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'Lord' Hadad

As "Ba'al" is a title meaning "Lord" rather than a name, many other deities are referred to as Ba'als along with Hadad, such as Ba'al Zebul. Baal Hadad was a storm god frequently referenced and villainized in the Old Testament as the pagan god of Canaan.

In Megami Tensei

Baal in Famicom Megami Tensei II.

Baal appears frequently as a demon, and to a lesser extent a persona, in the Megami Tensei series, generally depicted in two ways. The first and earliest design in the Famicom Digital Devil Monogatari depicts the god as female, a motif developed subsequently in Megami Tensei II, adding wings and a serpentine body. This design has not been used beyond the Super Famicom era.

The modern Baal design, as seen in Majin Tensei II.

The other, more notable and commonly seen design of Baal first appears in Shin Megami Tensei II, as interpreted by Kazuma Kaneko. It depicts Baal with purple skin whilst grasping a goblet and wearing priestly attire, replete with a headdress adorned with the bull horns standard of his and his father El's iconography. The release of Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers later reused this design but rendered it with a different, darker palette.

As there are innumerable deities from the Levant given the epithet "Baal," it is possible that these two designs actually depict different deities. In the Japanese versions of the games, the female design is most commonly spelled as "バアル" ("baaru") while the helmeted male version is usually spelled "バール" ("bāru"). However, as these spellings can also be found inconsistently labeled, it remains unclear if a distinction was intended between them.

Digital Devil Monogatari: Megami Tensei

Baal in Megami Tensei.

This earliest appearance of Baal in Digital Devil Monogatari: Megami Tensei depicts a female figure brandishing a sword. This Baal is of the Vile race and is encountered in the game's Valhalla dungeon. In the game's Kyuuyaku Megami Tensei remake, this older design would be replaced by the serpentine one from Megami Tensei II.

Digital Devil Monogatari: Megami Tensei II

In Kyuuyaku Megami Tensei (II).

The winged, serpentine Baal first appears in Digital Devil Monogatari: Megami Tensei II and its Kyuuyaku Megami Tensei remake as a level 58 member of the Deity race. Given a supportive slant, this incarnation of the god comes with the healing skills Mediarahan, Diarahan, and Samarecarm.

Shin Megami Tensei

Mega CD SMT's Baal.

Baal appears as one of the demons added to the Mega CD port of Shin Megami Tensei, using the winged serpentine design. Seemingly based on the Megami Tensei II appearance, Mega CD Shin Megami Tensei's Baal is a level 60 member of the Deity race boasting the same skillset from the previous game: Mediarahan, Diarahan, and Samarecarm.

Shin Megami Tensei II / Shin Megami Tensei if...

Baal in Shin Megami Tensei II and if....

Shin Megami Tensei II, the first usage of the male Baal design, ranks the god as a level 58 member of the Deity race. Similarly, he also appears in Shin Megami Tensei if... as a level 71 Deity. These appearances would mark a shift in Baal's skills away from healing and more towards magic skills like Maziodyne, as he sports in later games.

Majin Tensei series

Baal in the first Majin Tensei.

Baal appears in both Majin Tensei strategy games. First, in the initial Majin Tensei title, he is a high-level demon of the Deity clan, using the last instance of the winged serpentine design. In the sequel, Majin Tensei II: Spiral Nemesis, Baal is a demon classified under the unique Soshin "Ancient God" clan, using the updated helmeted male design.

Last Bible series

Last Bible III's Baal.

Baal makes minor appearances as an enemy demon in the Last Bible spinoff series, in both the first Last Bible, later brought to the West as Revelations: The Demon Slayer, and in Megami Tensei Gaiden: Last Bible III, where he appears as a short, elderly man, in contrast to any other design of the god.

Persona series

In Persona, Persona 2: Innocent Sin, and Persona 2: Eternal Punishment, Baal appears as a persona of the Emperor arcana. In the first Persona he is level 55 with majority ice skills, and his name was first translated in Revelations: Persona as "Bard." In both Innocent Sin and Eternal Punishment, he is level 37 and mostly learns water-based skills.

Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers

Baal's sprite from Soul Hackers.

In Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers, Baal is a level 73 Deity with a range of the most powerful elemental attacks the game features, including Mazionga, Maragion, and Mabufula. While Baal can be fused using normal means, he is also part of a special fusion triangle with his fellow Canaanite deities Anat and Mot. Using two-way fusion, combining any two of the gods will result in the third; hence, Baal will result if Anat and Mot are fused.

This version of Baal also appears as a card in Shin Megami Tensei Trading Card: Card Summoner.

Giten Megami Tensei: Tokyo Mokushiroku

Ba'al Hadad in Giten Megami Tensei.

Two demons named Baal appear in the PC-exclusive title Giten Megami Tensei: Tokyo Mokushiroku. The first, Ba'al Hadad, a demon of the Deity race, is the only time in the series that Baal is called by his full name. The second is simply named Baal and is a Tyrant. Giten Megami Tensei's Tyrant race is notable in that it includes many other demons with Baal-derived names such as Bael, Belphegor, Baalberith, and Baalzephon, and also predates Devil Survivor's Bel demon storyline.

Shin Megami Tensei: NINE

Similar to other appearances, Baal is a level 72 Deity in Shin Megami Tensei: NINE, with physical and magic attack skills. It is also the first and only time Baal proper has been rendered in 3D.

Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne

The Demi-fiend encountering Baal Avatar.

Baal appears in Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne as Baal Avatar, the form Chiaki Hayasaka takes when she fully assimilates with the ideology of her Reason, Yosuga: the survival of the fittest. Baal Avatar, of the Deity race, is white and ceramic-looking, with a particuarly large wing-like protrusion, evoking artifacts and figures found of Ba'al Hadad at archaeological sites, particularly sharing a conical-shaped headpiece.

Baal Avatar is encountered as a boss late in the Tower of Kagutsuchi, after Ahriman and Noah, and is flanked by angelic versions of Fallen demons, Ose Hallel and Flauros Hallel ("hallel" meaning "praise" in Hebrew; see also "hallelujah"--"praise to Jah"). Once defeated, the body of Baal Avatar explodes and shatters, like an idol cast down from an altar.

Being Chiaki's sponsor deity, Baal Avatar hews closer to the female winged serpent of earlier games, and incorporates concepts mainly from the demonized, Hebraic interpretations of the "Baal" title used by the Canaanite god and other deities, with one example being its skill called Bael's Bane, an attack which transforms those without curse immunity into flies, suggesting Beelzebub.

Devil Survivor series

Baal makes a cameo appearance in Devil Survivor and Devil Survivor: Overclocked, fused into the design of the grand demon Belberith. Also incorporating other hitherto unseen "Bel" demons from the game's plot such as Belphegor and Bael, Baal's upper torso appears on the lower left side of Belberith's body mass. Difficult to discern on the map sprite, Baal is also almost totally obscured in Belberith's menu profile, making his cameo easy to overlook.

Baal in Devil Survivor 2.

Baal makes a proper appearance in the spinoff series in Devil Survivor 2. He is a unique level 65 Deity and voids fire, ice, and electricity but is weak to wind. He has no starting skills except passive elemental boost skills Fire Amp, Ice Amp, and Elec Amp, which is seemingly a callback to his elemental skill set in Soul Hackers. Baal is also only available for fusion in Devil Survivor 2 as a reward for reaching the final level in the FATE system with Yamato Hotsuin.

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