Persona 4 Golden

Persona 4 Golden
Developer(s)	Atlus
Publisher(s)	IndexPSVPlayStation Vita (JP) Index Digital MediaPSVPlayStation Vita (NA) NIS AmericaPSVPlayStation Vita (EU) Sega of AmericaRe-release (NA) Limited Run Games (HD physical)
Genre	RPG
Platform(s)	PlayStation Vita Steam PlayStation 4 Nintendo Switch Xbox One Xbox Series X/S
Release	PlayStation Vita Japan June 14, 2012 February 5, 2015 PS Vita the Best Edition United States of America November 20, 2012 Australia February 21, 2013 Europe February 22, 2013 Hong Kong August 16, 2012 South Korea August 24, 2012 Taiwan August 16, 2012 Steam WWWorldwide June 13, 2020 Taiwan June 14, 2020 PS4, NSW, XONE, XBSX WWWorldwide January 19, 2023

Persona 4 Golden is an enhanced edition of the 2008 role-playing game Persona 4, the fifth entry in the Persona series. The "Golden" in the title comes from the three hour long period known as golden time in Japanese broadcasting and is meant to evoke the image of a late night TV program being moved to a timeslot within golden time to attract new viewers. The game was announced in August of 2011. It was developed and published by Atlus for the PlayStation Vita and released on June 14, 2012 in Japan, and subsequently on November 20 in North America that same year. In South Korea, the game released on August 24, 2012. In Australia and Europe, the game released on February 21 and 22 in 2013, respectively. On February 5, 2015, it was re-released in Japan with a price reduced PS Vita Best edition. On June 13, 2020, Persona 4 Golden was re-released worldwide for Steam. Three years later, on January 19, 2023, the game saw another worldwide release for the PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

Blurb

Japanese

“マヨナカテレビ”って知ってる?田舎町で起こった連続殺人事件と、時を同じくして流れる奇妙な噂。 ふとしたきっかけで「心の力」ペルソナ能力に目覚めた主人公。 事件の解決に乗り出した、少年少女たちの冒険が始まる!

"Mayonaka terebi" tte shitteru? Inakamachi de okotta renzoku satsujin jiken to, toki wo onajiku shite nagareru kimyōna uwasa. Futoshita kikkake de kokoro no chikara Perusona nōryoku ni mezameta shujinkō. Jiken no kaiketsu ni noridashita, shōnenshōjotachi no bōken ga hajimaru!

この町に発生した連続殺人事件をきっかけに、主人公とその友人たちが成長してゆく物語が始まります。

Kono machi ni hassei shita renzoku satsujin jiken wo kikkake ni, shujinkō to sono yūjintachi ga seichō shite yuku monogatari ga hajimarimasu.

午前0時、マヨナカテレビに誰かが映る。 "マヨナカテレビ"って知ってる？雨の夜に消えたテレビの画面を見つめていると、運命の相手が見えるんだって。 田舎町で起こった連続殺人事件と、時を同じくして流れる奇妙な噂。そして、未来を閉ざすかのように町を覆う原因不明の霧。 主人公と仲間たちは、正体不明の殺人犯の謎を追ううちに異世界への扉を開いてしまうことになる。 その扉の鍵とは、心の力… もう一人の自分。“ペルソナ”─。

Gozen reiji, mayonaka terebi ni dareka ga utsuru. "Mayonaka terebi" tte shitteru? Ame no yoru ni kieta terebi no gamen wo mitsumete iru to, unmei no aite ga mierundatte. Inakamachi de okotta renzoku satsujin jiken to, toki wo onajiku shite nagareru kimyōna uwasa. Soshite, mirai wo tozasu ka no yō ni machi wo ōu gen'in fumei no kiri. Shujinkō to nakamatachi wa, shōtai fumei no satsujinhan no nazo wo ou uchi ni isekai he no tobira wo aite shimau koto ni naru. Sono tobira no kagi to wa, kokoro no chikara... mōhitori no jibun. "Perusona"─.

English

A rumor is going around school that by looking at a TV screen at midnight on a rainy night, the face of your soul mate will be revealed. But a grisly chain of murders seem to be connected to the rumor, and you must gather a team strong enough to brave the bizarre world inside the TV to solve this mystery!

Inaba—a quiet town in rural Japan sets the scene for budding adolescence in Persona 4 Golden. A coming of age story that sets the protagonist and his friends on a journey kickstarted by a chain of serial murders. Explore meeting kindred spirits, feelings of belonging, and even confronting the darker sides of one’s self.

They say your soulmate will appear if you stare into a television set on a rainy night… This strange rumor slowly spreads through the rural town of Inaba, the protagonist’s new home, just as a chain of mysterious murders begin. As the protagonist and his teammates chase after the truth, they find themselves opening the door to another world.

Synopsis

See full plot of Persona 4...

Golden follows the same overarching plot as Persona 4: The protagonist moves to Inaba while his parents are working overseas, and tragedy befalls the small mountain city shortly after his arrival as two dead bodies are discovered. He and his new school friends learn of the existence of another world that can be entered from a TV screen and believe it to be linked to the recent deaths. Together, they awaken their Personas and form the Investigation Team to rescue future victims and catch the culprit.

See plot changes and additions in Golden...

During the protagonist's year long stay in Inaba, Golden has new events that introduce new features, such as a trip to the the beach on scooters over summer vacation, and the game depicts part of winter before the protagonist must return home. Furthermore, the protagonist meets a new character, Marie, and his interactions with her unlock new events in winter.

Gameplay Changes

The gameplay of Persona 4 Golden maintains the same gameplay loop as Persona 4, but with new and expanded activities to choose from, and new story events that depict the protagonist and his friend's lives.

Narrative

• New story scenes and animated cutscenes
• The month of January and part of February are now playable and include snowy weather, a new overworld bgm, and midwinter outfits
• New epilogue that takes place months after the true ending
• New bad ending if the player refuses to name the culprit
• New character: Marie. Her involvement depends on the player interacting with her through her Social Link.

Social Links

• New Social Links: Aeon and Jester
• Added new evening hangouts in the Central Shopping District that allow the player to gain Social Link points with school friends
• After summer, party members can be invited on scooter rides where they can learn a new skill or re-learn an old skill
• Fortunes can be drawn at Tatsuhime Shrine starting at rank 1 of the Hermit Social Link (down from rank 10)
• The Justice and Hierophant Social Links can now be maxed out in January/February if the player is unable to complete them by November

Real World and Daily Life

• Added new Books
• Reading during bad weather gives bonus Social Stats
• The protagonist can now go explore Inaba at night time
• The protagonist can enter Tatsuhime Shrine
• Tanaka's Amazing Commodities now airs three days per week
• Shiroku Store turns into Shiroku Pub at night where the protagonist can work part-time and trade jewels for equipment
  • Items previously obtained by trading fish can now be obtained at Shiroku Pub
• An Artisan Apprentice appears at Yasogami High School and can trade old weapons for new weapons
• New locations: Okina (previously unplayable) and Shichiri Beach
• Cooking no longer makes fishing bait
• Fishing has been overhauled:
  • Unlocking fishing has changed
  • Fish bait has been replaced by insects which can be caught at Tatsuhime Shrine without passing time
  • The fishing mini-game has changed
  • New fish and joke weapons can be fished up at Shichiri Beach
• School class and exam questions have been changed
• Added Gardening at the Dojima Residence and a new NPC who sells seeds
• Added new quests related to the new features and areas
• New models and dolls for the protagonist's shelf

TV World and Battles

• New dungeon: Hollow Forest
• New All-Out Attack portraits have been added and old portraits are now used for Follow-Up Attacks
• If Shadows are alive after an All-Out Attack, there is a chance for two party members to do a special combo attack
• After unlocking Scooters, party members who are not in the active party might ask to do a Follow-Up
• Rise can join in during All-Out Attacks and increase how much damage they do
• Added 3rd Personas for all party members with a unique skill for each of them
• Party members skills have been adjusted
• EXP to level has been reduced
• Shuffle Time mechanics have been simplified
• Skill Cards have been added
• New Personas of the Aeon and Jester Arcanas
• When fusing Personas, the player can now select which skills to inherit
• The Reaper can now be fought on the player's first play through
• Shadow Mitsuo's battle music has changed to a chiptune remix of "I'll Face Myself" called "Revelations: Mitsuo"
• Clothing items have been added that affect how characters look in the TV World dungeons and in battle
• On dungeon maps, floating Shadows have been removed, red and gold Shadows no longer float, and gold Shadows appear as Golden Hands

Game Functionality

• Added the TV Listing with bonus content
• Added in Network Functions:
  • Voice lets the player see what other players did on that calendar day
  • SOS helps with HP and SP regen in dungeons
• Two new difficulty levels: Very Easy and Very Hard
• New Game+ now carries over data like what equipment has been unlocked at Daidara Metalworks
• Starting with the player's first New Game+, they can change the difficulty at any time from the menu, and also further customize damage taken, damage done, EXP gain, Yen drops, and retries

Updates

Version	Release	Changes
1.05	WWWorldwide April 19, 2023	Thank you for playing Persona 4 Golden! This release is Persona 4 Golden, version 1.05. A full list of changes can be found below: Minor graphical fixes Minor text changes Fixes for inability to progress with certain choices. Fixed a bug in screen resolution settings. Fixed patches are automatically applied when the game is launched.
Remaster	WWWorldwide January 19, 2023	As you may know, Persona 4 Golden and Persona 3 Portable will be coming to modern platforms on January 19, 2023. As a part of this release, we will also be updating the existing Steam version of Persona 4 Golden. A full list of anticipated changes can be found below: Updating application from 32-bit to 64-bit. This requires the user to have a 64-bit Windows OS (Windows 8.1 or newer) to run the game. Once the game application is updated, 32-bit versions of Persona 4 Golden will no longer be playable. Save data should not be affected by this change. Additional support for the following text languages: French, Italian, Spanish, German, and Simplified Chinese New Quick Save game feature added – Feature allows you to suspend from any location in the game. Album feature added - allows you to look back on memories with your friends when you sit down in the sofa in your room. Minor bug fixes
1.1	WWWorldwide September 1, 2020	Hello Persona 4 Golden players! This release is Persona 4 Golden, version 1.1. Thank you for reporting issues and participating in our Beta releases! Your feedback and involvement are crucial. We have rolled our beta patches over to the Main Branch. This release contains previous gameplay and stability issues addressed with Hot Fix 1 to Hot Fix 3. Here is a comprehensive list of fixes made: Fixes to video quizzes Fixes to cutscene playback, including a lower playback mode for smoother play on older machines. Soft locks occurring around Personamations Random crashes reported Crashes related to removing Xbox One controllers A hang issue that occurs during Midnight Trivia Quiz Blank items in inventory causing crashes and freezes. Please note that if you are experiencing this issue, your old saves will retain the blank item, so it is suggested that you generate new saves and avoid old saves with blank items. An audio issue related the audio setting during Yosuke's Calvary Attack. A progression issue that occurs when entering Yukiko's castle. Addresses a known issue where Quest 3 could not be completed by some players. Optimized cutscene movies for better playback that was causing stuttering. When using high resolution monitors, resolved an issue where the Windows 10 resolution scaling was being applied. Fixed a freeze issue when equipping a blank item in “Equip > Clothes”. If you have a blank item in the Clothes menu, please be sure to remove it as these blank items can be still in your currently saved game data. Equipping blank items can trigger various freeze issues in other locations. Resolved a soft lock that could occur after an All-Out-Attack.
Unknown	Japan July 6, 2012	Made adjustments to help with using Network Functions during peak / congested hours Fixed bug where players had a rare chance of not being able to go into the Central Shopping District

Version Differences

2012 English Version

• Did not include Japanese audio.
• Channel 5 was removed from the TV Listing and channels 6-9 were renumbered so they became 5-8.

2020 Steam Version

• TV Listing:
  • Similar to the English version, channel 5 was removed entirely from all languages and channels 6-9 were renumbered so they became 5-8.
  • The programs on channels 1 and 8 were removed and they now say "Broadcast has ended".
• Added dual audio support.
• Added Japanese, Korean, and Traditional Chinese language options for the game's UI.
• In the Japanese script, references to the real world products Ototo and Potelong were changed to Suisui Snack and Furaimo Potato. The audio lines where the names are spoken were also removed and these lines no longer have voice acting.

2023 Remastered

• The protagonist's name defaults to Yu Narukami when changing languages.
• Added new language options for the game's UI (French, Italian, Spanish, German, and Simplified Chinese).
• The option to change difficulty at any time and customize the difficulty is now available from the start instead of New Game+.
• Added the Social Link Album to rewatch previously unlocked rank up cutscenes from the protagonist's sofa.
• Added the ability to make Quick Saves from any location in the game without using the butterfly save point.
• The 2020 Steam Version of Golden was updated into the 2023 Remastered version. Users who had previously purchased the Steam version received the update for free. This update also changed the game into a 64-bit application.

Promotions

Purchase Bonuses (JP)

In Japan, all purchases of the game came with a PS Vita screen protector while supplies last. Customers who bought a Vita and P4G together would receive a bonus Teddie shopper bag, also while supplies last.

Additionally, multiple stores offered bonus merchandise as incentives for purchasing P4G from that store. Four of the bonuses featured original artwork by Madhouse, the animation studio that animated the opening, drawn specifically for the bonuses.

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  PS Vita screen protector bonus

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  PS Vita shopper bag bonus

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  Inside of the shopper bag

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  Passcase from Amiami

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  Notebook and bookmark from Animate

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  Notebook and bookmark from Animate

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  Clear file from Enterking

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  Telephone card from Fammys

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  A3 size tapestry from Gamers

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  Clear file from Geo

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  Phone cleaner from HMV and Lawson

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  Telephone card from MMK

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  Telephone card from Sofmap

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  Prints and badges from Stella Worth

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  Bookstore gift card from Imagine (Art by Madhouse)

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  Print from Medialand (Art by Madhouse)

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  Telephone card from Trader (Art by Madhouse)

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  Keyboard cover from WonderGoo (Art by Madhouse)

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  Deskmat from Neowing

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  Set of 3 prints from COMG!

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  Prepaid card from Seagull

Famitsu DX Pack (JP)

The Famitsu DX Pack version was sold in Japan for ¥10,780 and came with the game, a set of 6 posters (5 of which use exclusive art), a pouch, and a set of postcards.

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  Set of 6 clear posters, A3 size

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  Cover art poster

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  Skiing trip poster by Studio Hibari (cutscene animators)

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  Protagonist, Naoto and Kanji poster by Madhouse (opening animators)

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  Chie, Yukiko and Marie poster by Hiroyuki Maeda (Famitsu Weekly cover illustrator)

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  Investigation Team and Marie poster by Shigenori Soejima

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  Chie, Yukiko, and Rise poster by Shuji Sogabe (P3/P4 manga artist and author)

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  A multi purpose pouch styled after Marie's bag

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  Set of 10 postcards

Solid Gold Premium Edition (NA)

The Solid Gold Premium Edition of P4G was sold in America, limited to 10k copies. It came with protective PS Vita accessories made by Hori and a sticker sheet of the new All-Out Attack artwork.

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  Solid Gold Premium Edition

Digital Deluxe (WW)

The Steam version includes a Digital Deluxe upgrade with a digital artbook and digital soundtrack.

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  Digital Deluxe

Limited Run Games Collection (NA)

Limited Run Gaming produced a physical copy of the 2023 Remastered version of Golden for PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, or Xbox. Customers could buy the game by itself for $34.99, or a special Grimoire Book Box modeled after Margaret's book for $69.99, or the Midnight Channel Edition which included the Grimoire Box plus other physical merchandise for $199.99. Items were available for pre-order during 2023, with the Midnight Channel edition shipping in early 2025.

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  Grimoire Book Box

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  Midnight Channel Edition

Development

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• Golden originally began as a PlayStation Portable game, but Atlus did not like the map they made for Persona 3 Portable, and development moved to the PlayStation Vita instead.
• Very Easy Mode was added so that new players who were introduced to Persona 4 through Persona 4 The Animation could play despite not being familiar with RPGs while Very Hard was added for veteran players.
• Costume ideas included a Shadow version for each character that would turn their eyes yellow and police officer uniforms. The developers felt that neither was particularly interesting and both concepts were scrapped.
• One of the scrapped ideas for the TV Listing was a program called "Complicated Inabas" where Aigis and Mitsuru Kirijo would be shown visiting Inaba and complaining about how little there is to do. This was a parody of the TV Tokyo show "Complicated Summers 2" where two comedians from the group called Summers and a TV Tokyo host would visit small areas and interview the locals. Though a lot of time was spent on it, the program was ultimately dropped because it was not very fun.
• Katsura Hashino wrote the new June story event, "Operation Up Close and Personal", where the protagonist, Yosuke, and Kanji try to pick up girls in Okina.

Localization

• The game title was changed from Persona 4 The Golden to Persona 4 Golden for the English localization to make it more grammatical and to match how the title Persona 4 Arena was localized.

Trivia

• The dialogue font for the Japanese version of the game is Skip B by Fontworks.
• The "CH-870" that is partially visible on the Velvet Room's license plate on the game cover is a reference to the address of the Carl Jung museum in Switzerland (Seestrasse 228 CH-8700 Küsnacht).

Nomenclature

Names in Other Languages

Language	Name	Meaning
English	Persona 4 Golden
Japanese	ペルソナ4 ザ・ゴールデン Perusona 4 Za Gōruden	Persona 4 The Golden
	ペルソナ4 ザ・ゴールデン リマスター版2023 Re-release Perusona 4 Za Gōruden Rimasutā-ban	Persona 4 The Golden Remaster Edition
Simplified Chinese	女神异闻录４ 黄金版 Nǚshén Yìwénlù 4 Huángjīn Bǎn	Alternate Goddess Tale 4 Gold Version
Traditional Chinese	女神異聞錄４ 黃金版 Nǚshén Yìwénlù 4 Huángjīn Bǎn	Alternate Goddess Tale 4 Gold Version
Korean	페르소나4 더 골든 Pereusona 4 Deo Goldeun	Persona 4 The Golden

Gallery

See Gallery

External Links

• Old Website (Japanese)
• New Website (Japanese)
• Remastered Website (English and FIGS)