Gameplay wise it should be the same with a few tweaks here and there.

But content wise...

If you played SMT Strange Journey or Devil Survivor - both of these games came out on Nintendo DS originally but were remastered (or remade) for the 3DS similar fashion to SMTV - so it includes all the original content but also includes new content such as new demons, new characters, new routes (so new endings, etc).

Soul Hackers remake is amazing of one of the best games ever made. Cyberpunk RPG greatness.

I liked it but out of all the 3DS SMT games...it was my least favorite, just didnt feel as polished as the rest.

But the story and cast of characters were great.

Hopefully we can get a HD remaster of it for modern platforms.

Maybe Metaphor tops it but this is the best RPG this year. SMT is such an amazing series!

SMT on the 3DS was wild when you think of it.

2 Mainline games (IV, Apocalypse) + 4 Remasters (Soul Hackers, Devil Survivor 1 & 2, Strange Journey)

Will have to make some place to play Soul Hackers at some point. It was the last game I bought on my 3DS too.

I'm still not sure how to feel about save-anywhere and checkpoint abundance.

On the one hand, accessibility and options are nice and you can always "choose" not to save much or take advantage of infinite retries. But on the other hand, it just doesn't feel as satisfying as having the developers force limited checkpoints/savepoints on you. I end up being a hypocrite, often abusing retries and saving a lot (to "save time") then proceed to sulk about it lol. FromSoftware games owe their renowned high difficulty to penalty systems that can't be disabled. If FF7 Rebirth had similar penalties (or limited checkpoints/save points), it would have been notably harder than any Souls game. And you can still choose to make it harder by simply not abusing the checkpoint system, but ultimately the game does not "feel" THAT hard.

The hardest games I played are shumps/STG's. The reason shmups remain too difficult is because they force you to play 25 to 75~ minutes of nonstop action where a single mistake could snowball into utter defeat. The further you make it, the higher your heartrate, it's a thrill! Emulators allow you to save at any second, but where is the "thrill" in saving in the middle of a shump stage? It just defeats the purpose.

The high difficulty of older games in general stemmed from their limited checkpoints/attempts and it's one of the reasons why modern gaming feels numb by comparison. "Oh it's okay if I die here, I got infinite lives".

I love shmups as well but I'd never bring them up in a conversation with SMT. Some shmups you do have infinite lives. Like most cave games if you ignore score you can go on forever. Modern ports of Ikaruga let you go forever. It's just an accessibility feature for a modern and wider audience. RE stopped using ink ribbons by default. If you want more challenge then just don't save anywhere. DMC5 has an auto-battle mode and gives you a gold orb every time you boot it up. Don't use those if you don't want it to be easier.

I got all of them and finished all of them in the last 3-4 years , what a way to get into the series.

Now I need to play SMTV, III and whatever else I can get my hands on lol.

Hoh, Nocturne heh ? 

Kind of a surprise you haven't touched that one in the first place since it's the one most people in the gaming would've experienced the series first.

My entry in the SMT series is odd compared to most people.

The first time I played a SMT game was Shin Megami Tensei I for the SNES via emulation in the early 2000s, I didnt really play it much but gave up in the first 10 min after getting destroyed lol

My first fully played SMT universe game (though a spinoff) was SMT Persona 1 Portable for PSP back in 2011, I played SMT Persona 2 Innocent Sin for PSP and SMT Persona 3 Portable on PSP back to back - and Persona 4 OG on PS2 in 2015.

I didnt play a mainline SMT game until SMTIV for the 3DS until 2020 and after that I played through IV Apocalypse, Soul Hackers 1, Devil Survivor, Devil Survivor 2 and Strange Journey all on 3DS.

I'm planning to play III Nocturne which I have on both Steam and PS4 and planning to play OG V on Switch (to play the original route) - I'll get Vengeance later on either on PC or PS5.

In terms of how much I score the series....

Shin Megami Tensei IV (3DS): 95
Shin Megami Tensei IV Apocalypse (3DS): 93
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked (3DS): 92
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2 Record Breaker (3DS): 96
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers (3DS): 83
Shin Megami Tensei Strange Journey Redux (3DS): 91
Shin Megami Tensei Persona 1 Portable (PSP): 88
Shin Megami Tensei Persona 2 Innocent Sin (PSP): 85
Shin Megami Tensei Persona 3 Portable (PSP): 95
Shin Megami Tensei Persona 4 (PS2): 97

And on how long it took me to beat each one....