Maverick quite enjoyed completing the Persona 4 Arena Story, even though the internal monologues were sometimes a bit much.
Basic Steps To 100% Persona 4 Arena Story Mode
Achieving a 100% completion rate on Persona 4’s Arena Story Mode is quite easy. There aren’t any complicated steps or hidden secrets. The basic steps are as follows:
- Unlock every character
- Get a gold P-1 coin on the bottom-right of every character in the character selection menu
- For characters that have multiple paths, go through each path (see below for more details)
Unlocking characters is as straightforward as completing all available characters. If you’re curious about the exact conditions, we’ll go over them later in the article. As a lot of people reaching this article have already reached that point, however, let’s go through the other common pitfalls first instead.
Yu Narikami
As a nod to his main character status in Persona 4 (Golden), Yu Narikami has quite a few dialogue options. There are a bunch of points in the story where you need to choose between 2 options.
To get a 100% completion rate, you don’t need to go through every combination, but you do need to select every option. Choosing the first option each time will lead to a small extra scene with Margaret after the cliffhanger. Note that to get 100% completion, you will also need to choose both options during this scene. You can either do so in 2 playthroughs or choose one option, reload and then choose the other one.
I prefer choosing the first answer each time during my regular playthrough, then do a second playthrough choosing the second answer each time. During your second playthrough, you can just auto-skip through all the texts, since these dialogue choices do not affect much. It will only take you around 15 minutes to complete this way.
Another option is to work with bookmarks. Make a bookmark before dialogue options, choose the second dialogue option and then reload.
Chie Satonaka
There are 3 paths you need to go through with Chie to get 100% Persona 4 Arena Story Mode Completion. Up to scene 5, you can play as usual. From that bookmark, however, you will need to go through 2 joke endings before reloading to complete the canon ending:
- Joke ending 1: Jump out in search of steak, then share steak with Akihiko
- Joke ending 2: Jump out in search of steak, then eat all of the steak yourself
- Canon ending: Do not jump out in search of steak, but keep looking for the girl instead
It’s important to note that choosing the dialogue options and then reloading isn’t enough here. You really need to see the ending to each path. Luckily, both joke endings do not take up much of your time.
Kanji Tatsumi
There are 2 requirements you need to fulfill for Kanji’s part in achieving 100% Story Mode Completion:
1) During scene 5, there are 2 dialogue options. This dialogue path does not result in a joke/canon split yet, but you still need to choose both to get 100% completion. You know the drill by now: either do multiple playthroughs or choose one option, reload and then choose the other option.
2) During scene 7, committing to the dream will lead to the joke path. You need to go through that path and see its ending to get 100% completion rate. After doing so, you can reload the bookmark before this choice and continue with the canon ending.
Yukiko Amagi
Yukiko’s path is the easiest of the characters that require more than a simple playthrough. During Scene 7, you can check if your lunchbox is still OK. Doing so will lead to her joke path and ending, which you need to see to get 100% completion. So, do so, then reload your bookmark before the choice and pick the other choice to proceed with the canon ending.
The Reward for Achieving 100% Completion in Persona 4 Arena Story Mode
Completing Persona 4 Arena Story Mode gives you bragging rights, that’s it. There isn’t any unlock, extra story, any words of praise or even a trophy for doing so. Still, the completionist in you probably wanted to do it anyway, just like I did.
Unlocking All Characters in Persona 4 Arena Story Mode
As promised before, here is how to unlock every character in Persona 4 Arena’s Story Mode:
- Yu, Yosuke, Chie and Yukiko are available by default (but their story can only be completed up to a cliffhanger at first)
- To unlock Teddie and Kanji, complete one of the initially available character’s stories up to the cliffhanger
- Complete a second’s character story up to the cliffhanger to unlock Naoto, Mitsuru, Akihiko and Aigis
- To unlock Labrys, complete the story of Mitsuru, Akihiko or Aigis up to the cliffhanger
- Completing the full story (past the cliffhanger) of Naoto, Mitsuru, Akihiko or Aigis will unlock Elizabeth
Moving Past Persona 4’s Story Mode Cliffhangers
- Complete Labrys’ story (which does not have a cliffhanger) to move past the cliffhanger in the stories of Yu, Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Teddie and Kanji
- Completing one character’s story completely (past the cliffhanger) will allow you to move past the cliffhanger in the stories of Naoto, Mitsuru, Akihiko and Aigis
After you unlock a character’s full story, selecting it will give you the option between starting from the beginning or resuming from the cliffhanger. In other words, it is not necessary to save bookmarks at each character’s cliffhanger. Handy, as Persona 4 Arena has a very limited amount of bookmarks available.