difficult for me to put a meaningful rating on this in 2022. if i'd been able to play this in 1987, it might've changed my life. this weird, occult, seemingly very japanese interpretation of wizardry stands in stark contrast to other rpgs from japan in the mid/late '80s. (instead, my first atlus rpg would be nocturne. "it changed my life" might sound over the top, but it absolutely has informed my tastes in the time since.)

now... well, it's very easy for me to appreciate how incredibly cool this looks for a famicom game from that time, but i might be inclined to recommend playing the remade version contained within kyuuyaku megami tensei instead (unless you want to set everything aside and give this game some serious attention (and it helps if you already like the nes)). the main reason for this, really, is just that moving through corridors feels a bit too stiff and disorienting, frame by frame, while kyuuyaku at least adds some animation to your surroundings when turning left or right and moving forward feels a touch smoother. i should add that this may not be true of dds: megami tensei 2 (also part of the sfc kyuuyaku package), which i understand has uniquely great music for a famicom title due to a special chip in the cartridge, but i'll have to find out about that another time.