Megami Tensei
"Persona" is the largest and most popular spin-off from the "Megami Tensei" series. The first entry in the series, "Megami Ibunroku Persona" (originally released overseas as ""), was released in 1996 in Japan and North America. The first "Persona 2" title, "", was released in 1999 in Japan. The second game, "", was released in 2000 in Japan and North America. "Persona 3" was released in 2006 in Japan, 2007 in North America, and 2008 in Europe. Its sequel, "Persona 4", was released in 2008 in Japan and North America, and in 2009 in Europe. A sixth entry in the series, "Persona 5", was released in Japan on September 15, 2016, and was released in North America and Europe on April 4, 2017, to critical acclaims. In addition to the main "Persona" games are spin-offs, so far focused on "Persona 3" and "4": the canon spin-off "", two fighting games "Persona 4 Arena" and its sequel "Arena Ultimax" as well as the crossover fighting game "", and rhythm game "". While "Persona 3" and "4" used the "Shin Megami Tensei" moniker, it was dropped for the "Persona 4 Arena" duology and "Persona 4 Golden" as it would have made the titles too long to be practical.
Persona (series)
The series consists of ten games, not counting re-releases and mobile games. "Persona" was the first role-playing entry in the "Megami Tensei" franchise to be released outside of Japan, as previous entries had been considered ineligible due to possibly controversial content. As examples of this content were in a milder form for "Persona", the restrictions did not apply. According to Atlus, "Persona" and its sequel were to test player reactions to the "Megami Tensei" series outside of Japan. The greater majority of "Persona" games were either first released on or exclusive to PlayStation platforms. This trend was broken with the release of "Persona Q" for the 3DS in 2014. All the "Persona" games have been published by Atlus in Japan and North America. An exception in Japan was the Windows port of "Persona", which was published by ASCII Corporation. After 2016, due to Atlus USA's merger with Sega of America, Sega took over North American publishing duties, although the Atlus brand remained intact.