This week’s issues of Weekly Famitsu magazine #1497 and Dengeki PlayStation Vol. 644 include the first magazine features for Persona 3: Dancing Moon Night, as well as Persona 5: Dancing Star Night.

There are interviews with the Atlus development team within them, which include initial details for the games and their development. Previous leaks can be found here.

Famitsu Interview

The Famitsu feature includes an interview with Atlus producer Kazuhisa Wada:

Development

After the positive reception to Persona 4: Dancing All Night, even with songs released months after the game’s launch, the team was encouraged to make a Persona 3 “Sound Action” game. But the development team was in the midst of developing Persona 5 at the time, so they wanted to get ready for people who enjoyed “Persona 5” to enjoy a “Sound Action” title as well. Because of that, they decided to release two games at the same time.

Using the know-how they developed by working on the previous title, they can use that experience to hone elements such as character visuals, dance choreography, etc. The Persona 3 models accurately reflect the illustrations for the first time in Persona 3: Dancing Moon Night, which will give it a fresh feeling just with that.

Aesthetics

While staying true to the character’s appearances in Persona 3, they will have features including unexpected acrobatic movements. Similarly, for Persona 5: Dancing Star Night, the dance choreography has been examined carefully with the motion actors who performed at rehearsals and recorded motion captures, adding to the dance quality more than in the previous title.

Characters, Songs & Replacement for Story Mode

Besides the details introduced this time, new characters will be revealed on after the other as with the previous title. There will be various features, such as remixes of songs by notable composers and completely new songs.

It will be explained further in a subsequent update, but there will be a new mode replacing story mode. This element will focus on the characters interacting with each other.

Dengeki PlayStation Interview

The Dengeki PlayStation feature includes a special interview from Kazuhisa Wada (producer) and Ryota Kozuka (composer):

Development

Kazuhisa Wada was originally going to be the producer and director of both titles, as with Persona 4: Dancing All Night, however the direction of the game was eventually taken over by another person (Nobuyoshi Miwa), and now Wada is concentrating on his role as a producer.

Ryota Kozuka’s role will be the same as with the previous game, which is to mean anything revolving around sound. New additions are being made such as with opening songs, new background music, remixes, and sound effects.

Wada felt the love fans had for the characters in P4D, and wants to similarly deepen that love with P3D and P5D.

Improvements from P4D

In P4D, the costumes and dance pairings gave a sense of who the characters were, and Wada states that they are going further to convey their personalities with the new games with elements like improved dance choreography.

As a response to Dengeki PlayStation stating that the Persona 3 models came out looking very good, Wada says that it’s the first time that the head and bodies of the Persona 3 models are accurately represented, which is a big deal.

Wada states that, the main difference for the PS4 version is that it will be in 60 frames per second, which causes quite a different impression compared to the Vita version. In general, the visuals have improved a lot compared to in Persona 4: Dancing All Night.

The gameplay systems follow the ones in P4D, with Wada saying that they’ve added and removed various elements.

Aesthetics & Story

Kozuka states that, with the “Persona 3” sound having been established with theatrical animations and stage plays, the theme song reflects that while doing something new. Meanwhile, “Persona 5” as a series has only just begun, so the freedom to create its theme song was greater.

While Wada wants to increase the appreciation for the characters through the new Persona dancing titles, Kozuka says that the games these titles are derived from have serious stories—which will be expanded on in these rhythm games—but he also wants to put powerful and colorful elements that you can’t have in the RPGs. He feels this will broaden the range of the Persona series.

All of the Atlus Sound Team are participating in remixes for the rhythm games, as well as a variety of notable artists for remixes.

Persona 3: Dancing Moon Night and Persona 5: Dancing Star Night will be released in Japan for the PS Vita and PS4 in spring 2018.