If the rumors are true and they are doing another Persona fighting game, like Persona 5 Arena or whatever they’re going to call it, just the Persona users alone from the various P5 games make up a good roster.
You got from Persona 5/Royal:
Ren – Joker
Morgana – Mona
Ryuji – Skull
Ann – Panther
Akechi – Crow
Yusuke – Fox
Makoto – Queen
Futaba – Navi
Haru – Noir
Kasumi – Violet
Dr. Maruki
From Persona 5 Strikers:
Sophia – Sophie
Zenkichi – Wolf
From the new mobile game Persona 5 Phantom X:
Protagonist – Wonder
Luffy the Owl – Cattle
Motoha – Closer
And there appear to be some other Persona users in the game who are not part of the main cast that could be good playable roster members. The game hasn’t come out yet, so it’s difficult to say.
Then Persona 5 Tactica appears to have a new playable character named Erina, though I don’t know if they’re a Persona user yet.
Plus, since Persona 4 Arena had attendants as playable characters, I imagine they’ll do two for this one—Caroline & Justine as a duo character and then Lavenza.
Since Persona 4 Arena had original characters, too, I imagine a P5A game would do the same. So likely a new original Phantom Thief and a new original Palace user who is also a Persona user, like Dr. Maruki (who would give him a reason to be involved, maybe).
So that’s 21 roster members right off the bat, throw in characters that appeared in P4A, and that’s a stacked roster.
I can easily imagine them using Mementos as a sort of tower of fights you go through, as that had many layers, and each one is never the same when you go to it, perfect for randomizing the battle in an Arcade More or some such.
If there is a new Phantom Thief, I would prefer it instead of it being a random unknown person; they make Shiho a phantom thief. The game can take place after enough time that Shiho has recovered and is in her new school, and she can have the emotional growth to want to stand up for what she believes in a way that will awaken a Persona within her.
Honestly, the setup is straightforward, with lots of characters to choose from, and the concept of palaces could continue the story. P5 is stylish and has plenty of characters and hooks you can pull to make a great fighting game and continue the Phantom Thieves’ story.
The hardest part will be the gameplay. People will expect whoever is developing it, I assume ArcSystemWorks, to improve upon Arena’s gameplay without straying too far from it. Maybe they should, though; P5 is a very different beast than P4. Perhaps gameplay built from the ground up is a better idea. Possibly being a tag fighter would be better, considering the importance of the baton pass in Persona 5’s battles.
Whatever direction they take, I hope the rumor is true. I love Persona 3 and 4, but 5 was my first, and from my perspective, it’s always someone’s first Persona they’re attached to the most. On top of that, I love fighting games, and even though last year they released Persona 4 Arena Ultimax with a rollback netcode, not many people were playing it, and those who were far outranked me in experience in the game. Therefore I’d love to get a new Persona fighting game to start fresh with.
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