Persona fans have probably been waiting for today for a while, since Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight and Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight, the dance based rhythm games for both of the games’ respective soundtracks, launch today. And to commemorate the occasion, Atlus has put out not one, but two launch trailers—one for each game.

Each trailer shows you the games’ striking sense of style, as well as in Persona 3’s case, the characters and locations rendered in gorgeous, glorious HD. You also get an idea of the kind of sound that each game is going for by its trailer.

In my review for the games, I was appreciative of the games’ visuals and character moments, but noted my dislike of their barebones soundtrack. That problem is further exacerbated by the repetition of songs and poor remixes in a lot of cases, as well as an overall lack of content, even compared to Persona 4: Dancing All Night.

Both games are available on PS4 and PS Vita (although the Vita only gets digital versions).

There are multiple reasons for why the games feel like they come up short. Persona 4: Dancing All Night already felt a bit lacking when it launched on the PlayStation Vita in 2016, but 3 and 5 Dancing feel even more barebones than that game. The games have very bare song lists, with only 25 songs each. In and of itself, that’s bad, but it gets worse because a lot of the songs are repeats—there are a couple of versions of Last Surprise and Wake Up, Get Up, Get Out There in Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight, for example. The full Persona 3 and 5 soundtracks are extremely rich, and in my opinion are the two greatest video game soundtracks we have ever received. So when Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight skips over a song as obvious as The Battle for Everyone’s Souls—yes, the original version of that song is not in the song list that comes with the game out of the box, it is DLC instead—you feel short changed. How can you have a Persona 3 rhythm game without arguably its most iconic track included?

Let’s talk about that DLC for a second. There were 30 songs released as DLC for Persona 5 Dancing, and 26 for Persona 3: Dancing in Japan. Presuming all of these come over to the west, there are more songs available as DLC than there are available in the base game itself. While I can appreciate and understand wanting to keep some songs, such as the concert renditions of a lot of the music, as DLC, keeping obvious stuff, like the aforementioned Battle for Everyone’s Souls, locked as DLC to me is unacceptable.

"Even with Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight providing more Makoto, and Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight providing a rare reunion with Persona 3’s protagonist, I come away disappointed from Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight and Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight."

The issue often is that even with the songs that are included, a lot of the times the remixes are truly unsatisfactory and unnecessarily instrumented in remixes. A lot of the Persona tracks would have been perfect for a rhythm game, especially a dancing one, as is, so it’s a further disappointment in that regard. Especially since, in some cases, we don’t actually get the original track (at least not in the base game), and only get the remix instead.

If you are someone who plays Persona Dancing (or indeed, any Persona spin off) for the character moments, however—because let’s face it, the prospect of spending more time with our beloved characters from these games is the core appeal of these games to many—then it’s a bit of a mixed bag all around. Persona 4: Dancing All Night had a truly horrendous story mode, that was badly written, unnecessarily expository, and seemed to miss the core point of Persona 4 entirely. The good news is that Persona 3: Dancing and Persona 5: Dancing do not have a story mode as bad. They, in fact, don’t have story modes at all.

It’s a bit unfair to frame it that way—both games, you see, have a “social link” mode, so to say, where you can hang out with each character, interacting with them, usually alongside one other character, which leads to some fun character moments. There’s more than half a dozen scenes for each character, and each character’s every scene has unique unlock requirements pertaining to the actual dancing mode, which forces you to experiment and play multiple songs and hang out with multiple characters, instead of focusing on just your favorite one. Overall, the scenes even have a larger overall story, in a sense—in fact, the stories of both the games end up joining with each other, and even Persona 4: Dancing All Night, which is cool fan service, if nothing else.

"The characterization, while not as offensively bad as it was in the Persona 4 spin offs, is still pretty bad, reducing every character to a one note trait, which is played up to an annoying degree, and losing any and all nuance that they exhibited in the original games."

There are issues here, too, however: the characterization, while not as offensively bad as it was in the Persona 4 spin offs, is still pretty bad, reducing every character to a one note trait, which is played up to an annoying degree (such as Futaba speaking only in gamer lingo), and losing any and all nuance that they exhibited in the original games. The actual story setup is really bad, too, with the games barely pretending to even contrive a reason as to why these characters are suddenly dancing. And, on the whole, the actual “story” content here is far lighter in both games than it was in Persona 4: Dancing All Night. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if put together, it was less than that game. Personally, I didn’t care for Dancing All Night’s poor story mode, so it doesn’t bother me as much—but do remember that each game is giving you less content for more money (given that Dancing All Night was a Vita game, and not full priced as a result).

That said, it’s not like there’s nothing good here. The actual soundtracks are great, barring the poor remixes I have already mentioned, and the games are eye catchingly pretty. A strong art style brings these characters to life, and seeing especially the Persona 3 characters, who have thus far been stuck to PS2 era resolutions, come to life in HD is a joy. The sense of style in both games is astounding, the backgrounds are well drawn, and the colors pop.

"A strong art style brings these characters to life, and seeing especially the Persona 3 characters, who have thus far been stuck to PS2 era resolutions, come to life in HD is a joy. The sense of style in both games is astounding, the backgrounds are well drawn, and the colors pop."

The actual rhythm gameplay, while not the best, is addictive and compelling—it’s forgiving enough for even a genre newcomer to enjoy it, while challenging enough on higher difficulties, and with some tweaked settings, to truly be enjoyable for the genre veteran too (though I’m not a fan of the six directional input axes for these games, especially on a bigger screen, since it’s harder to keep up with the input prompts).

Certainly, if you enjoy Persona soundtracks, or just want the prospect of hanging out with these characters more, these games aren’t bad. They’re disappointing and underwhelming, but there’s still enough here for you regardless. To me, it’s just a shame that with a pitch that should be as winning as Persona meets rhythm game, Atlus has now, three times in a row, demonstrably droppped the ball.

This game was reviewed on PS4.

You may be wondering why a Persona concert being announced is a big deal (I mean, apart from the fact that the series has some baller soundtracks, and hearing them performed live is always going to be a good thing). The reason is simple—Atlus has used the last few Persona series concerts as venues to announce new Persona games.

For instance, Persona 5’s first trailer was unveiled at the Persona concert in February 2015. Persona Q2, Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight and Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight were both revealed at a Persona concert in 2017. So, with Atlus having announced a brand new Persona concert for April 2019 via a video which you can see below, there’s reason to suspect a new Persona game—or many new ones—might be announced.

Given that we’ve made our way through the usual Persona spin-offs, it’s anyone’s guess what the new games, if they are announced, might be. It might be more Persona 5 spin-offs, or it could be remakes or re-releases of older games on modern platforms. It could even be Persona 6, though that of course is the least likely.

Hopefully, we’ll find out on April 24 and 25, 2019, which is when the concert is. Meanwhile, if you are looking forward to Persona Q2, make sure to check out the newest character trailer for it.

Atlus has done something unusual, and released demos for the upcoming Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight and Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight, the upcoming rhythm games based on the games from Atlus’ popular JRPG franchise. I say it is unusual because while Atlus is typically great with demos for its games, it has never actually done one for the Persona series. Now, while Dancing in Moonlight and Dancing in Starlight are hardly mainline games, it’s still good to see them getting demos.

The demos are currently available for PS4 in North America only (Europe gets the demo on December 11), and include four songs each for each game. Persona 3 Dancing comes with a Burn My Dread mix, as well as the Persona 3 version of Light the Fire Up in the Night, while Persona 5 Dancing’s demo comes with Rivers in the Desert and Blooming Villain. There are two more songs in each demo available.

You can download the demos now. Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight and Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight launch for PS4 and PS Vita on December 4 in North America and Europe (yes, Europe gets the full game a week before it gets the demo. Don’t ask me why). You can check out a trailer for the demos below. Don’t forget to check out new trailers for both games that showed us their characters grooving to the games’ soundtracks in style.

With the western releases of Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight and Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight almost here, Atlus has shared new English trailers for the two rhythm games, sharing with us two new videos introducing us to the casts of the games. For Persona 3, that means SEES, while for Persona 5, that means the Phantom Thieves. You can check out both of these videos for yourself below

Persona 3 and 5 Dancing won’t have a story mode like Persona 4: Dancing All Night did, but they do have a mode where you interact with other characters, getting closer and closer to them until you get to hang out with them in their room (this mode will also be compatible with the PlayStation VR). Whether or not that’s a good thing depends on your stance on the story mode in Dancing All Night. As someone who disliked it immensely, I personally am fine with its omission in these games.

Persona 3: Dancing in Starlight and Persona 5: Dancing in Moonlight launch on PS4 and PS Vita on December 4. If you’re interested in picking up the game for yourself, make sure to see what the pre-order bonuses for it are.

Atlus has revealed the pre-order bonuses for the upcoming Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight and Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight, the rhythm games based on Persona 3 and Persona 5’s soundtracks respectively (I say respectively, but that really should be clear without my having to).

If you pre-order Dancing in Moonlight, you get the free character add-on for fan favorite and beloved character Shinjiro Aragaki, alongside his song The Hymn for Everyone’s Souls (why that is his song, I’m not entirely sure, but let’s go with it). Pre-ordering Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight gets you your favorite pancake loving detective Goro Akechi for free, alongside his song Will Power (this one does make sense). If you pre-order the All Night edition, which includes both games, you get both characters with their songs (not to mention also getting Persona 4: Dancing All Night on the PS4, presuming you get the PS4 version. This is, right now, the only way to get the game on the PS4 at all).

On Vita, both games are digital only; buying them two weeks within launch will get you this content for free instead, which is almost a better deal (except for the part where you don’t get a physical copy). Both games launch on December 4. Check out the pre-order bonuses trailer below.

In the vein of Persona 4: Dancing All Night, Atlus will be releasing two new rhythm games this December, one each for Persona 3 and Persona 5. The prospect of having to buy Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight and Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight separately might not be the most alluring even to a lot of series diehards- which is why the Endless Night collection exists.

The Endless Night collection basically bundles both the games, along with some goodies, such as a soundtrack selection, and a PS4 port of Persona 4: Dancing All Night (which is also the only way to get that game on the PS4 for now). Atlus has put out a new teaser trailer to show off that collection for those of you who, like me, may want both games- especially since, at $99, it’s cheaper than getting both the games individually.

The Endless Night collection will be available physical and digitally for PS4, and only digitally for PS Vita. You can check out the teaser trailer for yourself below.

Atlus had already confirmed that Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight and Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight, the localizations of the rhythm games based on Persona 3 and Persona 5, would be launching in the west earlier this year. However, they had originally been announced for early 2019. Now, Atlus has come through by confirming they will be launching a bit earlier than that.

The company has confirmed that both games will launch for PS4 and PS Vita (… yes) on December 4 this year. You can get each game standalone for $60 on PS4, $40 on Vita, or you can get a bundle with both games included for $100 on PS4, and $70 on PS Vita. Additionally, Persona Dancing: Endless Night Edition will be available for PS4, including a copy of Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight, Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight, Persona 4: Dancing All Night (the only way to get it on PS4), and a hard cover artbook. Fans of the series will probably want this one.

Make sure to watch new trailers for both games below. Which one of these, if any, will you be picking up?

Sega and Atlus have announced their lineup of games for Gamescom, and they’re bringing a healthy mix of some of the most anticipated upcoming games to the event. These games cover just about every platform on the market, and the PS Vita.

Games Sega and Atlus are bringing to the event include Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight, Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight, Valkyria Chronicles 4, Team Sonic Racing, Total War: Three Kingdoms, Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise, and Football Manager 2019. As you may have realized, Persona Q2, which was just announced over the weekend, is not on this list- that has to do with it not actually having had a localized release for the west announced yet. Assuming it is being localized (and it will be, since it’s Persona), we’re going to have to wait a fair bit before we can presumably see Atlus bring it to one of these events.

Gamescom will be held from August 21 to August 25.

Atlus had promised that they would be announcing two new games today, and they have lived up to their word- and, as expected, these games are Persona 3: Dancing Moon Night and Persona 5: Dancing Star Night‘s localizations- now they will be known as Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight and Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight.

Both games will be launching in North America and Europe in early 2019, for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita (yes, there will be a new major game release for the Vita in 2019- imagine that!). The games will launch with all the content that the Japanese titles launched with, sans the DLC, and will include an English and Japanese dub for both games. Additionally, the game will also include English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish subtitles- which is surprising, even Persona 5‘s localization was not that extensive.

I’m personally amped for Persona 5: Dancing in Moonlight– more time with Makoto is always a great thing, as far as I am concerned.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDClOnJVTJU