Japanese website 4Gamer.net referred to the series as one of Japan's biggest role-playing franchises. UGO Networks writer K. Thor Jensen cited the first "Megami Tensei" game as the first successful use of cyberpunk aesthetics in video games, saying that the series' mix of science fiction elements and the occult "create a truly unique fictional cyberpunk world". "Nintendo Power" has noted that Atlus always mixes "familiar gameplay" with surprising settings when creating games for the series, citing "Persona", with its "modern-day horror stories" and "teams of Japanese high-school kids", as the perfect example. The editor also added that "Strange Journey" followed a similar system, calling it a "science-fiction makeover" of the series. In an article about the interaction of Japanese and Western gaming culture, 1UP.com mentioned the "Shin Megami Tensei" subseries alongside Nippon Ichi Software's "Disgaea" series. Kurt Kalata wrote: " may not be big sellers, but they've garnered underground success and attracted thousands of obsessed fans." GameSpot writer Andrew Vestal referred to the series as the third biggest RPG series in Japan after "Final Fantasy" and "Dragon Quest". "IGN" Matt Coleman mentioned "Nocturne" in the article "A History of Console RPGs", referring to its content as "challenging stuff for a genre that used to be all about princess saving and evil cleansing".