After a worrying lack of communication from Atlus, the company recently confirmed thatPersona 5spin-off/sequelPersona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikersis finally releasing in Western regions under the abridged name ofPersona 5 Strikers.
While a name change isn’t too surprising (though there are some fans who prefer the original title), that’s not the only thing that’s different between the Japanese and Western versions of the game. For some reason, Atlus has also made a rather curious change to thePersona 5 Strikersbox-art, albeit a very minor one.
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In Japan, the box-art depicts the Phantom Thieves (the main characters ofPersona 5) all striking dramatic poses as their throw themselves into the action, with the exception of Ryuji (aka Skull). Unlike his fellow thieves, poor Ryuji is seen being smacked in the face by an enemy in a comical fashion. On the Western box-art, however, the enemy’s arm has been repositioned and Ryuji is now readying an attack, with his iron pipe raised.
At the time of writing, no official statement has been given as to why this change has been made, though one fan theorizes that it might have to do with the ESRB guidelines. “Violent blows to the head,” like what Ryuji suffers on the Japanese box-art, are considered a depiction of violence by the ESRB, so maybe Atlus had to make the change to secure a certain age rating.
Japanese games having certain bits of content changed when brought to the West is nothing new. There have been plenty of titles that have had to go through censorship in order to release in Western regions, though these are usually met with fierce backlash (for example,Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE).
In this instance, however, the general response appears to either be indifference or approval, with plenty of fans considering the Western box-art to be the better of the two. Judging by comments, this is because fans of Ryuji himself prefer seeing him get to be cool alongside his fellow Thieves, rather than be a punching bag for the sake of a joke.
As a reminder,Persona 5 Strikersis not another RPG but instead a Musou game in the same vein astheDynasty Warriorsseries, though it still retains many elements and mechanics fromPersona 5. It also serves as a continuation of the original game’s story.
Pre-orders are planned to become available later tonight and Lyn Inaizumi, the singer behind all the vocal tracks forPersona 5and related media, will beperforming music as part of The Game Awards 2020as well.
Persona 5 Strikerswill release for Nintendo Switch, PC, and PlayStation 4 on February 23rd.
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