With Atlus celebrating the 25th anniversary of the series,Personapotentially has a big year ahead of itself. With five planned announcements remaining between now and this fall, expectations are high among fans, especially given all the rumors of what’s potentially coming. Initially, seven separate anniversary announcements were planned with the beginning of the celebration on September 20 of last year. Since then, new merchandise and concerts have been announced, as well as a modern port for thePersona 4 Arena Ultimaxfighting game. SincePersona 4’s fighting game was successfully leaked previously, there are some potentially exciting reveals on the horizon.
Two significant recent leaks/rumors have been circulated sincePersona 4 Arena Ultimax’s announcement;Persona 4 Goldenis apparently coming to additional platforms including Nintendo Switch, andPersona 3will be remastered in some fashion. Beyond that, there are very few slam-dunk predictions from the remaining announcements other than an eventual tease ofPersona 6. However, a few obvious omissions have not been the subject of any leaks or rumors beforehand:Persona 1,Persona 2: Innocent Sin, andPersona 2: Eternal Punishment. When it comes to the common perception ofPersona, rarely do fans immediately think to the first two games in the series, but those early games have their fair share of thePersonafanbase.
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The First Two Persona Games Aren’t Quite Like Persona 3-Onwards
Persona’s popularity as it’s known today does not stem from its origins as aShin Megami Tenseispin-off game. Most longtime fans ofPersonahavefond memories ofPersona 3andPersona 4, rather than the first two (technically three,Eternal Punishmentis a direct sequel toInnocent Sin) games in the series.Persona 1andPersona 2: Innocent Sin/Eternal Punishmentfunction and play closer to the originalShin Megami Tenseigames than the modernPersonadesign. Dungeons, narrative, and character development is mostly linear in comparison to the open-ended and choice-driven quests of future games. Even though thePersonagames differed in form from predecessors likeSMT 2, the gameplay was similar.
These were two old-schoolJRPGs seeking to replicate theSMTexperiencein a new high school setting.Shin Megami Tenseiand the first fewPersonagames have a lot more in common compared to later entries: Dungeons are first-person, encounters are randomized, the battle system differs greatly from modernPersona(especially in the firstPersonagame’s grid-based system), and the fundamental calendar-based storytelling that’s unique toPersonahadn’t been conceived yet. Instead, players explored curated dungeons in a mostly linear fashion, managing Personas across their entire party, among other significant gameplay differences.
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Where Persona 1/Persona 2 Duology Fit Into Atlus' Anniversary Celebration
While even seeing Atlus recognize the first twoPersonagames for the anniversary art and celebration was appreciated by fans, it’s easy to wonder where those two games fit into the anniversary.Personawas shaped into its modern design withPersona 3onwards, which is also where a majority of the series' popularity stems from. Generally speaking, though this isn’t necessarily true for everyone, a lot ofPersonafans may not have even played the first three games in the series. Given their age and how vastly different they are compared to modernPersonagames, as well as their accessibility (originally released on PS1, with remakes on PSP), they’re a tough sell for anyone trying to play these games in 2022.
Hardcore fans could easily resort to emulation and/or purchasing used physical copies, but there is the possibility thatPersona’s anniversary may lead to an eventual re-release forRevelations: Persona,Persona 2: Innocent Sin, andPersona 2: Eternal Punishment. Even if thePersonagames from the third entry onward make up the bulk of the franchise’s popularity, the newer games' acclaim has also led to the slowly rising popularity of the olderPersonagames. If anything, that curiosity to see how far thePersonaseries has come since its ambitious beginnings would be enough to encourage new fans to check out the original games on modern platforms.
It’s hard to imagine anything more ambitious than re-releases for the first threePersonagames as part of the 25th anniversary celebration. Especially when leaks and official announcements have only revealed or hinted at re-releases for other titles (Persona 4 Golden,Persona 3 Portable, andthe announcedPersona 4 Arena Ultimax), those first three games will likely receive the same treatment. In tandem with the fact that those first fewPersonagames have already received PSP-exclusive remakes, it’d be hard to argue for anything more significant treatment than that without placing unrealistic expectations on Atlus and the anniversary.
That being said,Revelations: Persona,Persona 2: Innocent Sin, andPersona 2: Eternal Punishmentwere ambitious JRPGs that helped propel the series into the modern mainstream acclaim the series receives today.Personain its earliest iterations was deeply experimentalcompared to itsShin Megami Tenseicounterparts, and fans will find a lot to appreciate in the humble beginnings of Atlus' biggest JRPG franchise.
