Persona 4 Arena is a fighting video game co-developed by Atlus and Arc System Works for arcades, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360; the game is a spin-off from the Persona series, itself part of the larger Megami Tensei franchise. The game was published by Atlus in Japan and North America in 2012, and by Zen United in Europe in 2013. Gameplay follows standard fighting game conventions, with matches between two characters with individual movesets, and special expendable abilities. The storyline is told through visual novel segments. Persona 4 Arena is set two months after the events of Persona 4, and two years after its predecessor Persona 3. The Investigation Team of Persona 4 is drawn into a new mystery involving the P-1 Grand Prix, a fighting tournament within the Midnight Channel dimension that pits the Investigation Team against the Shadow Operatives, a group formed by the surviving SEES of Persona 3. The groups must work together to solve the mysteries behind the P-1 Grand Prix and Labrys, a humanoid robot discovered by the Shadow Operatives. The story is directly continued with Persona 4 Arena Ultimax. Persona 4 Arena was the first title in the Persona series outside the role-playing genre. Development of Arena began in 2010 after Atlus approached the company to collaborate on a fighting game based on Persona 4. Reviews for the game were positive, with critics praising the gameplay and graphics employed, with criticism going towards the length of the story mode. The success of Arena and its sequel prompted the development of further spin-off titles, including Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth and Persona 4: Dancing All Night. Gameplay Persona 4 Arena is a fighting video game in which players take the role of 13 characters from Persona 4 and its predecessor Persona 3. The game is divided between several modes; the single-player-exclusive Story mode which has fights scattered between long visual novel segments, Training mode which acts as a tutorial, Challenge mode featuring fights against selected characters, the original Arcade mode that features three-round ranked fights and truncated story segments, and a Score Attack mode where players fight strengthened opponents to raise their score. Players can also fight each other in matches through local and online multiplayer. Gameplay in fights has two characters fighting each other on a 2D plane in a themed arena. Actions are divided between four buttons, with two being assigned to