Persona 4 Arena

Persona 4: Arena (called Persona 4: The Ultimate in Mayonaka Arena in the Japanese version) is a 2D fighting game by Arc System Works, developed under the supervision of Atlus' Team Persona. It is a direct sequel to Persona 4 directed by Katsura Hashino and scored by Shoji Meguro. Fumihiko Tachiki acts as the voice of the announcer.

Arcade Version

 * Japan: March 1, 2012

Console Version

 * Japan: August 2nd, 2012
 * North America: August, 2012

Additional Characters

 * Japan (Arcade Version)
 * Labrys: March 22, 2012
 * Elizabeth: April 5, 2012
 * Shadow Labrys: April 19, 2012

Story
The game's story takes place two months after the ending of Persona 4 and revolves around "Teddie", who starts advertising a fighting program called P-1 Grand Prix and announces that the members of the Investigation Team will take part in the tournament. They, however, don't know anything about the show and try to find out the truth about the tournament.

Another part of the game will also explain how Aigis arrives in Inaba. It has been revealed that Mitsuru is in Inaba in order to recover an object that has been stolen from her and that it was Mitsuru who sent Akihiko an invitation to enter the P-1 Grandprix.

Gameplay


Persona 4: Arena follows the style of modern anime fighters as there is a focus on fast, combo-centric combat with many movement options including, but not limited to, air dashing and dodging. The controls of combat consists of four buttons: A, Light; B, Strong; C, Persona Attack; D, Persona Rush. There is an option to combo with simple commands from 5A (neutral position) making it easy for players not familiar with fighting games to chain attacks. As a drawback for using this option, the system will typically input orthodox, low damage combos.

One of the more unique features of Persona 4: Arena is the Persona system. If the Persona suffers enough damage, a Persona Break will occur barring the usage of the target's Persona for a set amount of time. Additionally, each character has their own Reversal Action. As the name implies, they are defensive commands that allow the character to overturn the tide of battle like having an anti air move with invincibility frames or a counter attack. However this uses some of that player's life to use which turns into blue life which can be healed over time as long as they don't get hit. Persona 4: Arena also has it's own variation of All-Out Attack dubbed All-Out Rush, a mini version involving only one character instead of a party. This is activated by inputting a universally unique overhead attack with autoguard properities and an additional input. All-Out Rush allows for the player to knock foes away or launch them into the air. Also imported from Persona 4 are Status Ailments.



The SP Gauge at the bottom of the screen. Players can choose to expend a portion of SP to execute various, advantageous moves if they input the correct command and they have enough SP to pull it off. Such commands involve EX Moves (enchanced versions of special moves), Supers, Guard Cancels, and 1 More! Cancels (ends current animation, returns it to a neutral state). Characters can perform difficult-to-land Mortal Blows which are true to their name. They can only be performed on match point and takes up 100 SP (which are universally activated by pressing down three times and using both Persona buttons).

When a character's life is 35% or less, they enter an Awakening State signified by a red SP Gauge and a cut-in in the background. In this state, the SP Gauge is extended to 150 and gains the extra 50 immediately, the character suffers less damage, and enables a new Super.



Below the Life Gauge is a Burst Gauge. When full, the player can Burst which blows back the opponent if they are in close proximity. When it is used when your opponent is hit and you are in neutral position, your SP Gauge maxes out and your Burst Gauge takes less time to refill. If it is used when the player is attacking, it causes a ''1 More! Burst'', a launcher that upscales damage following it. If it is used while the player is in hit stun, bursting has no benefits other than peeling the enemy off the player.

Characters


"Teddie" will serve as the tournament's host. Rise will not be a playable character. Instead, she will provide commentary as the MC of the tournament. Igor and Margaret both comment on the player's actions at the character selection screen. It was hinted that new characters might be added in the future. Viewing the official site's source code reveals a place holder for a character named "Syuyaku", a variant for the word "Shuyaku" meaning "Protagonist" or "Leading Role".

Both Nanako and Ryotaro Dojima will appear as non-playable characters.

In addition, characters have the option to wear glasses for their character, even characters that never wore glasses:, , , and Elizabeth wears reading glasses.

Trivia

 * P4A is the first SMT game since Persona 2: Eternal Punishment to not feature Shin Megami Tensei in its overseas title.
 * P4A's story takes place in spring 2012 - the same year it is stated to be released.
 * Despite taking place after Persona 4, Yu, Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Kanji, Teddie, and Naoto are shown with their initial persona, instead of their ultimate ones unlike Mitsuru and Akihiko, as well as Aigis being shown still using Pallas Athena. This, however, can easily be explained as obtaining their ultimate Persona is optional in Persona 4. However, this still does not explain why Yu and Teddie still don't have their canon Personas, when they transfigured into their ultimate forms, Kamui by unlocking the good ending and Izanagi-no-Okami in the true ending of the Persona 4.
 * Yu, however, can use Izanagi-no-Okami during his Instant Kill move.
 * Although Aigis and Yu are wielders of the Wild Card, they seem to be unable to swap personas and are limited to their original ones, as Aigis uses Pallas Athena instead of Palladion, though Yu still uses Izanagi.
 * Aigis, like Yu, is listed to be of the Fool Arcana instead of the Chariot Arcana, implying that Aigis might have regained Pallas Athena after the events of The Answer as one of her many Personas instead of completely losing the ability to wield the Wild Card.
 * Each of the main characters are given insulting titles, which the characters complain about:
 * Yu Narukami: Sister Complex Banchou of Steel (鋼のシスコン番長. "Sister Complex" directly points to the players who feel love for Yu's cousin, Nanako Dojima, which is also known as "Nanakon" [ナナコン] in Japanese fandom.)
 * Yosuke Hanamura: Captain Ressentiment (キャプテンルサンチマン, a reference to Yosuke's resentment towards a society which resents him for being the son of a man that destroyed business for the Central Shopping District.)
 * Chie Satonaka: Carnivore who forsakes femininity (女を捨てた肉食獣, a reference to her undying consumption of meats and being a fan of martial arts.)
 * Yukiko Amagi: Impregnable Snow Black (難攻不落の黒雪姫, wordplay of "" due to Yukiko's name means "snow" and reference to Yukiko's Castle.)
 * Kanji Tatsumi: Terrific Macho Emperor (戦慄のガチムチ皇帝, gachimuchi is a Japanese slang term, referring to very masculine homosexual men)
 * Teddie: Beast of Libido (色欲の猛獣, "ビースト・オブ・リビドー" is the official of the kanji title. The kanji translate literally to "Predator of Sexual Desires".)
 * Naoto Shirogane: Callow Detective with IQ of 2000 (IQ2000のKY探偵, "" is a Japanese slang abbreviated from the phrase "kuki ga yomenai" [空気が読めない, unable to read the atmosphere] which means someone is acting improperly in the wrong occasion. Yosuke uses this slang on Naoto during their school trip to Tatsumi Port Island in the club in the Japanese version.)
 * Akihiko Sanada: The Protein Junkie with Unyielding Fists (剛拳のプロテインジャンキー, referring to his boxing career and how he eats protein a lot)
 * Mitsuru Kirijo: The Lonely Queen of Executions (孤高の処刑女王, a reference to Mitsuru's ice executions)
 * Aigis: The Fully Weaponized Heartless Angel (全身凶器の心なき天使, a reference to her being a humanoid android with heavy weaponry)
 * Labrys: YGHS's Steel Student Body President (八高・鋼鉄の生徒会長, a reference to her being an android and the class president)
 * Shadow Labrys: The Massacre Bull Führer (皆殺しの猛牛総統, a reference to her familiar Asterios and her desire for destruction)
 * Elizabeth: The Unluckiest Elevator Girl (最凶のエレベーターガール, referring to of her previous role as the assistant to Igor in the Velvet Room, which in Persona 3 took the form of an elevator.)
 * A few tracks have been directly ported from Persona 3 and 4 into this game, which are The Poem to Everyone's Souls (Velvet Room theme; used as character select), Reach Out To The Truth (Persona 4 Battle Theme; used as Persona 4 character mirror match theme and a remix of the -First Battle- version acts as Yu's theme), Mist (Izanami Boss theme; used as Instant Kill theme), Mass Destruction (Persona 3 Battle Theme; played during Persona 3 character mirror matches.), and more recently, The Battle for Everyone's Souls (Persona 3 Nyx Avatar Boss Theme; now serves as Elizabeth's Theme)
 * Arc System Works originally wanted Ryotaro Dojima as one of the playable characters during the pre-planning stages when they were deciding on the cast. Takumi Iguchiya joked that instead of a Persona, he would summon Nanako Dojima to his aid.