Zhong Kui in Shin Megami Tensei
Last checked: 22 October 2026. Demon stats and skills differ by game and by patch, so we point to the fan-maintained wikis for current numbers.
A demon among gods
The Shin Megami Tensei (SMT) and wider Megami Tensei series are Japanese role-playing games built around the idea that the world's mythologies are populated by "demons" that the player can talk to, fight and recruit. In that setting, mythological figures are not heroes with story arcs. They are party members and fusion ingredients with stats and skills.
Zhong Kui appears there under his Japanese name Shōki (鍾馗), written with the same characters. Fan wikis list him among the series' demons. The Japanese name explains his place in the franchise: he has been a popular protector in Japan for centuries, as we explain in Shōki: Zhong Kui in Japan.
What we could and could not confirm
- The English Wikipedia article on Zhong Kui does not mention the series, so the game appearances here rest on fan and game-guide wikis.
- Fan wikis have described him as a Kishin ("fierce god") demon in several titles, but we could not re-check this against the live pages.
- Which titles include him, what his race is called in each English release, and what skills he has all vary by game. We therefore list no stats or skill names here.
- For a current profile, use the sources below.
Where to check
The mythology behind the demon
SMT borrows the name and the reputation: a fierce demon queller. The full figure is richer, with a Tang court dream, a Song scroll tradition and a Ming-Qing scholar-hero. Start with the origin of Zhong Kui.