At times I wonder whether the folks over at Atlus ever predicted the popularity of Persona 4. While Persona 3 did have its following, as well as a few updated releases with Persona 3 FES and Persona 3 Portable, it simply can't match Persona 4's popularity, though it did ride its coat tails. Persona 4 astounded us as an amazing JRPG that we could eventually take on the go, a fighting game, a dungeon crawler and now, a dancing game. Yep, you read that right. Persona 4: Dancing All Night is a rhythm game akin to games like Hatsune Miku, though in true Persona fashion, sports a narrative tying it all together.
Our former PC Editor, Andrew Clouther, who now teaches English in Japan, was kind enough to surprise me with a copy of Persona 4: Dancing All Night, which thankfully I was able to play since the Vita isn't region locked. Since the game is largely in Japanese, these impressions will mostly stem from the actual gameplay and the music, rather than focusing on the narrative. I'll touch on it, but won't over analyze it, as I'll wait for the American version to release to give my full, scored review.
If this was simply a rhythm game with no story, similar to the Hatsune Miku games, I'd be proclaiming that all Persona 4 fans import this game immediately. It's mind blowing how much Persona 4 DAN feels like a Persona game, even without the turn-based combat, Persona collecting and social-link bonding. After all, these are all friends who have grown incredibly close from the original game, and since this game is canon after all, the need for social links is pretty non-existent.
From what I gather, the shadows return and start taking over various new idols, all seemingly with various insecurities that you'll have to save with your incredibly smooth dance moves. The idol only mentioned in P4, Kanami, makes an appearance as one of the central characters in Dancing All Night with her own set of "Shadow" issues. Aside from busting a move, the story is presented as a visual novel with a few conversation options sprinkled in each chapter. Whether these actually change outcomes is unknown, simply because I kept choosing the first option each time. For those that have played any of the two Arena games, the flow of the story should feel very familiar.
When it comes to actual gameplay though, Dancing All Night is practically overflowing with flair and style. The game was originally going to be played similarly to the Miku games with button prompts appearing in various locations on screen, however, the button layout completely changed to something a bit more coherent and easier to follow.
The game screen is surrounded by a circle with down, left and up arrows on the left and Cross, Circle and Triangle on the right. Whenever a star icon goes through either of those icons, you have to press the corresponding button. Easy, right? It certainly looked like it when I watched gameplay videos, but in actuality it is quite challenging. Thrown into the mix is scratching, which makes you tilt one of the analog sticks, as well as double button presses and holds. It can all get pretty overwhelming, especially on the Hard difficulty.
But the highlight of the game are easily all the fan favorite remixed songs. You'll get everything from various mixes of 'Shadow World' to 'Pursuing my True Self,' and even a full vocal version of the 'Junes theme.' What's amazing is that the remixes aren't just tied down to EDM, but actually span a variety of genres from Jazz and Big Band to Pop and Hip Hop. There are also some extras thrown in from spin-off games such as 'Maze of Life' from Persona Q and 'Now I know' from Persona 4 Arena.
The choreography animations are also amazingly done. Each character is tied down to a particular song, which means you'll always only dance as Yukiko in Snowflakes, Yu in Specialist and Yosuke in Backside of the TV. However, a majority of the songs include sections where other characters can join the lead dancers in amazing team ups. These dance team ups are activated through Fever Mode, which accumulates as you scratch at the correct times, and man is the payoff always great. I especially love Yu and Yosuke's bromance filled moves. Best friends forever.
Basically anything you do in the game will earn you cash for various items which I unfortunately didn't do much with simply because I had no idea what they did. However, you can also buy a myriad of costumes and accessories for each character, and yes, the low cut battle armor is indeed there and unlockable. You can also make Kanji wear nothing but a speedo if you want. Equality y'all.
As far as options go, you can change up various settings to make the game easier or harder. When I first found the game to be too overwhelming, I turned the speed of the notes down to 1, which made it much more manageable. If you don't like the default note or scratching sounds, you can change those out too, or even completely lower the volume for sound effects and turn them off.
The game is completely PlayStation TV compatible, which means those gorgeous graphics that are displayed in Vita's native resolution will look even better on your TV. You can use a DualShock 3 or 4 which feels somewhat better than the buttons on the Vita, but that all comes down to preference. I did also discover that the game can be played entirely on the Vita's touchscreen by simply tapping the notes and swiping the screen to scratch. It's a neat feature but I found buttons to be far more convenient.
While I completely understand the impulse many of you might be having being Persona fans, wanting to buy this game immediately rather than wait for the American localization, my suggestion is definitely wait. While it is entirely playable without understanding Japanese, you're really missing out on basically one half of the entire experience, since you won't get much out of the story, outside of some cursory observations. Yes, it's mostly fan service, but the fact that a storyline exists, in a rhythm game no less, further proves that Atlus cares about this brand, and even more so, its fans.
The American version of Persona 4: Dancing All Night comes out September 29, 2015.
