Persona 3 Portable

Bugs

Debug Menus#

Several debug menus remain in this game, ranging from item editors and party member editors. Unfortunately, most of the menus do not work properly anymore. Apply the code below for the USA version to enable these menus.

_C1 debug menus
_L 0xD0695BD1 20000001
_L 0x20194838 0E25234F
_L 0xD0695BD1 20000002
_L 0x20194838 0E29A13F
_L 0xD0695BD0 20000008
_L 0x20194838 0E29AE6B
_L 0xD0695BD0 20000001
_L 0x20194838 0E29A89D
_L 0xD0695BD1 20000000
_L 0x20194838 0E23FDC1

With the above code on, press the following button combinations while in game:

• L + Triangle for Item Editor.
• R + Triangle for Party Editor.
• START + Circle + Triangle for Bustup Viewer.
• SELECT + Circle + Triangle for Community Edit.

For best results, press Triangle in the last sequence of buttons.

Item Editor#

This menu allows you to obtain any item in the game. While in this menu, press L/R to decrease / increase the current item selected.

The Answer-only armor (Metis's armor) and weapons (Aigis's weapons and Metis's weapons) still exist in Persona 3 Portable. They can be obtained only via cheats. Trying to equip the weapons (due to missing models) or other dummy items will softlock the game.

Party Editor#

This menu allows to set any party member at any given time to your party. Attempting to add Fuuka to your team will result in the game crashing trying to load her party icon.

Community Editor#

A very large menu for testing the Community system, localized in English as Social Links. Selecting any option and pressing the X button opens a sub-menu of five options pertaining to the selected link, 3 for the ALL option. Unfortunately, the sub-menu options are drawn outside the visible area, this can be fixed by using the analog stick to move the UI, it seems the only working section is ALL, which lets you unlock all social links, max them all, and remove them all. The option barely visible in the image is likely "Strength:Team Manager", another girl the male protagonist can date.

Bustup Viewer#

The very last option in this menu allows you to view various icons which are used for different expressions in game, such as an exclamation mark, or singing icon.

Unused Objects#

Base.gmo#

A file titled "base.gmo" can be found in the game's main directory. As shown in the image above, it's a textureless hollow cylinder with no animations associated with it.

Unused Personas#

Psyche#

Leftover from when the Answer was planned to return in Persona 3 Portable is Metis Persona, Psyche. She uses Loki's portrait and locks up the game when trying to summon her. Note that that the skills in the screenshot are edited in so the game doesn't crash when viewing the Status.

Strega's Personas#

Strega's personas are all usable in battle without issue, however compared to FES, they lack a portrait (instead using Loki's again) and their Arcana is "S.LINK".

Unused Animations#

Io, Isis, Penthesilea, Artemisia and Cerberus all have animations for Physical attacks that never get used due to them never learning any Physical Skills. Takayas Hypnos and Chidoris Medea also have a Physical Animation that never ends up seen. Of note is that Isis', Artemisias and Cerberus' can be seen in FES' the Answers fights against them.

Io#

Isis#

Penthesilea#

Artemisia#

Cerberus#

Hypnos#

Medea#

Unused Graphics#

Bustups in Font Folder#

In a folder titled "font" under the game's main directory, eleven low-resolution bustups can be found, one for each member of SEES. What they were going to be used for is unknown, and their strange placement in the files prompts even more questions.

File Name	Bustup
jm_k01.spr
jm_k02.spr
jm_k03.spr
jm_k04.spr
jm_k05.spr
jm_k06.spr
jm_k07.spr
jm_k08.spr
jm_k09.spr
jm_k10.spr
jm_k99.spr

While most of the art is fine (other than the slight saturation, low resolution, and weird cropping...), the art used here for the female protagonist is unfinished.

Other Graphics#

A silhouette dummy portrait with "temporary" written on it. The silhouette belongs to Shuji Ikutsuki. This is similar in design to one later found in Persona 4.

An overlay effect used for testing. The version on the right is a restoration of what the image should look like. The original image found in the game files is broken due to an unintentional LF→CRLF/CR→CRLF conversion. This is the earliest known instance of this file throughout various Atlus games.

Unused Cutscene#

There's an unused cutscene in the game's data which was meant for the lovers ending exclusive to New Game+ where you have the option to choose whichever party member you have a romantic Social Link with to share one final scene with. The unused cutscene is a version of the New Game+ lovers ending with Junpei for the female protagonist route, which strongly indicates that he was going to be a romance option for the female protagonist. In the final game, Junpei is not a romance option in the female route, most likely due to the fact that he already has his own love interest in the main story from the original game and FES. The unused lovers ending is actually left entirely in Japanese in the game's data, but this video has translated it.

Unused Text#

To do: Add untranslated strings, and determine if they go unused or show up in-game as bugged items. All Kanji characters below have been incorrectly converted, and require a proper conversion.

umd0.cpk\data\event\e100\e100_001.bf#

A blue butterfly was fluttering
outside the window...
Could it have been your
imagination...?

This was most likely meant to be used for the beginning of the game when the protagonist is on the train ride to Iwatodai to describe the bit when they see the blue butterfly show up in the window of the train.

umd0.cpk\data\event\e110\e111_301.bf#

No kidding? So...? How's she look?
She's sitting right over there...

This was to be used during the first day assembly in the female protagonist route, after a student sees her walking to school with Yukari.

umd0.cpk\data\field2d\p07_02.bin#

tutrial_test_msg

Normal size window test. It says
"15 characters in 4 rows," but
that's JP chars... Wait, 4 rows!?

A localizer's very reasonable complaint, formatted to fit in a HELP pop-up menu.

tutrial_test_msg2

Small window test.
8 JP chars, 2 rows.

About the size of a skill or item description.

tutrial_test_msg3

This is large. 20 characters, 6 rows.
テストテストテストテストテストテストテス
茅萱茅萱茅萱茅萱茅萱茅萱茅萱茅萱
１２３４５６７８９０１２３４５６７８９０
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur!
茅萱茅萱茅萱茅萱茅萱茅萱茅萱茅萱 

Row 2 consists of the English word "test" transliterated into Japanese and repeated. The two repeated characters in Rows 3 and 6 read "Chikaya", a feminine Japanese name, not to be confused with a similarly-named character from Persona 5. The Latin sentence in Row 5 is snipped from an infamous, much larger phrase, often used as placeholder text. The exclamation point does not usually exist after "consectetur", with the sentence continuing after the word.

These three messages can also be found in umd0.cpk\data\field2d\bg\b07_02.abin, and possibly other places as well.

umd0.cpk\data\field2d\bg\b00_00.bin#

NPC_TEST

TEST

umd0.cpk\data\field2d\bg\b06_03.bin#

DONOTUSE_MESSAGE

This message appears in other text files.

umd0.cpk\data\field2d\bg\b07_03.bin#

HERO_ROOM_TEST

JUNPEI_ROOM_TEST

ARAGAKI_ROOM_TEST

SANADA_ROOM_TEST

AMADA_ROOM_TEST

ZIHANKI_TEST

umd0.cpk\data\field2d\bg\b06_06.bin#

msg01

Would you like to go to
Ryoseikan High School?

This line refers to "Gekkoukan High" as "Ryoseikan High School", which is an early unused name for the school. The line appears in many other text files.

umd0.cpk\data\field2d\bg\b08_01.bin#

'...But what does it mean?' This game has text or audio that needs to be translated. If you are fluent with this language, please read our translation guidelines and then submit a translation!

TEST_ERROR

The Answer Leftovers#

Some leftover dialog from when The Answer was planned is present. It was also ironically translated, even a bit of changed dialog.

Unused Voice Clips#

To do: Upload the rest of the unused voicelines onto this page.

Several Japanese voice lines which belong to Fuuka can be found in the North American PSP version, despite the fact that they can never be heard in-game:

Almighty Attacks Failing#

Leftover from Persona 3 FES are voice clips for Almighty-element attacks failing to connect. Every party member has voice lines for attacks not of their main element failing, which play when using an elemental item on enemies that Null or Drain the attack. This includes Almighty, which no enemy in the game can null. There is technically one exception in the final boss's Moonless Gown skill, but it never triggers these voice lines due to it repelling the attack instead.

V124002.AFS#

Normally, the audio that plays when the Protagonist awakens to their Persona is all mixed into one audio file. However, it's possible this wasn't always the case. As English voice lines for this scene, without any SFX, can be found unused in the game's files. Including the second half of Orpheus' chant, which isn't used during this scene. It seems instead this was going to be an event cutscene at e124_002, but the final is considered an enemy encounter at ID 454 and all uses particle (BED) files (will only load with no party members). Equivalent Japanese voice lines don't exist.

Unused Music#

To do: Upload the original files for the last eight tracks in this playlist (exclude EVL_349 since it seems to be used), and the other unused music tracks listed below.

In the EVENT folder, the following unused tracks can be found:

Revisional Differences#

The game was released on January 20, 2023 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch and Windows systems.

• The intro video now plays at 1080p.
• The UI graphics have been updated.
• The text font has been slightly changed.
• Japanese voice audio is now selectable from the main menu.
• You can now Quick Save by going to the pause menu and going to the system setting.
• Some of the dialogue, text and graphic errors and mistakes from the original PSP version were fixed, though not all of them.
• The illustrations for the hub worlds and backgrounds in the cutscenes for all regional versions are the Japanese language version, unlike the original PSP version.
• Some quest items have been renamed for the remaster version.
• One visual detail which was Japanese exclusive in the original PSP version, being the triangle arrows that show up to make the text box look like a speech bubble when the characters are talking is now present in the English version.
• There's additional text added in that describes very specific sound effects in the cutscenes, most likely for players who have hearing problems.

References#