For a while now I’ve had a growing hope bubbling up inside me that the previous entries in Atlus’ Persona series would be getting remakes in the near future. It is such a pity that the best version of Persona 3 only exists in PS2 quality and the same can be said about the other entries that hang on to dying handheld consoles (PSP and PS Vita). The currently on-going 20th Anniversary year could have provided the perfect opportunity for such a venture, but instead the announcements we got were Persona Q2, Persona 5: Dancing Star Night and Persona 3: Dancing Moon Night.

While I love Persona 4: Dancing All Night and think it’s a good rhythm game, these announcements weren’t exactly what I was hoping for at this point. However, they do offer a glimpse of possible things to come.

The announcement of Persona 3: Dancing Moon Night is especially exciting, as it marks the first time that the characters of that game have been made into HD game assets. While things look a bit grim for Persona: Revelations and Persona 2: Innocent Sin / Eternal Punishment with them receiving very little love apart from being somewhat represented at the Persona 20th Anniversary event, with the existence of these assets and the rising trend in remakes of game classics, Atlus might at least be considering Persona 3 for that kind of treatment.

It also helps that Persona 5 has been so well-received everywhere in the world this past year. It sold better than any of Atlus’ games before and served as a first glimpse into the wonderful world of the Persona series for many. Considering that these new fans missed out on the earlier entries when they came out originally, there is probably a lot of interest in revisiting the classics that Atlus is sure to be aware of.

Furthermore, the restructuring of the company could be seen as a sign of remakes being on the table. The veterans who have been spearheading Persona for quite some time now have moved onto a new project called Re Fantasy and a new internal studio called Studio Zero, leaving the Persona studio in the hands of fresher meat. You could say a similar thing occurred in a smaller scale when these same key people indulged themselves in branching off to make Catherine (2011), as it was around then that Persona 4 The Golden (2012) was also in the works. And what better way to get yourself in the right mindset for Persona than brushing up earlier classics?

All of this is just speculation and wishful thinking on my part, and I am definitely going to keep the hope alive until Atlus tells me otherwise. Yes, I will also keep hoping for HD remakes of, if not Persona: Revelations, at least Persona 2: Innocent Sin and Persona 2: Eternal Punishment.