Persona 4 Golden

Persona 4 Golden
Also known as: Persona 4 The Golden (JP) Developer: Atlus Publishers: Atlus (JP/US PSVita), SCEI (TW/KR PSVita), NIS America (EU/AU PSVita), Sega (INT Windows/PS4/Xbox One/Xbox Series X/Switch) Platforms: PlayStation Vita, Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch Released internationally: June 13, 2020 (Windows), January 20, 2023 (PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch) Released in JP: June 14, 2012 Released in US: November 20, 2012 Released in EU: February 22, 2013 Released in AU: February 20, 2013 Released in KR: August 24, 2012 Released in TW: August 16, 2012 This game has unused animations. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused models. This game has unused text. This game has regional differences.

In Persona 4 Golden, Scoob Teddie and the gang gather clues and track down a serial killer in the small town of Inaba. This updated version added new Social Links, a new Dungeon, new difficulty settings, new Personas, a new Epilogue, and all sorts of other little tweaks and adjustments to the much-loved PS2 original.

The game also made a surprise rerelease on PC in 2020, and then it was eventually followed up by a rerelease to all current gen platforms in 2023, introducing the series to a new audience and allowing players to bask in those PS2-era graphics at 4k 60fps.

To do: Leftover Persona 3 scripts, more debug text, some potentially unused graphics, and some more texture oddities.

Sub-Pages

Unused Text Yo, Protag. Did you plant corny jokes? 'Cuz you got maize for DAYS.

Unused Models

A model of the Persona 3 protagonist can be found in the game still, internally named VIEW2. This is from Persona 3 Portable for the PSP, and comes with a full set of battle and dungeon animations.

A simple pyramid. There are two copies of it named light_test and editor. There's a duplicate of the editor model in a slightly different format. It features a wider base.

A generic placeholder cut-in portrait. This text is only seen upon rendering the model. There are multiple copies of this model.

A placeholder animation for Rise's cut-in portrait during an all out attack. The text that falls into place says (temp). The animation speed is estimated.

This flat model appears to resemble the pink outline used for Rise's portrait during an all out attack (seen on the right). The model is curiously placed among attack effect models.

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Unused Graphics

Placeholder & Test Graphics

A battle related graphic that says "trash".

A test HUD that reads "12/24 金 放課後", which translates to "12/24 Friday After School".

A tiny Jack Frost image used for effect-related tests.

This is a small version of Izanagi, Yu Narukami's main persona. It's used as a placeholder for persona portraits.

A small and large placeholder tarot card that says "異邦人 (仮)", or "Stranger (Temp)".

An old-style piece of Rise artwork, used in the placeholder cut-in animation seen above.

A portrait of the gas station attendant. There is a censor bar over the eyes, and "(Dummy)" written on top.

A placeholder location image for Shichiri Beach. The text reads "Shichiri Beach Rain & Fog (Temp)". The background image here is identical to the road near the Samegawa Flood Plain.

A placeholder location image for Okina City. The text reads "Okina City mostly sunny (Temp)". This background image does not match any background used in the game.

(Translations: Divingkataetheweirdo)

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Cut-In Portraits

The portraits in this section were found among some cut-in graphics for the navigator when exploring dungeons. The larger square ones may have been intended for non-dungeon scenes though, as is the case with Yukari's in Persona 3.

Two cut-in portraits for Naoto. Naoto's chin in the second portrait appears to be modified to some extent.

A similar set of portraits for Rise. The squished portrait here has some splicing going on, which is most evident on Rise's cheeks.

Unused	Final

This third portrait of Rise features a lighter hair tone and lacks a gradient on her skin. It's also vertically squished in comparison to the final portrait.

A portrait for Yukari Takeba, along with a backing visual effect. This portrait was used in Persona 3, but cropped to some extent. There are multiple copies of these images.

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Persona 3/Portable Leftovers

A full size portrait for Yukari. Comes equipped with an over-saturated blinking frame.

An image of Orpheus, the Persona 3 protagonist's main persona. This is used as a placeholder for persona portraits.

An overlay effect used for testing. The version on the right is a restoration of what the image should look like. The original image found in the game files is broken due to an unintentional LF→CRLF/CR→CRLF conversion. The image in its broken state can be found in Atlus titles as far back as Persona 3 Portable.

Cut-in portraits for the male and female protagonists from Persona 3. There are vertically and horizontally cropped versions. The female protagonist only appeared in Persona 3 Portable.

Close up cut-in portraits for various characters from Persona 3. In order, they are the female protagonist, Koromaru, Shinjiro Aragaki, Takaya Sakaki, Jin Shirato, Chidori Yoshino, Elizabeth, Theodore, and Margaret.

Some cut-in backgrounds found alongside the Persona 3 cut-in portraits.

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Miscellaneous

A portrait of the Dojima family, meant for a picture frame. This image uses a piece of Ryotaro Dojima's concept art.

A set of sideways facing glasses are hidden on the alpha channel of every Rise navigation portrait.

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Texture Oddities

Alpha	No Alpha

Portraits and a few other graphics feature a hidden layer of data where the alpha channel is set to zero. Therefore, it is only possible to see this extra data by ignoring all alpha channels (and subsequently losing transparency). Most portraits in Persona 4 Golden have a large portion at the bottom that is never seen in the game. This Yosuke portrait for example has some French text on the t-shirt that would have otherwise not been seen. The text on Yosuke's shirt appears to say "Tu voi(s) | Je suis fai(t)", which translates to "You see | I am made".

(Translations: LuigiBlood)

(Source: Puggsoy)

These two textures are used for some hologram projections in the Secret Laboratory dungeon. These are actually excerpts from a French Huffington Post article about a Japanese agricultural minister who resigned.

The entire section of text below is used in the second texture. The text in the first texture is bold:

Le premier gouvernement formé par Abe avait collectionné scandales et faux-pas, et le dirigeant conservateur de 52 ans a procédé à un remaniement, lundi dernier, pour tenter de regagner en popularité après la défaite de la coalition au pouvoir dans les élections du 29 juillet, qui ont donné à l'opposition une majorité à la Chambre haute du parlement. Le ministre, Takehiko Endo, avait avoué samedi que l'organisation qu'il avait dirigée avait illégalement touché 1,15 million de yens (9.900 dollars) de fonds publics sans en informer Abe avant sa nomination. Endo, 68 ans, qui avait rechigné à accepter ce poste marqué par de précédentes défections, a confirmé sa démission lundi lors d'une conférence de presse donnée après un entretien avec Abe, dans sa résidence officielle. Le premier ministre de l'Agriculture d'Abe s'était suicidé à cause d'une autre affaire. Le deuxième avait été limogé en raison d'allégations d'irrégularités dans ses comptes de campagne. UN ÉTAT DE GRÂCE FRAGILE Deux autres ministres du premier...

The text in the first texture translates to:

The minister, Takehiko Endo, admitted on Saturday that the organization he directed has illegally obtained 1.15 million yen (9,900 dollars) of public funds without informing Abe before his nomination. Endo, 68 years old, who begrudged his position marked with previous defections, has confirmed his resignation at a press conference after an interview with Abe, in his official residence. The prime minister of the Agriculture of Abe has committed suicide because of another case.

(Translations: LuigiBlood)

Tohru Adachi's police badge is not easily seen in-game. The texture uses a piece of Adachi's concept art for the portrait.

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Unused Events

Please elaborate. Having more detail is always a good thing.

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page. Specifically: Are these events also present in the original Vita version's files? Also, the comments of the linked video indicate that there are more unused events besides these ones.

The PC version's files include data for an evening job at Junes, events at the beach and ski resort, and renting DVDs from the video rental store at Okina. The player would've been able to watch the DVDs at home to extract a skill card from their equipped Persona, a feature that is instead handled by visiting Chagall Cafe at Okina in the final game. The DVD rental concept would later appear in Persona 5, though in that game, they're used to boost social stats rather than for skill cards.

(YouTube: pirklaser)

Regional Differences

Voice Actor Interviews

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page. Specifically: With the later PC and 8th/9th gen versions having dual audio, were these interviews restored in those versions? If not, are the unused models still found in the game data in those versions?

The Japanese and Korean versions of the game feature interviews with twelve Japanese voice actors for the main characters. These are found in the TV Listings menu and are unlocked by maxing out the Social Links with the characters. This bonus feature was not redone for the English version of the game, most likely because the English voice actors are uncredited due to union issues. As a result, this feature was cut out entirely for the localized version of the game, though the models used for the Japanese voice actors interviews remain in the game data. The models and their associated character and (actor) names can be seen below.

Yu Narukami (Daisuke Namikawa)	Yosuke Hanamura (Shotaro Morikubo)	Chie Satonaka (Yui Horie)

Yukiko Amagi (Ami Koshimizu)	Kanji Tatsumi (Tomokazu Seki)	Teddie (Kappei Yamaguchi)

Rise Kujikawa (Rie Kugimiya)	Naoto Shirogane (Romi Park)	Tohru Adachi (Mitsuaki Madono)

Ryotaro Dojima (Unsho Ishizuka)	Nanako Dojima (Akemi Kanda)	Marie (Kana Hanazawa)

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Revisional Differences

There were a few changes made for when the game was released for PC, with the changes being carried over to the following rereleases, which adds a few more with those changes being applied to the PC version.

Changes for the PC version:

• Two bonus features in the TV Listings that was in the original Vita version, being YBC and Jacktoons, have been removed completely with them having "Broadcast has ended" in their place.
• The game now runs at 4k 60fps.
• Japanese voice audio is now selectable from the main menu.
• The game more frequently asks if you would like to save your progress thus far after major story events.

Changes for the Nintendo Switch/PS4/Xbox One/Xbox Series X versions:

• More text language options have been added, which is French, Italian, Spanish, German, and Simplified Chinese.
• You can now Quick Save by going to the pause menu and going to the system setting.
• An album feature has been added which allows you to rewatch cutscenes as memories in the sofa in the bedroom.
• The 32-bit versions are no longer playable for the PC version.
• Minor bugs have been fixed.