Persona fans have never had it better than they have recently. First, we saw Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden hit Xbox and Nintendo for the first time, as well as be re-released for those on PlayStation 4 and 5. We have Persona 5 Tactica out this November and we have two releases of Persona 3 coming, Persona 3 Reload is a remake and will be released in February. Persona 3 Portable, the same game that was released digitally earlier in 2023 will be released in physical form by Limited Run Games, it is currently up for pre-order which lasts until the end of October. It is worth noting that in November Limited Run Games will also be putting up a physical edition of Persona 4 Golden!
Persona 3 is an awesome RPG that was first released on the PlayStation 2 all the way back in 2006, with Persona 3 FES being released the following year. These games would not hit the West until 2007 and 2008 respectively so they were very late releases in the PS2’s life. Persona 3 Portable was released for the PSP in Japan in 2009 and in the rest of the world over the next two years. The story about a group of high schoolers who are part of the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad (S.E.E.S) who are trying to figure out The Dark Hour is truly entertaining and thrilling stuff. Even to this day, many people feel that Persona 3 has the best story, hence why so many fans are thrilled it is getting two collector’s editions!
Anyway, both Persona 3 Reload and Persona 3 Portable have two epic physical collector’s editions and I want to take a look at them both today and decide which one is best.
Persona 3 Reload Aigis Edition
There are a few different versions of Persona 3 Reload that you can buy, but it is the Persona 3 Reload Aigis Edition that I want to talk about. This is priced at $199,99/£170 and you can still find a few retailers offering it. With this, the main thing you get is a 6.5-inch figure of Aigis, but you also get a 2 disc soundtrack and a physical art book so it is stacked if you are a physical game collector.
It also comes with a bunch of digital content too. I feel that the asking price for this is not bad at all, a 2 disc CD soundtrack and a high quality artbook like this would not be cheap on their own! The figure of Aigis is cool as well and it even comes in a collectible box. I managed to snag this on Amazon the moment they put it up for pre-order and they listed it at £152 before raising it to £170 later that day!
Persona 3 Portable Physical Edition S.E.E.S Edition
The only way to get the Persona 3 Portable S.E.E.S Edition is through Limited Run games and it is priced at the rather hefty $299,99, but to be fair, I do not feel that the price is completely out of line. They do have a regular version and another less expensive special edition as well. However, I think that the awesome Evoker Replica Shadowbox that you get with this would look amazing in anyone’s Persona collection.
It also comes with another shadowbox, a physical soundtrack, a Soundtrack, trading cards, and more are included. The full contents are, a Grimoire Book collector’s box, a set of character trading cards, a patch, and an S.E.E.S armband and each one will come with a certificate of authenticity that will be numbered.
While I am more excited to play Persona 3 Reload over Persona 3 Portable as I have already played through that game multiple times, I have to say I think that the S.E.E.S Edition is the cooler out of the two. I just hate how Sega put the Persona 3 Reload Aigis Edition up for pre-order and then a few weeks later the S.E.E.S Edition was put up for pre-order. They were a little bit too close together for me and I am sure many Persona fans that would have loved to have purchased both had to choose between one or the other! Have you pre-ordered any of these? If so I would love to know which one you picked and why.