Persona is now almost twenty-five years old. The original game, Revelations Persona, released in 1996 for the PS1. For those unaware it is a spinoff of the grander Megami Tensei series that began in 1987 in Japan. Another fun fact about that, the game is based on a book.
So in a way Persona is a spinoff of a spinoff. Anyway the point is there has been a lot of secrets under the hood of every game in this franchise. The juiciest of which is in regard to cut content. To be specific, this article will look at the last three games. With the upcoming release of Persona 5 Royal, now is as good a time as any to look into this JRPG juggernaut.
10 The Reboot
This article is focusing on the last three games because for all intents and purposes Persona 3 was kind of like reboot. It was the first time Katsura Hashino took over as the director of the series and has remained in charge since. While the games before it definitely share themes, the idea of gathering social links, combining social sims with RPGs, was new. It is also technically the fourth game what with the previous game being split into two parts. So maybe Persona 6 will reinvent the wheel once again.
9 Male Bondage
So far this series has yet to feature a male-on-male romantic relationship option. That said there seems to have been plans for Yosuke in Persona 4. There are voiced options found in the game once one cracks it open that alludes to this.
There is also dialogue eluding more to the fact that Kanji was/is gay, which could have also possibly led to another bromance. Somewhat related Junpei from Persona 3 also has cut dialogue for a romantic partner, but for the female version on PSP.
8 Persona Of The Wild
Persona 5 was almost about backpackers traveling the world. However, due to the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake, the team wanted to rework the idea to again focus on their homeland. This was discovered in an interview 4Gamer, a Japanese website, had with Hashino. Persona Central helped translate it. Anyway, Hashino had this to say.
“Because the past works in the series were stories revolved around school and its surroundings, I had been thinking of backpacking: a game where you’re flying around to various places, with the theme similar to that of a journey of self-discovery.”
7 Persona Trigger
This footage was at one time accessible on Atlus’ website, which was later discovered and archived by YouTuber, Yuriofwind. In this footage it shows that Persona 3 was, at one time, very different in terms of the battle mechanics. Players would run around the dungeon and then transition seamlessly into battle similar to how Chrono Trigger works. The art style in this beta also shows the art looking similar to Persona 2. Yuriofwind has a few more factoids about the game’s development so give that a proper watch.
6 Character Alterations
A number of characters received changes over the course of development. For example, Fuuka from Persona 3 looked a lot more like Chihiro. Once she was redesigned that older model was then used for the actual Chihiro. Ken didn’t change much in terms of his look, but his weapon went from darts to his now familiar spear. In Persona 4, Kanji was going to be an older man with black hair with a few different designs overall. Also in that game, Naoto was going to be a male that could be confused with a female instead of the other way around.
5 Hifumi Gets Axed, Twice
On a more drastic change of scale, Hifumi was planned to be a party member in Persona 5. Due to time constraints, she was cut down to just a confidant. The team had a second chance to do this with Persona 5 Royal, but instead went with a new female party member, Kasumi. Why not rectify the mistake? Presumably this was done to not affect what was already planned with Hifumi’s character.
4 Rise & Ann Connection
Another more in-depth change took years in the making. Instead of taking the backseat in Persona 4 as an analyst, Rise was actually going to be playable in battle. When that idea was scrapped the leftovers were later used in designing Ann’s character for Persona 5.
That’s why the two of them have a lot in common from fashion to idol statuses. At the very least Rise wasn’t scrapped altogether. Makes one wonder if Futaba was ever planned to be playable.
3 Sae’s Watchful Eye
Here’s something that could have changed Persona 5 altogether. Instead of moving in with Sojiro, Joker was going to end up living with Sae. This would have presumably been done to have the law keep a more watchful eye on him given the fact that he was forced to move due to a falsely accused crime.
The dynamic between sneaking off from a house of law could have made for a more exciting cat and mouse game instead of having the constant flash-forwards in time. While it could have been interesting, fans probably wouldn’t trade that for the current setup as Sojiro rocks.
2 Version Revisions
Persona has graced many handhelds in some fashion since its 1996 debut. Persona 2 and Persona 3 both made it to the PSP. Plans for Persona 4 were also going to turn up on that handheld, but it was later reworked for the PS Vita instead, thankfully.
That system is definitely underrated and Persona 4 Golden is highly regarded as one of its best games. Persona 5 was also going to hit the PS Vita, but this idea was canned altogether. That won’t stop fans from crossing their fingers for a Switch port though.
1 Persona 5 Delays
The wait between Persona 4 and its sequel was longer than most. Persona 5’s development started as far back as 2011. It was first shown in 2013 for a winter 2014 date, but was then pushed back to an unspecified date in 2015. It was then moved to summer 2016, which led to the September debut in Japan. At that point it was then announced to hit Valentine’s Day for the West in 2017. Yet that too got pushed back to April. This was all due to Atlus’ parent company, Index Holdings, having financial trouble, which eventually led to Sega fully acquiring Atlus in 2016.