1] previously marketed as Shin Megami Tensei: Persona outside of Japan, is a video game franchise primarily developed and published by Atlus, and owned by Sega.

There have been numerous adaptations, including anime series, films, novelizations, manga, stage plays, radio dramas, and musical concerts.

[71] This system was abandoned for the Persona 2 games: the party has free movement across the battlefield, and is assigned a set of moves which can be changed in the menu during and in between battles.

[104] A recurring location appearing in most of the games is the "Velvet Room", a place between reality and unconsciousness created by Philemon that changes form depending on the psyche of its current guest.

[108] When the writer for new story content in Eternal Punishment's PSP version wished for the main character to have spoken dialogue, this was vetoed as it went against the series tradition.

[7] In Innocent Sin, the two reveal that they are engaged in a proxy contest as to whether humanity can embrace its contradictory feelings and find a higher purpose before destroying itself.

[85][96][114] Zhang Cheng from The Paper thought the Persona 3, 4 and 5 regarded emotions and bonds as the ultimate weapon against alienation in postmodern society, and calls on everyone to become positive people.

[85][116] The Velvet Room was based on the Black Lodge from Twin Peaks, while Igor and his assistants are all named after characters from Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein and its adaptations.

As the high school setting of If... had been positively received, Atlus decided to create a dedicated subseries focusing on the inner struggles of young adults.

[116][121] Following this, the Persona series entered a hiatus while focus turned to other projects, including Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne.

[122] The conceptual Persona 3 was submitted to Atlus in 2003 by Katsura Hashino, who had worked as a designer for multiple Megami Tensei games and had been the director for Nocturne.

It is one of the first artistic decisions made by the team: Persona 3 has a dark atmosphere and serious characters, so the primary color was chosen as blue to reflect these and the urban setting.

[145][146][147] During his initial work on the series, Meguro felt restricted by the limited storage space of the PlayStation's disc system, and so when he began composing for Persona 3, which allowed for sound streaming due to increased hardware capacity, he was able to fully express his musical style.

[148] Meguro also served as the lead composer in Persona 5, using elements of acid jazz and the game's themes for inspiration to achieve the right mood.

[150][151][152] Spin-offs, such as the Persona Q and Dancing subseries, are usually handled by other Atlus composers such as Atsushi Kitajoh, Toshiki Konishi, and Ryota Kozuka.

[166] Persona 4 Arena was originally published in Europe by Zen United after a long delay, but the digital rights were eventually returned to Atlus, resulting in the game being removed from PSN.

As part of their statement, NIS America said that Atlus had become "very picky" about European partners, selecting those which could offer the highest minimal sales guarantee on their products.

[93][174] Another prominent staff member was Nich Maragos, who worked with Namba on multiple Persona games until moving to Nintendo of America prior to 2015.

[174] In the end, due to staff and resource shortages, Innocent Sin was passed over for localization in favor of its sequel Eternal Punishment.

[18] For the localizations of Persona 3 and 4, the team incorporated as much of the original content as possible, such as using Japanese honorifics and keeping the game's currency as yen rather than changing it.

In one instance, the character Mitsuru Kirijo was originally an English speaker, but her second language for the localized version was changed to French due to her cultured appearance.

[179] The first Persona was referred to at the time as a sleeper hit, and the success of it and Eternal Punishment helped establish both Atlus and Megami Tensei in North America.

[154][156][193] According to Atlus CEO Naoto Hiraoka, the main turning point for the franchise was the release of Persona 3, which was a commercial success and brought the series to the attention of the mainstream gaming community.

But what makes Persona interesting is that it's the familiar concept of Urban fantasy, the balance of the mundane "normal" life of the protagonists and the problems they have there with the fantastical nature of the supernatural world that lies beneath all that, from a Japanese perspective.

[154] Kurt Katala, writing for 1UP.com in 2006 about the controversial content of the Megami Tensei franchise as a whole, mentioned Innocent Sin's references to homosexuality, schoolyard violence, and Nazism, considering them possible reasons why the game was not originally released outside of Japan.

Furthermore, both versions of the game depict another major character as possibly being transgender, which has sparked extensive debate over their identity, creating a large divide within the Persona fanbase.

[213][214] It was animated by A-1 Pictures, directed by Jun Matsumoto, written by a team that included Yasuyuki Muto, Shogo Yasukawa, and Shinsuke Onishi, and composed for by Taku Iwasaki.

This series, which retains the cast of the original adaptation, dramatizes the new material included in Persona 4 Golden, focusing on the protagonist's encounters with new character Marie.

Hosted by freelance writer Mafia Kajita and actress Tomomi Isomura, it was designed to deepen the connection between Atlus and the Persona fanbase.

Along with him, a Persona-themed stage, eleven musical tracks from the series, and Mii costumes of Morgana, Teddie, and the main protagonists from Persona 3 and 4 were also featured.