Getting started

SMT Showdown is a battle simulator for Shin Megami Tensei in the spirit of Pokémon Showdown. Two players bring teams of demons and fight by the rules of one game. This section covers Shin Megami Tensei IV: its press turn battle system, the Smirk mechanic and the rules we added so that the game works as PvP.

Your first battle

1. Open the Battle tab and press start. You fight a computer opponent, so you can learn the rules without a clock. As a guest you get a random team; after you sign in you can pick one of your own teams.
2. When you are ready for people, open Rooms. Create an open room that anyone can join, or a private room with a code for a friend. The room owner picks the format, the clock and extras like best of three.
3. Build your own teams in Teams (you need an account). The team builder checks every team against the format, so a team that saves is a team you can play.

What a battle looks like

• Each side has 6 demons: 4 fight and 2 wait in reserve.
• Before the battle both players see the opponent's 6 demons and choose which 4 go in and in what order.
• Sides take turns. On your turn your demons act one by one, and the number of actions depends on press turn icons: hitting weaknesses gives you more actions, missing takes them away. The next tutorial explains this.
• You win when every enemy demon is down. After 40 rounds the side with more total HP left wins.

What to read next

The tutorials go from the core rule to the details: press turns, damage and elements, Smirk, buffs and passives, ailments, building a team, and finally a summary of everything we changed for PvP.