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March 4, 2015 3:10 PM   Subscribe

Originally released on the PSP system in 2010 the first Danganronpa game called Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc ( (ダンガンロンパ 希望の学園と絶望の高校生) developed and produced by Spike Chunsoft . It featured a classic whodunit game where the MC (Makoto Naegi) a Japanese teenger found himself stuck in a strange high school setting with a unique cast.

Although this isn't exactly a new situation as similar settings where used for prior titles 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors and Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward essentially survival games in a locked room. In this case, the player interacts with the other cast members in a VN style format to gather clues about the crime (exposition), explore the rooms (investigation), and finally a school trial to decide who the culprit is at the end.

It sounds easier than done because we find out that Makoto and everyone else has anesmia other than their names and their "talent." As this is not a ordinary HS but one of the top schools in the nation for exclusive students who ranked the best in their field for example, Ultimate Writing Prodigy a young women who is famous for her novels featuring fishermen.

Before anyone could get their bearings they meet Monokuma who tells them are trapped inside the building unless they are successful committing a murder and getting away with it too. To raise the stakes before each round he sets up situations where he offers prizes to the winner and indicates he knows exactly their entire past and present lives were like before they woke up here.

However, what made this series stand out from the others is the use of popular media references (both Japanese/Western), the villain a stuffed bear named Monokuma, and slightly absurd plot line which never takes itself too seriously written by Kazutaka Kodaka. In a genre where anime is too common and sometimes too cookie-cutter the art manages to be memorable and the use of pink blood (because of censorship) end up with a stylish art direction by Rui Komatsuzaki.

Despite doing well in Japan's domestic market it hadn't made it's debut overseas as the PSP market winded down here. Fortunately, orenronen took it upon himself to do a LP (let's play) of the original where he translated most of the conversations and added related commentary to each scene. At the same time a separate group called: Project Zetsubou created a fan-patch for the PSP edition and there were plans for the the sequel Dangan Ronpa 2:Good-bye Despair (スーパーダンガンロンパ2 さよなら絶望学園).

However, NIS announced in 2013 they would localize the first game for the Vita soon but instead of releasing the remake of the two games (Danganronpa 1・2 Reload) they would release them individually in 2014. Currently, the two games are out for Vita for the overseas market and on Android, iOS, PSP for the domestic Japanese market.

The Vita edition of DR1 and DR2 are similar to their PSP counterparts but feature a separate mini-game where the player could befriend other characters in a "school" and "island" modes respectively but not have to re-do the trials or mini-games all over again.

Not to forget, a few weeks ago NIS America informed their fanbase they'd be localizing Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls (絶対絶望少女 ダンガンロンパ ) which is a spin-off story featuring a few minor characters. So far there are plans to create a third game in the series seen from a official trailer but details are still kept secret for now.

Also, there's a spinoff anime series Danganronpa: The Animation (ダンガンロンパ: The Animation) which covered the first game and introduced newcomers into the Dangan Ronpa universe and refreshed old players on the old cases. In a related note they also produced a live stage play, light novels, drama CDs, manga, and guides were also released which added background information and character profiles some of which were translated by fans into English.

Side note: Some of the links contain spoilers for the main stories and the Danganronpa series itself is rated M (mature) as it has stylized images of deaths, trauma, and other less cheerful events. Definitely NFSW.
posted by chrono_rabbit (7 comments total) 7 users marked this as a favorite
 
I just finished playing Danganronpa 2 yesterday! I love these games. I usually describe them as a sort of cross between the Ace Attorney games and Battle Royale, but I don't think that does them justice.

I find it hilarious that in spite of the violent subject matter being sufficient to turn away anyone who isn't comfortable with that, all blood depicted is bright pink.
posted by asperity at 3:43 PM on March 4, 2015


Man, reading orenronen's translation of the first game as he was doing it was simultaneously great (the suspense was so fun!) and tiresome (the thread on the something awful forums that he was posting it in got increasingly insufferable).
posted by dismas at 4:03 PM on March 4, 2015


Fantastic games, despite the (imo) terrible actiony minigame segments in the class trials. When I'm in mystery-solving mode, the last thing I want is a shitty reaction-speed test. But everything else is so, so good, it's still worth it.

Also of interest: Monokuma's voice actress, Nobuyo Ōyama, is the voice of Doraemon, the titular character in a super-popular and long-running kids' anime. Perhaps the super-popular and long-running kids' anime. To imagine what this is like for a Japanese player (I have heard), imagine that the sadistic and bloodthirsty villain in this murderous battle royale were voiced by Mel Blanc, doing basically the same voice he used for Bugs Bunny.
posted by rifflesby at 4:12 PM on March 4, 2015 [2 favorites]


Haha, I love how hard it is to write one of these games without giving, like, at least half the cast amnesia.

999 and Virtue's Last Reward are truly great though, so I'll have to check out Danganronpa. Thanks for the post!
posted by Quilford at 4:14 PM on March 4, 2015


True, I liked how they improved the comic sequences but Logic Dive was just no. The final trial is quite brutal too.
posted by chrono_rabbit at 9:13 PM on March 4, 2015


My two favourite games of 2014. Anyone who has a remote interest in the premise should really try to play the games, even if the trial minigames aren't to your liking. (In practice, I found some of them awful and some of them neat, though arguably the second game's "improvements" on the minigames are anything but.)
posted by chrominance at 2:06 AM on March 5, 2015


Oh, my. So I'm playing island mode in DR2 to get all my Hope Fragments. I was not expecting what you get as a present for completing each character's social interaction thingy. It's pretty great.

It's underpants.
posted by asperity at 9:04 AM on March 5, 2015 [1 favorite]


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