Persona 4 Arena Ultimax
Review
A Visual Novel That Throws Hands
by Camrin Santchi
reviewed on PC
Persona History lesson
Back in June of 2020, Atlus released Persona 4 Golden on Steam, inviting a new troop of fans to enjoy the murder mystery/coming of age story that originally released on the PS2 in 2010, and then had an enhanced release in 2012 on the Vita. Persona 4’s popularity was so great that it caused the Persona series to drop Shin Megami Tensei from the name - proving itself as a viable spin-off series without the name ‘SMT’ to back it up. It also spawned sequels of its own, all of which play notably different than the slice of life/JRPG combo that account for typical Persona gameplay. This is where Persona 4 Arena Ultimax comes in, a recent release on Steam to celebrate the Persona series’ 25th anniversary.
Originally released in 2013, Persona 4 Arena Ultimax (Aptly nicknamed P4AU) is a sequel to the original 2012 Persona 4 Arena. These games are 2D fighting games developed by Arc Systems that were released for the PS3 and Xbox 360. Taking place after the events of Persona 4, Arena and Arena Ultimax thus spoil the story of Persona 4 - but interestingly enough, they also touch on the story and characters of Persona 3.
Bringing us up to speed
Helpfully, the Story Mode is broken up into multiple sections- since P4AU contains the story of Persona 4 Arena as well as its own story. Since Ultimax is a sequel to Arena, new players should start by playing the events of Persona 4 Arena before moving into ‘Episode P4’, which covers the events of Ultimax from the perspective of the Investigation Team - the characters from Persona 4, while ‘Episode P3’ would be the unlocked perspective of the Shadow Ops- the characters from Persona 3.
Persona 4 Arena’s Story Mode is told from the perspective of several characters - starting with the original four person squad of the Investigation Team before they recruited underclassmen: The Protagonist Yu Narukami and his friends, Yosuke, Chie, and Yukiko. Having spent all of Persona 4 Golden playing as Yu Narukami, this reviewer’s first instinct was to play through Yu’s story first. Arena takes place during Golden Week, 2 months after his departure from Inaba at the end of Persona 4, but the reunion is cut short when he decides to check the Midnight Channel - a strange phenomenon that appears at midnight when its raining in Inaba. Back in Persona 4 this was how the Investigation Team found the victims of the serial killer striking the town, so its reactivation would have caused enough unease - but their friend Teddie appeared to be an announcer of sorts for a fighting tournament… with them as the competitors. In true arcade fashion (fitting the game’s origin as a Japanese only arcade cabinet), the story of Persona 4 Arena differs slightly depending on the character’s story you choose, but it follows the same beats of the Investigation Team reluctantly fighting their way through the P1 Grand Prix to get to the bottom of it.
As far as gameplay goes, Persona 4 Arena Ultimax is essentially a visual novel that occasionally turns into a fighting game, most of the story modes are depicted in typical VN fashion, and in a cool twist compared to Persona 4 Golden in the alternate character stories players can actually see from their perspective and hear their thoughts on things. This is a nice change that really helps the cast members feel more fleshed out and alive, which is impressive since over the course of Persona 4 Golden gamers are exposed to these characters and there innermost thoughts, fears, and desires, but the POV being given to them adds a new level to this perspective.
Familiarities
When the time comes for the Investigation Team to throw hands, people that have played other Arc Systems fighting games such as Dragon Ball FighterZ or Guilty Gear will find P4AU very familiar, and those who have played Blazblue Cross Tag Battle will actually recognize not only some of the characters, but their playstyles. 13 of the 22 playable characters in the game were in Cross Tag Battle, so their leitmotifs, characterization, and even fighting styles will be quite familiar, even though Arena Ultimax does play by some different rules. A good amount of characters have at least one gimmick or trick, like Ken having Kuromaru doggedly pursue his foes, or Naoto or Aegis keeping track of how many bullets they have before reloading. They even have Insta-Kill abilities, and fortunately there are both Training and Lesson modes so gamers don’t need to worry about struggling with a learning curve when learning combos or certain odd mechanics.
While a fighting game isn’t exactly what one might expect for a sequel of a game like Persona 4 Golden, this reviewer finds it to be a fun fighting game with a compelling story that expands the world of Persona by introducing the Investigation Team to another team that once saved the world from a mysterious threat with the power of Personas.
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8.4
fun score
Pros
Easy to Learn, A Compelling Expansion to the Universe
Cons
Gimmick/Trick Characters, Players may be Unaware of Persona 3’s events
