While the West got Persona: Revelations, an Americanized port for the Playstation, Japan got its first Persona game under Megami Ibunroku Persona. The West eventually got a more faithful and enhanced remake on the Playstation Portable titled, Shin Megami Tensei: Persona with changed UI and music.

This 1996 Atlus role-playing game takes you on an adventure throughout Mikage-cho, where your classmate, Maki Sonomura, suddenly goes missing. Battle against demons as you fight your way to the suspicious SEBEC branch president, Takahisa Kandori. Additionally, join the battle back at St. Hermelin and rival against the Snow Queen as she freezes the school and possesses your beloved homeroom teacher, Ms. Saeko.

The game starts with the protagonist, along with schoolmates Hidehiko "Brown" Uesugi, Yuka Ayase and Masao "Mark" Inaba, playing a fortune-telling parlor game called "Persona" while Kei Nanjō and Yukino Mayuzumi watch. After playing the game, the group see a ghostly figure, and the protagonist, Mark, Nanjō, and Yukino are rendered unconscious. The protagonist is then drawn into the realm of Philemon, who grants him the power of Persona and warns him that his new power will soon be needed. After the four recover and at the suggestion of their teacher Saeko, they go to have a check-up and visit classmate Maki Sonomura at the hospital. While visiting, Maki is taken ill, and while they are waiting for news, the ICU where Maki is being treated vanishes and the town is attacked by demons, the summoned manifestations of people's inner darkness. Using their Personas, the four defend themselves, and after meeting up with Eriko "Elly" Kirishima, they head to the town's Ayama Shrine to find Maki's mother Setsuko. Upon arrival, they find Setsuko wounded after an attack by Takahisa Kandori. Setsuko reveals him to be the culprit behind the changes to the town, caused by a reality-altering machine called the Deva System. Nanjō and Mark head out to confront SEBEC, while the protagonist, Elly and Yukino bring Setsuko back to the school. After this point, the game splits into two story routes: the main SEBEC route, and the alternate Snow Queen route.

In the SEBEC route, should the protagonist decide to confront SEBEC, he is first joined by an apparently-recovered Maki, then asked by Nanjō to help save Mark, who is captured by demons. The protagonist, Maki and Nanjō rescue Mark, but on the way Maki displays an odd lack of certain memories including being hospitalized. After rescuing Mark and infiltrating SEBEC, the group confront Kandori. After cornering him inside the Deva System, a girl in black called Aki appears and knocks the party unconscious. When they awake, they find themselves in a duplicate, idealized version of their world. The group eventually find and corner Kandori, whose ultimate goal was to become a deity and find meaning in life. After an initial fight, Kandori is possessed by his Persona Nyarlathotep, then finally defeated. Before dying, Kandori reveals that the Maki who has been traveling with the party is the "Ideal Maki", a version of herself from the true Maki's heart. Aki and a girl in white called Mai are also pieces of Maki, and the idealized Mikage-cho was created by Maki, and brought into reality when she unexpectedly linked with the Deva System. The group must help Maki avoid Kandori's path towards isolation and his current actions. The group manage to convince Ideal Maki to overlook her original self's unconscious actions and join them in fixing the problem. After rescuing the true Maki's self from the Sea of Souls, where all human life begins, the group must then confront Pandora, an aspect of Maki that wants to use the Deva System to destroy everything. When Pandora is defeated, all the pieces of Maki merge back into one, reversing the effects on the town and restoring her to full health. Philemon meets with the group and congratulates them on their success.