Random Screenshot 37: Persona

Revelations Persona (Playstation) Atlus 1996

The Persona series has become a well known RPG franchise in the US. However, the series was obscure and super hardcore in it's first installment, Revelations Persona. The game follows a group of high school classmates as they enter the demon world to save one of their friends from an evil corporation and her own insanity. The game was brought to the US with some substantial changes from the Japanese version. First, one of the main characters Mark (pictured above) was changed into an African American. This didn't sit well with many folks as Mark seemed more like a mix of negative racial stereotypes than an actual character. Aside from this goof, Atlus also cut an entire second storyline in the game. It was called the Snow Queen quest and followed the students as they adventured around a frozen school to save their homeroom teacher from an evil mask. The game has a reputation for high encounter rates, long dungeons, and strange conversations in battle. Underneath these flaws, it is a descent RPG with a very cool storyline and fantastic music. Atlus released a PSP port last year, which returns Mark to being a White guy and includes the Snow Queen quest. Sadly, the old soundtrack was axed and replaced with a J-pop flavored one. The new music is unfitting and really takes away from the game's weird atmosphere. Although the Playstation version is far from perfect, it is still superior to the PSP port. If you can read Japanese, do yourself a favor and find the original version with all of the cut content perfectly intact.