Back to school
Over the weekend, footage leaked online showing what appeared to be a shiny remake of Atlus’Persona 3and the next entry inJet Set Radio, apparently making Sega the latest company to pursue the remake/reboot gold. Late last year, the publisheremphasised plansto “focus on remaking and remastering existing IPs,” although they haven’t confirmed the existence of either project yet.
Fans are understandably guarded about the prospect sincePersona 5first released 7 years ago, and a whopping 20 years have skated by since the last Jet Set Radio release.Gematsuseemingly validates Persona 3 remake’s existence, as they wrote “While we cannot verify the footage itself, Gematsu understands that a Persona 3 remake has been in development at Atlus for several years.” Last year,Bloomberghad also reported that big-budget reboots of Jet Set Radio andCrazy Taxiwere in development.
Fans have pointed out that this footage could be related to a number of different projects. For example, the new model for Yukari could be included as a gacha character for Persona 5: The Phantom X, the free-to-play mobile spin-off currently planned to release exclusively in China. SegaSammy are also a prolific pachinko machine company, so this footage could be attributed to any number of projects. Or the video might just be fanmade.
Despite reasons for scepticism,this threadlists the work required to pull off a prank like this: it’s a lot. Essentially, a fan would have to create all new assets, character models that don’t exist, and bespoke animations. Interestingly, though, it’s the early Sonic Frontiers gameplay that has me convinced. The video has structures that weren’t in the final game, boss fights in entirely different areas, the floating rails have been removed from parts of the map, and visual effects have been revamped. Regardless, we’ll need to wait for Sega to confirm or deny the leaks.
Jet Set Radio’s return is past due as, two decades later, its effortless style and anti-establishment attitude arestill influencing developers. On the other hand, Persona 3 Portable recently made its way to PC, and Edfound it to be a simpler, but still interesting, take on the series’ demon-slaying and high-schooling antics.
