Here's how every Persona game runs on Switch 2 – Persona 5 Royal, Strikers, Tactica, P4G, P3P, and P4AU

This week's Nintendo Nintendo Switch 2 backward compatibility feature covers the Persona series from Atlus. I was always planning on tackling all the Persona games, but decided to hold off on publishing it with the recent Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase in case a patch or new port was announced. We did get an announcement for Persona 3 Reload on Nintendo Switch 2 and I'm sure many are wondering how the rest of the series looks and runs on Switch with a new release coming this October. Today's Persona series feature follows the recent articles I've done going over the Ys, Fire Emblem, Tales of, Monster Hunter, Dragon Quest, Xenoblade, and SaGa games tested on Nintendo Switch 2.

With Persona, most of the releases are ports and remasters, but two spin-offs did launch simultaneously on Switch alongside other platforms. As with my earlier features going over different franchises, I will be comparing load times, performance, and more when testing on Nintendo Switch 2 and Nintendo Switch. The games covered today are Persona 5 Royal, Persona 5 Strikers, Persona 5 Tactica, Persona 4 Golden, Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, and Persona 3 Portable. I will not be covering the G-Mode releases like Aegis: The First Mission.

For the load time testing today, I've used the digital version of each game installed to the Nintendo Switch 2 internal memory and the SD card on Nintendo Switch OLED. I've also made sure to mash A to speed up any loading and avoid the publisher and developer logos if possible. For games like Persona 5 Royal that try to connect online, I've tested the load times and the loading when playing offline.

How does Persona 5 Royal run on Nintendo Switch 2

Persona 5 Royal for Switch ran at a subnative resolution both docked and handheld when it comes to its 3D gameplay, but the UI was native resolution, albeit without any post-processing. This resulted in blurrier gameplay than I had hoped for and some jagged edges on the game's menus in-game. The latter wasn't a huge issue, but the former was a bit disappointing for handheld play.

There was no dynamic resolution and the game renders 3D elements at 540p in handheld and 810p docked as per Digital Foundry. I enjoyed my time with it on Switch OLED after getting used to the softer visuals, but it really should have been a better port. The subnative resolution is even more noticeable on Switch 2. In fact, while the UI looks mostly fine in handheld mode and docked on my 1440p monitor, the gameplay looks noticeably worse in dungeons and while exploring. Performance is still stable thankfully.

Note: All load times above are in seconds.

What we want from a Persona 5 Royal Nintendo Switch 2 Upgrade

Persona 5 Royal would dramatically benefit from an upgrade to not only resolution, but also frame rate. As it stands, the Switch version is the worst by far when it comes to visuals and performance. A Switch 2 upgrade that offers even a native 1080p handheld and 1440p docked would be a huge upgrade over the current game that runs well below native resolution even on the original Switch.

As for performance, I would hope for 60fps as well given how the game runs on Steam Deck right now. Nothing has been announced, but given how popular Persona 5 Royal is, hopefully Atlus is able to offer something to Switch 2 in the future.

How does Persona 4 Golden run on Nintendo Switch 2

Persona 4 Golden was a fantastic experience on Nintendo Switch both when played docked and handheld. I had no complaints with how it looked and ran back when it was ported. Moving over to Nintendo Switch 2, the visuals are a bit soft in handheld mode, but it is still a great experience overall with slightly faster loading.

Note: All load times above are in seconds.

What we want from a Persona 4 Golden Nintendo Switch 2 Upgrade

Persona 4 Golden's best console version is currently on Xbox Series X with support for higher resolutions and 120fps. I would love for a potential Persona 4 Golden Switch 2 upgrade to deliver a full 1080p 120fps experience handheld. The game looks fine and runs well right now, but having that native resolution handheld would be a welcome addition. 

How does Persona 5 Strikers run on Nintendo Switch 2

I was recently replaying Persona 5 Strikers' PS4 version on my PS5 played on a 1440p monitor and it did not look great during exploration and in the in-engine story scenes. There are a lot of issues with how the 3D models and environments are rendered even when playing the PS4 version or PS5 for those situations, but it looked fine during actual combat gameplay and in dungeons. When playing on Switch, the results are even worse with a 30fps target that is not stable and lower resolution across the board. I was quite disappointed by how the UI looked on Nintendo Switch as well.

Moving over to Nintendo Switch 2, Persona 5 Strikers gets a much-needed performance boost to run at a stable 30fps and faster load times across the board. Since I own the Deluxe edition of Persona 5 Strikers, I also decided to test the Persona 5 Strikers Bonus Content app which includes the soundtrack, artbook, and a video. It took about the same time to load. 

Note: All load times above are in seconds.

What we want from a Persona 5 Strikers Nintendo Switch 2 Upgrade

If a potential Switch 2 upgrade is possible for Persona 5 Strikers, I'd love for the frame rate target to be 60fps and for it to run at a much higher resolution. Even the PS4 version on PS5 suffers from visual issues right now if you play on 1440p or higher resolution displays as I said before, but I'd pay for an upgrade for this game given its age and to have a great portable 1080p experience for Persona 5 Strikers.

How does Persona 5 Tactica run on Nintendo Switch 2

Persona 5 Tactica on Switch targeted 30fps and had slightly soft visuals, but its main issue was in the load times. Persona 5 tactica suffered a lot less than Strikers given the tactical RPG gameplay. When playing Persona 5 Tactica on Nintendo Switch 2, the load times are massively improved across the board. It does look soft on the Switch 2's 1080p screen, but the major issue has been addressed with load times as far as I'm concerned. 

Note: All load times above are in seconds.

What we want from a Persona 5 Tactica Nintendo Switch 2 Upgrade

Persona 5 Tactica is another game that had a lower frame rate target of 30fps on Switch. A potential Switch 2 upgrade that offers 60fps and higher resolution is all Persona 5 Tactica needs on Nintendo Switch 2.

How does Persona 4 Arena Ultimax run on Nintendo Switch 2

When Persona 4 Arena Ultimax was ported to PS4, Nintendo Switch, and Steam, the real issue was the netcode not being rollback-based. This was eventually addressed for PS4 and Steam, but the Nintendo Switch version never got that update. When playing on Nintendo Switch 2, Persona 4 Arena Ultimax doesn't look worse, but the real upgrade is in the load times. Everything loads quicker as you can see in the table below. 

Note: All load times above are in seconds.

What we want from a Persona 4 Arena Ultimax Nintendo Switch 2 Upgrade

Persona 4 Arena Ultimax needs a rollback update more than anything else right now on Nintendo Switch 2. I'd also love for crossplay with PS4 and Steam, but that is likely too much to ask for right now. Visually, I have no real complaints with how Persona 4 Arena Ultimax plays on Nintendo Switch or Switch 2 right now, but proper 1080p scaling in handheld would be great since the game has scaling issues above 1080p on PC. It just is a shame the online is not great right now on Nintendo Switch 2.

How does Persona 3 Portable run on Nintendo Switch 2

Persona 3 Portable's modern console and PC version is not great in general visually. While it runs well, the background art and some other 2D assets do not look good with how they were upscaled. Persona 3 Portable already loaded quite fast (like Persona 4 Golden) on Switch, so there isn't much to improve on that front via Nintendo Switch 2. Revisiting Persona 3 Portable on Switch 2 has just disappointed me more with how this port was handled across all platforms. 

Note: All load times above are in seconds.

What we want from a Persona 3 Portable Nintendo Switch 2 Upgrade

Persona 3 Portable, like Persona 4 Golden, could benefit from a 120fps upgrade so it runs like it does on Xbox Series X. Beyond that, there's a lot I want fixed in a potential Persona 3 Portable re-release on all platforms across background art and more. Not to go on too much of a tangent, but I remain disappointed that we didn't get Kotone Shiomi's route in Persona 3 Reload as DLC instead of The Answer as DLC. Speaking of Persona 3 Reload, I hope it is a good port on Nintendo Switch 2 when it arrives this October.

As usual, if any of these games get patched or paid upgrades, I'll update this feature. I will also add any more Persona games that potentially release on the Switch family of systems.