditions:
  • They are intended to represent different forms, incarnations, or interpretations of a subject based on context from real life.
    • For example, Artemis and Diana are listed separately as they are distinct goddesses who were later equated by the Romans. Similarly, Satan and Lucifer are listed separately because they are different interpretations of a "devil" figure.
  • Multiple wiki articles for the subject exist across different media in the Megami Tensei franchise or multiple versions of the subject exist independently in the same Megami Tensei media while both characters are considered distinct.
    • For example, this would include the different versions of the demon Susano-o compared to Susano-o (Megami Ibunroku Persona) and Susano-o (Persona 4), Lucifer and Helel, T93G and Junk, and named demons such as the Jack Frost Hee-Ho-Kun.
    • In these cases, an id (<span id="TEXT"></span>) with the name of the first chronological appearance of the subject should placed at that first appearance. Following this, use Template:CLD next to the later appearance(s) and input the name used by the id. This will create a dagger (†) next to the name of the later listing(s) of the subject that link to the initial appearance of a version of that subject.
• If there are multiple subjects that share an exact name, a discriminator should be included for all related subjects to clarify the difference between them. The discriminator should be inserted within the following code: ''(TEXT)''.
• If a subject is commonly referred to by multiple names across Megami Tensei franchise, the page name of the subject should be treated as the main name and relevant alternative names should be listed within the following code: <small>TEXT</small>. Use commas to separate the names within the code if there is more than one alternative name. This includes both cases where the subject's name in the original name is the same across media, but is regularly referred to by multiple names in localizations (e.g. コウリュウ as Huang Long and Kohryu) or when multiple names are used to refer to the same subject (e.g. アスラ as Asura and アシュラ as Ashura).
• The date subjects are listed under is based on their earliest official release regardless of region. Subjects originally featured in a live-service game, a serialized work, or released separately as DLC should be listed under the date they were officially introduced in the story or gameplay, not when its media of origin initially released.
  • When listing the debut media for subjects from serialized works include the associated episode, chapter, issue, etc. of the debut within the following code: <small>''(TEXT)''</small>.
  • If the specific date of a subject's debut is unknown, list it under the "Unknown Date" section at the bottom of the page.
• The following subjects should not be included on this list:
  • Subjects that were unused in an official capacity.
    • If a subject went unused, they should remain unlisted until an official debut via story or gameplay. In this situation, they should be listed under that official debut rather than the media that they were initially planned and ultimately went unused for.
  • Shadows from the Persona series.
    • While Treasure Demons can technically be considered Shadows, the Treasure Demons in Persona 5 are included on this list due to the fact that they can be used as Persona and are based on objects from real life. The Treasure Demons from Persona 5 Strikers do not fit this criteria so they are not listed.
  • Human forms of unique Digital Devil Saga series characters.
  • Mirages that do not represent specific Fire Emblem characters.
  • Jobs from Last Bible Special.