Atlus has shown five new demon designs for SMTIV and some of them are linked to the Kamen Rider series, for example Yasushi Nirasawa worked as a creature designer for the Kamen Rider series and designed Asmodeus.

There are two other completely new demons revealed: Kouga Saburo, "a legendary hero from the Suwa domain", and Kyouma Aki the god of agriculture and knowledge in Shinto.

There are two redesigns of previously known SMT demons: Raphael and Omoikane. This is the new Raphael:

More info and pics on Siliconera.

Can't say I'm feeling these new designs, especially not the redesigns. In that Siliconera link, you can see the comparison pictures and I much prefer the older designs for Raphael and Omoikane. I will say that these look more "demonic", but I'm not certain that that's really necessary and I think they might be a bit too complex for their own good.

No mention of Soejima in the article or Kaneko, either. Wonder if it's because Soejima's too busy with Persona 5 or something. I believe Kaneko isn't mentioned because he's not working on SMTIV at all.

@FluxWaveZ: This totally counts a websiteupdate. :p

On Talking Time (starring 1UP's Jeremy Parish and friends) I made a super long post as to why the new designs suck, please read if you're interested. I feel like I'll have beaten a long dead horse by the time the game comes out.

And why would Soejima be mentioned? Other than the fact that I would have rather had people like him and Doi do the designs if Kaneko was gonna be AWOL in his dream-field of flowers and hallucinogens.

I can't tell if these are stupid or amazing.

They're so bad! They're also, like, two weeks old.

seriously though so fuggin bad you guys

atlus ripped these straight off the ronnie james dio album cover.

Okay, so these look like Yugi-Oh cards if images could be put through a generic death metal "squiggly line logo" filter.

@Eirikr: Ah, didn't realize those designs were actually part of a site update.

Also, I thought Soejima did some work on Nocturne so it wouldn't be crazy for him to be involved with SMTIV, right?

@Soren said:

They're so bad! They're also, like, two weeks old.

Really? Only heard about these designs today.

Ehh the first looks really bad like genetic western fantasy demon...

@Video_Game_King said:

I can't tell if these are stupid or amazing.

Why not both?

the new omoikane is pretty awesome

@FluxWaveZ: They originally appeared in this famitsu scan that was released on the 18th.

And Soejima was credited as a "designer" on Nocturne alongside several other artists but wasn't involved in any major creative capacity.

@Landon said:

@Video_Game_King said:

I can't tell if these are stupid or amazing.

Why not both?

It's juuuust on the line. Being able to summon an Adventure Time villain? Amazing! Those feet of his? Stupid!

@Soren said:

@FluxWaveZ: They originally appeared in this famitsu scan that was released on the 18th.

Aw man, if Andriasang was still here I would have known about this...

@SirOptimusPrime said:

Okay, so these look like Yugi-Oh cards if images could be put through a generic death metal "squiggly line logo" filter.

To be fair, Persona 4 was pretty much Yu-Gi-Oh (Japanese high schoolers jump into the Shadow Realm to fight magical card games with weird other selves), so it's not like there isn't precedent :P.

Well, the least I can say is that they're on par for what I'd expect from Kamen Rider designers, if more demonic than the norm. Beyond that, man, I don't know.

Eh, the previous designs were hit and miss anyway.

Making them all look crazy isn't the worst thing in the world.

Yeah, I'm not a fan either. It's like they decided that they needed all of the sharp edges in their designs.

Raphael and Asmodeus are tuuuuurrible. Koga Saburou is alright, Omoikane is great, but too complex(That's why i prefer the original), and that Kuebinko is amazing, i really liked that one.

They're so bad.. but I kinda like 'em anyway.

They're all terrible. Over-designed as fuck, every last one of them.

If Abaddon looks like this I'm gonna be pissed.

That said, I don't hate the new Omoikane or the agriculture dude.

@mutha3 said:

They're all terrible. Over-designed as fuck, every last one of them.

Compared to some of Kaneko's more elaborate designs, I wouldn't say that.

You dudes are wrong these are awesome!!!!

Raphael looks like an edgy gothic Geth. Thank god for some new designs I guess, no matter how squiggly they are.

@Hailinel: I couldn't think of a single Kaneko design so marked by excessive design and nonsensical flourishes as the aforementioned Asmodeus. There's a clarity to even the most labyrinthine Kaneko design that is entirely absent from these new offerings, but even removed from that sort of context, they're just terrible.

@mutha3 said:

They're all terrible. Over-designed as fuck, every last one of them.

Compared to some of Kaneko's more elaborate designs, I wouldn't say that.

I'm digging the crazy robot guy. The Diablo thingy- not so much.

all y'all need to calm down, they still have regular jack frost and that's all you need

@Soren said:

@Hailinel: I couldn't think of a single Kaneko design so marked by excessive design and nonsensical flourishes as the aforementioned Asmodeus. There's a clarity to even the most labyrinthine Kaneko design that is entirely absent from these new offerings, but even removed from that sort of context, they're just terrible.

I'm not saying that it's as good as anything Kaneko has done. Only that "overdesigning" by itself isn't inherently a bad thing.

I get what they were going for with Raphael, and I'd even like it, were it not for the weird detached-limb floaty-orb thing that they keep sticking into these new designs. I wonder if there's a plot reason for that or if it's just a stylistic choice. Asmodeus looks awful, though. Agriculture dude looks alright, though, and I can live with the new Omoikane, even if he doesn't inspire Star Fox quotes every time I see him anymore.

The second one looks like a design that is weird enough to be a SMT demon. The first one, however, looks like a damn Yu-Gi-Oh card.

Like everyone else apparently, I like Omoikane and Soebiko. Based on those, I'll at least hold off on judgement until there's more to see. I'm really curious what the more powerful mainstays are going to look like. If Mara isn't a penis with a tricked out ride though, I quit.

Yeah I just cannot get over how completely ridiculous and out of place these designs look.

I like the one agricultural one

Raphael is pretty bad but it still reminds me of some of the crazier angel designs there have been