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But as time goes on and Persona continues to grow in popularity (now celebrating its 25th anniversary), the few moments the series deviates from conventions become more precious and noteworthy. And I think it’s fair to say some amount of love for the original games is a prerequisite for getting anything valuable out of P4AU’s stories. This is all old banter for the folks who already played the original releases. Of course, none of this is necessarily new or revelatory. I’m a real sucker for that stuff and still geek out over moments of in-universe crossover. When they cross paths with the Persona 3 folks, it’s like seeing two separate groups of friends link up for the first time and vibe with each other. There’s a genuine joy in seeing my problematic faves together again and hearing the comforting background tunes alongside their cheeky, sometimes aimless, small talk. I’ll always have love for my friends in Inaba, and thankfully, P4AU doesn’t linger on Persona 4’s more regressive aspects. An anime robot girl with a heavy Brooklyn accent and a big ass axe - like, tell me that doesn’t sound dope as hell! (It’s just straight-up hilarious to think Aigis’ counterpart would probably be wasted at a Yankees game getting in fights with Red Sox fans.) Damn, I wish she was present in RPG form and had her own social link route. However, P4AU is worth it for first-timers to discover and play as Labrys, who’s actually really fucking cool. P4AU villain Sho Minazuki is fine, I guess - a high-tier fighter, but not much more than the evil dude with a messed up backstory to connect both Persona casts together. And I think that’s what makes the stories in these fighting games kinda special, even if we only get snippets in short animated cutscenes and mostly talking portraits with static backgrounds. Portraying adults seems like something the series is so reluctant to do.

In other spinoffs we’ve seen - Persona Q, Persona Q2, and Dancing in Moonlight - narrative excuses keep these characters as they were. Fuuka is, well, a better version of herself? Aigis technically gets older, and she still kicks ass.

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Junpei pursues his professional baseball dreams.

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Yukari stars in a damn Power Rangers TV show.

Persona 3 will always have a special place in the franchise, and it’s wonderful seeing the cast grow up. They’ve all taken on new lives years after Gekkoukan High School, still carrying the weight of those events but with an air of maturity. I think it’s legitimately great to see characters grow up and break out of the high school confines Persona relies on. Specifically, the fact we have the Persona 3 cast aged past the immediate aftermath of the original RPG’s conclusion. Within its basic premise of Persona 4’s supernatural TV world returning, and baiting everyone for some ridiculous tournament with evil shadow-selves, are moments that exemplify our attachment to these games. It’s more of a decent excuse to reel everyone back together to fight for something, whether it be the story modes for the first P4A or the follow-up in P4AU - both of which are featured on this release from the jump. I’m not gonna front and say the actual story elements are particularly revelatory or groundbreaking. I still find it wild how natural ArcSys remixed Persona to create a memorable fighting game that’s not only faithful to the source material, but presents it in a new light. Persona 4 Arena and P4AU translated both the personalities of our favorite (or most hated) characters and the series’ RPG elements in ways that rekindle my enthusiasm for them. Here, Persona’s authentic spirit carries this game well beyond being a solid fighter. With those pillars intact, anime fighters can stand the test of time, sticking around much longer in the FGC’s consciousness and sustaining a cult following. But like many Arc System Works games, the core mechanics are designed with considerable balance, depth, approachability, and spectacle (though the former will always be debatable).

More importantly, it revives a fantastic spinoff for beloved RPGs and remains a top-tier fighting game.ĢD anime fighters have evolved quite a bit over the eight-or-so years since Persona was spun into one.

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This re-release for PC, PS4, and Switch keeps the original game intact and includes the DLC that matters and a balance patch once-exclusive to the arcades.

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I have one less reason to keep my PS3 on hand, and that’s because Persona 4 Arena Ultimax is finally playable on modern platforms.

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