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Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, otherwise abbreviated as P4AU, and released in Japan as Persona 4: The Ultimax Ultra Suplex Hold (P4U2), is a fighting game developed by Arc System Works in collaboration with P-Studio, and published by Atlus for the Nintendo Switch. A spin-off in the Persona series, it is a direct sequel to Persona 4 Arena (2012), itself a narrative continuation from the events of the games Persona 4 (2008) and Persona 3 (2006). The game was intended to serve as closure to the story arc that began with Persona 4 Arena, with gameplay being refined based on feedback from fans. The game launched worldwide on March 17, 2022.
Sypnosis[]
A day after the events of Persona 4 Arena (2012), The Midnight Channel has mysteriously resumed airing, now advertising a new fighting tournament christened the "P-1 Climax", once again pitting members of the Investigation Team against the Shadow Operatives in combat. Soon afterwards, the town of Inaba (the setting of Persona 4) undergoes a sudden power outage as it is engulfed by a mysterious red fog, which is warping the town's various locales to resemble replicas of key locations on Tatsumi Port Island (the setting of Persona 3), all while sinister imagery of the Shadow Operatives being crucified publicly circulates through the Midnight Channel. Disturbed and puzzled by these events, the Investigation Team reunites to uncover the origins of the red fog while infiltrating the P-1 Climax tournament and attempting to apprehend an individual named Sho Minazuki, who is seeking to carve off fragments of both teams' Personas.
Plot[]
Spoiler warning: As this is a continuation of events established by Persona 4 Arena (2012), it is by proxy following up on characters and story elements established by the games Arena itself addressed, Persona 3 and Persona 4. It is highly recommended that anyone interested in the following titles play them prior to Persona 4 Arena Ultimax if they haven't done so already:
- Persona 3 Portable
- Persona 4 Golden
- P4A Story DLC in Arena Ultimax
Episode P3 & P4[]
At midnight the day after the P-1 Grand Prix concludes, the TV in Yu Narukami's room suddenly starts airing the Midnight Channel, showing a promotion for the P-1 Climax and an image of Mitsuru, Aigis, Akihiko, and Fuuka crucified, with General Teddie announcing the world's end within one hour. A black out then occurs throughout Inaba and the whole town is surrounded by red fog. The Investigation Team starts facing Shadows that steal fragments of their enemies' Personas upon their defeat.
Yu, Yosuke, and Chie reach Yasogami and are approached by Sho, who announces himself as the culprit behind the P-1 Grand Prix and P-1 Climax. Tohru Adachi, whom they had believed to be imprisoned, also appears and give cryptic clues regarding Sho's intentions to them. At Tartarus, they once again encounter Sho and defeat him, but are overpowered by his other self, Minazuki. Minazuki reveals he has gathered enough Persona fragments to summon a malevolent entity that will destroy the world. Now reunited with their teammates and the Shadow Operatives, they pursue him through Tartarus, but are assaulted by a huge group of Shadows, forcing the group to let Yu confront Sho alone. At the top of the tower, Yu stops Sho from killing Adachi and fights Minazuki, emerging victorious. General Teddie, revealing himself to be Hi-no-Kagutsuchi, possesses Sho's body and fights Yu. With Adachi's help, they are able to kill Kagutsuchi. As Tartarus collapses, Elizabeth transports everyone to the TV World where Yu reunites with his friends who all set up to find a new path in their futures.
Following this scenario, the game shows how Mitsuru, Aigis, Akihiko, and Fuuka are captured by Sho. In response, the reserve members of the Shadow Operatives as well as Labrys all head to Inaba via helicopter (save for Junpei, who ends up at Inaba by accident). After separately meeting the members of Investigation Team and rescuing their captured friends, they encounter Sho, the culprit behind Labrys' hijacking, who goads them into fighting Shadows in order to gather their Persona fragments. It is also revealed that Sho used to be one of Ikutsuki's test subjects, living in isolation and growing to resent the entire world after Ikutsuki abandoned him. During one of the experiments to make him a Persona user like Strega by using a Plume of Dusk, similar to Aigis and Labrys, another personality was born within Sho, which he refers to as Minazuki. Minazuki claims to have been born to grant Sho's wish to create a world without bonds. Labrys reaches the top of the tower and fights Sho. After defeating Sho, Hi-no-Kagutsuchi proceeds to possesses Sho's body. Labrys is able to emerge victorious against Kagutsuchi. As Tartarus collapses, Margaret transports everyone into the TV World. Sho, who is also transported, asks if she really did defeat Kagutsuchi, which she confirms, and Sho acknowledges her strength. Labrys then tries to convince Sho to join the Shadow Operatives.
After both scenarios are completed, a new chapter is unlocked, which follows the aftermath of Yu and Adachi defeating Kagutsuchi. As both Margaret and Elizabeth appear to witness the event, Sho is revealed to be alive but unable to sense Minazuki within him. He then reveals that after waking up from his coma, he discovered that Ikutsuki paid his medical expenses, leaving him with a large inheritance. Feeling lost due to only knowing how to fight, Sho eventually settled in Inaba, where he observed the Investigation Team solving the serial kidnapping/murder case in secret, believing that they might be able to understand him, only to give up. It was then that he was confronted by Hi-no-Kagutsuchi, who asked him if he wanted to destroy the world, and he agreed. Realizing Sho's only way to form bonds is by fighting, Yu starts a rivalry with him and both fight, revealing that Minazuki's persona has been passed down to Sho. After Sho's friendly departure, Margaret safely transports everyone out of the tower at Yu's request, and come to terms with Elizabeth's departure from the Velvet Room after trying to convince her to return. In the aftermath, the Investigation Team and the Shadow Operatives reunite at Junes, where they all bond together and celebrate their victory, while Yu and Labrys express their belief in Sho finding bonds of his own.
Episode Adachi[]
Tohru Adachi continues to undergo police questioning regarding his methods for the two murders in Inaba, but his interrogators still do not believe his account of his crimes. However, Sho brainwashes one of the interrogators into assaulting Adachi and forcing him back into the TV World. There, Sho coerces Adachi into aiding him in his plan to destroy the world. Adachi outwardly agrees, but decides to sabotage him in order to honor his promise to the Investigation Team to follow society's rules, and subtly manipulates the Investigation Team towards defeating Sho. When the Persona fragments are collected, Adachi makes his move, betraying Sho. However, Minazuki brutally beats Adachi. Adachi is rescued by Yu, and he destroys Hi-no-Kagutsuchi with Yu's aid. Adachi then returns to his prison cell and is visited by his old friend Dojima the next day.
Gameplay[]
Like Persona 4 Arena before it, Arena Ultimax is a traditional 2D fighting game in which players will control a roster of characters originating from Persona 3 and Persona 4, in order to battle each other using a combination of standard attacks, special moves, combos, and the abilities granted by the use of their respective Personas. In addition to balance adjustments and techniques being added to returning characters, a new mechanic named the "S-Hold" system allows players to charge their attacks. In addition to the base roster in the game, Ultimax introduces "Shadow Types" as alternate, corrupted versions of each playable character. These Shadow versions differ by being largely skill-based variants of their counterparts, employing a high-risk high-reward play style thanks to reduced normal attack damage and an altered move set with lacking defensive options. They also keep their SP over multiple rounds instead of resetting each time and possess an exclusive Shadow Rampage ability, which replaces the Burst command, giving the characters infinite SP for a limited time.
Like Persona 4 Arena, the game's story is structured in a format akin to visual novels interspliced with scripted 1-on-1 fights. However, as opposed to Arena's multiple campaigns from the perspectives of each individual character, Ultimax splits its plot over two campaigns. "Episode P3" focuses on the story from the perspective of the Shadow Operatives from the previous game, as well as the reserve members comprised of former S.E.E.S. alumni from Persona 3, while "Episode P4" does the same, but in regards to the Investigation Team from Persona 4 and the character Labrys, an anti-Shadow weapon similar to Persona 3's Aigis who was introduced in the previous Arena title. Additionally, the modern port includes the DLC campaigns for the base game. "Episode Adachi" centers on on Persona 4's main antagonist Tohru Adachi, and his actions during the story, as well as exploring his relationship with his former partner Ryotaro Dojima, and his time since being apprehended for the Inaba murders in P4. The character campaigns for the original Persona 4 Arena story, are also included as a way to refresh or inform players on the events preceding Ultimax's continuation of the narrative. A new mode for Ultimax is "Golden Arena" mode. This particular mode is meant to emulate the structure of a main, numbered Persona entry by acting as a dungeon-based survival mode where players traverse various environments to level up their fighter's stats, as well as engage in Social Links with a navigator character who can provide them skills while in battle, in a manner similar to the life simulation and role-playing hybridization present in Persona 3 & 4 themselves. Online play is also supported, however unlike the PlayStation 4 and PC versions of the game, the Switch version lacks rollback netcode, instead relying on delay-based netcode for connecting players during matches, while also omitting the free-roam lobby area exclusive to the PlayStation 4 version, where players can interact with each other in real-time ahead of getting paired for matches.
Development[]
A port of Arena Ultimax was announced for Nintendo Switch during The Game Awards 2021 on December 9 that year, in commemoration of Persona's 25th anniversary celebrations. Upon announcement, it was also revealed the new versions of the game would instead be based on the arcade version's 2.0 update which rebalanced several characters and mechanics. All versions of the game at launch used delay-based netcode during online play in a manner similar to the original releases on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, while a patch to implement rollback netcode is expected to be released later in Summer 2022. However, this patch will not apply to the Nintendo Switch version for unknown reasons, and will only be added to the PS4 and PC ports. The game's lobby mode was excluded from the Steam and Nintendo Switch versions in a similar fashion to its omission from the Xbox 360 port of the original release, only being made available as a feature in the PS4 version of the remaster.
Release[]
Persona 4 Arena Ultimax launched worldwide for Nintendo Switch on March 17, 2022, priced at $29.99 USD/$39.99 CAD. However, unlike the Japanese version, which received a physical release for Switch and PS4, the game was only released in a digital format worldwide.
External links[]
- Persona 4 Arena Ultimax at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Persona 4 Arena Ultimax at GameFAQs
- Official website
- Persona 4 Arena Ultimax on Megami Tensei Wiki
| Shin Megami Tensei series | |
|---|---|
| Main series | Megami Tensei • Megami Tensei II • Kyūyaku Megami Tensei Shin Megami Tensei • II • if... • III • IV (Apocalyspe) • V |
| Majin Tensei series | Majin Tensei • Majin Tensei II • Blind Thinker |
| Devil Survior series | Devil Survivor (Overclocked) • Devil Survivor 2 (Record Breaker) |
| Last Bible series | Last Bible • Last Bible II • Last Bible III • Another Bible • New Testament • New Testament II • New Testament III |
| Persona series | Persona 3 • Persona 4 (Arena Ultimax) • Persona Q • Persona 5 (Persona 5 Strikers) • Persona Q2 |
| Devil Children series | Black Book & Red Book • White Book • Book of Light & Book of Dark Book of Fire & Book of Ice • Puzzle de Call! • Messiah Riser |
| Other games | Jack Bros. • Strange Journey (Redux) • Soul Hackers • Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE (Encore) • Catherine |
| Related | Atlus • Katsura Hashino • Kazuma Kaneko • Shoji Meguro • Kouji Okada • Shigenori Soejima • Monark |