$200 Persona 3 Portable edition comes with the gun

The recent Persona 3 Portable remaster, previously only available digitally, is getting a series of physical editions, including a $200 that comes with the gun. Yes, that gun.

Limited Run Games, a boutique publisher specializing in physical disc releases for games that are otherwise only available as downloads, has just revealed its versions of Persona 3 Portable for Switch, PS4, and Xbox platforms. The $35 standard edition comes with just the game, while the $70 Grimoire Edition comes with a SteelBook case and a fancy grimoire-shaped box.

But it's the $200 SEES edition that I really want to talk about. There are a bunch of additional tchotchkes here, including a certificate of authenticity, character shadowbox, soundtrack CD, SEES armband, and a bunch of character trading cards. But the highlight is undoubtedly the light-up "1:1 Evoker replica shadowbox."

If you're unfamiliar with Persona 3, you might be wondering why a small box with a fake gun inside is so notable. As with the rest of the series, the powers of Persona 3's protagonists come courtesy of spirits called Personas, and their appearances are stylized in various ways depending on the theme of that particular entry in the series.

In Persona 3, characters activate their Personas by taking an Evoker - that's the gun - pointing it at their own forehead, and pulling the trigger. Yeah, that imagery raised a whole lot of eyebrows back around the game's original release, and it's still pretty harsh these days, but it's also arguably the most iconic, memorable part of Persona 3. I'm in a bit of disbelief that LRG actually went there for the collector's edition, though I can't help but respect it.

All three of these editions will be available for pre-order on Limited Run Games' website from September 29 through November 12. As the name of the publisher implies, expect them to be pretty scarce after that window closes.

With the sheer volume of Persona 3 versions out there, you won't be judged if you need a refresher on which one's which. The original game - just Persona 3 - launched for PS2 back in 2006. A year later, there was an expanded version with new content called Persona 3 FES, also on PS2. Shortly after that, we got Persona 3 Portable, a PSP version of the game that featured even more additional content.

Earlier this year, Persona 3 Portable got a modern, lightly remastered release on PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Switch, and PC - don't be confused by the fact that several of those platforms are not portable. This is the version that's getting the special release from Limited Run Games.

On top of all these iterations, a full-on remake called Persona 3 Reload is due to launch on February 2, 2024. That one's got its own physical and collector's edition options on the way, though sadly none of them come with guns. Still, Persona 3 Reload might be enough to create some new JRPG fans based on our hands-on time at Gamescom.

Time to lose a few hundred hours to the best JRPGs of all time.