The primary wave of Persona 5 spin-offs seems to have come and gone. First, there was Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight, a rhythm game that dropped alongside a Persona 3 rhythm game. Next came the release of Persona 5 Royal, an expanded version of the main game that featured a much-lauded expansion and a well-received new party member. Finally, Persona 5 Strikers came out just this year in North America. It took the form of a sequel to Persona 5 that merged the Musou action gameplay style with a Persona game’s structure. Persona 5 fans have been swimming in spin-offs, but there could be something else in the pipeline before Persona 6 is revealed.
However, there’s one type of spin-off that a lot of fans have felt is being slept on. Persona 4 was the first game in the Shin Megami Tensei subseries that achieved enough mainstream success to get multiple spin-offs, two of those being the Persona 4 Arena games developed by Arc System Works. Old JRPG franchises dipping into a more complex action format is becoming more common nowadays, but back in 2012, it was a shock to the system. However, both games went over extremely well with fans, and many would love to see Persona 5 get the same treatment.
A Firm Fighting Foundation
Persona 5 Arena, or whatever Atlus decides to call it, would make an ideal sequel to the other Persona fighting games. The Persona 4 Arena titles did what few expected and adapted Persona 4, Persona 4: The Golden, and even Persona 3 into a pair of fighting games set after the initial Persona mainline entries. Fighters from the main casts of Persona 3 and Persona 4, as well as a number of newcomers, duked it out across a pair of large and entertaining (if basically written) story modes. It would be great to see a chunk of these heroes back in a Persona 5 context, especially if Yu Narukami and Joker get a chance to interact.
The Arena games have an extremely solid base for a Persona fighting game. The controls are simple and interesting, with two buttons controlling a fighter while two more control their Persona. Special move inputs are simple, and several more actions like an All-Out Attack can be performed by pressing two or more buttons. Persona mechanics like status effects and One More combo extensions have been adapted to the 2D fighting gameplay. These games work extremely well for players of all skill levels, so if Arc System Works returns for another Persona adaptation, not much would need to change for a Persona 5 fighting game.
Persona 5 Has All It Needs
Of course, a Persona 5 fighting game would need to focus specifically on Persona 5, and the P5 cast can definitely fill out a roster. The full playable roster of Persona 5 Royal provides around ten characters to cleanly slot into the game, and Strikers adds a couple more. With a handful of older Persona characters and maybe an original villain or two, the base roster is more than set. One of the main reasons why Persona fans are asking and theorizing about a Persona 5 fighting game is because it is very easy to conceptualize; the Persona 5 cast, combined with Persona 4 Arena’s gameplay, is surely a winning formula.
That isn’t all Persona 5 can lend to a fighting game. As Strikers shows, there’s still plenty of room for a story mode using Persona 5’s cast. The plot could be motivated by any reason, but perhaps it could have something to do with the Shadows of the main characters causing trouble. In terms of other content, Persona 5’s Mementos dungeon is the perfect way to bring back a survival mode like the Abyss from Blazblue Chrono Phantasma Extend. Players can progress through a randomly generated dungeon, fighting AI opponents, gaining upgrades and special modifiers along the way. Persona 5’s take on the Metaverse is a gold mine that could still be explored further.
Arc System Works Would Do Persona 5 Justice
A discussion of Persona 5 Arena wouldn’t be complete without bringing up the obvious choice for developer of the game, Arc System Works. Having become the go-to Japanese company for licensed 2D fighting games in the past few years, ArcSys has put itself on the mainstream map by making extremely stylish games that are easy to get into, hard to master.
It makes perfect sense that it would be the one Atlus turns towards to make another Persona fighting game, as it has already proved itself willing and able to complete the task. However, the Arc System Works of today is not the Arc System Works of a decade ago, and that could bring some massive advantages to a Persona 5 project. Persona 5 Arena could end up using 3D models instead of the previous Persona fighters’ 2D sprites, and that could be its biggest triumph.
Arc System Works games are gorgeous. That has been the case for a long time, but ever since Dragon Ball FighterZ, the gaming community has definitely noticed how unique and good-looking its cel-shaded 3D games are. ArcSys’ ability to translate 2D art into 3D animation is unmatched in the game industry, and that makes it the ideal match for making a Persona 5 adaptation.
Much like Arc System Works' modern work, Persona 5 is considered a prime example of in-game art design, and especially UI design. Persona 5’s menus, menu transitions, battle screens, and general HUD are incredibly stylized and slickly animated. Even if not all of that particular red, black, and white aesthetic will be prominent in the average 2D fight, Arc System Works can be trusted to preserve it in whatever form best fits. In the end, seeing win screens replicating Persona 5’s seamless and iconic transition from combat to victory screen would be worth the price of admission.
Persona 5 Royal is currently available on PlayStation 4.