the cutting room mirror

Unused Graphics

This is a sub-page of Persona 3.

There are quite a few graphics leftover from earlier periods of development, including concept sketches.

Early Menus#

Temporary Title Screen#

A title screen image that was probably used early in the development of Persona 3 as a design placeholder. The title screen dates to January 2006, around six months before the original Japanese release of the game.

Certificate of Marriage#

An image depicting a menu where the player could enter a name for what appears to be a certificate of marriage. "Mr. Aragaki Shinjiro" is typed in. Weirdly, the image is stored with the character bustups and is semi transparent. It is called in E102_001, an unused event for the name entry screen.

Battle UI Mockup#

Persona-3-FES-Battle-UI-Mockup-01.png Persona-3-tage.png Persona-3-FES-Battle-UI-Mockup-03.png
Mockup images have been left in btl\BATTLE\PANEL\BTLPNL.BIN. The first is taken directly from Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne.

Persona-3-FES-Battle-UI-Mockup-02.png
In order, the text on the right translates to Attack, Agi, Maragi, Bufu, Mabufu, Zio, Mazio, Garu, Magaru.

Persona-3-FES-Battle-UI-Mockup-04.png
The help dialogue reads "Designate strategies towards allies."

Persona-3-FES-Battle-UI-Mockup-05.png
In this image, Fuuka is saying "Watch out, everyone! That shadow is a powerful foe!" Additionally, the circle pattern on her clothing was replaced with a floral pattern in the final game.

(Translations: Glitterberri)

Placeholder Portraits#

These are unused placeholder portraits that were left in the game. The final images include more of the body than the earlier versions.

Hero#

Unused

Used

Since none of Hero's dialogue portraits are used, his used portrait comes from the menu. It's practically identical aside from the lack of shading. His portrait has large amounts of blank space around him that isn't present in any other's.

Yukari#

Unused

Used

Yukari made it in without any obvious changes.

Aigis#

Unused

Used

Aigis had her arm moved up for the final version.

Mitsuru#

Unused

Used

Mitsuru seems unchanged.

Junpei#

Unused

Used

Junpei has no line drawings, but the shading was improved in the final image.

Unused

Used

Once again, the shading was improved.

Fuuka#

Unused

Used

Either Fuuka's right arm and hand weren't planned to be visible, or the concept sketch was really bad at emphasizing them.

Unused

Used

Here Fuuka looks almost identical; her collar is the only thing that was changed.

Akihiko#

Unused

Used

The strap on Akihiko's arm had detail added, a pin was put on his shirt, and his mouth was redrawn to include his upper teeth. Notably, a sprite using the early mouth shape is present in the December 2015 prototype of Persona 5.

Ken#

Unused

Used

Ken's uniform sports the Gekkoukan logo in the final where it didn't before. The lace on his sweater has also changed a bit.

Shinjiro#

Unused

Used

Shinjiro looks angrier in the final version.

Unused

Used

No changes are obvious for Shinjiro in this one, but a closer look can spot an eye patch over his right eye in the early portrait which isn't present in the final game or the other unused portrait, suggesting that the other one was made later in development.

Koromaru#

Unused

Used

Koromaru's stance was changed at some point.

Ryoji#

Unused

Used

Ryoji made it through the grinder with only a minor change: more buttons were added to his shirt.

Keisuke#

Unused

Used

Keisuke was always planned to grin like an idiot.

Hidetoshi#

Unused

Used

Hidetoshi's smile was given the Mona Lisa treatment and made more ambiguous.

Bebe#

Unused

Used

Bebe was given his trademark fan at some point, and his arms were moved a bit to compensate.

Nozomi#

Unused

Used

Nozomi looks unchanged.

Dummy Portrait#

This placeholder image was found in "DATA.CVM/BUSTUP/BUST_DUMMY.BIN". It is a silhouetted image of Kenji with the character 仮 (kari), meaning "temporary." It's called in quite a few unused events in E700.

Rough Character Sketches#

There are a few rough character sketches throughout the game's data. Most of these are featured in the Collector's Edition artbook for Persona 3.

Persona3-FES_SketchJunpei.png Persona3-FES_Juntear.png
Two placeholder cut-in portraits for Junpei, one of which is more zoomed in.

Persona3-FES_Mitsuru.png Persona3-FES_Mitsuru2.png
Two placeholder cut-in portraits for Mitsuru, one of which is more zoomed in.

Persona3-FES_AkihikoSketch.png Persona3-FES_AkihikoComparsion99.png
Two placeholder cut-in portraits for Akihiko, one of which is more zoomed in.

Persona3-FES_Fuuka.png Persona3-FES_ZoomedinFuuka.png
Two placeholder cut-in portraits for Fuuka, one of which is more zoomed in.

Unused Persona Status Screen Portraits#

Hypnos

Moros

Medea

From left to right, Takaya's Persona, Jin's Persona, and Chidori's Persona. They are all seen in-game, but their portraits are never used.

Unused Persona Shuffle Time Portraits#

To do:

  • Every Persona has one of these portraits.

Persona3-I_PRC001.png Persona3-I_PRC0D0.png
Every Persona has a lower resolution image used for Shuffle Time, even if it's impossible to get that Persona there.

Unused Cut-In Persona Portraits#

Persona3-FES_StretchedEligor.png
For whatever reason, there is a stretched-out Eligor portrait in the same files as the portrait cut-ins. Unlike the one in the game, this one has brighter lighting.

Persona3-Orpheus-S_PS001.png
Early artwork of Orpheus, stored with the cut-ins.

Unused Cut-In Portraits#

There are placeholder cut-in portraits in the game's code; some are bigger than those in the final game. However, unlike with the placeholder portraits, here the final portraits show less of the body than the unused ones.

Hero's final all-out attack portrait has an angry expression, more shading, and is more zoomed in.

Earliest

Early

Final

Persona3-FES_EarlyYukari.png Persona3-FES_EarlyYukari2.png

The earliest version is slightly more zoomed in and the early versions lack shading, but otherwise they're practically the same as the final.

Unused

Used

Yukari originally had a different eye color, and the portrait was more zoomed out.

Earliest

Early

Final

The earliest one is far more zoomed in than in the early and final version.

Both the earliest and the early ones have more emphasis on the teeth.

In the early version his chain necklace is visible, while it isn't in the final version.

Unused

Used

Same thing, except that Junpei is far more zoomed in than in the final version.

Unused

Used

The only difference between the two is lighting and the level of zoom; the rest remained untouched.

Persona3-FES_Persona2Portrait1.png Persona3-FES_Persona2Portrait2.png

In the same part of the files where cut-in portraits are stored, there are portraits for Eikichi Mishina from Persona 2: Innocent Sin. Presumably, these was used as placeholders, or to test out how cut-in portraits would work.

To do:

  • Check to see if the Emperor, Hierophant, Hermit(though the reversed portrait is the same, it's still a different file), Hanged, Devil, Tower, Star, Moon, and Sun Social Links can actually reverse.

Persona3-FES_Junpei-SocialLinkA.png Persona3-FES_Junpei-SocialLink_B.png
Despite depicting Junpei, these portraits are actually for the main character. The over-emphasis on Junpei's teeth when he's mad is once again not present in the final game.

Persona3-Aigis-I_BUST03_B.png
Unused reversed Social Link portraits for Aigis. The SEES members normal bustups are used in the Fool and Judgement links.

P3_I_BUST05_B.png
Unused reversed Social Link portraits for Junpei.

Persona3-FES_Akihiko-SocialLinkB.png
Unused reversed Social Link portraits for Akihiko.

Persona3-FES_Ken-SocialLinkB.png
Unused reversed Social Link portraits for Ken.

Persona3-FES_Shinjiro-SocialLinkB.png
Unused reversed Social Link portraits for Shinjiro. It has Shinji sporting an eye patch, which can be seen in a closer look at one of his early dialogue portraits.

Persona3-FES_Koromaru-SocialLinkB.png
Unused reversed Social Link portraits for Koromaru.

Persona3-FES_ReversedDeath.png
This would have been used when the Death Arcana was reversed, but since the Link automatically progresses throughout the game without ever reversing, it remains unused.

Persona3-I_BUST4E_A.png Persona3-I_BUST4E_B.png
Unused portraits. The Japanese reads 'ネット02' or net02. Originally, Maya's Social Link included 3 different characters, and this is a remnant of that.

Persona3-I_BUST4F_A.png Persona3-I_BUST4F_B.png
Unused portraits. The Japanese reads 'ネット03' or net03.

Persona3-I_BUST62_A.png Persona3-I_BUST62_B.png
Unused portraits. The Japanese reads '武器屋' or weapon shop. After deciding that all the female/romancable characters would get their own Arcana instead of all of them being the Lovers, the incomplete shop owners' Social Links got cut.

Persona3-I_BUST64_A.png Persona3-I_BUST64_B.png
Unused portraits. The Japanese reads '骨董屋' or antique shop.

Persona3-I_BUST64_A.png Persona3-I_BUST64_B.png
Unused portraits. The Japanese reads 'エレガ' or elega, short for Elevator Girl(Elizabeth).

Persona3-FES_MainCharacter-speakingicon.png

This is an unused icon that would be used in the upper left navigation for Hero.

Miscellaneous#

Missing Data#

Persona3-i_miss_data.png

In a lot of different places, there is this same dummy image for if there is missing data.

Early Speech Bubbles#

Please elaborate.
Having more detail is always a good thing.

Unused

Used

Unused

Used

Both of these icons were found in an EPL file called "ICONF01.EPL". They appear to be earlier forms of the icons that appear when you walk up to someone.

World Arcana#

Persona3-World-i_new_camp04.png Persona3-i_elega_arcana00.png Persona3-i_elega_arcana01.png Persona3-World-i_change_per01.png Persona3-World-I_B_CARD15.png P3-ARC_C022.png
All images detailing the different Arcana also include reference to an unused World Arcana. All these files got replaced in FES to instead refer to the Aeon Arcana.

Unused Japanese Shop Text#

Some images used for the shops still have Japanese in them.

Antiques Persona3-i_shop_kot_21.png Persona3-i_shop_kot_22.png Persona3-i_shop_kot_14.png Persona3-i_shop_kot_13.png Persona3-i_shop_kot_16.png Persona3-i_shop_kot_05.png Persona3-i_shop_kot_06.png Persona3-i_shop_kot_07.png
School shop Persona3-i_shopkou04.png Persona3-i_shopkou10.png
Aohige Pharmacy Persona3-i_shopdrk_04.png Persona3-i_shopdrk_10.png
Police Station Persona3-i_shop_pol_02.png Persona3-i_shop_pol_01.png Persona3-i_shop_pol_05.png