My daughter and I have been gaming buddies since she was 5 and her first foray was with Super Mario Galaxy.



Since that time, she has grown and matured and her gaming has gone along with it. She has since played many titles with me cooperatively from Japanese RPG titles like the Tales series (Xillia, Xillia 2, Symphonia, and Graces f) to the psychotically humorous Borderlands/Borderlands 2/Borderlands Pre-Sequel.



Part of our Japanese RPG library includes Persona 4: Golden on the Vita. Both of us loved Persona 4: Golden and I myself had spent nearly 90 hours on my first playthrough. We loved it so much that we even bought the anime series which, if you haven't explored it yet, comes highly recommended.



If you're here, chances are that you've played Persona 4. If you haven't, do yourself the favor of picking it up for $19.99 (or less) here or elsewhere. It's a fantastic story and will certainly help set the stage for this outing.



Persona 4: Dancing All Night takes place shortly after the events in Persona 4 Golden. Rise is back pursuing her idol career in dancing. Things take a turn for the sinister, however, as the Mayonaka Stage makes its appearance as a replacement for the Midnight Channel. Other idol hopefuls are imprisoned within the Shadow World and it's up to the investigation team again to come rescue them. The catch: their personas are now powerless and they are forced to dance in order to defeat them!



The premise seems silly on paper...and of course it is. But it's a rhythm-based game and it marks the first time that the Persona series has dipped its toes in those waters. In practice, it's fun. It doesn't seem hard at first as the "runway" of dance moves to follow are mapped to the d-pad and PS buttons on the side. But some of the dual combinations can get tricky in a hurry and can vary from taps to holds leading to a fairly challenging rhythm game. It gets even more challenging as the analog sticks get used for "record scratches" for every complete circle that hits the rhythm perimeter, which can occasionally carry a "fever" heading for additional scoring opportunities.



Persona games tend to be story-heavy and this one is no exception. Those who enjoyed the voice acting (sadly, Rise's Laura Bailey was unable to reprise her role) and the story of Persona 4 Golden will enjoy the banter and dialog in this title.



Overall, it's a welcome return to the Investigation Team and it's good to see them again. The end of Persona 4 Golden was one certainly tinged with a great deal of sadness and seeing these characters again is like meeting up with old friends. My daughter and I love are loving it...dance on!



On a separate note - another reviewer noted that it's worth wearing headphones. I'll echo that here...get yourself a GOOD set of headphones. The music is AMAZING and the Vita speakers just don't do it justice.



Collector's Edition Notes

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The collector's edition comes with:



- 14 DLC costumes plus an extra song (downloadable from the PS store using the included code)

- 2 CDs of the soundtrack...and not just partial soundtracks either. There are 24 tracks on Disc 1 and 39 tracks on Disc 2. This alone made the collector's edition worth it to me.

- Vita skin (WARNING - the included skin is meant for the newer Vita model that's out there...if you have the old OLED version, it'll still fit, but it pokes out a bit on near where the bottom 2 holes are on this model and a little bit on top). 10 downloadable wallpapers are available to tie into the skin's theme.

- Teddie keychain. It's gold in color and surprisingly heavy.

- 2-sided carrying pouch. The pouch is glossy and very colorful on one side. On the other side, it's black but features an embossed Persona Dancing All Night logo on the back. The pouch also is separated into two compartments on the inside. If you have the hard carrying case for the Vita, it won't fit in there. However, the Vita fits in the pouch itself just fine.



Overall, I think that the additional $30 for the collector's edition was well worth the goodies included for the price. I particularly enjoy the remixes of familiar favorites from Persona 4 Golden and I have been listening to it at work.



Two enthusiastic thumbs up from my daughter and me!