I’ve been dreaming of a Persona 3 Reload port for Nintendo’s hybrid hardware long before the Switch 2 was even revealed. Having played through its lengthy campaign on my Xbox over the span of a month, I wished I was able to play more of this untethered from my couch. That clearly didn’t stop me from giving it all the time I had, and that desire to dive back in on flights and long Passenger Prince(ess) drives has only gotten stronger since the announcement of a Switch 2 version.
While the best versions of Persona 4 and 5 have been playable on Switch for a few years, Persona 3 Portable — which arrived the same time as 4 — wasn’t always easy to recommend as it sacrifices some incredible animated cutscenes andthe 3D overworld is more like a 2D point-and-click. While you won’t find the option for a female playable protag in any version other than P3P, Reload is now regarded the essential way to experience the Dark Hour in the modern age. And later this week, it’s available on Switch 2.
The original Persona 3 and its revised FES. release have long been regarded as cult classics: Anyone who played the PS2 or PSP editions will likely have gone into Persona 3 Reload with a lot of nervous excitement. The game tackles a lot of heavy topics that a remake could have trouble reworking faithfully – hell, this is a game where chosen high schoolers fight demons at night by summoning more demons into the world by firing pistol-like ‘Evokers’ at their heads. Death is present in every part of Persona 3, but I think it’s handled eloquently.
With a remake, if you don’t have the right team behind a project to show it the unique kind of love it needs, you run the risk of losing the plot along the way. Thankfully, Persona 3 Reload was handled exceptionally from the leaders of the Persona series, P-Studio.
So, ahead of the remake’s release on Switch 2, I was fortunate enough to chat with Kazuhisa Wada, P-Studio director and General Producer; Yoshihiro Komori, director of the Switch port; and Azusa Shimada, character artist on 3 Reload. I asked them about the performance of this Switch 2 edition, the difficulty of updating the S.E.E.S. uniform and their feelings on excluding the female protagonist from Reload.
You and I both have been waiting for this~
Nintendo Life (Zion Grassl): Atlus has grown the Persona series into quite a behemoth in recent years, so what led the team to choose Persona 3 Reload as their first game to release on this new platform over a spruced up version of Persona 5 or even the new spin-off, The Phantom X?
Kazuhisa Wada: The primary reason is that we wanted to release Persona 3 Reload on Nintendo hardware as early as possible, and the development and release for the Switch 2 proved to be the most suitable option. As a result, Persona 3 Reload became the first title for this platform.
Our primary focus was on optimizing the graphics
Persona 5 Royal has already been released for the Nintendo Switch, and is playable on the Switch 2. Considering that Phantom X is positioned as a live-service title, we believe Persona 3 Reload offers the most value as the first title for the platform.
How do you even begin the process of re-developing a game that’s this long for another console, like Switch 2? What sort of things needed to be adjusted with this project and where does most of the time go when developing for a new console like this? We can only imagine how long it takes to playtest a project like this!
Yoshihiro Komori: The process of porting to the Switch 2 is broadly divided into two main tasks: ‘porting the engine’ and ‘adjusting the game components.’ Although this was the Persona Team’s first time developing for the Switch 2, the use of Unreal Engine made the engine porting process smooth overall.
By being able to create a build that would run on the Switch 2 relatively early in development, we were able to focus our efforts on adjusting the game’s components.
Regarding the game itself, no new content was added. Instead, our primary focus was on optimizing the graphics. Given that the Switch 2 has differing hardware performance between TV mode and handheld mode, adjustments were required to ensure optimal visual quality for each mode.
We meticulously fine-tuned the graphics for specific scenes, such as the various floors of Tartarus and event sequences. Additionally, because this title features a very long gameplay duration, a significant amount of time was devoted to QA (quality assurance).
Since the Switch 2 version will release Episode Aigis simultaneously, we needed to conduct checks for this content in parallel, further extending the QA period.
Alongside the graphical optimizations, the QA team was tasked with carefully checking the processing load for each scene. This aspect added substantial effort to the development process.
While playing on a home console or a PC often offers better visuals and performance, playing Persona games on the go on a handheld device is the way many of us here at Nintendo Life prefer to play! Grinding out a few floors of Tartarus feels perfectly suited for a long train ride or a long flight. Have you ever been able to pull any data to see what percentage of Persona users (hehe) prefer to play these games on a handheld device?
Kazuhisa Wada: This is truly a game experience that you can enjoy for an extended period of time, we understand players will appreciate having ways to play in the style of their choice. We are genuinely delighted that the game can now be played on a portable device as well.
We hope you take the opportunity to enjoy Persona 3 Reload to the fullest, even while on the go!
The demo that was recently released on the Switch 2 eShop shows the game running at 30FPS, but with some frame rate hiccups. Is the team hoping to have those problems worked out for the final release of the game?
Yoshihiro Komori: We are currently taking steps to improve this. Since careful QA is required, it was difficult to address this in time for the main game’s release but will be in future patches.
Are you considering offering any graphical options to players to let them choose if they’d prefer better performance or better visuals? Choosing between 30fps and 60fps would be really nice to see! Persona 3 Reload looks great in still images on Switch 2, but we think some players would also take smoother performance over visual quality if they could choose.
Yoshihiro Komori: Thank you for your interest in our work and for giving us your request. We have also been positively considering increasing the frame rate; however, for this release, we prioritized delivering the Switch 2 version to everyone as quickly as possible.
We aimed to create changes that would give players the impression of ‘powered up and back better than ever!’
As such, we regret to inform you that there are currently no plans to implement this kind of requested feature at this time.
Implementing new designs into a well loved, pre-existing world like Persona 3 can be a tricky thing to get right. So we were so surprised to see how sharp and slick the new S.E.E.S. uniforms that are introduced in Reload! Do you remember at what point in development it was decided to change up their uniforms and do you have any original concept sketches you could share?
Azusa Shimada (Character Designer): The concept for the new S.E.E.S. uniforms was gradually developed starting in the early stages of development. Initially, the idea stemmed from the need for unique visuals that would be distinctive to this iteration of the game from a promotional perspective. This prompted discussions with Soejima-san (Shigenori Soejima, the original character designer) about what aspects could be refined.
We aimed to create changes that would give players the impression of ‘powered up and back better than ever!’ as a defining symbol of this evolution, leading to the adoption of the new combat gear design.
Around the same time, concept for the new mechanic, ‘Theurgy,’ was also being developed, and it turned out that the two elements worked well thematically. This fortunate alignment allowed everything to come together into its current form.
Persona 3 Reload offers multiple romance paths, but since you need multiple playthroughs of the game to see them all, we’re curious if there was a common choice amongst the development team for who to choose first? If we can only choose one, who would you say we choose?
Kazuhisa Wada: That’s such a very difficult question to answer… For me personally, from all the Persona 3 related stories, my favorite was Fuuka. However, from Persona 3 Reload, I feel Yukari has become so much cuter. I might have to pick her.
Lotus Juice, who does the rap vocals for the soundtrack, was a Fuuka fan like myself, but last I heard, he’s switched over to Mitsuru.
Yoshihiro Komori: If I were to choose one person to romance, I would choose Aigis. The questions she asks—What is life? What is love? What is the relationship between the heart and the body?—are all deeply fascinating.
Recently, I’ve been engaging in dialogues about these topics at Philosophy Cafés (casual gatherings for philosophical dialogues). Exploring these questions with a partner—not just as abstract philosophical inquiries, but as real, tangible decisions on how I relate to someone important—would be a truly romantic and intimate experience.
How big is the development team that’s working on this Switch 2 edition and how has it felt being able to bring this beloved game to such a wide platform like Nintendo?
Kazuhisa Wada: The porting process to the Switch 2 turned out to be unexpectedly smooth, allowing us to develop the project at a relatively compact scale.
The questions she asks—What is life? What is love? What is the relationship between the heart and the body?—are all deeply fascinating.
Our hope, given that the Nintendo platform has such a broad user base, is for many players—particularly younger audiences who have not yet experienced Persona—to try the series for the first time. Since Persona hasn’t had many new releases on Nintendo hardware yet, we believe there are still a lot of potential players who haven’t had the chance to play it.
We sincerely hope that this opportunity will help more people fall in love with ‘Persona’ and immerse themselves in the series!
We’ve read in other interviews that the thought of adding the female protagonist into Persona 3 Reload would just be too costly of a task, but can you share any more insight into what those internal discussions were like and if you ever had any thoughts to pay homage to her in other ways within the game?
Kazuhisa Wada: When it comes to whether we are able to represent her in this game, though it saddens me to have to say this, the answer for Persona 3 Reload would be ‘no.’
As developers, we have absolutely no intention of neglecting her, but this heartbreaking decision was made after much deliberation. We have a mission to continue working on various new games as well.
[Soejima-san] truly is a man with a heart of gold.
If asked what we feel remains unfinished in the context of Persona 3, this would undoubtedly be one of those things. However, we are working together as a team to develop various initiatives for future endeavors, and we hope you will look forward to what lies ahead.
Thank you for your understanding.
This last one isn’t really a question, I just want to pass along my sincere thanks for bringing this game for Switch 2. Persona 3 is my personal favorite in the series, and I’m so excited for Nintendo fans to be able to experience the full package like this, with all of the new bells and whistles that Reload brings! It’s such a delightful heart felt game, and it ranks amongst my favorite games of all time. I also had the chance to meet Soejima-san at Summer Game Fest in 2023 while demoing Metaphor, and it really is a memory I’ll cherish forever. He was so kind, so please send my thanks!
Kazuhisa Wada: I will make sure to convey this to Soejima-san. He truly is a man with a heart of gold.
Thank you so much for praising Persona 3 Reload. It means a lot to us! It is voices like yours that inspire us to dedicate our lives to game development and keep us going. Your support motivates us to deliver even more remarkable gaming experiences that meet your expectations.
We look forward to your continued support and encouragement!
Persona 3 Reload goes all out Nintendo Switch 2 on Thursday, October 23rd; a demo is already available on the eShop that lets you carry over all of your save data into the full release!
Thanks to Sega, Atlus and the team for helping coordinate this interview for us.
Have you been waiting for Persona 3 Reload to make it’s way to a Nintendo console? Will you be picking it up at launch? Share your thoughts with us down below.
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