Over the weekend, Anime Ascension hosted several anime-styled fighting game tournaments. Although Persona 4 Arena Ultimax was relegated to side tournament status in favour of newer games, its ending was one of the most exciting moments of the entire event.

Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, sequel to Persona 3, Persona 4, and Persona 4 Arena, is a fighting game. However, unlike many fighting games, it comes with a robust story in the form of a 14-hour visual novel. And since we've looked at Ultimax as a fighting game already, it's only fair we look at it as a visual novel as well.

When I was a kid in the days of the original Street Fighter II, the plots in fighting games consisted of the instruction manual, the before battle/after battle one-liners, and a single picture at the end of the game -- if that. Even then I wished for meatier plots in fighters; and over the years my wish has been granted.

Persona 4 Arena Ultimax shares a lot with its predecessor Persona 4 Arena. When it comes down to the 2D fighting, they are largely the same game. However, outside of the fighting engine, there are a lot of new additions that make it worth playing -- especially for Persona series fans.

Remember the days when you would go to an arcade, put a quarter into the machine of your favourite fighting game, and wait for a challenger to walk up, put in his own coin and fight you? So it goes with Persona 4 Arena Ultimax.

While it has "Persona 4" in the title, Persona 4 Arena Ultimax is really a sequel to Persona 3 as much as Persona 4 -- especially as Ultimax now includes every member of the Persona 3 main cast we are likely to get.

Persona 4 Arena Ultimax is out in stores in Japan right now, and once again, Atlus is asking that people be considerate. If you access the Japanese Persona 4 Arena Ultimax homepage right now, you'll be greeted by an image overlay of the character of Teddy -- or rather the shadow version of Teddy -- telling people not to spoil the new fighting game.