As the bestselling title in Atlus' popular role-playing video game franchise Persona, Persona 5 introduces a new protagonist, Joker, to the series. Not to be confused with the DC villain of the same name, he's a second-year high school student who transfersto Shujin Academy in Tokyo after a false accusation of assault in his previous school. The character develops supernatural abilities as part of the Persona within the game's world and leads a faction of vigilantes known as the Phantom Thieves of Hearts.
As the latest protagonist in the game series and its subsequent anime adaptation leading to a surprise appearance as the historic guest fighter in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, CBR is breaking down everything you need to know about the powerful Phantom Thief.
WHO IS JOKER IN PERSONA 5?
Born as Ren Amamiya, Joker is expelled from his previous school and forced to move in with a family friend in Tokyo named Sojiro Sakura after he transfers to Shujin Academy to continue his high school education. Soon after his arrival, Joker and his new friends awaken their latent Persona, or supernatural abilities based on deities and historical figures, as an extension of their respective psyche.
Joining a vigilante organization known as the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, Joker is able to enter the Metaverse, an alternate realm formed and shaped by the collective of humanity's subconscious. Once inside, Joker uses his extraordinary abilities to fight more sinister elements of the humanity's unconscious personas that surface in the Metaverse. As Joker rises through the ranks of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, he also must maintain his social and professional responsibilities as a high schooler at Shujin Academy.
HOW STRONG IS JOKER IN PERSONA?
True to his nickname, Joker's signature power is an ability known as "Wild Card" that allows him to possess multiple personae at once and fuse them together to form powerful combinations. With his roguish nature, Joker's Metaverse powers and personality were inspired by the legendary Japanese real-life folk hero and thief Ishikawa Goemon and fictional French thief and master of disguise Arsène Lupin.
For his base persona when not tapping into his powers to trigger his Metaverse transformation, Joker refers to himself as Arsène and arms himself with knives and guns to defend himself. Once completely powered up to his ultimate form, Joker takes on the persona of Satanael, a demonic figure that can summon the powers of the Seven Deadly Sins to unleash on his foes.
Joker in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
After immediately becoming a breakout character for the role-playing game franchise, Joker has starred in the anime adaptation of Persona 5 and also appeared in two the subsequent spinoff video games, Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight and Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth. However, the character's most prominent and talked about appearance outside of Persona 5 would be as the first downloadable guest fighter in Nintendo's massively popular Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
This was a surprising move, since no Persona games had been released on a Nintendo console at that time. It was announced that Joker would be added to the roster of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate at The Game Awards this past December. The fighter was officially made available for download on April 17 as part of the Fighters' Pack Volume 1, sporting moves inspired by his appearance in Persona 5 with both his Japanese and English voice actors reprising their roles from the original title to provide new dialogue for him in the Nintendo crossover fighting game.
As the star of the bestselling Persona game to date, Joker has certainly become one of the most prominent characters from the long-running video game franchise. While no new main series titles have been announced or if Joker will return to the series, his memorable appearance in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will tide fans over until the series does continue, either with him or an entirely new cast of characters.