History VideoGame / Persona2

* OpenSecret: ''Everyone'' knows that Club Zodiac is a front for the Taiwanese Yakuza, to the point that some [=NPCs=] are wondering why the police has never investigated the place. Some of the high-school patrons even admit that they know who really owns the place but don't care as long as they get to dance.

* RegeneratingMana: Walking around restores SP.

* RunningOverThePlot: Like ''IS'', in ''EP'', Anna Yoshizaka was once again the victim of a hit-and-run that resulted in her CareerEndingInjury. However, this time, the suspect is murdered by the JOKER, which triggers the events of the game as it's the investigation behind the murder that brings ''EP'''s party together, and induces a boss fight with the one who ordered it.
* SchoolNewspaperNewsHound: Chika "Chikarin" Ueda is a reporter for Sevens' school newspaper. She operates out of Peace Diner as a rumormonger. In the American version of ''Eternal Punishment'', Chikarin makes a habit of saying "[[{{Catchphrase}} Roger-dodger!"]].

* TokenMinority: The Caucasian Lisa Silverman from ''Innocent Sin,'' raised in Japan her entire life by her Japanophile parents. She's the only non-Japanese playable character in the series to date, discounting non-human characters like [[RobotGirl robot girls]] [[{{VideoGame/Persona 3}} Aigis]] and [[VideoGame/Persona4Arena Labrys]] (and both were created in a Japanese lab), and the [[spoiler:sentient Shadow]] [[{{VideoGame/Persona 4}} Teddie]] (and his ''own'' Persona is lifted from Japanese myths). Even [[{{VideoGame/Persona 5}} Ann Takamaki]], despite looking Caucasian, is still 3/4-Japanese, 1/4-American. Sumaru City in general also has a large array of foreigners, which the original game and its sequels mostly lack.

* TheTriadsAndTheTongs: The Taiwanese mafia is prominent in ''Eternal Punishment''.

* TheUnintelligible: Either of the Cthulhu mythos monsters in either games. They're humorous though to see the dialogue that stems from them.
* UnreliableNarrator: In ''Innocent Sin'', Katsuya acts more strict, as it's told from Tatsuya's point of view. However; he doesn't ''quite'' act the same in ''Eternal Punishment'', [[SympatheticPOV where the story is told from Maya's point of view]].

* BonusBoss:
** Two from the Climax Theater sidequest in the PSP version. [[spoiler:[[Myth/GreekMythology Persephone]] and [[LightIsNotGood the angel Kushiel]].]]
** [[spoiler:Philemon himself]] in ''Eternal Punishment''.
** ''Tatsuya's Scenario'' has several new bosses, such as {{Eldritch Abomination}}s straight out of the Literature/CthulhuMythos, additional fights against already-existing bosses, and ''other'' bosses that do not fit the former criteria (like Wendigo). All in all, the Scenario adds ''seventeen extra bosses''.

* BraggingRightsReward: The OneHitKill Fusion, Armageddon, pwns literally everything -- even the final boss (but not [[spoiler:Philemon]], though; he repels it). Trouble is, you need to summon both Lucifer and Satan to cast it, and can obtain only ''one'' per NewGamePlus. Which basically boils down to (you guessed it) HundredPercentCompletion. The only situtation which would ''possibly'' call for Armageddon would be the BonusBoss fight versus [[spoiler:Philemon]] -- who purposely deflects that spell.

''Innocent Sin'' was [[UpdatedRerelease remade]] for the UsefulNotes/PlayStationPortable with widescreen support, new art, enhanced demon negotiations, and the option to pick between the original soundtrack and a remastered version. It also slightly censored the more overt Nazi imagery at the end of the game. This version of the game was released in North America in September of 2011 and in Europe in November 2011, published by Ghostlight. [[http://www.siliconera.com/2012/02/28/persona-2-eternal-punishment-coming-to-psp-with-new-scenario/ It was confirmed that Eternal Punishment would also be remade and was released in May 2012 with an extra scenario]], but alas, it was not released outside of Japan. Thankfully, the original [=PlayStation=] version was re-released around the same time [[http://us.playstation.com/games/persona-2-eternal-punishment-ps3-psp.html on PlayStation Network]], available in all regions. The original localization was later significantly polished by a fan group to be more consistent with current Atlus localization practices, including removing the Revelationsisms[[note]]while the original ''Eternal Punishment'' was '''far''' more faithful to the Japanese version than ''[[{{Macekre}} Revelations: Persona]]'' was, it was forced to retain {{Dub Name Change}}s and other altered terminology originating from ''Revelations'' for consistency's sake[[/note]] and altering ''Innocent Sin'' flashbacks to reflect the PSP script, and [[https://github.com/sayucchin/P2-EP-PSP/ ported to the PSP remake]] alongside a fan translation of the extra scenario. To avoid players having to play the Japanese version of ''Innocent Sin'' for the OldSaveBonus, this patch allows the player to choose their save from either the US or EU version, depending on the ROM's region or, in the case of hacked [=PSPs=] and PS Vitas with the official PS Store release installed, your PS Store region; the region choice is done through the options menu, and defaults to US.

* ConsoleCameo: In ''Eternal Punishment'' you can go to Maya's apartment where she has a UsefulNotes/PlayStation hooked up to her TV.

* GoWaitOutside: {{Averted}} with the sweepstakes magazines. After handing them over to the friendly NPC who will fill them out and mail them in for you, you have to go kill some time in a dungeon before any prizes will arrive.

* TotallyNotACriminalFront: Club Zodiac is either a front for the Taiwanese mob or the Masked Circle.

* LegitimateBusinessmensSocialClub: Club Zodiac is either a front for the Taiwanese mob or the Masked Circle.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* PowerUpFood: Along with a handful of regular items to restore HP et al with, there are a variety of restaurants you can visit to buy things like ice cream, sushi, burgers, coffee, and ramen, all of which increase stats.

* GameGourmet: Along with a handful of regular items to restore HP et al with, there are a variety of restaurants you can visit to buy things like ice cream, sushi, burgers, coffee, and ramen, all of which increase stats.

* AluminumChristmasTrees: The urban legends peddled by Kashihara-sensei and Ideal-sensei are taken from real conspiracy theorists, mostly Ernst Zündel (made "famous" at the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faurisson_affair Faurisson trial]]), who claimed that Hitler fled to Antarctica and has been sending out swaths of [=UFOs=] for decades. In fact, pretty much all of the conspiracies in ''Innocent Sin'' have been promoted by Zündel at one time or another. (Overlaps with PoesLaw.)
** All the rumour demons are taken from Japanese [[UrbanLegend urban legends]].

* WeaponOfChoice

* SequelDifficultySpike: ''Innocent Sin'' is a generally very easy game. The Personas given as the story progresses are enough to carry the player for basically the entire game, and only a handful of bosses are particularly challenging. ''Eternal Punishment'' is the polar opposite, and this becomes apparent at about the fourth boss.

* PuttingOnTheReich: The NWO salute ("LET'S THINK POSITIVE!") is a sieg heil, mirroring the Nazis on The Other Side.

* FiveManBand: Lampshaded in ''Innocent Sin'' in that its characters do, in fact, comprise a rock band (Jun even plays synth). Note also that both of the "Big Guy" powerhouses are [[CuteBruiser female]]. It fits better in ''Innocent Sin'', because [[spoiler:of the Masked Circle.]]
** TheHero: Tatsuya. He shares this role with Maya in the sequel.
** TheLancer: Eikichi in ''IS'', Baofu in ''EP''.
** TheSmartGuy: Jun & Katsuya.
** TheBigGuy: Lisa and Ulala are ''supposed'' to be this in-universe as they both fight with GoodOldFisticuffs. However, gameplay-wise Eikichi and Katsuya fit this role better due to their massive Strength stats and neglecting magic.
** TheChick: Maya in ''IS''. She is promoted to TheHero in ''EP''.
** SixthRanger: Jun in ''IS''.

** ILoveNuclearPower: Tatsuya (Apollo), Katsuya (Hyperion) and Yukino.

* ZombieMotifs: The game runs on WesternZodiac symbolism, but it's most prominent with the [[ApocalypseCult Masked Circle]]. The four highest executives -- other than their leader Joker -- are called King Leo, Queen Aquarius, Lady Scorpio and Prince Taurus. Other than Queen Aquarius who is TheUnfought, they all have ElementalPowers based on their Zodiac signs -- for example, King Leo has fire powers. Later it's revealed that [[spoiler:Joker specifically created this team as counterparts to the protagonists, who they themselves belong to those four Zodiac signs and have the same elemental powers, as they are his old friend group (he himself is Aquarius). In addition, these four are the fixed Zodiac signs, which comes into play to fulfill the Prophecy of Maya]].

* AllThereInTheManual: The game designers have published at least 75% of all that's known about the characters' backstories, personal habits, and just about [[UpToEleven any manner of things fans could possibly want to know]] ''outside'' of the game itself. It's pretty impressive.

* SignatureMove: UpToEleven. ''Everyone'' appears to have a signature attack in this game, combined with CallingYourAttacks.

** Rosa Candida is run by twin sisters with matching [[BlindingBangs haircuts]]. One is a PaletteSwap of the other, which is more than can be said of the Satomis.

[[SimilarlyNamedWorks Not to be confused with]] the game called ''VideoGame/SinAndPunishment''.