More Persona Goodness Coming in 2014!


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This past weekend Japanese gaming company Atlus (known for the Shin Megami Tensei & Persona series of RPGs) live streamed its “Teaser! Persona Channel” special. Here they announced 4 new games dealing with the long running Persona franchise. For those not in the know Persona is your typical RPG where main chracters fight demons using their alter-egos or “Personas”. With pretty deep story lines, engaging characters, and intergrating some dating sim elements; the Persona series has become exceedingly popular in both Japan and the US.

The first of these games is Persona 4: Dancing All Night, a rhythm game for the Playstation Vita which Atlus co-developed with Dingo (a company known for rhythm-action games). Set 6 months after the end of the original Persona 4 game, the story follows Rise Kujikawa (one of the main heorines in the original game) and her return to her life as an idol. Just like in the orginal game rumors begin spreading about “at midnight, if you see a strange video playing on a certain site, you are transported to the ‘other side’ and never wake up again,” and members of Kanami Mashita’s (Rise’s “replacement” when she stopped being an idol) idol group “Kanamin Kitchen”.

The game allows players to control the “Hero” (the main character from P4, also known as Yu Narukami in most other games and anime or Souji Seta in the manga), Rise, Kanami, Yosuke, Chie, and other P4 characters and engage in a “dance battle” with the shadows on the “Mayonaka stage”. Here is the trailer:

P4: Dancing All Night will be available in Japan next fall.

Next up is Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth for the Nintendo 3DS. An RPG that assembles the casts from both Persona 3 & 4.

The story takes place on the last day of the Yasogami High (the school the characters from Persona 4 attend) culture festival. the cast of P4 notices a bell tower appear on the school grounds and it’s bell is heard by the cast of P3, who are flung into the future where they interact with the cast of P4. The two groups are locked in the school which is now filled with shadows and encounter two indviduals named Zen & Rei, who have lost their memories and are the key to the bell tower.

Although you can only control the party with either Yu or Mitsuo (P3’s silent protagonist), the story changes depending on who you choose, but if the trailer is any indication any member of the cast is fair game for use in your party. Speaking of which, here’s the trailer:

Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth will be available June 5th

Heralded as one of the best fighting games of last year, Persona 4 Arena was released on Xbox 360 & Ps3 in the summer of 2012.  Basically a continuation of P4, Arena told a story in which Yu Narukami returned to Inaba and he and his friends are once again roped into the mysterious Midnight Channel and take part in a crazy fighting tournament held by who they think are Teddie & Rise. Add a couple of characters from Persona 3 and you had a pretty well balanced fighter with some great music, diverse fighters, and a pretty engaging story. Now it looks like Atlus is gearing up for the sequel.

Titled Persona 4 Arena The Ultimax Ultrasuplex Hold (Awesome name btw), the game takes place a few days after the original Arena. Inaba becomes shrouded in a red fog where time is warped and people begin disappearing. Inaba is becoming more likt the midnight channel and things get worse when Yu & friends find Mitsuru & Akihiko (two of the main characters from P3 and also fighters from the first Arena) crucified on the midnight channel. They are soon met by Junpei & Yukari (two other main characters from P3) and go to save the town and their friends. The game also introduces Sho Minazuki, a mysterious young man who may or may not be the reason all this is happening.

Just like the previous game players will be able to fight with characters from both Persona 3 & 4 and progress through the story with each character experiencing different things. P4A Ultimax also introduces new playable characters, new abilities and moves for established characters, and the option to fight as either the normal or shadow versions of certain characters. Here’s the trailer:

Persona 4 Arena Ultimax Ultrasuplex Hold will be available in Japanese arcades this Thursday and available for Ps3 next summer.

Finally, the moment fans had been waiting for since Persona 4 ended. At the end of the “Teaser! Persona Channel” special Atlus showed a teaser for the long awaited Persona 5:

What does this mean? Do the chairs symbolize how many playable characters there are? What do the ball and chains symbolize? Does the room mean something or did the painter just really like the color red? FInally, what is the story behind the tag line “You are slave. Want emancipation?” besides the back grammar not much is given to us.

Persona 5 is set to be released in Winter of next year.

There you have people, 4 brand new Persona games heading into stores next year. While there was no announcement of releases outside of Japan, it’s hard to see Atlus not releasing them abroad seeing as how popular the series is.

I personally am excited for all 4 of these games, but what about you guys? Are you excited for these games or could you care less? Let us know in the comments below!

Source: ANN