History Trivia / Persona4

** Other candidates for the killer were either Yukiko or Yosuke, but their motivations (for the sake of self-pleasure) were considered too weak and cliche. Not only that, but had they gone with that, it would have created a huge plot hole during their respective Shadow encounters since you'd figure committing murder would be a much bigger skeleton in the closet than personal insecurity or the desire to be free from family tradition, not to mention that only Persona users can enter the TV or push people inside(if you try to select either one as the culprit, the narrator will inform you that they didn't awaken to their Personas until after the first two murders). However, Atlus would revisit this idea in ''VideoGame/Persona5'' [[spoiler:with Akechi being the traitor to the Phantom Thieves and one of the game's main villains]]. The final one in mind was Dojima himself, but the writers felt it would be too dark to have Dojima being the killer, and decided against it.

** Other candidates for the killer were either Yukiko or Yosuke, but their motivations (for the sake of self-pleasure) were considered too weak and cliche. Not only that, but had they gone with that, it would have created a huge plot hole during their respective Shadow encounters since you'd figure committing murder would be a much bigger skeleton in the closet than personal insecurity or the desire to be free from family tradition. However, Atlus would revisit this idea in ''VideoGame/Persona5'' [[spoiler:with Akechi being the traitor to the Phantom Thieves and one of the game's main villains]]. The final one in mind was Dojima himself, but the writers felt it would be too dark to have Dojima being the killer, and decided against it.

* ColbertBump: Golden getting released on Steam and debuting at number 1 on the Steam sale charts has, much like when a beloved series arrives on Netflix, provided a way for people curious to play the game without having to [[CrackIsCheaper shill out for]] two long outdated consoles.

** Adachi: Cabbage Adachi (from his cabbage dialogue at Junes), [[TheKlutz Goofydachi]] (as a ButtMonkey), [[spoiler:[[AxCrazy Crazydachi]] (post-[[TheReveal Reveal]])]]. The latter two are from a defunct Website/LiveJournal community, [[http://badbadbathhouse.livejournal.com/ badbadbathhouse]].

** [[Characters/Persona4NaotoShirogane Naoto Shirogane]]

** Originally, Teddy's human form was supposed to be a girl, with his gender changing depending on whether he was in or out of the TV world. However, when the decision was made to make Naoto a girl (originally, she was supposed to be an effeminate boy), the team decided that two gender-based surprises in one story was a bit too much, and scrapped the idea.

** Other candidates for the killer were either Yukiko or Yosuke, but their motivations (for the sake of self-pleasure) were considered too weak and cliche. Not only that, but had they gone with that, it would have created a huge plot hole during their respective Shadow encounters since you'd figure committing murder would be a much bigger skeleton in the closet than personal insecurity or the desire to be free from family tradition. However, Atlus would revisit this idea in ''VideoGame/Persona5'' [[spoiler:with Akechi being the traitor to the Phantom Thieves and one of the game's main villains.]]

** In the English version, Yu Narukami and Yosuke Hanamura are voiced by Creator/JohnnyYongBosch and Creator/YuriLowenthal. They've also voiced Lelouch Vi Britannia and Suzaku Kururugi in ''Anime/CodeGeass'', who are also depicted as best friends.

*** [[Characters/Persona4YuNarukami Yu Narukami]]
*** [[Characters/Persona4TohruAdachi The Killer]] '''(Identity a spoiler)'''

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: Released in 2008 and taking place [[NextSundayAD in 2011]] Japan, ''Persona 4'' is a rare example of a JRPG in an entirely modern setting, can sometimes fall into this:

* BreakthroughHit: For the ''Persona'' series, up to (and including) ''4'', the western releases all carried the ''Shin Megami Tensei'' name. The success of ''Persona 4'' prompted ATLUS USA to drop the ''SMT'' branding with ''Golden'' & ''Arena'', with the next main installment simply called ''VideoGame/Persona5''.

** Unused text strings suggest that there would have been consequences for [[YourCheatingHeart dating multiple girls]], and that all of the girls' Social Links could break or reverse, possibly as a result of this. In ''Golden'', the girls will passive-aggressively call the protagonist out on cheating on Valentine's Day if he has been, but nothing ever comes of it.

** Both [[Creator/YuiHorie Chie]] and [[Creator/TomokazuSeki Kanji]] are [[Manga/FruitsBasket Tohru Honda and Kyou Souma]], respectively.

* NoBudget: Creator/{{ATLUS}} was going through severe financial trouble during development and this shows quite a bit if one digs through the data, as the game was essentially built on top of ''VideoGame/Persona3'' in a way that is more or less akin to a fanmade hack, with much of the data assets remaining buried in the code in a way that was most likely not test data. This is testament that, despite the lack of money, the game was still financially and critically successful, though this did not prevent Creator/{{ATLUS}} from going bankrupt a few months after release and subsequently bought out.

* KillerApp: ''[[UpdatedRerelease Golden]]'' has become this, significantly boosting sales of the lagging [[UsefulNotes/PlayStationVita Vita]]. It's gotten to the point that many consider it the only reason to own one.

* RoleReprisal: It's complicated:
** Creator/JohnnyYongBosch, Creator/YuriLowenthal, Creator/AmandaWinnLee, Creator/KarenStrassman, and Creator/JBBlanc are the only actors who got to keep their roles (Yu, Yosuke, Yukiko, Nanako, and Dojima respectively) across all adaptations and spinoffs (barring installments that [[NoDubForYou were never dubbed]] or that didn't feature their particular role; e.g. the dancing and fighting games don't feature Dojima, so Creator/JBBlanc didn't reprise the role).
** Creator/LauraBailey got to voice Rise in every installment sans ''[[VideoGame/Persona4DancingAllNight Dancing All Night]]'', where she was voiced by Creator/AshlyBurch.
** Creator/DanWoren reprised his role as Igor in all installments up to ''[[VideoGame/Persona4ArenaUltimax Arena Ultimax]]'', where he was replaced with Creator/VicMignogna, and [[VideoGame/Persona5 later]] Creator/KirkThornton (although, the [[VideoGame/Persona4Arena first fighting game]] merely featured reused voice lines for Igor's dialouge).
** Creator/AnnaGraves voiced Naoto in every installment until [[Anime/Persona4TheAnimation the first anime]], where she was replaced by Creator/MaryElizabethMcGlynn, who herself was subsequently replaced with Valerie Arem.
** Creator/TroyBaker voiced Kanji for ''most'' installments, being replaced with Matthew Mercer for roughly half of the anime, all of the new dialouge in ''Golden'', and every installment thereafter.

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** Margaret didn't exist initially, Elizabeth from ''VideoGame/Persona3'' was intended to return as the Velvet Room assistant. They decided to make a new assistant so as not to de-value ''Persona 3'''s stand-alone storyline. ** Other candidates for the killer were either Yukiko or Yosuke, but their motivations (for the sake of self-pleasure) were considered too weak and cliche. Not only that, but had they gone with that, it would have created a huge plot hole during their respective Shadow encounters since you'd figure committing murder would be a much bigger skeleton in the closet than personal insecurity or the desire to be free from family tradition. However, Atlus would revisit this idea in ''VideoGame/Persona5'' [[spoiler:with Akechi being the traitor to the Phantom Thieves and one of the game's main villains.]]

** Margaret didn't exist initially, Elizabeth from ''VideoGame/Persona3'' was intended to return as the Velvet Room assistant. They decided to make a new assistant so as not to de-value ''Persona 3'''s stand-alone storyline.
** One of the biggest changes is who the murderer really was. It would have been none other than ''Dojima,'' with [[spoiler:Adachi]] serving as the RedHerring instead. It was changed after the ending was shown to a focus group and the feedback was that the twist of Yu living with the killer all year was too dark for the type of game ''Persona 4'' was. It can be assumed that the change was made pretty late in development, since it explains Dojima's knee-jerk reaction to receiving a threatening letter from the killer.
** Other candidates for the killer were either Yukiko or Yosuke, but their motivations (for the sake of self-pleasure) were considered too weak and cliche. Not only that, but had they gone with that, it would have created a huge plot hole during their respective Shadow encounters since you'd figure committing murder would be a much bigger skeleton in the closet than personal insecurity or the desire to be free from family tradition. However, Atlus would revisit this idea in ''VideoGame/Persona5'' [[spoiler:with Akechi being the traitor to the Phantom Thieves and one of the game's main villains.]]

** One of the biggest changes is who the murderer really was. It would have been none other than ''Dojima,'' with [[spoiler:Adachi]] serving as the RedHerring instead. It was changed after the ending was shown to a focus group and the feedback was that the twist of Yu living with the killer all year was too dark for the type of game ''Persona 4'' was. It can be assumed that the change was made pretty late in development, since it explains Dojima's knee-jerk reaction to receiving a threatening letter from the killer. They also toyed with Yukiko or Yosuke being the killer, but their motivations (for the sake of self-pleasure) were considered too weak and cliche. However, Atlus would revisit this idea in ''VideoGame/Persona5'' [[spoiler:with Akechi being the traitor to the Phantom Thieves and one of the game's main villains.]]

* TheOtherDarrin: In, ''[[UpdatedRerelease Golden]]'', Chie is voiced by Creator/ErinFitzgerald in place of Tracy Rooney, and Teddie is voiced by Creator/SamRiegel instead of Creator/DaveWittenberg.

* TheOtherDarrin: ''[[UpdatedRerelease Golden]]'' saw multiple voice actors being replaced.
** Tracy Rooney was replaced as Chie by Creator/ErinFitzgerald in ''[[UpdatedRerelease Golden]]'', who voiced her in ''[[Anime/Persona4TheAnimation The Animation]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/Persona4Arena Arena]]''.
** Creator/SamRiegel replaced Creator/DaveWittenberg as Teddie after voicing him in ''The Animation'' and ''Arena''.