With Atlus celebrating the 25th anniversary of the series, Persona potentially 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 the Persona 4 Arena Ultimax fighting game. Since Persona 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 since Persona 4 Arena Ultimax's announcement; Persona 4 Golden is apparently coming to additional platforms including Nintendo Switch, and Persona 3 will be remastered in some fashion. Beyond that, there are very few slam-dunk predictions from the remaining announcements other than an eventual tease of Persona 6. However, a few obvious omissions have not been the subject of any leaks or rumors beforehand: Persona 1, Persona 2: Innocent Sin, and Persona 2: Eternal Punishment. When it comes to the common perception of Persona, rarely do fans immediately think to the first two games in the series, but those early games have their fair share of the Persona fanbase.
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 a Shin Megami Tensei spin-off game. Most longtime fans of Persona have fond memories of Persona 3 and Persona 4, rather than the first two (technically three, Eternal Punishment is a direct sequel to Innocent Sin) games in the series. Persona 1 and Persona 2: Innocent Sin/Eternal Punishment function and play closer to the original Shin Megami Tensei games than the modern Persona design. Dungeons, narrative, and character development is mostly linear in comparison to the open-ended and choice-driven quests of future games. Even though the Persona games differed in form from predecessors like SMT 2, the gameplay was similar.
These were two old-school JRPGs seeking to replicate the SMT experience in a new high school setting. Shin Megami Tensei and the first few Persona games have a lot more in common compared to later entries: Dungeons are first-person, encounters are randomized, the battle system differs greatly from modern Persona (especially in the first Persona game's grid-based system), and the fundamental calendar-based storytelling that's unique to Persona hadn'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.
Where Persona 1/Persona 2 Duology Fit Into Atlus' Anniversary Celebration
While even seeing Atlus recognize the first two Persona games for the anniversary art and celebration was appreciated by fans, it's easy to wonder where those two games fit into the anniversary. Persona was shaped into its modern design with Persona 3 onwards, which is also where a majority of the series' popularity stems from. Generally speaking, though this isn't necessarily true for everyone, a lot of Persona fans may not have even played the first three games in the series. Given their age and how vastly different they are compared to modern Persona games, 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 that Persona's anniversary may lead to an eventual re-release for Revelations: Persona, Persona 2: Innocent Sin, and Persona 2: Eternal Punishment. Even if the Persona games 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 older Persona games. If anything, that curiosity to see how far the Persona series 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 three Persona games 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, and the announced Persona 4 Arena Ultimax), those first three games will likely receive the same treatment. In tandem with the fact that those first few Persona games 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, and Persona 2: Eternal Punishment were ambitious JRPGs that helped propel the series into the modern mainstream acclaim the series receives today. Persona in its earliest iterations was deeply experimental compared to its Shin Megami Tensei counterparts, and fans will find a lot to appreciate in the humble beginnings of Atlus' biggest JRPG franchise.