The Persona series’ history dates back to its original spin-off of the Shin Megami Tensei series from Atlus. Due to this immense connection, the two share a lot of different demons, such as the star of this Jack Frost Persona guide. Jack Frost is, undoubtedly, the most iconic demon in the series, and for a good reason, with a lot to love about the little guy.
This Jack Frost Persona guide is going to dive deep into what you should know about the most famous demon in the Persona and Shin Megami Tensei series. With his fun and memorable design, great early use in games, and the promotion of him across the Persona universe, there is a reason that he is so well-loved by the community. Here is everything that you need to know about Jack Frost, including some details you might not have known before.
Bottom Line Up Front
Jack Frost is one of the most unforgettable demons in the entire Persona and overall Shin Megami Tensei universe. Originally, he appeared prior to even the main Shin Megami Tensei series and would be a significant recurring demon in games before also debuting in the first Persona on PlayStation 1.
Though he had a few older designs, his iconic appearance was locked down early and has been his look ever since. Jack Frost is typically an early demon or Persona that players can encounter, allowing them to use his powerful Bufu ice-type abilities.
Jack is so famous that he even has his own spin-off game dedicated to him and plenty of other appearances outside of the main series, alongside his many other variants.
Who Is Jack Frost?
Jack Frost is a demon and Persona in the Shin Megami Tensei and Persona series. Without a doubt, he is also the most iconic out of the hundreds that exist over the past several decades since the franchise’s start. In many ways, Atlus has unofficially made Jack Frost the one true mascot of the entire Persona series and developer as a whole.
He appears in just about everything that Atlus does regarding SMT and Persona, ranging from games to promotional materials to merch items and so much more. Because of this, Jack Frost has also gained popularity in the community as a meme character and beloved demon for fans.
There is a lot to like about Jack Frost, from his memorable but straightforward appearance to his usefulness in those early moments of the Persona games. This is due to the fact that, as you might expect, he is one of the go-to Bufu, or ice elemental, skill users and a great companion to have in early battles.
Even when Jack Frost has long outlived his usefulness in games, he is still great for fusion material. Jack Frost has many other brethren and variants that he can be fused into to allow players to take advantage of the entire Jack family. The Fairy-type demon and member of the Magician Arcana in the Persona series is someone that players spend a lot of time with.
Appearance
The appearance of Jack Frost in the Persona and Shin Megami Tensei series has mainly been the same. This is due to the fact that Atlus came up with an excellent design for him relatively early in the life of its franchises, and it has since stuck around. That said, there were some earlier appearances and even slight redesigns that Jack Frost has had in the past.
Jack Frost
Initially, the look for Jack Frost was more akin to perhaps what you would expect when you hear that name. Likely based on the famous Christmas children’s story and film character, Jack Frost is meant to be a magical snowman who brings cheer to everyone around him during the holidays.
Because of this, his first appearance in a game in Megami Tensei II was a little different from the one that we know today. He is a much rounder snowman with a simple face and smile in this appearance. He wears a blue and white candy cane-style scarf around his neck and a red top hat. He wears red snow boots and carries around a polka dot umbrella.
This design would be swapped out in the first Shin Megami Tensei game for the Jack Frost that we know today. In this classic NES JRPG, Atlus nailed the iconic Jack Frost look. Here, he is a plump and round snowman with large black eyes that stare deep into your soul and a massive smile with two fangs sticking out.
On his head, he now wears a blue hat that has two little demon ears pointing up from it and a smiley face in the middle of his forehead. He has a jester-like blue collar with gold tips that go around his neck and blue boots on the bottom with yellow borders around the ankle.
This design would mostly stick the same from there, with only minor changes to update the art for Jack Frost through the years. He has slimmed down a tiny bit over time, with his most recent appearance being in Shin Megami Tensei V, where his boots became more defined, his hands became more prominent, and the hat changed some with no smiley face and smaller eyes.
Other Variants
The other variants match the beloved look of Jack Frost in his family. There is his rival, Pyro Jack, for instance, who is the Agi, or fire-elemental version of Frost. He looks like a standard jack-o-lantern that flies around and has a cloak that he wears alongside a witch’s hat and lantern.
There is also Black Frost, which is a take on him that swaps out the snowman for a black snowman with a purple outfit which is generally more potent than Jack. There is also the leader of Jack Frost, King Frost, who has the same goofy facial expression along with long flowing blonde hair and a regal outfit and crown on top.
Personality
The personality of Jack Frost has become defined over the years as a goofy and lighthearted fairy character. Jack is a fun Persona demon who will gladly chat with the player and communicate with them, cracking jokes and always sharing a smile.
This fun nature of Jack Frost’s personality is a huge reason why he has grown so popular in the community. The Persona and SMT games are so dark and brooding most of the time, so Jack Frost is a light in the middle of the shadows. That said, he can be devious when he is around his enemies but still sporting that signature smile and “Hee Ho!” greeting.
Series Mascot Explained
One of the most notable parts about Jack Frost is that he quickly became a series mascot representing both the Shin Megami Tensei and Persona series. In addition, this caught on enough that the developer, Atlus, basically uses Jack Frost as its mascot, in general, these days.
I think that the time when Jack Frost became quickly popular was around that of Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne on the PlayStation 2. Though he had some fans prior to this moment, it is here that Atlus doubled down on the demon and made him a prominent character in marketing and the like.
This caught on more with the community, significantly as Nocturne grew in popularity, paving the way for other major Atlus RPGs like Persona 3 and 4. This all led to Jack Frost receiving his own spin-off video game called Jack Bros, and plenty of merch and other items in the future.
It was not long before Atlus began promoting Jack Frost in company materials as its official mascot. That has remained ever since, only increasing in recent years because of hee-ho memes and the like.
Abilities
When it comes to Jack Frost’s abilities in battle, these have also not changed much over the years. Atlus has pretty much nailed down a broad set of skills that the fan-favorite demon learns in most games.
These skills include negating resistances to ice abilities, debuffs, and the occasional light elemental skills. That said, the bulk of Jack Frost’s use comes from his Bufu skills.
Bufu Skills
Bufu is the name for ice-type abilities in the Persona and SMT series, and Jack Frost is the early game king of that type. For the most part, the general skill that Jack will have when you first get him is Bufu. This is the most basic, low-damage single-target ice attack in the game.
However, there is usually the possibility that he will also learn skills like Mabufu that are useful in the early parts of a Persona game. This is the same low-damage ability, but it attacks the entire set of enemies in the battle rather than a single one. There is even Ice Breath and other Bufu-style skills that Jack Frost learns in some games. However, the counter to this is that he is almost always weak to fire elements.
How to Obtain Jack Frost
There are a couple of different ways that you are able to obtain Jack Frost in the Persona games, and it generally stays the same no matter which game you are playing. For starters, there is the method of simply collecting the demon while you are exploring dungeons in any of the games.
In most Persona games, there is a card system where you have a chance of obtaining the card for a particular demon after a battle, which allows you to add it to your party. This is one of the easiest ways to get Jack Frost since he generally appears in early dungeons in most Persona games.
Alternatively, there are games like Persona 5 that brought back the negotiation system. In this way, players can encounter Jack Frost in battle and then chat with him once they knock him down. The best way to do this is by using a critical hit or fire attack.
Negotiating requires the right responses and gifts to ensure that he joins the party. Lastly, there is fusion. Jack Frost is one of the easier fusions in the Persona series since there are many easy Personas that you can get like Pixie, Angel, Succubus, Mandrake, and so on that can fuse into him in the Velvet Room.
Fusion Possibilities
Speaking of fusion possibilities, there are many options for fusing together Jack Frost, depending on which game you are playing. In Persona 5 alone, there are nearly 30 options for fusing together Jack Frost in that game, depending on the Personas that you wish to use.
In general, most of these fusion options are not super useful since they will involve Personas that are much higher level and, therefore, more valuable than Jack. Here are the five favorite fusions that I like for Jack Frost that are relatively easy to make:
- Silky (level 6) and Mandrake (level 3)
- Succubus (level 7) and Pixie (level 2)
- Mokoi (level 9) and Silky (level 6)
- Angel (level 12) and Bicorn (level 4)
- Succubus (level 7) and Kelpie (level 6)
In addition, there are tons of recipes for fusion that you can use to turn Jack Frost into. This includes some of his family members and plenty of other Personas.
Using Persona 5 as an example again, nearly 200 possible fusions use Jack Frost. That said, here are some of the ones I think you should know about:
- Fuse with Obariyon (level 8): Creates Matador
- Fuse with Kushi Miramar (level 14): Creates High Pixie (level 16)
- Fuse with Nekomata (level 17): Creates Jack-o-Lantern
- Fuse with Koh-i-Noor (level 25 treasure demon): Creates Jack-o-Lantern
- Special fuse with Pyro Jack and King Frost: Black Frost (level 67)
History
The history of Jack Frost begins with his first appearance in Megami Tensei II. He was one of the overworld demons that players could encounter in that game. In this initial game, Jack Frost was based on the legend of the snow elf that hails from England.
In this legend, it is said that Jack Frost is the fairy who is responsible for the cold during the winter. Specifically, Jack Frost is the one who creates the literal frost that forms on your windows during the winter. This legend created the basis for this character.
Though Megami Tensei II is where Jack Frost first appeared, it wasn’t until Shin Megami Tensei for the NES that he came into his own as the memorable winter fairy. From there, he started to play more significant roles in storylines in games like Shin Megami Tensei Nine and the original Persona.
He appears in cameos and significant roles in these games, especially in the original Persona. In this game, it is one of the earliest Personas that you can collect, and it has some notable features in a couple of scenes. If you play the Snow Queen route, Jack Frost will even help the player out in one part of the quest.
By far, the most memorable encounter with Jack Frost, though, is his own game known as Jack Bros. This game features him as one of the main stars and playable characters that you can choose. The infamous but well-received game came out for the ill-fated Virtual Boy.
Though the Virtual Boy was a mess overall, the Jack Bros. game was generally one of the best experiences for the terrible virtual reality Nintendo console. In this game, players could pick Jack Frost as one of the three heroes to fight through various levels in a top-down shooter format. The goal was to guide Jack Frost through the levels and back safely home to the fairy world before Halloween ended.
Jack Frost in Other Games and Media
Given the status of Jack Frost as the series mascot, there are a lot of appearances of him in other games and media. For instance, he is present in almost all of the mainline Persona games from beginning to end as one of the Personas that you can summon in battle.
This includes the spin-off Persona games as well, like Persona 4 Arena, Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth, and Persona 5 Strikers most recently. Basically, if Atlus is making a new JRPG that is set in the Persona or Shin Megami Tensei universe, you can likely expect Jack to be there.
That said, there are other games that he has appeared in simultaneously. He appeared in Etrian Odyssey, which is also from Atlus but is not in the same universe as SMT. Puzzle and Dragons’ many spin-offs with SMT and Persona have seen Jack Frost make an appearance there as well.
In BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle, the fighting game saw Teddie from Persona 4 as one of the playable fighters, and there is a themed Jack Frost skin there. Atlus’ Snowboard Kids DS game also featured him as one of the playable characters in that game.
There are plenty of appearances in other media as well, like anime when the Persona 3 protagonist summoned him in the first film adaptation. There is also plenty of merch and even cosplays that surround Jack Frost. Fans of the series adore this character, so they often create fan art that showcases him and his family of characters.
Fun Facts About Jack Frost
Here are some fun facts about Jack Frost that you may not have known about before:
- Jack Frost is the aforementioned official mascot of Atlus, both in the original Japanese company as well as the American branch.
- Jack Frost is, understandably, one of the favorite demons of even some of the developers who worked on the games.
- Despite his immense popularity, even for people who have never played an SMT or Persona game, he only ranked fifth in the official demon popularity poll in 2017.
- Jack Frost has several family members, both on the Jack side, like Jack-o-Lantern, and on the Frost side, like King Frost.
- Hee-ho is not only the signature greeting and phrase that Jack Frost and his family members use, but it is also a verbal tic attached to his sentences. This exists both in the English and Japanese versions of the games.
- One of Jack Frost’s primary relatives, Jack the Ripper, is not used quite as much in the SMT series as Frost and even Pyro Jack. This is seen in the fact that Jack the Ripper has literally never even been a Persona in the Persona series, which will hopefully change in the future.
- In the Digital Devil Saga games, Jack Frost is one of the demons you can negotiate with. Interestingly enough, one of the possible negotiation questions asks the player which hand Jack is dominant with. It turns out that Jack Frost is canonically left-handed for some reason.
FAQs
Question: How do you make the Jack Frost Persona?
Answer: The Jack Frost Persona is one of the easiest and earliest ones that a player can obtain or even fuse for in the games. For this purpose, I am going to use Persona 5 as an example since it is the most recent mainline game in the series with fusion elements to it.
In Persona 5 and Royal, there are nearly 30 different combinations of Personas that you can fuse to make Jack Frost as early as the second dungeon in the game. However, my personal recommendation is to combine Silky and Mandrake together or Succubus and Pixie together as they are some of the earliest Personas that you can obtain relatively quickly.
Question: What does Jack Frost say in Persona?
Answer: The signature line that you may already know that Jack Frost says in Persona and Shin Megami Tensei is “hee ho!” There are several other variations of this greeting that it uses as well.
Question: Is Jack Frost good in Persona 5?
Answer: Jack Frost is generally pretty good in the early dungeons of Persona 5. He is one of the best examples of the Bufu skills that you may need for some fights, but he is best replaced once you start getting to higher dungeons and have unlocked all of his abilities.
Conclusion
Jack Frost is among the most popular and well-loved demons and Personas in the history of the developer Atlus. This is unlikely to change anytime in the future, with essentially guaranteed appearances of Frost in the inevitable (and still unannounced) Persona 6 and Shin Megami Tensei VI someday.
While we do not, technically, know that those games are coming, it is highly likely, and when they do, Jack Frost will inevitably be a demon and Persona in them both for players to collect once more. If you would like to know more about the possibilities of the unannounced Persona 6, beyond the latest appearance of Jack Frost, be sure to check out my breakdown of this highly anticipated JRPG.
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