Though it started out as a humble JRPG game with a small cult following, “Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4” has grown into its own series away from the original “Shin Megami Tensei: Persona,” becoming just “Persona 4.”
In the time since its 2009 release, the game has spawned spin-offs like “Persona 4 Arena,” “Persona 4: Dancing All Night” and the soon to be released “Persona Q,” so it is safe to say this is no longer just a cult game. Even just this past month, a sequel to “Persona 4 Arena” was released, called “Persona 4 Arena: Ultimax.”
Aside from the original game, “Persona 4 Arena” is the most loved in the series, as its stylish and simple game play appealed to newer fighting game players, while still having that layer of complexity enjoyable for veteran players. Created by Arc System Work, creators of an equally popular fighting game “Blazblue,” the first game was excellent despite being a spin-off title. But can the same be said for the sequel?
The primary reason for fighting games to ever have a sequel is to work as an update to the previous games fighting engine, so as to refine game speed and ease of play. So to get a better understanding of “Ultimax’s” quality, it’d be best to see how it differs from “Arena.”
It would be best to gloss over aspects like the story mode, as it is only a continuation from the previous game and holds little barring to the versus and dungeon mode, and though it is decent for a fighting game story, it is still just that. The only reason it’s there is for fans of the original “Persona 4.” Although, there are some characters on the roster that have spawned from the story, such as Labrys from “Arena” and Sho Minazuki in “Ultimax,,” whose play style can be best explained by their story.
All the fighters from the previous game have returned with the addition of Sho Minazuki(with a Persona) and Sho (without a Persona), Yukari Takeba, Junpei Iori, Ken Amada and Koromaru from “Persona 3,” Rise Kujikawa from “Persona 4,” as well as DLC characters Marie and Adachi also from “Persona 4.” There is, however, another new addition to this roster: all characters have a shadow form. There aren’t many changes between the original and shadow forms, aside from different voices and dialogue, as well as the ability to activate Shadow Frenzy. Shadow Frenzy allows for the user to have unlimited SP for a limited amount of time, useful to skilled combo users.
What is SP? In the “Persona” series, SP is Soul Points and work like magic in other games. SP can accumulate during normal combat and be used to perform magic based attacks; when a fighter’s health has diminished to at least less than half, he will Awaken and increase the amount of SP earned. The magic attacks depend on the character’s Persona, which is a companion that appears along side the character and is responsible for all the magic used in a battle.
The basics like dashing, walking, double jumping, hopping and all the moves common to fighting games like “Street Fighter” are all the same, with the exception of being able to hold down the light Persona button to activate more difficult combos. So “Ultimax” retains the same amount of simplicity as “Arena,” although the change in character combos have increased a variety of already established traits. For example, in “Arena,” Yosuke Hanamura was a fast and agile character, best at evasion. In “Ultimax,” Yosuke’s new combo’s like V-slash have him flying across the screen like a child just finished downing his entire Halloween haul.
Differences between the games are slight, but the bigger roster and slightly tweeked balancing make “Ultimax” the better fighter, and an absolute must for any fighting game enthusiast. The amount of fun to be had in a round of this game is only equal to that in a round of “Super Smash Bros. Melee.” And with it’s easy to pick up controls, even beginning fighters will have it down in no time.
