As we documented in Kaneko's Crib Notes XVI, Shin Megami Tensei II's Baphomet's appearance is based on the god of the same name in the Clive Barker movie Nightbreed. But as suggested in the main Odin article proper, there might be more to that connection than just a design. Here's a quick rundown of Baphomet's appearance in SMT2, with screenshots from Luisfe's LP of the game on lparchive:
Here Baphomet lives in an underground Shinto shrine, guarding the sealed Kunitsukami god Onamuchi, one of the owners of Masakado's body parts. Pretty odd role for him, huh? None of the occult significance or ritual function of the original figure like the sabbath Baphomet heads in Nocturne--and SMT2 is the same game with a horny, sabbath-yearning "Crowley." Instead, this Baphomet, peculiarly of the Fallen race, wants nothing more to send you even lower than the underground to the Japanese underworld and consort with the female monsters that reside there.
This all makes no sense unless you interpret this appearance through a Nightbreed filter. We can't fault you if you've never seen Nightbreed as it's an obscure film that's probably a little too weird for the tastes of most, but we still recommend you give it a shot (it was on Netflix at some point) if you like offbeat stories with varied and interesting costume design. The gist of Nightbreed's plot is that monsters exist but are shunned and persecuted by humans, so they live segregated in a city of their own making called Midian which is situated beneath a cemetery; there, their god Baphomet (who mostly assumes the form of a large statue) judges potential initiates with his blood and generally protects his monstrous charges. More or less. Hey, it's been a while.
Situated beneath the earth and in league with monsters, a general description of Nightbreed's Baphomet finds similitude to SMT2's beyond just the visuals. But could this just be a coincidence? Well, considering that SMT2 is a game with Literally Betelgeuse, Literally Ghost Rider, Literally Q-taro, Literally Christine, Literally Audrey II, its Baphomet's seemingly unorthodox appearance and function point instead that it is another comprehensive pop culture pull and 100% intended to be Nightbreed's proprietary demon-god rather than Eliphas Levi's Goat of Mendes. Once again, just when you think you can definitively point to a Kaneko design as objectively bad, a little digging results in a justification for it, no matter how bizarre it still is. Dzolob always excepted.
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