The Shin Megami Tensei NINE Experience

A full narrated playthrough/discussion of Shin Megami Tensei NINE, a Japan-only entry in the franchise released exclusively for the Xbox in 2002. Diving into one of the least-played games in the series, this video takes an extensive look at the games plot, mechanics, bosses, and more.
English script link: ggesus_/status/10...
Executive producer credit goes to Glibb who told me how to pronounce Yaldabaoth
00:00 - Prologue & Mechanics
17:51 - Chapter 2
36:00 - Chapter 3
46:15 - Chapter 4
52:30 - Chapter 5
58:07 - Chapter 6
1:01:35 - Chapter 7 & 8
1:18:00 - Finale (Chapter 9)

[@anthonydixon4429]

With this video out of the way, Marsh can finally hibernate until he decides to review Megami Tensei for the TI-84 calculator.

[@synth-wave_steve]

From what I heard on Twitter, he played Nine as a break before he finished SMT 1.

[@daisythegoddes3483]

Th- The wh- THE WHAT!?

[@Thenormal880]

really

[@synth-wave_steve]

@@Thenormal880 I hope his SMT 1 video will be in depth

[@EnzoRoberto]

Oh man, dont destroy my hopes... Hope he do Ronde and Giten Megami Tensei XD

[@fresh9530]

the time atlus actually summoned the devil, microsoft

[@yeehaw8089]

how'd you get here

[@lucaskincanyon7393]

I like Microsoft, though. 🥲

[@AdamOwenBrowning]

@@lucaskincanyon7393 It's ok to be wrong and find positive feelings for quasi-murderous multinational monopolies.

[@ambercarbuncle1440p]

@Starless "you critique capitalism yet you participate in it, curious!" is not the own you think it is

[@nicksrandomreviews]

@Starless Exactly this. If capitalism is so awful, then isn't it immoral to use the things it produces? If it exploits people, then aren't you, a person that makes use of its fruits, exploiting those same people?

[@kennylauderdale_en]

Now talk about Last Bible.

[@UltimaPhoenix-dx3kt]

Ah yes, the game whose protagonists _defeat the fucking _*_Great Will_*

[@popeprinny4705]

But then it turns out that the entire series was just a pocket dimension made by nakajima because he was kinda bored lol.

[@silverthespamsweeper7138]

@@popeprinny4705 God, New Testament is kinda weird.

[@RememberWhyocullistblood]

Thats kabbalah too ​@@popeprinny4705

[@alcatrazvongola]

> Bring in a child sacrifice to raid the Ring of Gaia Never change, SMT. Never ever change.

[@XelchanTheBrave]

I mean, it's in line with what cults actually did irl. SMT is one of the few series that tries to be faithful to the world of the occult and the esoteric.

[@XelchanTheBrave]

@@gohom3882 You should read up on demons like Moloch. Kaneko drew him as a living furnace because children were burned alive to be sacrificed to him. SMT also takes a lot from conspiracy theories like politicians performing occult rituals, so I know this can sound ridiculous, but when it with the practices of the cult of Gaia, it's all in line with what religions and cults have done through history, much like most of the time SMT demons are faithful to their real life depictions, such as the hindu deities like Shiva, Parvati, etc.

[@SonofSethoitae]

@@XelchanTheBrave So, there's actually considerable doubt that live children were burned as sacrifices to Moloch

[@ChargeQM]

@@SonofSethoitae Yeah it could be the usual demonization of a conquered culture, painting the enemy as evil savages who benefit from the enlightened goodness of your people who now rule them.

[@lanceelopezz223]

b00 shame, shame

[@HuangLongGaming]

i find it funny how jack frost tells everyone to get the hell out of the mall because there are demons despite being a demon himself

[@AKImeru]

He has first hand experience about how shitty demons can be

[@ArshadZahid_nohandleideas]

huang long gaming

[@christianmckee2116]

Uncle Remus moment

[@daikon5469]

Marsh's brain can finally heal from this nightmare lmao

[@The890Gamer]

Seeing Anubis running around instead of floating everywhere is so surreal.

[@DmmyV]

Anubis stride

[@digitaltombs]

@@DmmyV iohiohhiihihihihihhoihhihiihhihhi

[@digitaltombs]

@@DmmyV I

[@digitaltombs]

I Oi Oi

[@digitaltombs]

@@DmmyV i va i

[@janaxelblomberg7768]

I love Marsh's use of "we" and saying shit like "if i can do x so can you", it really feels like youre playing a game with a friend

[@Limit02]

A Japan exclusive game on XBOX? congrats on being one of the 10 people who’ve played it

[@DezuFuck]

Atlus is weird

[@shibba2517]

@@DezuFuck they flopped hard

[@hankhill7827]

@@DezuFuck At the time, Microsoft were very conscious of trying to appeal to the Japanese market, like they did with Sakaguchi's Mistwalker, and I suspect they approached Atlus or Atlus thought the Xbox was the best system for a SMT MMORPG. MMOs were seen as the next big thing, Blizzard and Squaresoft had both already announced their intentions to make one and I guess Atlus saw the idea of an online virtual world of cyber demons fitting for a SMT game. But they bite off more than they could chew with Nine and took off the online part and reworked it 5 years later as SMT: Imagine which was pretty successful in Japan at least.

[@JackFrostAegirine]

@@hankhill7827 The wikipedia page for NINE say the game was commissioned by Microsoft so what you said is likely what ended up happening.

[@fivefive9514]

@@JackFrostAegirine is SMT NINE disc readable on english Xbox series X?

[@sebdistic1557]

From what I can tell from the video is that the best part of NINE is seeing Anubis run at 16:13

[@wildonionchase3934]

Honestly extremely cursed

[@Rougealienpirate]

His poor neck is broken

[@ubermaster1]

That was the daintiest run i have ever seen, but at the same ti me, fits perfectly for Anubis

[@matildarose]

*run run run run--* *Siiiiiiiiittt*

[@alsoviperlicious]

I'm so weak what an iconic animation

[@celas1]

it's crazy how Nocturne came out 3 months after this and looks miles better in terms of camera, graphics, and animations

[@notafbiagent473]

Nine was originally planned to be online with the change happening late into development so it’s understandable

[@2tehnik]

Well, Nocturne also seems to lack a lot of the demons Nine had.

[@Sorahx1]

Yeah, since it was supposed to be an MMO it needed to have some compromises.

[@Diego35HD]

This is just like Ronde is to Soul Hackers, but this game seems to be actually properly made

[@shibba2517]

SMT Nine was first 3D Shin Megami Tensei game ever. They weren't experinced yet. But making Nocturne alongside with Nine gave them a chance to polish it and make better.

[@AsteroSloth]

The world: has gone on a complete apocalypse and have transferred their lives to a super dangerous network Your best bud : yo, let’s go to a concert

[@andrewcasias2676]

Hey if he wants to go see Hatsune Miku then he should be able to!

[@MsLoquendo3456]

2021 be like. Now I want my demons jajaja

[@firepuppies4086]

Hey, it gets tough. You gotta find the comfort in the apocalypse when ya can

[@mrchill6571]

You cant lie NINE has a good ost.

[@enzito_sdf6978]

that remix of the smt1 shop theme man, awesome

[@Aeon_Is_Near]

Boss theme fucking slaps

[@StreetTaco]

@@Aeon_Is_Near nah theres no bass so it sucks

[@fionastakes8877]

its my favorite ost in the series 😅

[@rubiconcrossing4480]

Deadass the Light Neutral Battle theme is fucking amazing

[@Dr0dd]

NINE is such a weirdly obscure yet influential game within the franchise. Especially whenever an overhauled demon design got a 3D model you can be sure that it originated in this game, even those where most people would assume that they got their start in Nocturne.

[@irl_lizard7880]

Also, having demons follow you and gather info for you sure reminds me of the Raidou games.

[@dantemustdie00]

Yeah the modern designs for Isis, Nue, Seraph, Moloch, Hathor, Maria, and Cu Chulainn came from this game.

[@raidb0ss29]

From what we saw, it's combat seems like a transition from the old SMT's to Nocturne. For example, while there are no press turn's, it does change combat such as your protagonist along with 3 demons max being the only ones to participate in battle. Without this game as a stepping stone, Nocturne and all future megaten games would probably be vastly different

[@blumiu2426]

Better to test on this console with minimal blowback than take the risk on the other two.

[@Moplonn]

What's weird is that this game uses the new (much better) Abaddon model, whereas imagine uses the old stupid head one

[@JohneAwesome]

Went into this video excited for you to show what a mess this game was but man, there were good ideas and a interesting scenario here despite NINE being a cobbled together mess. The Maria cutscene and the whole last quarter of the game being legitimately unnerving at times. Maybe its the fan boy in me but even at their worse SMT games are just so charming. Excellent video Marsh o/

[@boomboxzer0914]

Yo it's JohneAwesome. This game is definitely a cobbled together mess but the ideas and concepts for the story are definitely interesting and fit the SMT style. It could've been a better game if they stuck to a more traditional smt gameplay style.

[@ClassicBentobox]

The smt series is a Russian roulette of quality. Whether you’re talking about the original digital devil game based off the book, or Soul Hackers, or Devil survivor, you’re going to get an odd and unique experience

[@aramasarenzan3496]

It's pretty haunting how drastically the emulator wrecked the final three boss fights. You can see other videos of them on YT, the arena and models look completely different

[@jrickducking6685]

Could have fool me I would have assumed the simulation was collapsing on itself

[@NEETKitten]

@@jrickducking6685 A rare case where an emulation bug enhances immersion.

[@Cadychan]

Oh wow, I just looked it up - what a difference! Even the pieces that fall off of Maria turn into demons (lion's head turns into cerberus, wing turns into gryphon, etc).

[@aldiascholarofthefirstsin1051]

@@NEETKitten It's great.

[@PatchtheReaper99]

Games using prerendered scenes loading in the wrong one is the closest humanity has come to experiencing the Expanse

[@skyty0]

Babe, I found something to watch for movie night.

[@UltimaKeyMaster]

Holy shit, this game is an insane interquel that sets up how the fuck the world of SMT 1 could've devolved into the one in SMT 2 even if Neutral Hero had the best intentions? That is a fucking awesome twist and very unexpected from this weird real-time version stuck on a Japanese Xbox.

[@chaosgreyblood]

To be fair, it might not have been quite as terrible had the Messian Church not caused the Neutral Hero's death via foul play. Basically, his leadership to keep the world in balance got in the way of the Messians' agendas far too much for their liking and with him still running things, their Thousand Year Kingdom would certainly take a long time to come true. So, they killed him and made it look like an accident via a cave in inside a cavern. If you explore one of the caves thoroughly enough in the Expanse in SMT 2, you'll find his remains. And the Cerberus that you first meet with Madam at the first couple of parts of the game. It's the Neutral Hero's own Cerberus! Cerberus was gonna have his Hachiko moment before Madam eventually took him in. So, if you were curious as to why the Messians were running Tokyo Millenium in SMT, 2 now you know. :P

[@MyAulos]

We should get SMT 1, 2 and this as a mobile port.

[@angelskippings3481]

Who said smt games have no continuity once so ever? Litteraly me to my momma can't wait to show her this vid !

[@primeoctober]

@@MyAulos let's be real, this game is NEVER getting ported. Knowing Atlus, hell not even just atlus, but the way that many game studios act, they'd never give us this wonderful game again

[@sjl057]

>stealing human desires >final boss is a fake god called yaldabaoth >"think for yourself" >redhead named sumire >persona 5

[@Aeon_Is_Near]

*And when the world needed him most, he returned*

[@ikhwananimationsbeyondweeb4528]

Shin Megami Tensei V is so good, they skipped 6, 7 and 8

[@AdamOwenBrowning]

wait until five comes out at least, first, then it'll be a funny joke xD

[@moonbug7252]

Just like how Persona skipped 1 and 2!

[@toryficarola]

After 5, 6 is afraid to come out because 7 "8" Nine which is why we don't ever see or hear from Nine anymore.

[@toryficarola]

@@moonbug7252 *bbbbwwwaaaahahahahaaaaa*

[@ProjectTony]

@@toryficarola that cannibal son of a bitch will pay for this!!!!

[@ryuzxa]

The fact that Atlus made a game for a console that not even popular in Japan and didn't even localized the game are something else

[@sickrandy2946]

Atlus business decisions are the funniest and most frustrating thing about them

[@will-love-lvx]

The company was created and run by actual demons, what can one expect?! 😅

[@alsoviperlicious]

AYO I can't stop laughing it boggles the fckin mind omg 😂😂😂

[@ryokiritani4187]

This video is just magical. Between the emulator's fuckery and NINE's general scuffed vibe makes for such a weird combination. Anubis running just kills me.

[@justanotherguywithamoustac8893]

It was bold of Atlus to tip their toes into the visual novel genre with this game

[@fervcorsica3358]

The stories of both Devil Survivor games are literally told in visual novel format

[@ojgsk8ter]

@@fervcorsica3358 He was making a joke. Even if he wasn’t, devil survivor came out after this anyway.

[@manuelcamara6400]

Barely anymone talks about this game, so I'm in for a treat.

[@KazShiro]

Yeah same ÷ for last Bible and majon tensei

[@Naotosbiggestfan24]

@@KazShiro and card summoner

[@ilikecanes]

It was indeed a treat

[@Sigismund697]

@@Naotosbiggestfan24 Demikids should be next

[@yanholliday8876]

I don't understand a single thing happening in those RTS parts, but damn if they aren't fascinating to look at. Hypnotic shit, right there.

[@hindelsoft4650]

Small tid-bit I found hilarious: The Hebrew actually says "Midiamu", a nonsensical word that I could not figure out until Marsh said it was meant to be Miriam. I burst up laughing because not only did they mix the Hebrew letter for R with the Hebrew letter for D, but they also wrote Miriam based on the Japanese pronunciation of Miriamu, which probably means they used Google translate or something. To contrast the correct writing should be מרים. About half of their letters! This is one of the prettiest typos I've ever seen! Also on a side note: Miriam isn't another name for Mariah, it is the name of Moses' sister. An altogether different figure.

[@bluejayskies93]

Ah the classic Dalet-Resh mixup. To be fair, they are very similar looking letters but if Hebrew school taught me anything, it's that Dalet has its defining "dark corner" aka the little tail on the end that could potentially be overlooked by someone who isn't super familiar with the language or its alphabet. for those curious here are the letters themselves: Dalet (d sound): ד Resh (r sound): ר

[@phantomanchild9744]

Yeah, it's really jarring, and weird that they used Miriam of all people. Although, it's not the weirdest to come out of this game.

[@TaylorFalk21]

It was probably good old fashioned human error since Google Translate was released 4 years after this game was

[@Kurzov]

​@TaylorFalk21 Machine translation existed before Google Translate, sites like Altavista and such. Though translations involving languages as historically distant as between Japanese and Hebrew may have not been available, or if it was it almost certainly wasn't as accurate as machine translation is nowadays.

[@cantbehelped]

Imagine when they announce the sequel to SMT8 they just skip right to SMT10 Marsh is my favorite smt channel. This is a treat.

[@Brorrowind]

Just like Windows

[@glenmoody-elias1040]

Nah, they'll skip SMT9, and give us SMTIX. And we will all pronounce it "Sim-tix".

[@MysteryEzekude]

That would give the term “MegaTen” a whole new meaning.

[@bavingeter423]

There’s a lot to be said about someone who goes to great lengths to demystify art that is hidden behind not only a language barrier, but an emulation one too.

[@Bunni89]

I found it really interesting how the gender choice causes a bunch of random changes to other characters too. Like swapping which of Baraka and Sumire is the older one who was your childhood friend, and the younger one you just met and saved. And other characters being swapped between different gender designs too! but i found Baraka and Sumire the most interesting cos you still get both of them in each run, just with roles reversed. They're not just different versions of the same character, and thats really intriguing! I wonder what parts of the story are different with them swapped around? Do they have their own unique dialogue for all the events? Damn it makes me wish I could play this!

[@Bunni89]

I still think Baraka's design is cooler tho, I heckin love his wild hair!

[@KrankuSama]

just occured to me the Yasuomi Umetsu artwork in this game, I like his character designs but it does put me on edge that all of a sudden a porno scene will just drop in.

[@Force-hiddenmasquerade]

Ohhhh that’s why Sumire gave me Sawa from KITE vibes They weren’t good vibes

[@nuzitu]

Pretty cool, I was thinking if Kaneko watched Kite while working on Sumire's design and was influenced somehow(like how Maki's design is based on a porn actress apparently...) and it's a nice surprise to see the man himself worked on the game.

[@daddyinthestreetsenpaiinth9250]

Kite and Mezzo Forte for any men of culture who wanted to sauce.

[@rogercheetoofficial]

I'm glad that NINE was the title that got the feature length treatment. There's so much left unknown about this one due to its lack of translation, and just having one more video going over it really helps demystify it a bunch. Great work on this one!

[@JohnDoe-hc7hr]

smt nine remake when honestly after seeing this video, out of all of the smt games, i wanna see this one make a comeback. not only is it the hardest to play by far, but it also has enough flaws that you could warrant a remake that could fix so much and make it a much better game

[@bash3226]

Imagine is kinda that, where they actually got to make an MMO instead of rework an MMO into a single-player game.

[@marioagainsttheworld6248]

Can we talk about how Anubis runs on his two legs just to stop and sit!? 😂

[@zaqareemalcolm]

Hanuman showing off his monkey dexterity in his run animation too

[@firepuppies4086]

"I don't usually run this much! They just bring the hearts and crap to be weighed..."

[@phillemon7664]

Yes, I can finally live through this psychological horror experience with having to shell out a few grand!

[@hardgay7537]

Couldn't you just grab an og Xbox off eBay, jailbreak it if it isn't already, download the file and play it off the hard drive? I imagine it would run better than the emulator, although it's not exactly legal.

[@Ringofire280]

@@hardgay7537 thats what i did :)

[@southofheck]

What are you spending a few grand on? A Japanese Xbox is a couple hundred, and the game itself is like 50 bucks. Am I missing something?

[@thepression8241]

Don't forget to support your local Shin Megami Tensei Nine youtuber

[@jellyface401]

So the Hee-Hoo Mart on #FES was an SMT 9 reference all along.

[@dantemustdie00]

Now that I think about it, yeah, it came from this game.

[@abhijaytambe8455]

RIP the guy who got killed by Legion, he will be missed. He never even got to say his final words ;(

[@cyrusthegreat5434]

must be embarassing dying to a zio from a floating ballsack

[@abhijaytambe8455]

Don’t disrespect the dead, we have gathered here to mourn the loss of a random NPC.

[@polytanksan5761]

Nah he's good he's just paralyzed in a trash can somewhere

[@RowdyBoy82]

Samarecarm my dudes.

[@robo567]

this game is basically just the creepiest isekai anime ever

[@hind__]

This is cyberpunk tho, not isekai lol

[@robo567]

hind it’s kinda both. everyone’s living out their lives in another world to escape the horrors of reality from smt 1. that other world happens to be in a cyberpunk style.

[@balanceherosmt7170]

@@robo567 Its still not isekai since its sets in 90s Tokyo. Keep that boring ass genre away from SMT

[@ariannadravis3934]

@@balanceherosmt7170 That's a little harsh, no genre is really boring

[@sharpsCASF]

@@balanceherosmt7170 "Isekai" just means being transported to another world that's not your own. It doesn't have to be fantasy. In fact, one of the first isekais is Alice In Wonderland. Fits all the same parameters. Isekai isn't a genre in Japan it's just a regular ass word.

[@Zakkious]

Hell yeah, new Marsh video EDIT: At some point, i stopped paying attention for like 10 seconds and it was like i'd lost 10 hours of context. Holy shit, what a crazy game.

[@jymfiskburk2256]

Yup that usually happens

[@Comkill117]

“The real world has gone to hell, so most people live out their lives in the digital realm.” Ah, so it’s set in 2020.

[@HitsujiMamoru]

Not too far off. That blue infinity logo, at the end of 2021, becomes extremely... meta

[@raydeh96]

@@HitsujiMamoru This comment was a mind fck

[@LimitBreakr424]

I like to imagine a parallel universe where this is iconic and Nocturne is obscure

[@o-ira2617]

Bruh, if that would happen idk what persona 4, 5, and the other smt entries would look like

[@implord4197]

@@o-ira2617 They probably would get the Revelations: Persona treatment. They all got *Americanized.* Instead of Minato Arisato we would get *Marco Armstrong.* Instead of Yu Narukami we get *Yosef Nathan.* Instead of Naoya Todou we get *Noah Thompson.* You get the idea.

[@benstonks9047]

@@implord4197 lmfao I'm thinking of Joker turning into some dude named Ron Ronaldson or something like that

[@sickrandy2946]

Please God no. Nocturne is actually good lmao.

[@implord4197]

@@sickrandy2946 Still doesn't hold a candle to SMT4 or Digital Devil Saga.

[@sta4f627]

I am convinced nine is a cryptid in the form of a game

[@MysteryEzekude]

Perhaps the same can be said to the enigmatic Polybius.

[@ierdandrakslei1176]

Marsh is officially a pioneer in more ways than we can fathom.... For his hum.... "many discomforts" and our entertainment. Seriously, I'll need a huge bucket of popcorn for this one.

[@slufffyg503]

This game feels like someone watched Xenosaga and the matrix while cramming for a religious studies class and then had a crazy fever dream they swear would make a killer plot until they write it down.

[@moister3727]

The OG Xbox is fucking weird man I tell you

[@GeminiTasiri]

01:04:05 For all the weird stuff the game throws at you, Anubis walking upright, doing a light jog and then sitting down in his usual cross-legged sitting position (presumably every time you walk around) has the be the funniest

[@utswriter]

Everyone gangster till sitty boy stands up.

[@squidlump]

All the while with his head sideways

[@Krezzing]

gmod moment not even kidding

[@TheTerrestrify]

I've been trapped in a desert and this is the water I needed.

[@Aztyph]

So what you're saying is that Marsh is a river in the desert.

[@Johnpao215]

@@deadliestvice5356 I understood that reference lol

[@DaBeezNeez]

It's funny when you said "name a system and you could play a megami tensei game on it." I thought to myself, "except the xbox." Right then you showed smt nine on the xbox.

[@nicksrandomreviews]

Weird to think that the Gamecube would be the lone sixth gen console without a MegaTen game. Pretty sure that no Nintendo home console after the Super Famicom got a MegaTen game that wasn't a re-release.

[@toryficarola]

@@nicksrandomreviews You mean like the N64?! Can you imagine a SMT 64??

[@nicksrandomreviews]

@@toryficarola Honestly, soooo many companies slept on the N64, and had Atlus put SMT on it, I would have imported that shit so fast, that Atlus would be wishing I didn't import it so fast.

[@toryficarola]

@@nicksrandomreviews Riiighhht....? Imagine giant King Frosts & other famous demons rendered in N64 styled polygons

[@nicksrandomreviews]

@@toryficarola It would be awful, and wonderful all at once. The N64's 3D visuals have this unique charm. Seeing some MegaTen demons in the chunky, barely held together N64 style would be neat as fuck.

[@synth-wave_steve]

Nine seems like that one game you heard people say kinda sucks but there's a lot of cool stuff in it.

[@Ray_Moses]

Thats EXACTLY what it is

[@NEETKitten]

It's a lotta cool elements that combine to create a complete mess. Like, any part of the game seems awesome when looked at on its own, but becomes muddled when you start looking at it as part of a complete package.

[@ChazDragoon]

And thus was the legend of SMT N I N E (9) Only Marsh can truly comprehend T H E N I N E (9).

[@NEETKitten]

Marsh is the strongest!

[@EinFelsbrocken]

Ah; it naturally stands for "Super Marsh The Nine"

[@NEETKitten]

Coming back to this comment is a lot funnier after Marsh covered a touhou game.

[@leixalkvinay2729]

Ok, this is going to be A JOURNEY...

[@PlasmaPea04]

And a strange one at tha- God fucking damn it someone already made that joke. EDIT : These responses are GOLDEN.

[@SupernaturalDetective]

@@PlasmaPea04 I mean you can say it’s a bizarre adventure

[@SkyflyNB]

I can only IMAGINE

[@canaldecasta]

@@PlasmaPea04 IF only you were here earlier...

[@maxrewind99]

a journey into one of the strangest SMT games

[@cosmic1624]

"the real world has kinda gone to hell, so to make up for that, many people "live" in a digital world to pass the time" I feel weirdly called out by this

[@jrickducking6685]

Tinfoil theory What if persona 2 ep to 5 and maybe 6 take place in the matrix Think about both the main timeline and the devil summoner/ persona timeline have vr technology Wouldn't it make sense for the world to recover after the events of innocent sin to have everyone soul be put in a simulation while Philemon and steven rebuild the world

[@Eddman368]

This game really emphasizes how much the SMT 1 hero FUCKED up at destiny land

[@jackmesrel4933]

To be fair, only a handfull of SMT heroes can say to have solved their problems without fucking up or just putting things on hold, so... Man, humanity is completely fucked in these games no matter what (well, except in SMT 4 Apocalypse but... We don't talk about that one(besides the God ending,that ones fitting enough for the series) )

[@SekruTheGreat]

The whole humanity being 100% dead and resurrected trough memory ghosts part really gave me some serious Nier vibes.

[@Sigismund697]

To me it reminded me of an old show where humanity is just clones of the same DNA template slightly mixed and only males since there's no female dna left The story has the MC finding the final woman Wish I could remember the name tho

[@ah.neat.408]

@@Sigismund697 Kinda sounds like the plot for a Twilight Zone episode, but I can't confirm if it truly is.

[@jackmesrel4933]

Yeah, the similarities between the Replicant system and... Whatever the fuck Nine has are pretty similar, although Nine is even more weird and fucked, which, you know, kudos to Atlus for outweirding Yoko Taro, that deserves a medal or some shit XD

[@danielferguson5971]

That sounds like ffx

[@bag-manbaron2547]

Gives me Phantom Dust vibes, int that game you and everyone else is sentient dust that thinks they are humans, and were created by the antagonist who was the last human and died before the game even happens.

[@luanmasterx]

Marsh is a blessing to us, we don't deserve him.

[@dartoney]

Do you come from the cursed southern land?

[@luanmasterx]

@@dartoney Yes , living here is like an giant warp dungeon, one which i can't find the exit.

[@NEETKitten]

@@luanmasterx I see your problem. You gotta take the teleporter on the furthest-North part of the map specifically from the South on a New Moon.

[@steampunk1610]

It's been 10,000yrs I've waited so long for this day

[@MarshSMT]

Huge thanks to Alex Hollins, author of the English script for a couple of NINE's routes - check out the description for a link. Also, to everyone that gave me tips, links, and any other help with this game, I really appreciate it, because this wouldn't have been possible without you guys. This was a huge journey that spanned many months, and it's great to see it all finally come together. Hope you guys enjoy walking through this mostly forgotten game, I think it deserves at least a little attention.

[@splishsplosh3540]

If there’s eventually an improvement in emulation and maybe a transition patch do you think you’d ever revisit NINE to look at the other 8 endings?

[@chrishunter9185]

Thanks so much for this, Marsh. This was every bit as glorious as I was expecting.

[@dartoney]

Rewatching RN because the first time i just used it as background noise, sorry master marsh!

[@yayuu7184]

You should pu adds on your videos bro for all your hard work

[@angelskippings3481]

Dude PLS do like this kinda thing for like smt 4 or strange journey or anyone of em love u man

[@vulkantheprimarch8905]

31:38 i love how anubis is just sitting there, criss-cross applesauce like a good lil guy he just chillen

[@XyzzySqrl]

Honestly, Nine seems genuinely fascinating. A lot of really big, weird ideas in the storyline, it's a direct SMT1 sequel which I had no idea about before this video, and somehow all the glitches and emulation weirdness works in the game's favor as you can't be sure what to trust in this this unsettling surreal cyberpunk virtual/real world. Shame about the crashes though. Still, that Abbadon cutscene and the bit where Maria appears and skeletonizes the entire 'human' population is gonna stick with me, that's some creepy stuff. Thanks for covering this.

[@PeteKachew]

Shush, Babe. Marsh just uploaded a new vid.

[@RealMoneyRay]

FINALLY BABE, WAKE UP MARSH DROPPED

[@penttikoivuniemi2146]

This doesn't seem nearly as awful as it's always made out to be. The story is actually pretty interesting too.

[@theazureknight9399]

I love how the "light chaos" route of this game is literally just a good ending, lol. I know that the chaos routes in SMT games are almost always intentionally framed as better or at least less bad than law by the devs, but normally there are a few cons to it that allow people to at least make some argument against going chaos. In this game they just say "fuck it" and make it so that even Marsh, who's a known law fan, chooses chaos and is unable to even think of any good reason for choosing law instead. It was pretty damn funny to watch.

[@chaptap8376]

Nah not at all. The law route of NINE is still better than Chaos. Marsh just had to adapt to what the translation project had finished at the time.

[@firstnamelastname7244]

I'd really like to see all of the endings for this game. I wonder what they did with the light and dark alignments.

[@ariannadravis3934]

@@chaptap8376 Really? Because the ending he came to seems like the genuine best ending. It's not dog eat dog like basic Chaos endings, lucifer (how the hell did i not notice that typo) leaves humans to there own devices..i wouldn't even call it chaos, it's more like using chaos to make neutrality

[@NEETKitten]

@@ariannadravis3934 That's basically all of the light-aligned endings of this game. You use the LNC alignment to make a much more reasonable, objectively better alternative to the standard alignment ending.

[@ariannadravis3934]

@@NEETKitten Yeah, checks out

[@DioBrandoWRYYYYYY]

NINE doesn't look like a fun game to play, but I have to say the story actually does have that occult cyberpunk blend of scifi, horror and fantasy that I feel like most of the more recent SMT games have been missing.

[@RememberWhyocullistblood]

They lost their edge. But persona is fine

[@DioBrandoWRYYYYYY]

@@RememberWhyocullistblood the popularity of Persona 3 and 4 changed the entire franchise, yeah. I had fun with Soul Hackers 2 but it was pretty disappointing how it just ended up being a more neon-tinted Persona game complete with watered down party social links rather than a proper return to the dark cyberpunk roots.

[@tonygerera5704]

Having glitches in the emulation makes the game feel more realistic, people were desperate to leave reality asap. You join the AOL version of virtual reality, which is impressive that it was made so fast given japan got nuked again.

[@babagryva5954]

learning what nine was actually about was insane. one of the most mysterious and interesting games. amazing job marsh, you never fail to entertain and inform.

[@janaxelblomberg7768]

Agreed, this shit blew my mind

[@crimsonvioletproductions9897]

The story unironically started to interest me as this review carried on-

[@Marlyjade]

Seriously I am legit upset that the game isn't translated now! I'd play for the story alone tbh. It doesn't seem so so bad to get through. Defo not the worst trudge i'd take in gaming.

[@instantramen4588]

@@Marlyjade maybe learn Japanese instead, i plan to study japanese so i can play untranslated jp media such as this game

[@Marlyjade]

@@instantramen4588 lmao i guess that works. Sadly I do not have the time to. I'm already trying to relearn french.

[@xigbarmasters3337]

Our favourite SMT masochist is back!!! I can kick back, grab a snack and listen to this man's grade-A commentary.

[@Manavine]

Thinking about it now, NINE's leveling system was probably built WITH an economy system in mind. You don't have to fight to be high leveled, but having a high level means you're skilled at what you say you're good at. Which is interesting.

[@2tehnik]

Gotta love that one part where you just let Baraki commit terrorism like: "nah don't wanna participate but I won't preemptively stop you either."

[@Skims19]

Hmmm online world, partner called navi, demon viruses, battle network would like to have a word

[@ectoplasmic6130]

now we finaly get to see the finale of marsh's battle with this game on twitter

[@Brolijah]

I started making monkey noises in VC when I saw the notification. Let's fucking go!

[@thedipermontshow]

Ngl, the best thing in the game is the soundtrack, it hit real hard

[@BAIGAMING]

This one actually reminds me a lot of Digimon Cyber Sleuth, if you want something like what you'd see in this video pick those two games up, Digimon actually has simple demon fusions and it has turn-based combat. The plot shows people hacking and also features a lot of the Tokyo areas you'd see in an SMT game. They're really underrated titles you really should give a shot.

[@gackybass]

CS is basically SMT-lite honestly.

[@valletas]

One of my dreams is to see a cross over of smt and digimon one day Both franchises have this low cyberpunk vibe to them I wanna see someone drop an ICBM on the digi world

[@NEETKitten]

​​@@valletasThe worst part is I could *easily* see one of the archangels taking one look at the Royal Knights and promptly emailing a nuke to their doorstep.

[@XeviousvSBlackmanta]

Jesus i hope someone tackles a translation of this one day

[@Sangheilitat117]

Just learn Japanese bro

[@InquisitorSinCross]

NINE seems like a pretty interesting entry in the franchise. Story wise is essentially SMT 1.5. Would be nice to see a full remake of 1, NINE and 2 as a cohesive trilogy with press-turn system with myltiple parties involved.

[@juonryu2nd]

at multiple points in the video, like during the final battle I thought "wow this is great!" With better visuals on the strategy battles, polished writing and battles, actual dungeon mazes, and better pace where you don't keep doing the same things, this could actually be a fantastic title.

[@pugbeast-jf2nl]

The story of this game is interesting. It’s really cool that it takes place between smt 1’s timeskip and between 1 and 2

[@ein123456789]

Marsh, thank you for going over this game literally no one has ever played, it's something else

[@whitey6174]

Seeing Caith Sith just SLIDE everywhere is fucking hilarious

[@andrewmanchiraju8005]

So I did some research and found out that this game takes place during and after the 2nd half of SMT 1, meaning that the administration is supposed to be an early version of the Church of the Messiah from SMT 2. I find this interesting cause in that game the Church of the Messiah also creates a fake god and a fake Messiah.

[@goleh4044]

I guess this franchise really likes the idea of extracting and storing human desire and using it in someway.

[@ArshadZahid_nohandleideas]

PEESONUH FIEVE STTRICKERS!????!??? 🤨🤨🤨

[@mikhielbluemon4213]

I think that once the 9th mainline game comes out, it'll have a subtitle like Nocturne did.

[@RiderWithTheScarf]

Man, I had to jog my memory about what the entire plot of NINE actually reminded me off : this is Ghost in the Shell and Serial Experiment Lain all in one, especially given that NINE released smack-dab in the middle of this whole Cyberpunk and Mamoru Ooshi crazyness that was going on in Japan at the time. I have a feeling they even tried to out-do Ooshi and basically have NINE's big plot point be an adaptation of the [Ghost in the Shell Chapter 2 : Man Machine Interface] the third manga series by Masamune Shirow, 2 whole years before Ooshi made his own adaptation with Ghost in the Shell II : Innocence. It's a fucking wild trip and the game even straight up uses lore and terminology from Shirow's world, like the whole "Dolls" thing and how living ghosts exists in the Idea space which may as well straight up be the "Wired" place from Lain. Except since it's old school Atlus, they decided to make this about demons as well, instead of long monologues about humanity. But the themes are still very much there and instead of adopting the more contemporary approaches that the works that inspired NINE took, as in a more scientific and "logical" explanation of a lot of theological concepts and argue about the nature of man, the soul etc. NINE straight up tosses that into the background to simply evolve the next stage of their Nietzschian and Jungian demon-hunting series about edgy teenagers in the 90s and 2000s. What absolute madlads. And the crazy thing is that I'm pretty sure I'm missing a fuck ton of references as well, I'm willing to bet that I missed some Appleseed references and even some Cyberpunk 2020 references given how popular the title was in Japan, exactly because it reminded them of Akira and Ghost in the Shell(manga) during the 80s and 90s existential sci-fi craze. Heck I'm willing to bet that Shadowrun of all things played an even bigger rolle than Cyberpunk 2020 in the references of NINE given how the NES and Mega Drive Shadowrun games were actually ported to Japan after popular demand in the 90s. It wouldn't surprise if Kaneko, Okada and Sakai were fans of this and contracted Yasuomi Umetsu to work on the project, exactly because the guy was famous for sci-fi and cyberpunk stories he created art for and later directed. In short, NINE is one hell of a trip and sadly a one-off deal. The only real way to remake this game, is if Atlus somehow, magically managed to salvage the original code, maybe fiddle a tiny bit with the combat and then return the original online multiplayer component of the game for a PC re-release. I doubt there's any other way given that nowadays it's almost impossible to recreate the crazy climate and dizzying heights of popularity for that kind of sci-fi imagery and writting. Keep up the good work and I hope I conveinced you to take a plunge to the sci-fi madness that spawned this game.

[@TectonicImprov]

What a strange game. Seems to me like Atlus got really into the Matrix when writing the plot to this one. It looks like it captures the aesthetic of a dead MMO well though and that adds to the atmosphere of the game, intentional or not. Also Baraki's time skip design is really cool. What a glow up.

[@MysteryEzekude]

Well-spotted! Strangely enough, time-skip Baraki’s clothes resembles those worn by Morpheus in the original Matrix Trilogy. I don’t think this is a coincidence.

[@ianmason96]

They should remake this game right after SMT 8 gets released, for shits and giggles

[@tzar3098]

The idea of how the world changes through eras ever since SMT I is really trippy. Like it all started from a demon outbreak in Tokyo in SMT I, then culminating in standing atop a space station overlooking a destroyed Earth in SMT II really nails in the idea of SMT in that nothing is eternal and its up to you to see how to shape the world. SMT Nine really helps provide a more expansive and thorough view into this long timeline. I hope you maybe play SMT Imagine in the future. Without this video I wouldn't be able to experience this game cuz no english translations. So thanks a lot man.

[@xxkeminxx]

Howdy! I wanted to hop in and note that SMT Nine's multiplayer aspect being cancelled is a big aspect of what lead to SMT Imagine! (The SMT MMO that was around between 2007-2016ish; primarily in Japan, with a really poor North American localization that was 'til about 2014.) If you're ever curious, there are still private servers available for the game that have a majority of the original content. (RE:Imagine & Megaten Russia.) I'd love to see what your thoughts are on this particular title are, especially if you're going into it blind. It's a unique experience like Nine. Also a fun fact about Imagine: It was in service for "Nine" years.

[@boobah5643]

Ah! _SMT: Imagine!_ Couldn't for the life of me remember the name. And yeah, the setup for that one sounded a lot like the setup for _Nine,_ only you spent less time in cyberspace and more picking through the remnants of the post-apocalyptic world.

[@rac1equalsbestgame853]

16:14 Anubis running instead of floating is so cursed 💀

[@casanovafunkenstein5090]

The fact that a move called 'drive shot' in a game where everything is in VR crashes the game completely is apt, if unintended. I guess it might have been intended to pull some Psycho Mantis tricks by pulling some information from your system but presumably that must screw with the emulator, assuming that is what's happening when they use that attack.

[@mrsnatural2368]

Damn I think Digimon Cyber Sleuth took a loooooot from this

[@jouheikisaragi6075]

Now I want a hybrid of Cyber Sleuth and Survive to come out

[@lucidnightmare688]

I just want to say that I've rewatched this video several dozen times now and it's become a therapeutic background video whenever I need white noise. love ya marsh ❤

[@gwahh]

god i love the demon run animations. you know they weren't supposed to be seen running so anubis just briskly jogging alongnside you with his head turned to the side looks funny as fuck. also irritable bowel sphinx having to sit every minute.

[@Sorrelhas]

Anubis be like: 🏃🧘

[@hsri6510]

Perfect way to end semester

[@randym3126]

Never clicked a video faster in my life

[@lucinae8510]

I'd choose Sumire as well because Miranda's goody-two-shoes attitude wasn't winning me, over a little girl who grew up to be a bad ass I'd want to spent the aftermath with.

[@anenemystand5582]

Games like smt 9 are probably the sort that deserve a remake the most. Something that could do justice to fascinating ideas hampered by a myriad of issues. Unfortunately, it's also the sort of game which will never get a remake because who is going to buy a remake of smt 9