Atlus talks Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden port work and challenges

In this week’s issue of Famitsu, Persona team business producer Atsushi Nomura and Persona team director Daisuke Yajima discussed the work and challenges involved in bringing Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden to new platforms.

Persona 4 Golden did end up on PC back in 2020, but Persona 3 Portable is making its first appearance outside of the PSP. Both also just appeared on home consoles for the first time.

Persona Central went ahead and translated the interview that was in this week’s Famitsu. You can read some of the excerpts below.

… wasn’t there more than simple porting involved with these two titles, whose original versions were released on handhelds?

Yajima: That’s right. There was a lot of high-resolution original data available for illustrations and other 2D materials, but for 3D data such as CG models, we had to modify textures and optimize the data to match the modern console specifications. Particularly, P3P’s resolution is much higher than that of the original version, so it took an enormous amount of time to modify all the data.

Nomura: This time, we worked with a development company called Preapp Partners, who also helped us with the Steam version of P4G. They worked with us on elements that did not exist within the original high-resolution data or that needed to be reworked, which was a very difficult and painstaking process. When we projected the game screen on a large TV in the conference room to check on the finished product, the characters and backgrounds on the field were beautifully done, and everyone in the room couldn’t help but be impressed.

Comparing the original version and the remastered version of P3P, in certain scenes, characters that were shown like pixel art were replaced with clear 3D models. That is certainly a very steady process!

Yajima: Even when the original version’s resolution was enlarged as is, the graphic patterns and lines were often rough or crushed. We’ve made detailed corrections with reference to the original character and setting illustrations, and besides the appearance, for models who have some sort of performance function, we’ve optimized them in various ways and taking advantage of new specifications in order to support 60 frames per second.

Supporting 60 frames is a big change, isn’t it?

Yajima: Indeed. The original version was based on 30 fps, but it wasn’t a simple matter of doubling the frame rate to reach 60 fps. For example, in the event scenes, the motion and the scaling often didn’t match… To be honest, we considered compromising on the event scenes, where the focus is on watching dialogue, since the feel wouldn’t change much if we kept the original 30 fps. Still, I was determined to not cut any corners in the remastered version.

Nomura: We made the Steam version of P4G compatible with 60 fps, and we worked on P3P until the very end. It may be hard to tell in the conversation scenes, but in battles and dungeon exploration, you’ll notice that the movement is smoother than in the original version.

Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden are both out now on the Switch eShop.