It’s no secret that Atlus had a phenomenal 2020 with the massive success of the Persona 4 Golden port and the release of Persona 5 Royal. With Persona 5 Royal selling over 1.4 million copies and Persona 4 Golden selling over 500,000 copies on Steam, the series has brought the franchise worldwide recognition and mainstream attention. Sega, Atlus’s parent company, has taken note of Persona’s success, and hopes to bring more Atlus ports, remasters, and remakes to a number of different platforms.
Releasing its annual online customer survey, Atlus asked fans if they wanted to see more franchises ported or remade on other platforms. Receiving a record number of respondents, the survey contained questions regarding Atlus franchises such as Persona, Etrian Odyssey, Shin Megami Tensei, and more. Following the success of the PC port of Persona 4 Golden, it’ll be interesting to see what other Atlus games will make a comeback as ports.
With the massive success of Persona 4 Golden on Steam and the popularity that Persona 5 Royal has generated in 2020, older Persona games seem like the most obvious choice for Atlus ports and remakes. Though Revelations: Persona and the Persona 2 duology are fantastic games in their own right, Persona 3 is the entry which established the social simulation mechanics that define the series. As a result, it’s most likely that Persona 3 will appear as the next port or remaster from Atlus.
The recent survey from Atlus seems to imply that they favor the Nintendo Switch and PC as platforms for future ports and Persona 3 would be a perfect fit for either option. Although there are three versions of Persona 3, the original can be ruled out as Persona 3 FES is a direct upgrade with a new epilogue and content. Between Persona 3 FES and Persona 3 Portable, it’d be a good idea for Atlus to release a definitive edition combining the two as they each have exclusive story and gameplay elements.
A number of Persona spinoff games could also be ported to the PC or Nintendo Switch. The Persona Q spinoff series could make an appearance considering its popularity on the Nintendo 3DS. Fusing elements of Atlus’s dungeon-crawling franchise Etrian Odyssey together with Persona, the Persona Q series allows players to team up their favorite Persona characters to explore labyrinths and map their layouts. The Persona 4 Arena Ultimax spinoff could also make for a great port considering the popularity of fighting games on the Nintendo Switch.
The Shin Megami Tensei series is going to have a big 2021 with Atlus announcing a port for Shin Megami Tensei 3, and a new mainline game Shin Megami Tensei 5 for the Nintendo Switch. With the popularity of the Persona series, it’s inevitable that Shin Megami Tensei gets its time to shine as the series that started it all. Though Persona has overshadowed the series lately, Atlus porting Shin Megami Tensei games would be effective in popularizing the series again.
The most obvious choices for ports of the Shin Megami Tensei series would be the three mainline Nintendo DS/3DS games: Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey, Shin Megami Tensei 4, and Shin Megami Tensei 4: Apocalypse. The Shin Megami Tensei series is known for its dark tone and apocalyptic setting along with its high difficulty. The exploration and combat mechanics would feel great on the Nintendo Switch if Atlus makes minor changes to the original Nintendo DS/3DS dual screen features.
It’s a little strange that a new Etrian Odyssey game has not shown up on the Nintendo Switch given the franchise’s commercial success and critical acclaim. While the last Etrian Odyssey game hinted at the return of the series, Atlus has yet to publish a new game. The Nintendo Switch is a fantastic platform for the series given its portability, and there’s currently a lack of great dungeon-crawlers available in the Nintendo eShop.
However, even if the Etrian Odyssey series doesn’t get a new game on the Nintendo Switch, the series has a lot of fantastic titles available to port. The biggest difficulty would be the transition to the docked Nintendo Switch as the mapping feature of Etrian Odyssey relied heavily on the Nintendo DS/3DS’s touchscreen capabilities. Nonetheless, Etrian Odyssey is a fan favorite series from Atlus, and porting the dungeon-crawling series to the Nintendo Switch could attract a lot of newcomers.
Developer Vanillaware has worked closely with Atlus in the past to deliver two fantastic ARPG titles: Odin Sphere and Dragon’s Crown. Odin Sphere was heavily driven by a unique narrative experience, while Dragon’s Crown offered a fantastic multiplayer experience reminiscent of loot-based ARPGs like Diablo. Both games featured a distinct artstyle that Vanillaware has become known for, and enjoyed a moderate amount of success.
Odin Sphere and Dragon’s Crown would both be great ports for the Nintendo Switch or PC given their mechanics. Both games would also be fairly easy to port, and the popularity of ARPG games, especially loot-based ones, have been skyrocketing lately. Odin Sphere and Dragon’s Crown both appeared on the Atlus customer survey so there’s a good chance that they will appear as ports even if they are overshadowed by the Persona and Shin Megami Tensei series.
Although the Atlus customer survey included a lot of potential ports and remakes, the beloved Trauma Center series unfortunately didn’t show up. While the original game Trauma Center: Under the Knife underperformed in Japan, it sold extremely well in North America and Europe. As a result, the series continued with a Wii remake, Trauma Center: Second Opinion, and a DS sequel, Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2.
The Trauma Center games combine surgery-based simulation with a story told in the form of a visual novel. Using the touchscreen capabilities of the Nintendo DS, players would perform operations and utilize surgical tools. Like the Etrian Odyssey series, Trauma Center’s reliance on a touchscreen would require Atlus to make some changes before porting it to the Nintendo Switch. However, the Wii remake, Trauma Center: Second Opinion, has already demonstrated the capabilities of the series using motion tracking and the Joy-Cons would be a perfect fit for potential Trauma Center ports.
The success of the PC port for Persona 4 Golden has reignited speculation amongst fans on which Atlus series will receive remasters or ports next. With the release of the 2020 online customer survey, it seems that more and more classic Atlus games will show up on the Nintendo Switch or PC in the future. With a record number of respondents giving their opinions, this hopefully means that Persona 4 Golden was just the beginning in Sega’s decision of porting more Atlus series.
Persona 4 Golden is available on Steam for PC.
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