Last month, Persona 5's iconic sidekick Morgana appeared and made the first of seven announcements that are scheduled to take place between now and fall 2022 regarding the Persona series. With Persona celebrating its 25th anniversary this September, and Persona 5 celebrating its fifth anniversary, fans were expecting some big news like a Persona 5 fighting game, a remake of one of the older entries, or even Persona 6. However, the announcement left much to be desired.
Morgana announced that every Persona anime and the live musical adaptation of Persona 5 will be available for streaming in Japan. Morgana also announced some live Persona-themed events in Japan. Not all seven announcements were guaranteed to be video games, but Western fans did feel left out of the celebration. The next big announcement will happen in December, according to Morgana, but there have been some smaller announcements sprinkled throughout the month related to merchandise. Most recently, Atlus announced Persona Vs., a physical card game featuring the characters from Persona 3, 4, and 5.
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The Persona Vs. Card Game Mechanics
The Persona Vs. card game is designed for two players and should take about 15 minutes per round. If fans are thinking it's probably Persona's classic turn-based combat translated into card form, they'd be exactly right. The card game operates almost exactly like Persona's combat system, with each player summoning Personas and strategizing attacks to defeat the other player. Similar to how the video games allow players command the other members in the party, players can also team up with partner characters from the Persona 3, 4, and 5 games for help.
Persona cards have one Ability and two Skills they can use to attack. Partner characters can either help by supporting the player, or providing them with counterattacks. Traditional bonus moves like "1 More" are featured in the game, as well as the ability to fuse multiple Personas to create a more powerful one.
The partner characters only include the three games' protagonists, but there is a little bit of a story involved. Players have been invited to compete at a "festival," and depending on which protagonist the winning player chose, there is a different ending to the story. It's a small detail, but a nice way to tie in Persona's narrative structure.
How To Get the Persona Vs. Game
Unfortunately, Western fans of Persona are also left out of the card game. The game is a collaboration with Banso, a Japan-based board game company, and is only available for pre-order through its website. The game costs 2,970 yen, which equates to about $27 US, but Banso doesn't ship overseas.
Western Persona fans who want to play the card game will have to purchase from a third party after its release. The game is only available in Japanese though, so overseas players might find it difficult to play, but a huge part of Persona's appeal is the art style. The cards themselves are beautiful, and Google Translate is always an option.
Fans of Persona in Japan can find the game on Banso's website and look forward to it shipping in December. There's also a 10 percent discount for pre-ordering. For those who want to show their support of Persona but aren't interested in the game, the new Shop Atlus website should be launching this month with Persona collections becoming available every few weeks. There's sure to be something for everyone, and Shop Atlus and will ship internationally.
While it's not a video game announcement, Persona Vs. is a great way to move Persona from the screen to the living room. Some fans are disappointed by Atlus' Persona announcements this past month, but there's still a long way to go in the Persona 25th anniversary celebration, and it makes sense to start small. Who knows, maybe the grand finale next fall will be an official Persona 6 announcement.