Yami Kids Blends Monster Collecting and Darker Themes Inspired by SMT: DemiKids

There simply isn’t enough crossover between monster collecting games and the aesthetics of games like Shin Megami Tensei. While Atlus themselves had the short-lived DemiKids series, most of the series didn’t come West, and there hasn’t been a new, main game since 2003 in any case! To scratch this very particular itch, now we have Yami Kids to look forward to, a new project from GameDevTosh (Notice Me Leena-senpai!) and Yanako RPGs (Nuumonsters, Dokimon: Quest).

In the final week of its Kickstarter campaign (funded in 5 days, no less), Yami Kids is intended to be an homage and spiritual successor to DemiKids, merging monster (or “Oni,” specifically) collecting with darker themes in its story and presentation. Is this what we’d get if Pokémon‘s Lavender Town was expanded into a full RPG? The pixel art is crisp and lively, taking us back to the Game Boy Color/Advance days, but the devs aren’t kidding about those darker themes, either. Yami Kids features shadow duels that can result in your monsters permanently dying, while your character can die and find themselves in an underworld area to undergo trials to return to the living world. This, in addition to one of the game’s main story beats revolving around finding your parents’ killers and exacting revenge.

And that doesn’t even count the Nuzlocke features, which was the first stretch goal the campaign reached. Their planned implementation isn’t messing around, with both a “normal” version with permadeath, and a “true” version where death results in deletion of your save file.

Going back to Yami Kids‘ inspiration, Yanako RPGs’ Yano had this to say:

Shin Megami Tensei: DemiKids and YU-GI-OH were major inspirations for Yami Kids. We’re excited to make our first game with our custom in-house monster tamer game engine and are working hard to create a story and characters that all ages can enjoy. A lot of thought is going into our intertwined overworld and underworld, maximizing customization and replayability, and interlooping ideas in the story with characters weaving in and out of different realms and worlds with some fun time travel elements as well. We hope fans enjoy it!

We also got an additional quote from the devs:

Yami Kids takes direct inspiration from SMT Demi Kids and Persona, which has been reflected in some UI and design decisions. We hope Yami Kids can induce nostalgia for these titles, while introducing new ideas and delivering plenty of it’s own charm.

Yami Kids Screenshots

Beyond what I’ve covered so far and what you may expect from a monster collecting and battling game, Yami Kids seems pretty ambitious in terms of variety, despite is charming Game Boy Color levels of simplicity. Oni have several types (Pride, Greed, Wrath, Envy, Lust, Gluttony, Sloth, Holy, Spirit, Earth, and Arch-Demon) in addition to elemental affinities, so that speaks to great variety across the board, whether competing in single or 2-on-2 battles.

Yanako RPGs is putting a heavy emphasis on Yami Kids‘ gameplay mechanics, with side quests, puzzles, dungeons, Simulation Centers, and post-game replayability being focal points. Simulation Centers let you try out battle strategies across different modes with fun customization items as rewards. With this gameplay focus, the main story that can be completed in a “short-but-sweet” 15–20 hours, which the developers describe as being ideal for “the busy-body adults” (it me!). A story that doesn’t overstay its welcome is always good in my book, and like its inspiration, this seems like a game that will keep people playing for its post-game and other gameplay anyway.

This covers most of what Yami Kids is aiming to deliver, but you can find more information on its detailed Kickstarter campaign page. As of this writing, with one week left to go on the campaign, it seems certain they will at least meet their next stretch goal, which adds the Tower of Yami, a gauntlet of battles (100+) playable in different game modes. Yami Kids is estimated for a late 2026 launch on PC, with consoles as stretch goals. We hope to bring you more on this title in the future!