Deep Dungeon series, with the critics giving praise to its gameplay and unusual setting. In an article about the game in 1991, Family Computer Magazine called it a "revolutionary RPG", praising its gameplay and atmosphere despite the design making it easy for players to get lost. Ohta Publishing magazine Continue cited its dark atmosphere and mechanics as both impressive given the limited hardware and innovative among role-playing games of the time. Kurt Kalata and Christopher J. Snelgrove of Hardcore Gaming 101 stated that it was "surprising how in depth the monster catching and fusing elements are given the game's age", praising its mechanics despite the age and high difficulty curve. In contrast to their praise for the Famicom version, they referred to Telenet Japan's version as a poor clone of Gauntlet with low-quality graphics. While no specific sales figures are available, Okada said that the game was a commercial success, allowing Atlus breathing room to consider where to next take the series. The mixture of demon negotiation and recruitment with the traditional role-playing mechanics were considered revolutionary for the time. UGO Networks writer K. Thor Jensen cited the 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". In a 2012 feature on influential games, Game Informers Kimberley Wallace attributed Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei with pioneering the monster collecting gameplay popularized by the Pokémon series. In a 2015 retrospective on the game's 1992 successor, Shin Megami Tensei, Touch Arcade's Shaun Musgrave noted the unusual game mechanics within its standardised role-playing formula, and its science fiction-inspired setting in contrast to the fantasy settings dominating the genre at the time. Legacy Following the success of the game, Atlus decided to create a sequel, but instead of continuing to adapt Nishitani's work, they created an original story with an expanded narrative and refined gameplay. Titled Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei II, the game was released for the Famicom in 1990. Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei was the first game in the Megami Tensei series, with Atlus eventually buying the rights to the franchise and turning the series into their most famous intellectual property. Megami Tensei has been called the third most popular RPG series in Japan after Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy, and gone on to include multiple subseries and expansions