Summary
Persona 3 Reloadmight be hiding an obscurePokemonreference in the form of a Sandygast callback, according to one eagle-eyed player. While that would hardly be the first Easter egg based on another media franchise that found its way to an Atlus game, the discovery of this potentialPersona 3 Reloadreference has sparked a debate among somePokemonfans regarding its authenticity.
Atlus’s remake of the third numberedPersonainstallment was released to widespread fan adoration and critical acclaim on February 2. Much like the 2006 original,Persona 3 Reloadis a fairly long game, so it’s plausible that at least some of its secrets are still waiting to be discovered mere days following its release.
Be that as it may, one of those secrets might have just been discovered by Reddit user Frosty_Training_3229, who recently stumbled on a curiously shaped sand mount while exploring the Naganaki Shrine. Upon closer inspection, the player started suspecting that the mound was actually a subtle reference to thePokemon Sandygast, a seventh-generation creature originally debuted inPokemon SunandMoonback in 2016.
And while nearly two thousand people have promptly voted to send this discovery to the front page of the mainPokemonsubreddit, not everyone agreed with Frosty_Training_3229’s theory. Some fans have hence posited that Sandygast boasts such a generic design that nearly any pile of sand with a small shovel sticking out of it could be a reference to it. However, they argued that was decisively not the case because such imagery is common across countless media, including manga andanime that heavily inspired thePersonaseries.
Faced with those arguments, Frosty_Training_3229 went through the trouble of hunting down a screenshot of the Naganaki Shrine from the originalPersona 3. The image proved that while the 2006 game did feature a sand mount in that same spot, it was vastly different from the one found in the remake and did not, in fact, resemble Sandygast. Since one of Atlus developers went through the trouble of adding a sand shovel and a tunnel-like hole to the mound, this discovery made the player even more convinced that they have indeed stumbled on an obscure Sandygast Easter egg.
Whatever the case may be, aPersonagame referencingPokemonwould be far from an unprecedented move for Atlus. After all,there were severalPokemonEaster eggs inPersona 5alone, including one humorous dialogue option with Morgana and another one-liner from Futaba.
Persona 3 Reload
WHERE TO PLAY
Step into the shoes of a transfer student thrust into an unexpected fate when entering the hour “hidden” between one day and the next. Awaken an incredible power and chase the mysteries of the Dark Hour, fight for your friends, and leave a mark on their memories forever.Persona 3 Reload is a captivating reimagining of the genre-defining RPG, reborn for the modern era.Experience the pivotal game of the Persona series faithfully remade with cutting-edge graphics, modernized quality-of-life features, and signature stylish UI. Fully immerse yourself in an emotional, gripping journey with new scenes, character interactions, and additional voiceover. Choose how to meaningfully spend each day through various activities from exploring the Port Island to forging genuine bonds with beloved characters. Build and command your optimal team to take down otherworldly Shadows and climb closer to the truth.
