The festivities surrounding thePersona25th anniversary have been slightly underwhelming so far, but fans are still getting some good announcements out of them.Persona 3,4, and5finally migrating to other platforms is great news for new and old fans alike, and everyone agrees that there’s no way this celebration is ending withoutthe announcement ofPersona 6. WithShin Megami Tensei 5having just come out and a surprise sequel toSoul Hackersabout to release, it’s a great time to be anSMTfan.
In the middle of all of this, there was one other surprise release.Persona 4 Arena Ultimaxcame out on modern platforms after leaving Japanese arcades as a late seventh-generation console game. This was a sequel to the 2012 fighting game spin-offPersona 4 Arena, which will be celebrating the tenth anniversary of its North American console release on June 10, 2025. It feels appropriate that this date falls on the same day as EVO’s fighting game tournament finals, and a couple of days afterPersona 4 Arena Ultimaxreceived its much-anticipated rollback netcode update.Personafans owe a lot toPersona 4 Arena, as it has continued contributing to the franchise after a decade of life.
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Persona 4 Arena Was a Massive Surprise
For its first sixteen years, thePersonaseries did not receive any spin-offs, only a few re-releases. This is because it was itself considered a spin-off ofthe mainShin Megami Tenseifranchise, and only began to pick up traction as a separate entity withPersona 3in year eleven. However, oncePersonahad begun growing into its own beast, Atlus took notice of the specific popularity ofPersona 3,4, and5. It began building out thePersonauniverse with a variety of additional media. Over the years, there have been anime, movies, manga, and a number of spin-off games. The first of these spin-offs wasPersona 4 Arena, and it was a big deal back when it was first announced.
No one was sure what to make ofPersona 4 Arena. ThePersonagames had always been a hardcore turn-based RPG series, and now they were getting a fighting game adaptation. Not only that, but it was getting it from Arc System Works, the makers ofGuilty GearandBlazBlue. Whilethe pre-Dragon Ball FighterZASWdid not have the notoriety it does today, it was well regarded as the premier anime fighter developer. It had also handled other licensed games before, such as the famously crazyHokuto no Kenarcade game andSengoku Basara X, an equally wild adaptation of Capcom’sDynasty Warriorscompetitor. The prestige was there for a solid game, but no one realized exactly what they were getting into untilPersona 4 Arenacame out.
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Why Persona 4 Arena Was a Hit
One of the first thingsPersonafans noticed was that the game did not limit itself toPersona 4characters. Indeed, a chunk of thePersona 3party was present as a faction in the story. This is becausePersona 4 Arenais a canon sequel toPersona 4, which was now double-confirmed to be asequel toPersona 3. References toPersona 1and2are rare and indirect, but cameos inPersona 4and5have firmly established thatPersona 3and up share a continuity, even if they play with the mechanics of Personas and Shadows in different ways.Persona 4 Arenamade big waves in thePersonacommunity with its bold redesigns of3’s cast, as well as a deeper look at the Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon program that made Aigis.
For everyone else, it impressed soundly with its fighting.Persona 4 Arenais committed to being aPersonagame through and through, and that means adapting a surprising amount of mechanics from its source game. While the Fool Arcana’s Persona-switching is exclusive toUltimax’s Margaret, other aspects like the One More system, status effects, and eventhe Light and Darkness elementsacting as instant kills were all implemented to provide additional depth. The basic control scheme was also satisfying, with two buttons controlling a given character and the other two manipulating their Persona. It almost felt like characters had two ofBlazBlue’s Drive buttons to easily use special moves, something that appealed greatly to casual fans.
The Legacy of Persona 4 Arena
With both the RPG and fighting game crowds hooked,Persona 4 Arenafollowed through with a sequel inPersona 4 Arena Ultimax. It carried on everything that was great about the original game, and added a lot of missing characters fromPersona 3and4. A couple of new fighters came with them, and Shadow versions for most of the cast were implemented with a different way of using the super meter. Much to the surprise of everyone,Persona 4 Arenawas also one of the games present intheBlazBlue Cross Tag Battlecrossover. Despite being owned by a completely different publisher, players got another chance to use thePersonacast on the fighting stage, this time against some other fighting game characters and the cast ofRWBY.
Meanwhile, back inPersonaitself, the floodgates had been opened for spin-offs. These included thePersona Dancingtrilogy, and also resulted in thePersona Qgames that featured more crossovers between thePersonacasts. The most significant spin-off sincePersona 4 Arena UltimaxisPersona 5 Strikers, which follows the same format of being a direct sequel to its base game. Fans would really like tosee aPersona 5 Arena, but even if that’s not in the cards,Persona 4 Arena Ultimaxis widely available now. With its formerly arcade-exclusive 2.0 update, all the DLC included, and now rollback netcode,Persona 4 Arena Ultimaxshould be able to keep satisfying fans for another decade.
Persona 4 Arena Ultimaxis available now on PC, PS4, and Switch.
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