Fans have taken one of the biggest missed opportunities of the late 2000s into their own hands and are porting Persona 3 to the Nintendo DS.
I don't know about you, but I'm of the opinion that RPGs are best experienced on handheld consoles. Being able to chip away at a massive game in bed, on the bus, or wherever else you fancy (the bath? I don't know) is always a pleasure, and beats locking yourself to a console on the big TV. Before Persona 5, I spent most of my RPG time on the likes of the GBA, DS, and PS Vita, which did mean I missed out on some all-timers.
While Persona 3 Portable does exist, it was exclusive to the PSP, and it's a shame Atlus didn't share the love of the mainline Persona series to Nintendo until well after Joker appeared in Super Smash Bros Ultimate. However, a group of fans collectively named the P3D Project are aiming to right this wrong by porting Persona 3 to the DS, under the name Persona 3 Dual.
The game's 1.0 version released earlier this week, with the devs calling this "Milestone #1" with a new trailer showing off the port. And yes, it sure is Persona 3.
In fact – despite being substantially stripped back in comparison to the PS2 original – it does feature some things that never made it into the Portable edition on PSP. Namely, you're able to walk the streets of Iwatodai and the Paulownia Mall areas. In Persona 3 Portable, the overworld was made into a pseudo visual novel experience, whereas this DS port brings it more in line with the original game.
You can play this fan project now with a download available on the game's Github, but the developers have also shown what will be in the next version of the game, with the continued development of Persona 3 FES's female protagonist and updated versions of the UI to match. Will it be the most optimal or best way to play Persona 3? Probably not. But it's a really cool project regardless for those looking for a different way to experience one of their favorite RPGs.
