This week’s double issue of Weekly Famitsu magazine #1726 (or the January 6-13, 2022 issue) releasing on December 23, 2021 includes a feature for the remastered release of Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, including an interview with Persona Team creative director and producer Kazuhisa Wada.
A previous Famitsu leak featured highlights from this interview, while the full interview features comments on Wada’s personal perspective with the development behind the Persona 4 Arena series and the process for the remastered release.
Why did you decide to develop a remastered version?
The Steam version of P4G released in 2020 and sold more than 1 million copies, so we decided to use that as a springboard to bring P4U2 to a larger scale than originally planned, including platform expansion. I’m very happy to be able to deliver it to everyone!
The Steam version of P4G was highly acclaimed for its careful production-led approach, with careful attention paid to the needs of Japanese users, so we kept that in mind as we worked in collaboration on this title with Arc System Works as well.
What are your memories and feelings of the original P4U2?
Personally, I love fighting games, and this was my first game as a director, so I have very strong feelings about this game. To be precise, I’m talking about P4U, but in my mind, I had planned the game as a set from the start with P4U1 and P4U2, so I lump them together. It was my first spin-off for the series, my first time tackling the genre, my first collaborative work, and my first challenge. It was a fun but extremely difficult title to work on.
It was also great experience for me because it made me face Persona objectively and think deeply about its essence and DNA. At the time, the game was featured as a main game in major gaming tournaments like EVO and Tougeki, and the number of female customers at game centers skyrocketed, so I’m proud that I was able to create a stir in the gaming community. I had a lot of fun, myself.
About your commitment to the remastered version.
In this game, we will be delivering the 2.50 version from the arcade version. Actually, I wanted to support the upgrade from the original version of the game, but as a director, I was not able to deliver the update to players who were so enthusiastic about the game at the time, and it was a frustrating experience for me. That’s why I made it a point to release this title as the definitive version of the P4U series, with the final adjustments, and the ability to enjoy (almost) all of the gameplay, story, and downloadable content.
In a later patch, we are also considering implementing rollback functionality. Hopefully, players and community members from back in the day will get nostalgic and get excited once again!
What do you want to be appealing in this game?
I know firsthand how difficult it is to play a fighting game, but this game has many features that even those who aren’t good at action games can enjoy. If you’re a fan of the characters from P4G, you’ll definitely enjoy the voluminous story mode, and the characters moving around in a fighting game are fresh and attractive to look at. The new characters in this title are also great!
Anyways, this is a great title at a great price, so I hope you’ll take this opportunity to pick it up!
Persona 4 Arena Ultimax Remastered will be released on PS4, Switch, and Steam worldwide on March 17, 2022.