A Persona rhythm game was a project Atlus wanted to create "for a while," resulting in the upcoming PlayStation Vita title Persona 4: Dancing All Night.
"I’m sure that some people were surprised by that particular announcement, but we’d actually been thinking about making a rhythm game with Persona music for a while," revealed Persona series director Katsura Hashino in a recent interview with Japan’s official Persona magazine. Hashino explained that Atlus did not have the "talent to pull off that sort of game" by themselves and thus partnered with the Dingo for Dancing All Night. Dingo previously developed the first few Hatsune Miku Project Diva games and are also working on the Love Live! School Idol Paradise rhythm games currently.
So why choose the Vita for Dancing All Night? "We also had people who purchased Vita systems just to play Persona 4 Golden," acknowledged Hashino, "so we wanted to give them another Persona game that they could enjoy on that platform."
Hashino goes on to talk about how the disco-flavored and upbeat tone of the game is intentional. "Life can be rough out there in the world these days, so we figured it would be nice to make something that was maybe a little less dark and just focused on being flashy and fun. it’s meant to be a light and bubbly sort of experience." Due to the heavy music and dancing elements, Dancing All Night will focus on Rise, the female pop idol star of the Persona 4 franchise.
Check out the full interview translated by Pepsiman (via Destructoid) for more insights into upcoming Persona projects, including Persona 5. Do you think Persona 4: Dancing All Night will continue the caliber of the franchise? Sound off the comments below and stay posted to PSU for everything Person and more!