Masaru Tsugami's Persona 3 mods (partially lost Persona 3 mods; 2006-2007)

The mods of the RPG game Persona 3 and FES that Masaru Tsugami AKA SoulHacker90, the perpetrator of the Kirishima High School shooting on December 5th, 2007, created. Most of his mods surfaced on the internet around late 2006 and 2007, mostly on his website and other gaming sites. It is believed that he created a total of 47 mods during this time and before the shooting, however, all of his mods were seized by the PSIA shortly after the shooting but 32 of the 47 mods were leaked on the internet and are playable, with the rest surfacing in stills and two of them being partially found.

Persona connection
Masaru Tsugami was an avid fan of the Megami Tensei series, he started playing the games at age 14 and first played Persona 3 at age 16. Tsugami would record footage of himself playing the game and post it on his YouTube account and other gaming websites. He was also known for being the first gamer to speedrun the game, finishing at under 3 hours and 32 minutes. He’d also have a similar speedrun with Persona 3 FES in The Answer, finishing at 4 hours and 45 minutes.

He also owned the Persona 3 manga, light novels, and dramas CD. He also named his shotgun “Mitsuru” after Mitsuru Kirijo, one of the main characters in the game. Around August of 2006, Tsugami had been making and sharing mods and unofficial patches of Persona 3, he mostly posted these mods on his website and made them on his computer or the school’s computers. He showed off these mods on his YouTube and Nico Nico Douga accounts.

Mods
Tsugami’s mods contained comments; mostly during the game over screen. Such as, “No real man should lose at a game at this level. MAKE SURE YOU GO ALL OUT ON THEM!!!!!”, in the copyright section of every mod, it reads, “The following mod(s) were made by SoulHacker90, do not change anything about my mods or else I’ll send you to North Korea!!” Some mods, mostly the ones for FES had two additional difficulties those being: a very easy mode called “Training Wheels” which lowers the amount of shadows, increases EXP and rewards after an encounter, and removes the Reaper from the game. Next is a very hard mode called, “Fucking Psycho”, which higher the number of shadows in Tartarus, making enemies go first in every encounter and boss fight, making certain Personas and skill cards more expensive and harder to fuse, and health, shuffle times and HP and SP healing items become harder to come across. The difficulties have also been changed, easy mode is now "Serenity", normal mode is now, "Standard" and hard mode is now, "Akihiko's Fists". Most of his mods also serves as fanfiction as he was to give his own take on the story and characters of the game.

Copies of the following mods are known to have been found and exist:

Playable Party (P3 mod #1/Data Evidence File 01) Dated: September 26, 2006 Status: Released and Playable
The first known mod made by Tsugami was simply called, Playable Party, it’s also nicknamed P3 mod #1 in his file folders and codenamed, Data Evidence File 01 by the TMPD and the PSIA. The mod allows the party members to be playable in battle, being made an option in tactics called, “Follow Directions,” with the tactics on, the player can control their party members and command their movesets. In addition, the player can command Fuuka for certain items during battle by pressing triangle and circle and pressing up and down on the d-pad twice. In PC it’s F3 and F2 and the latter.

Use cheats during questions (P3 mod #2/Data Evidence File 02) Dated: November 19, 2006 Status: Released and Playable
The second called, Use cheats during questions allows the protagonist to use cheats while answering questions during class and during a test. He can also give tips and hints to other students. But this leads to consequences as the protagonist can get caught with the notes and his academics stat will decrease. The way to obtain the cheats is either by Junpei or Kenji who with give to MC during rank 4 of their social links. In addition to getting caught with the cheats, he would be able to talk with Mitsuru for a while and will be suspended from doing after school clubs.

Online Tanaka (P3 mod #3/Data Evidence File 03) Dated: January 12, 2007 Status: Leaked and Playable.
The third mod entitled, Online Tanaka, allows the MC to order items on President Tanaka's website instead of waiting for his show to come on every Sunday. The MC will be made aware of his website, the fifth time he orders something from Tanaka or watches his show five times. During the show, he’d show the URL to his website, and the player would be given the choice to write it on paper and visit the website the subsequent Sunday. On the website, the MC will be able to buy skill cards, weapons, and items not on Tanaka’s show. The mod was leaked in 2012.

New Social Links (P3 mod #4/Data Evidence File 04) Dated: March 17-April 10, 2007 Status: Leaked and Playable.
The fourth mod entitled, New Social Links, puts four new social links in the game. Junpei Iori Magician Arcana, Akihiko Sanada Emperor Arcana, Shinjiro Aragaki Hierophant Arcana, and Ken Amada Justice Arcana. However, this doesn’t allow the MC to do the other social links associated with that Arcana. Junpei’s social link is mostly the same as Kenji’s, except the dialogue is changed once finishing his social link, instead of his Persona evolving, he will receive a new skill card to use in battle.

The player will be able to start Akihiko’s social link on 5/19, their Academic must be Above Average, and their Courage must be Determined. Akihiko’s social link will replace the student council link. During his social link, he’ll teach the MC new melee attacks, and the latter will be able to use Akihiko’s boxing gloves in battle. However, the MC won’t be able to continue his social link until 11/9 as he won’t be in the mood to hang out due to Shinjiro’s death. But, during rank 5, MC will be given the choice to start either Mitsuru’s or Yukari’s social links earlier and without the needed requirements. At the end of Akihiko’s social link, he’ll give you a picture of him and Shinjiro when they were younger with a quote on the back reading, “Friends are like stars, they come and go, but the ones that stay will shine.” Akihiko’s social link can also diverge depending on Shinjiro’s fate, if he dies the player will go through his normal route, but if Shinjiro lives, Akihiko will visit him in the hospital at rank 7 and he’ll thank the MC for saving his life.

Shinjiro’s social link also works similarly to Akihiko’s, he’ll replace the old couple's social link. The player can start his social link two days after he rejoins SEES, their Charm must be Smooth, and their Courage must be Tough. The player will mostly be able to do Shinjiro’s social link while they take Koromaru for walks. During rank 3, Shinjiro will open up to the MC about his personal life. Mentioning that his stepfather took his own life during his third year in junior high and his stepmother rarely if ever home or involved in his life. He also mentions having a fraternal twin sister who’s studying abroad in Germany named Kiyomi, whom he describes as being the polar opposite of him and being more favored by his stepmother than he is. He even goes into detail about his and Akihiko’s friendship, hinting that he secretly has feelings for him and saying, “Those were the days.” This is where the player’s action affects Shinjiro’s fate. If the player gets to rank 6 before 10/4, two outcomes can happen. If the player finishes the Fortune and Strength in under 1 hour and 12 minutes, Shinjiro will get shot once by Takaya, the MC will step in and take the second shot. While the MC will be healed of his wound, Shinjiro will be hospitalized but MC will manage to keep in touch with him via letters.

The day after the Nyx battle, Akihiko will give MC a letter from Shinjiro, which says that he’s recovered safely but he’d be cast bound for a while, he also mentions patching his relationship with his stepmother and Kiyomi. He also gives one more backstory about himself, saying that he was in a romantic relationship with someone during his initial time in SEES and before rejoining SEES named, Haruka. He explains that he and Haruka were together for a few years until he unexpectedly got her pregnant, and though she wanted to stay together with him, they ultimately decided to stay as friends, he also tells the MC that he’s glad they became friends and hopes the best for him and Akihiko. The second outcome happens if the player doesn’t finish the Fortune and Strength under the 1 hour and 12 minutes deadline, Shinjiro will still get shot twice but goes into a coma and lose the ability to use his Persona, if the player gets this outcome they’ll still be able to complete Shinjiro’s social link normally. However, if his social link rank hasn’t reached 6 before 10/4 his fate will still be the same.

Ken’s social link will become available a week after he joins SEES; the player won’t need any stat requirements to start the link. But it will replace Chihiro’s social link. Much like Shinjiro, Ken won’t open up to the MC until much later in his link. He mentions his mother’s death at the hands of Shinjiro, also bringing up his father not being around, implying that he could’ve left Ken and his mother before the game. Much like Akihiko’s and Shinjiro’s social links, Ken’s will diverge depending on Shinjiro’s fate. If he dies, the MC will take Ken to his grave on his rank 5, the latter will have a nervous breakdown and blame Shinjiro’s death on himself, claiming that he should’ve taken action that would’ve changed the outcome. The MC will comfort Ken but he rejects it saying he doesn’t deserve it. If Shinjiro lives, MC will take Ken to visit him in the hospital. Ken will thank MC for saving Shinjiro’s life but then starts crying. He tells MC that he feels guilt which later turns into a jealous rage against MC, calling him a hero and himself a coward for not being brave enough to take the shot. Whatever happens, his social link will remain somewhat the same from rank 6 onward.