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Shin Megami Tensei: Synchronicity Prologue

Proton (Windows) Action Platformer (Metroidvania) 2017 other ⚙ Proton 6.3-8
Does it run on your Deck?

About

Shin Megami Tensei: Synchronicity Prologue is a free 2D action platformer with Metroidvania exploration, developed by the Ladybug Team (Den-fami Nico Game Magazine) and published by Atlus in October 2017 to celebrate the SMT franchise's 25th anniversary. Players control the SMT mascots Jack Frost and Jack-o'-Lantern across a side-scrolling adventure. The game runs approximately 2-3 hours and was originally released only in Japanese; an unofficial English fan translation exists. It was distributed free on Atlus's site as a limited-time download, which closed on 24 December 2017.

Identity

DeveloperLadybug Team (Den-fami Nico Game Magazine)
PublisherAtlus
Released2017
GenreAction Platformer (Metroidvania)
ModesSingle-player
Engineother
TypeProton (Windows)
AliasesSMT Synchronicity Prologue, Synchronicity Prologue, SMT25 Prologue

Launch

Binary
synchronicity.exe
Needs files
none beyond the binary

Proton

Version
Proton 6.3-8
Winetricks

⚙ Setup notes

Binary is synchronicity.exe (the launcher). You MUST run the launcher at least once to configure the gamepad — controllers are NOT detected automatically in-game until the launcher's gamepad setup has been done. After that, data/megaten.exe can be added as a second non-Steam shortcut to skip the launcher.

Community Steam Deck guides recommend Proton 6.3-8; newer GE-Proton builds run but have been reported as less stable. Performance is uneven even when tuned (an unstable ~60fps in places). Recommended in-game: View mode = Windowed, V-Sync = On, and on first launch click the "1x" window button (top-right) with the mouse; set Scaling Filter = pixel in the per-game Steam profile.

Originally Japanese-only; the English release is an unofficial fan translation (by Brento_Bento) applied by dropping its dial.dat into data/font/. Short game, ~2-3 hours. Developed by the Ladybug Team (Den-fami Nico Game Magazine) and published by Atlus as a free anniversary release; the official Atlus download closed on 24 Dec 2017.

The one thing to know

Free SMT 25th-anniversary release (published by Atlus, developed by Ladybug Team); the official limited-time download closed 24 Dec 2017. Not on Steam, so there is no ProtonDB rating. Binary is synchronicity.exe — you MUST run the launcher once to set up the gamepad before controllers work in-game. Community guides recommend Proton 6.3-8 (GE-Proton reported less stable); performance is uneven (~60fps, dips). Originally Japanese-only; English is an unofficial fan translation. Short, ~2-3 hours.

Community guides

Write-ups and threads from people who got this (or a similar) game running. deckport links to them — it doesn't reproduce them.

Get the artwork

deckport never hosts game images. Open this game on SteamGridDB, pick the cover / hero / logo / icon you like, and drop them into the game folder under .deckport-art/ before you push it to the Deck. The importer files them under the right names automatically.

Run it on your Deck

Two files: the one-time importer (deckport.py) in your Deck's home folder, and this game's install helper. Copy the game into ~/Games and run the helper with Steam closed — it writes the recipe (binary, launch options, Proton version) and registers the shortcut with artwork.