Persona 4 Arena Ultimax



Persona 4 Arena Ultimax is a spin-off Persona game and the sequel to Persona 4 Arena. It is preceded by Persona 4 Arena and followed by Persona 5. Yu Narukami is the main protagonist and Sho Minazuki is the main antagonist.

Persona 4 Arena Ultimax is a sequel to a sequel and is in turn the second spin-off to a mainline Persona game that isn't part of the mainline series itself. It is a direct sequel to Persona 4 Arena and contains the remaining characters from Persona 3 cast that were not in its predecessor.

Known as Persona 4: The Ultimax Ultra Suplex Hold, it was originally released on the X Box 360 and PlayStation 3 in 2013.

A short 4 volume manga adaptation by Rokuro Saito was released in 2015. It never received an official English release.

Official Description
''The Midnight Channel is back on the air and once again broadcasts a strange advertisement for another fighting tournament christened P-1 Climax, also known as Operation: World Destruction, that shows members of the Investigation Team and the Shadow Operatives in combat. Just moments after this, Inaba is subject to a power outage and is engulfed by a bizarre red fog. Furthermore, figures that look suspiciously like Mitsuru Kirijo, Aigis and Akihiko Sanada being crucified are shown on TV. While the Investigation Team attempts to figure out what's going on, Junpei Iori and Rise Kujikawa becomes trapped in the red fog, while Labrys, Ken Amada, Koromaru and Yukari Takeba ride on a helicopter to see the fog engulf Inaba.''

Summary
The storyline is split between episodes. Episode P4 is the starting point to the plot that takes place immediately after the Arena storyline, and follows the viewpoints of Yu Narukami and his return to Inaba for the Golden Week. It also follows Naoto Shirogane in her investigations on the Kirijo Group Ergonomics Laboratory, Rise Kujikawa's visit to Inaba and her resolve to return to show business, and each of the Investigation Team's experience when the red fog settles into town. These culminate into their meeting with the Shadow Operatives and subsequent climb of the mystery tower on the site of Yasogami High School.

Episode P3 is unlocked after the player completes Episode P4 at 94% and follows Labrys and the Shadow Operatives investigation on Shadow activity in Inaba, before being ambushed and captured by the Malevolent Entity and his accomplice. It also follows the viewpoints of Yukari Takeba and her acting career, Ken Amada's attempt at normal student life with Koromaru, and Junpei Iori's coaching for a junior baseball team. These lead to the meeting with each of Inaba's Investigation Team, and the rescue of the captured Shadow Operatives members at the mystery tower.

In both of the Episodes, the player battles the fake "Shadow" versions of every cast, being released by General Teddie who used the red fog to bizarrely transform Inaba and disable all electronics and communications. They will then face Sho Minazuki, General Teddie's accomplice, who is carving Persona fragments from the fights with the fake Shadows. The Persona Fragments was to be used along with all the Shadows that exist in Inaba to summon the Entity's true form, Hi-no-Kagutsuchi.

Episode Adachi is the DLC third episode that follows Tohru Adachi's life in incarceration awaiting his trial, and Sho's recruitment for him to follow through with the plan to collect the Persona fragments. However, Sho's other personality Minazuki reveals that the real plan was to create a world where only Sho will exist in solitude, and to this they plan to summon, weaken and enslave the Entity's true form. Sho plans to have Adachi's power from the Sagiri merged with the Persona fragments, but Adachi betrays Sho in the final moments, just as Yu arrives to stop the villains.

In the end, the Entity also betrayed Sho by taking over his body as vessel for his true form. The character facing Kagutsuchi for the final battle also depends on the Episodes: Labrys in Episode P3, Yu in Episode P4 and Adachi in Episode Adachi. Kagutsuchi appears in its fiery form above Inaba and it takes several hits by the protagonists to defeat it. There are multiple endings to the story, depending on the choices made during the final chapter on Episodes P3 and P4. The normal ending follows the Investigation Team saying goodbye to the protagonist at the end of Golden Week, the Shadow Operatives decision to follow through with their own separate and normal lives and Sho Minazuki escaping with his whereabouts unknown. The true ending reveals that Sho has lost his other personality but is able to summon his own Persona, and he decides on to go on his own journey, insisting that he will kill Yu and he should be ready for him at anytime. Yu, Labrys, the Investigation Team and the Shadow Operatives will be meeting at Junes Department Store at the end of Golden Week to know more about each other and strengthen their bonds.

Characters

 * Yu Narukami - Johnny Yong Bosch
 * Yosuke Hanamura - Yuri Lowenthal
 * Yukiko Amagi - Amanda Winn-Lee
 * Chie Satanoka - Erin Fitzgerald
 * Teddie - Sam Riegal
 * Kanji Tatsumi - Matthew Mercer
 * Rise Kujikawa - Laura Bailey
 * Naoto Shiragane - Valerie Arem
 * Rise Kujikawa - Laura Bailey
 * Mitsuru Kirijo - Tara Blatt
 * Akihiko Sanada - Liam O'Brien
 * Aigis - Karen Strassman
 * Labrys - Cindy Robinson
 * Yukari Takeba - Michelle Ruff
 * Junpei Iori - Vic Mignogna
 * Ken Amada - Cindy Robinson
 * Marie - Eden Riegel
 * Sho Minazuki - Todd Haberkorn

Persona 4: The Ultimax Ultra Suplex Hold Stageplay
The Ultimax Ultra Suplex Hold Stageplay is directed by Shutaro Oku, who worked on Persona 4 Visualive, Persona 4 Visualive the Evolution, and Persona 3: the Weird Masquerade -Ao no Kakusei-. The script is provided by Mio Inoue, who worked as a scenario writer for the Persona 4 Golden animaton. Mitsuaki Madono, the voice actor for Tohru Adachi, reprises his role for the play as well. Most of the cast members from the Persona 4 Arena stageplay returned for the new stageplay. The stageplay was shown at Theater G-Rosso in Tokyo, Japan from July 6th to July 10th, 2016.

Trivia

 * Like its predecessor, the game's official Japanese website once again featured Aigis and Yu Narukami fighting in a duel. However, Aigis is seen defeating Yu with a massive suplex, which befits the Japanese title of the game.
 * If you compare the normal box art and the shadow box-art, Adachi's facial expression changes from smiling (standard) to worried (shadow).
 * Persona 4 Arena Ultimax is the last game to feature Laura Bailey voiced as Rise due the her busy schedule during development of Persona 4: Dancing All Night.
 * Kanji is now Voiced by Matthew Mercer (from the second half of the anime) but reuse Troy Baker's battle quotes from Arena.
 * Naoto is now Voiced by Valerie Arem (from the Persona 4 Golden) but reuse Anna Graves's battle quotes from Arena.
 * Adachi uses his raspier voice from the anime due to him and Yu Narukami sharing Johnny Yong Bosch as their English voice actor.
 * Datamining has found multiple unused audio files that allude to the following:
 * An early version of Persona 5's protagonist was scrapped, with a round call mentioning "P5 Hero," and "Mephistopholes," who was planned to be his Persona in early development of Persona 5.
 * Marie's aliases also can be heard, perhaps to be used after her Instant Kill.
 * In the second episode of the 2017 anime series Gamers!, the characters Keita Amano and Tasuku Uehara play the arcade version of Ultimax. Tasuku's Teddie defeats Keita's Yu, without losing any HP. Two other characters are shown in a fight between Chie and Akihiko.
 * The PS4, Switch and PC versions added French, German, Italian, Spanish, Korean, Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese text languages as well as the ability to switch between the English and Japanese voices, like in the Western version of Persona 4 Arena.
 * In the original Western version, you can't change the voices and text language between English and Japanese in-game, as the Japanese text and voices isn't available in that version, but other players can be able to hear the other voice language, regardless of version, just like the Blazblue series, except for Blazblue: Central Fiction, which only uses the Japanese voices, as well as Persona 4 Arena.
 * The copyright "©ATLUS. All rights reserved. Published by Atlus U.S.A., Inc. Persona is a registered trademark of Atlus U.S.A., Inc." is changed to the copyright, "©ATLUS. ©SEGA.", in the PS4, Switch and PC versions of the western release to further reflect on ATLUS' parent company, SEGA.

Continuity

 * The story is a continuation of the events depicted in Persona 4 Arena and begins the day after the previous game concludes, meaning Arena Ultimax is also set in May 2012, set before the epilogue in Persona 4 Golden.
 * Sho Minazuki, the main antagonist for this game, was one of Ikutsuki's test subjects, similar to the members of Strega. It is revealed that he is the reason why Labrys ran amuck in the previous game, as he was being controlled by Hinokagutsuchi.
 * Sho was implanted with a Plume of Dusk by Ikutsuki, much like Aigis and Labrys and the other ASSWs.


 * To date, Sho is the only character in the Persona series, as well as the first Wild Card, to reject the contract of the Velvet Room. He is also the first character with the potential of being Wild Card to use his abilities for malevolent purposes.
 * The Dark Hour returns in this game after not appearing since Persona 3, and that like Port Island, Inaba has now become an epicenter for Shadow activity outside the TV World. As a result, S.E.E.S can freely summon their Personas in the Dark Hour affected real world without the use of an Evoker. Eventually it is confirmed by Akihiko, Junpei and even Naoto that the Dark Hour has returned, set up by the masterminds behind the P1 tournaments, one of them being Sho Minazuki.
 * Tartarus also reappears, now being placed in Inaba.
 * Adachi returns in this game after having last appeared in Persona 4. Seeing as this game takes place only months after Persona 4, Adachi is still in police custody.