Persona 5 Strikers from Atlus, Koei Tecmo, and Omega Force finally releases in the West beginning this month on PS4, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam. This is the first time a Persona spin-off has been released on multiple platforms at the same time since the Persona 4 Arena released back on PS3 and Xbox 360. Since Persona 5 Strikers is releasing on PS4 and Nintendo Switch (in addition to PC), there are no doubt many people who own both systems or people wanting to know how Persona 5 Strikers fares on PS4 and Nintendo Switch platforms. I’ve been playing Persona 5 Strikers on all platforms over the recent weeks and here’s what you need to know about Persona 5 Strikers on PS4 and Nintendo Switch across docked, handheld, PS4 Pro, PS5 backward compatibility, and more.
Persona 5 Strikers PS4 vs Nintendo Switch graphics
Persona 5 Strikers is a gorgeous game that very much feels like a follow-up to Persona 5 not just story wise but also visually. Persona 5 Strikers looks fantastic almost across the board on PS4 Pro (and PS5 through backwards compatibility). Barring some situations where the character models look a bit aliased, the game is plain fantastic on PS4 Pro. It looks great regardless of your display on PS4.
On Nintendo Switch, Persona 5 Strikers is a noticeable step down from the PS4 version. If you’ve played Persona 5 or Persona 5 Royal before, this will be even more noticeable. The lack of anti-aliasing and jagged edges across the lovely menus is instantly noticeable compared to how Persona 5’s aesthetic has looked on PS4 so far. Persona 5 Strikers’ gameplay portions and in-engine scenes are below 1080p when played docked on Nintendo Switch and they don’t look as sharp as they should. Persona 5 Strikers on Nintendo Switch has a combination of native resolution and subnative elements.
Persona 5 Strikers has a higher resolution or higher frame rate option on PS4 Pro. The game looks gorgeous in both modes and runs almost the same making me wonder why the modes exist in the first place. This mode also exists on PS5 since you can play the PS4 version through backward compatibility but there is no resolution or frame rate toggle option on Nintendo Switch.
Persona 5 Strikers also has a much shorter draw distance on Nintendo Switch with objects in the environment suddenly appearing close to you as you run towards them. It is much better on PS4 across the board.
Visually, if you want the best looking console version of Persona 5 Strikers, PS4 is easily the way to go.
Persona 5 Strikers PS4 vs Nintendo Switch frame rate
While the graphics difference may not be a big deal for some, the performance gulf between Nintendo Switch and PS4 for Persona 5 Strikers is huge. Persona 5 Strikers targets 60fps on all PS4 platforms and manages to nail that target really well with barely any noticeable drops. On my time spent on PS4 Pro, I only had two instances of minor slowdown. When played on PS5, even these were absent.
Persona 5 Strikers on Nintendo Switch targets 30fps in both docked and handheld modes. While 30fps isn’t a dealbreaker at all considering even Persona 5 Royal runs at 30fps, Persona 5 Strikers has real time action combat and the frame rate on Nintendo Switch isn’t stable. Even the first dungeon you explore has noticeable slowdown and walking around in the city also has noticeable drops. The performance here isn’t as bad as Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity but it is a big step down from the PS4 version. The combination of the drops, long load times, and poor image quality compared to the PS4 version add up to be disappointing,
PS4 is easily the way to go over Nintendo Switch for Persona 5 Strikers if you care about frame rate. The game looks and runs like a dream on PS4 systems.
Persona 5 Strikers PS4 vs Nintendo Switch load times
The biggest downside to the Nintendo Switch version of Persona 5 Strikers is the load times. Things that take a few seconds on PS4 (and even less on PS5) take multiple times that amount on Nintendo Switch. Leaving the Velvet Room or entering dungeons also takes much longer (sometimes 5 or 6 times the PS4 load times) on Nintendo Switch compared to the few seconds on PS4 and instant loading on PS5. The load times are the biggest deal breaker for me.
Persona 5 Strikers PS4 vs Nintendo Switch what to buy
Persona 5 Strikers is an excellent game and it may be the best Omega Force game for me in years. I didn’t think a game that played like a Persona RPG but blending in musou combat instead of turn based encounters would work well but here we are.
If you want to get Persona 5 Strikers to play on the go, you don’t have much of an option and while there are noticeable performance issues and load time differences compared to the PS4 version, Persona 5 Strikers never feels as bad as Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity does handheld. I can only recommend the Nintendo Switch version in its current state if you only want to play portably and can tolerate lots of drops from 30fps and long load times.
If you want to play on a TV, don’t even bother with the Nintendo Switch version and go for the PS4 version if you have access to a PS4, PS4 Pro, or PS5. It looks and runs a lot better and also loads much quicker in every instance even on base PS4. Hopefully some post-launch patches can improve the Nintendo Switch version but I’m not expecting much considering the game has been out for a year in Japan already.
