Persona 4 Arena Brawling to PS3 This Summer

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Persona 4 Arena Brawling to PS3 This Summer

Look, I’m just going to come out and say it: this summer, ATLUS is bringing Persona 4 Arena to a PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system near you (and if it’s near you we’re going to go ahead and assume you own it).

Persona 4 Arena

One of the most successful, highest-rated RPG franchises of the last few years is our very own Persona series. The two most recent games, Persona 3 and Persona 4, were hailed for their memorable casts of characters, plots that defied many established clichés, and mechanics and visual designs that stood apart from their competitors.

Collaborating with fighting genre masters Arc System Works (the folks who made a little series called BlazBlue), ATLUS is taking the Persona universe, complete with its added “summon your inner power” wrinkle, and transforming it into one of the most unique, visually stunning fighting games you’ve ever laid your eyes on. Or whatever part of your body you lay on things.

Persona 4 Arena

Persona 4 was all about a world inside the TV; those who were thrown in were featured on the mysterious Midnight Channel, with only days to live. Persona 4 Arena takes place just a short while after the Midnight Channel went off the air, only to find that a new program featuring a bizarre fighting tournament with deadly stakes has started up. You guessed it: that’s where you (and your friends) come in.

Persona 4 Arena

It’s not just the visuals that make Persona 4 Arena worth your time. Every one of the game’s 10 fighters (don’t react to that number yet, read on) can summon their Personas for special attacks. So… Not only do they each have their own highly specialized move set, but when you throw the fact that their Persona do as well, it’s like you’ll multiplying something to the power of something. Or something. Perhaps the most compelling part of all is WHO these ten fighters are: beloved characters like Chie Satonaka, Aigis, Mitsuru Kirijo, and Teddie. That’s right: Teddie.

Persona 4 Arena

Now, we’re only just announcing Persona 4 Arena today so we’re not quite ready to talk about EVERYTHING you can expect when the game releases in August, but we CAN confirm new console-exclusive Story and Online modes. For the Story mode—before you bombard us with questions— YES, we’re doing everything possible to retain the full English voice cast from Persona 3 and 4, and no, we’re not yet able to confirm or deny whether the original Japanese voice track will be included as well.

Ok, go back to playing on your shiny new PS Vitas, PS Blog friends. We’ll hit you up later with more details, screens, video(s), etc. STAY TUNED!

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54 Comments

9 Author Replies

  • Any chance of this getting a release on Vita?

    • crunchmonkey,

      Good idea! Alas, there are no plans at this time for any platforms beyond what’s been announced.

  • Whoa the Blazblue team + the Atlus team should = awesome!! :)

  • cookiemonster525

    I loved Persona 4 so much, this game looks awesome too. I’m definitely going to main Akihiko. Please tell us when P4 Golden is coming out in North America!

  • “PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system near you” <— that made me lol

  • I can’t wait for this game! Persona 4 was one of my favorites and I’ve been reliving it watching the new Persona 4 anime, I’m really pumped for this, Persona the Golden and of course Persona 5 and beyond!

  • why this is just silly make original ip’s for fighting games

  • Persona 4 was great. Hoping this will sell well so that we can get Persona 4 The Golden also. Will happily buy both.

  • This looks great. I loved BlazBlue and hearing that Arc System Works is collaborating with it should result in a great game.

  • Just one thing… no japanese voices, no buy! Just unbelieveble you guys still forgeting the anime fan base… Japanese Games with Japanese Audio is hightly the chances of success… look at Sengoku Basara franchise from Capcom, until now they don’t care about to put japanese audio in that game, and the english versions sucks… and the game don’t sold wells… I wish you guys put the “godlike” japanese voice acting in this game and Space in DVD9/Bluray is not a excuse for this…

  • If this game incorporates the currency and experience points system that’s found in Blazblue: Continuum Shift Extend along the Stylish Mode (simple controls option), then this game will be amazing. Not to mention, a day one purchase for me. :)

  • Thanks for the Great News Aram! My favorite fighting developer teaming up with my favorite Publisher is news that cannot be beat! and even though 10 characters doesn’t seem like a lot in comparison to games like Marvel vs Capcom 3, if i know anything about Arc System works, those 10 characters will be INSANELY fun to play as and all very unique!

    one question though: Is this going to be a full retail release or PSN?

    • Zezzler,

      Persona 4 Arena will be a full retail release. You’ll be able to hold the disc and smell the manual and everything.

  • Yay for Atlus! Take my money now!

  • Yup, I’ll be buying this. But I’ll have to purchase a copy on the competing console as that is where my fightstick works.

    But… Persona 4 The Golden. PS Vita. Holiday 2012. Make it happen Atlus USA.

  • Looks great! Is there any chance you guys will be releasing 3 or 4 on PSN as PS2 classics?

  • Please don’t butcher this game’s story mode like you did for Arcana Heart. I hope you’ve moved past that.

  • I want Saint Seiya without having to import the JP version, ATLUS make it happen!!!!

  • Summer?releases in August?August!

  • Only ten characters makes me sad, but I’m sure the game play will be great. Please release it for the Vita, I’d prefer games like this on the go.

    • saintaqua,

      It is important to note that each character has their unique Persona to summon and greatly augment their combat abilities. I think folks will find that while the roster is a tad smaller than they’re accustomed to, the depth in each of those characters and also the game’s fighting mechanics will far more than make up for it.

  • I saw that it’s gonna be a full retail release, but is there a chance we’ll see it on the PSN store? I tend to prefer getting my games there, since getting disc-based copies is a bit more difficult for me (and I just prefer digital anyway).

  • Any chance of a PSN release? I would love to hold the bytes and smell a PDF manual….

    • Fedast,

      While it is certainly possible for retail games to be released for download via PlayStation Network, there are no plans or details regarding such a release for Persona 4 Arena at this time. The interest is noted, however!

  • Love Persona, pre-ordering this today, but 10 characters? I looked the game up and its said ya’ll just recently announced a 11 character, or is this information false?

    • Darkest_angel22,

      I don’t know anything about that, but if you did indeed read it somewhere, it could be for Japan only at this time.

  • Preordered it the second I found out about it ^,^

  • Plz! There is any news of bringing Persona 4 The Golden to America for PSVita? Make me happy this weekend pretty plz! *-*

  • Great news, i sure will keep an eye on it
    also i hope we get to see Persona 5 on PS3 in the near future :D

  • Would be even more awesome if this was also on Vita

  • Good news, Mr Jabbari. If I may request this, we want a Persona collection for PS3 with PS3 FES, P4, and every other PS2 Persona game you can fit into a blu-ray disc. Like right now :)

  • Also, it wouldn’t hurt Atlus to get the rights to publish a Shadow Hearts Collection ;)

  • Game looks great, so glad it’s coming stateside, will definitely be picking this up even though I’m not that big of a fighting fan. On somewhat related news, any Western updates for Persona 4 Golden for Vita????

  • Loving this. Thanks for bringing to US. I for one want the the japanese voice overs please. Why the name change? Love the jp name. You said theres more to announce, but please have more characters and modes. SF x tekken is a good example of a fighting game with lots of modes. Its something most fighting games lack. Special pre orders would be nice for this.

  • I love how blunt you were in this post, Aram. You acknowledged our questions and didn’t beat around the bush. If you guys could keep the original Japanese voice cast alongside the English ones, I would love you forever. But I would still buy it even if it only included the English voice cast, because they were so memorable in P3 and P4.

  • @17 Jabbari reply
    They said the same thing about BlazBlue when it launched, and it suffered because of the small roster. Though all Arcsys games are like this. Look at how many BlazBlue there are, and roll back to when they were doing the 8 different versions of GGX2…. 10 is under ambitious, Doujin fighters do well. The shear fact of being based off something else popular is enough. I don’t want to see 5 different versions or $8 dlc characters. Consider French Bread and his hit Melty Blood, its considering getting a PSN version in Japan, but I bet we won’t see it stateside even though we got the ever less popular Arcana Hearts 3 and Battle Fantasia. Melty Blood was the number 1 fighting game ion Japan for a very long time, even beating KOF and SF for a while.

  • I can see it now, P4 Arena $59.99.
    6 months later…
    P4 Arena: Ultimate, $39.99 please….

  • Mmm sorry to say but not interested in a game with just 10 characters. Specially if it goes retail price, nah. Maybe if it goes for 15-30 or on Vita then maybe, until then Street Fighter X Tekken is my choice.

  • i wish u guys make persona 5 an awesome new rpg game exclusively for the ps3 with new personas charachters new story etc

  • 10Characters, Guess we will see a DLC on launch day with new characters… or pre-order the game from this retailers and gain exklusive access to this character.

    This is what I hate about this console generation.

  • This is great. Though when I saw Persona 4 I thought it was the announcement of Peraona 4: The Golden Coming to NA this year. Please make it happen :). Vita needs classic style RPG’s

  • Mr. Jabbari,
    These are excellent news and I am very much looking forward to this title and I am all for supporting both Atlus and 2D fighters but as a European gamer I am stumped. I imagine this is likely none of your business and these words are in vain since Atlus does not have a European branch but is there any way for Atlus to secure a publisher for a “timely” European release? I only ask this because the multiplayer nature of the game means it’s most valuable during it’s first months. I would import but there’s also the fact that the game will likely have DLC and accessing it would require me to set a US PSN account and purchase a US PSN card (the hardest part).
    I’ve just very recently purchased ‘Catherine’ that only arrived last month and given that it’s mostly a single player experience, I’m OK with that but for a fighting game it’s not as simple. ‘Arcana Heart 3’ took over a year to arrive here and that definitely killed my interest. Is there any chance that Atlus can help P4A come to Europe on time?
    Thank you for your time.

    On a side note, I’ll certainly buy ‘Persona 4 The Golden’ if you release it on PSN. :)

    • SuspendoVir,

      Sadly, the adage “it takes two to tango” is most apt here. We would love for our games to launch at the same time worldwide, particularly at the same time in the US and in Europe, but there has to be that interested other party. Even with a partner, a lot of things have to fall into place to facilitate a simultaneous release across regions.

      Please always know that we do everything we can to get our games into the hands of as many players as possible, and that it is never better for us for folks in another region to have to wait before they can play. We love our fans, regardless of where they live!

  • I thought this was a terrible idea when it was announced but now I am really looking forward to this. Really like how this is shaping up.

    But please tell me there won’t be any $8 DLC characters at day one or anything silly like that. That was what kept me from getting Blazblue CS, and I would hate to miss this too. :/

  • Also, Mitsuru is looking REALLY good.

  • At first I thought Persona 4: Golden was a P4 remake AND the fighting game together for the Vita lol…I guess I dreamed too big

  • This is should be a vita game it’s time to move from ps3 dont u think. Vita seem great for fighting games I own both a ps3 and vita

  • I’m really looking forward to this. But if you don’t include Japanese voice-overs, I won’t be getting it. At least it won’t be worth full price if you don’t include the original audio. Especially for a fighter. As I’m sure you’re aware, this is a basic feature of most fighters nowadays. It’s rare when one comes over that doesn’t allow multiple audio tracks. Please don’t be one of those rare fighters that doesn’t include them. Thanks.

  • Do want!

    Hope I’ll still have enough cash for the inevitable Blu-ray releases of that P4 anime, but I guess that ain’t your department..

  • Vai_the_stampede

    Aram, I’m going to have to agree with some others here: no Japanese voice acting, no buy. And I don’t mean just this game. I’d really appreciate it if you could pursue this in other games (perhaps also P4 related *wink wink*) in the future.

  • Can you guys PLEASE release Persona 3 and 4 avatars on PSN, I want to sport a Minato Arisato on my PSN account!

  • 2011 Game of The Year – Catherine, 2012 Game of The Year Persona 4? Probably not, for me anyway. I’m not much of a fighter gamer but this will definitely be my Fighting Game of The Year, that counts for something right?

  • Thanks for the info, Aram. Now, I think I will get back to my shiny PS Vita. With all the great release titles, what are the first games I bought to play on it? Persona, Persona 2, and Persona 3’s PSP digital downloads. True story.

  • Its this PS3 Exclusive? Or is it for the “other” console too… >_>

    Anyways Hows That Ps3 Exclusive Persona 5 RPG coming up? When Can we expect the release?

  • I’ll buy it again if it’s released on PSVita as well. Just like I did Blazblue: Continuum Shift Extend. Just Saiyan.

    ;D So I fully support a port later (or sooner than later ;D).

  • Give us Persona 3 & 4 in the PS2 section of the store, PLEEZ.

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