Interesting, colour-poppy, and eye-catching art style. The 2D character models on 3D backgrounds and how they incorporated that was actually pretty cool. Character models have a lot of fun variety, ranging from pretty average little dudes (Makoto and Toko), to conventionally attractive model-types (Junko and Sayaka), to genuinely unconventional and unique (Sakura, Hifumi - though honestly most of them have some unique visual trait about them). The colour scheme and pink blood gives the whole thing a kind of bubblegum splatterpunk vibe that I'm super into.

There's a great range of personalities in the cast, and their different 'Ultimate Talents' lends some more differences between their backgrounds. You have the fashionista model, the jock, the stoic one, the prep, all those cliches - and then they often turn out to be nothing like you'd expect from those cliches.

Everyone kind of acknowledges the writing in this game can get pretty wacky, and, I mean, yeah. There's a talking robot bear who sometimes speaks aloud in emoticons for the hell of it. Don't take it too seriously and you'll probably have a fun time. The plot twists are genuinely great if you go in at least partly blind like I did - I knew Junko would have some greater significance (can't really avoid that with how ever-present she is online) and I kind of got the general gist as to what that significance would be, and I was able to figure out some cases fairly easily, but others caught me genuinely off-guard, and it was super fun to play through them with my fiancee watching me as we both tried to guess what would be revealed.

It's a visual novel, so expect a lot of clicking, a lot of reading, some dialogue options, and not a lot of physical gameplay. I enjoy visual novels, so the gameplay was enjoyable for me.

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc Is a game that I can't describe. A little bit of backstory. I was aware of the Danganronpa franchise. I learned about it from my girlfriend who is really into them. However, I had no interest in playing it. But one day I checked Steam and saw that they were on sale. "Why not," I said. And I downloaded all 4 of them.

It has probably become my 2nd favorite video game franchise of all time. I'll keep it spoiler-free. But let me explain the main concept.

Hope's Peak Academy is the most prestigious school in Japan. Maybe in the entire world. Going to Hope's Peak sets you for life. However, there is only two ways to get in. You have to be in high school, and you have to be the very best in what you do. These people are called "Ultimates". If you are the "Ultimate Baseball Star" for example.

You play as Makoto Naegi. A talentless student who only got in by winning a lottery. He became the "Ultimate Lucky Student". But after walking into the school, he mysteriously passes out. He wakes up and meets with the 14 other students.

They are greeted by a robot bear named Monokuma. And he puts them in the "Killing Game". The only way to get out is to murder another and get away with it. After a murder, there is a class trial. If found guilty, they are executed. If found innocent, the rest are executed and they can leave. It's up to you to find the clues and find out who was the culprit.

The game has amazing mechanics. It's split into three gameplay modes. "School Life" which is getting to know the other students. "Deadly Life" which is investigating the murder. And the class trial which I won't go into detail on. Just know that it's amazing

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc contains one of the most engaging stories I've ever seen in a visual novel. The characters are all unique and interesting. It has amazing writing and voice acting (for the most part). The game brings you through sadness, laughter, and hope, and despair. It's a huge time investment. But you won't regret it.

GO INTO IT SPOILER FREE

4/5

Now this is my kind of visual novel. While I still consider 999: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors to be the standard-bearer for the genre, Danganronpa comes pretty damned close. It might actually have 999 beat in some key areas. Maybe--maybe--on a replay of both, I might admit 999 isn't quite as great as this. I mean, Danganronpa has a crazy bear, some really neat characters, a surprisingly complex plot that used a game mechanic to help it make sense... I mean, heck. It's just a hum-dinger of a game.

It's an ambitious game, and the high heights it tries to reach also provide the areas it stumbles. The Phoenix Wright-esque courtroom trials use several mini-games to present evidence during. It's a more ambitious way of showcasing courtroom drama, but the ambition oversteps a bit as I ended up losing more health to controls than logic lapses. And the rhythm game that concludes each trial is something that I found impossible to do as intended (see arguments, link arguments, counter arguments) and ended up settling for see argument, counter argument--which works, but makes the task one of rote execution rather than logical puzzle. Some iffy in-game instructions also mar the experience (I had to look a few things up online just to figure out what the hell I was doing, as with the rhythm game--the game tells you the controls, but not really the concept you're aiming for while using them).

That's not great, of course, but Danganronpa is, as a visual novel, much more about the storytelling than the mini-games that make up trials (which, it should be noted, could have been much much worse). A guy wakes up in his new school, confused. After finding the other new students--also confused--they are told that they cannot escape. The only way out is to graduate. And the only way to graduate is... to kill another student. Cue obvious comparisons to Battle Royale, except, I guess, without the frenzied enthusiasm the students in Battle Royale show.

The murder context leads, obviously, into the detective/courtroom climax of each chapter. And, also pretty obviously, the narrative focuses on figuring out who is behind this odd game and why.

Anyway, if you're into visual novel or narrative-driven puzzle games, give Danganronpa a try.

About the Game:

I'd never really played a VN game before Danganronpa, and I really only bought it on a whim when Amazon dropped the price down to $29. I mean I'd heard great things about it, and I enjoyed the brief time I'd spent with Persona 4 and Catherine, but really I kind of just wanted it to have it.

In fact it was my wife I actually bought it for. She was going through a bit of a gaming rut (since cured with Star Ocean Second Story) and I thought a change of pace might be good for her. Instead, I found myself in need of a handheld game while she hogged used the TV, so I figured what the hell...

Danganronpa is a kind of murder mystery game... Phoenix Wright meets Battle Royal (Or Hunger Games if you prefer, you freakin' weirdo)... where a group of elite students find themselves trapped in a school under the watch of an insane headmaster/bear where the only way to escape is to murder a fellow student, and get away with it!

Disclaimer: Spoilers will be kept to an absolute minimum! Promise!

Gameplay:

The game is split into three distinct phases: Free Time, Investigation and Class Trial. After you've met your fellow classmates and come to understand the situation you're in, you're set free to socialize and get to know the people you'll be spending the next several hours of gameplay with.

The students, of which there are 15 counting yourself, are all considered the best in their respective talents. You have Aoi the Ultimate Swimmer, Toko the Ultimate Novelist, Mondo the Ultimate... Biker Gang Leader... It's an eccentric and compelling cast, and it would take long for you to grow familiar with and attached to all of them, or at least most of them. The aforementioned free time allows you to wander the school, find and purchase gifts, and form friendly relationships. The more time you spend with any one student, the more you'll come to learn about them, and you'll also receive special abilities that you can use later on in the game.

Eventually, someone will end up dead. When a body is discovered, the Investigation portion of the game begins, and it's up to you gather your classmate's accounts of the events leading up the event, search for evidence and basically have a case prepared for when the Class Trial begins. There's really no way to mess up the investigation, as the game will not allow you to progress until you've found all the evidence available for the case, but it's still on you to figure out how everything fits into the case.

The trial itself has you going over the murder in a round table format, with everyone sharing their findings and opinions. Scattered throughout are a variety of minigames based on the progress of the trial. These range from simple tasks like choosing the right piece of evidence from a list to backup a statement, or answering a multiple choice question, to playing a hangman style letter game to come up with an answer. Most commonly, you'll be involved in a rapid fire debate where you'll look for contradictions in an argument and literally shoot them down with a "Truth Bullet". All of this culminates in a rhythm game style showdown with the accused When all is said and done, a vote will be passed and judgement will be carried out on the guilty party.

As far as gameplay is concerned, all of you interactions are really just a vehicle to drive the story forward. When you play Danganronpa with the same mindset that you'd have reading a book, there's really no complaints about any of the game mechanics, for the most part. The only two things that come to mind are the ability to "interrupt" a conversation to touch on a key point from that conversation, and the ability in class trials to contradict an argument with a keyword from the same argument. With the first one, it adds this awkward illusion of choice where there isn't any. The game will simply not progress until you've touched on every point in the conversation. For the latter, it just seems superfluous and adds some needless complication and frustration to an otherwise streamlined portion of the game.

The story itself is, for lack of a better term, batshit insane. It's also wonderful. There characters are all interesting and unique and people you thought you'd hate, or forget entirely, from the beginning can end up being your favorites by the end. Add to that the psychotically marvelous headmaster, Monokuma, and there's really never a dull moment. What I loved most about the story was that in the beginning of every chapter I felt extremely confident I knew how things were going to go forward. I knew who was going to kill who and why they'd do it. I was right two out of six times...

Presentation, Music and Sound:

The anime style of Danganronpa is somewhat unique. Characters appear as cardboard cutouts, blood is a bright, neon pink color, and even proper cutscenes have an interesting appearance to them. Environments are detailed and atmospheric, and everything has a sense of dark whimsy to it. You'll constantly want to explore the school, wondering what lies beyond the next stairway, though you'll never shake the feeling that you're truly a prisoner at Hope's Peak Academy.

Music is fantastic and weird, but good weird, and it always manages to work itself into my head at the most appropriate situations. Actually, we have a building that I have to travel to for work on occasion which has a similar layout to the first floor of Hope's Peak, and I can't walk around there without hearing the Free Time music...

Sounds are a bit of a mixed bag. Normal sound effects are fine, but the odd voiceovers during conversations can be very distracting. First, let me go on record and say that I'm a huge dub fan of anything. Being blind, I'll even take bad dub's over subtitles if I can. None of that was to say Danganronpa's dubbing is bad, it's not, it's great, I'm just saying that my complaint isn't with the dub itself. Only class trials as very brief events in game are fully dubbed, otherwise you just get random quips every time you talk to someone. The problem is that these don't always line up with what the person is actually saying, and it can be a bit off-putting.

As far as the trials themselves are concerned, the voice acting is great, in my opinion. All the characters' English voices sound appropriate, and even some of the initially sub-par ones grew on me by the end.

Fun:

I've always had an interest in the genre, but Danganronpa has officially made me a fan. It's been nearly a week since I beat this game and the twists and turns and the ending still have me trying to figure out how I feel about everything. Of course the fact that I am this affected by the game should speak to its quality. When my wife asked me what I thought of it after the credits rolled I honestly couldn't give a solid answer, "It was good... I think?"

I can say I was definitely spent after it was over, but also desperate for answers. With that I decided I'd just fire up Danganronpa 2 real quick, just 10 minutes, see if it clears anything up on the first game... It has not, and I'm now three hours in with more questions than answers...

What I can say for certain is that Danganronpa is probably my favorite game that I've play this year (having not actually beaten anything released this year) and one I'll be trying to convince anyone I can to play. Also looking forward to the anime next month!

...Chihiro is my waifu DON'T JUDGE ME!

Review:

This review has spoilers, yes, I’ll mark the spoilers as spoilers, but still.

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc is a game that I never expected I would love, but I really do. Yeah, it has big problems, but it’s become something of a guilty pleasure over these past few months.

This game takes the Phoenix Wright formula, and yeah, thought that is slightly unoriginal, the trials are extremely fun, and do add some things the AA games never had. It can be a bit tedious once the bullet mechanics get harder, but it doesn’t get that annoying once you get the hang of it. The visual style for this series as a whole is really interesting and that cardboard cutout thing makes it look janky, but cool at the same point.

I think the main issue that I, and many other people have is the dialogue. There are so many well written scenes in this game/series, but the dialogue just drags on, and something that could take 2 minutes to explain, can create 25 minutes of obnoxiously long dialogue. People defend this because it’s "realistic”, but if that ruins your game a slight bit, is there really an excuse? Sometimes the conversations are useless, and never carry on to the ending, or even the sequels! For some scenes, it does help within the trial like the Mondo and Taka scene.

But it sucks to read stuff that has been explained 20 TIMES, and then have to sit through a bunch of reactions, AND THEN, you have to recap it in the closing comic book sequence (which I do very much enjoy aesthetically and gameplay-wise), but it’s so, so exhausting to sit through the same things.

Another one of my issues is the first trial. Big, big spoilers ahead. The thing is, I (and now that I’ve seen many other people play this game) and many other people found out the killer’s identity immediately! I do realize that that this was made for Japan, where 11037 might be less obvious, but it still does really take the tension out of the trial. Yes, it’s kind of cool that you can solve it immediately, you realize that you have to slog through 1,000,000 lines of dialogue, which if you remember, SUCKS!

Right now, it does sound like I don’t like this game, but this is the last con before I talk about the GOOD stuff.

The free time and how it interacts with the game. Listen, I love the item mechanic and you do learn tidbits about the characters, but there isn’t really an influence on the story because of this, yes it’s fun, but what does it fundamentally add. Many people compare this to a typical side quest, but even if you have a close bond with that character, they’ll still try to frame or betray you. "Well, that’s the point!” I hear you say. THEN WHY ADD IT IN THE FIRST PLACE, when it’s basically meaningless, and the point can still be made clear in other scenes! It doesn’t affect the story that much anyway, which yes, you do get to choose whether Makoto "dies" or Kyoko dies, which is very cool, but it would’ve been cooler if the whole game was like that. I’m not one to say whether games should’ve added more gameplay mechanics, but when they’re clearly teasing it, it spells out the opportunities that weren’t there!

I’m sorry, on to the really good things. In a quickfire round.

1. The characters are great. Mostly all (yes fuck you Hiro, you should’ve died) have great personalities and once you talk to them in free time, you get very interesting conversations with them.

2. This has an amazing message. When that last trial ends, god damn it’s powerful. It can be garnered as cliché, but it executes it in a way where it makes you want to cry, which it nearly did,

3. All rest of the trials are very fun, when it doesn’t drag on, they become legitimately urgent to solve.

4. The executions and animations are so cool, they each relate to the person’s "Ultimate” and it’s amazing.

There’s more that I like, but that goes into very spoilery stuff, and some are very specific. I also have a couple of nitpicks, plot holes, and game design issues, but that also goes into very spoilery stuff.

7.8/10. Would strongly recommend if you’re looking for a new fandom to get into. Also, if you play this, don’t choose waifus. Just don’t.

Danganronpa has got to be one of the strangest games I've ever played. I played this to join in on the discussion with Grouvee Game Club podcast, which just started! Give it a listen. A small disclaimer, I played the English Translated Rom done by Project Zetsubou. This game is available for PSP and Vita as well. I hear the Vita version is much better, as the game is much clearer and the american release has great voice acting. The Vita version also has a 50 day school mode in which you and your classmates build tiny little robot bears, or so I hear. The PSP version does not include this mode. The localization changes a bit of the details in the trials here and there, but nothing too significant.

The general premise is something akin to Battle Royale, a comparison so apt I can't seem to avoid it. You are Makoto Naegi, and after being accepted to an extremely prestigious academy (Kibogamine) you lose consciousness. After coming to, you walk around to school and come across the rest of your fellow students. 15 of them to be exact. Suddenly, an announcement is made on the monitor system. A little bear half black and half brown asks you to meet him in the gym. After introductions, you all meet in the gym as he explains to you his intentions, and your situation.

There are tons of rules to this game, but the gist of it is that in order for anyone to leave this academy, they have to get away with murder. An announcement happens after any murder is found by 3 or more people, quickly followed by a class trial. The little bear, Monokuma, gives incentives to drive the students into murdering eachother. If the class is able to determine who the killer is correctly, that person will be executed, but if the class chooses incorrectly then everyone is executed except for the murderer.

The characters themselves are pretty great. There are a few duds, but for the most part each one of them is an individual with their own likes and dislikes, past, motives, agenda. They are each pretty unique in personality and appearance. I found it very upsetting to see some of them go when the time came. The dialogue in the game is hilarious.

The majority of the gameplay revolves around inspecting a crime scene, gather clues, and then afterwards during the class trial using those clues as ammunition during discussion. Your classmates will begin discussing the crime and its up to you to find the contradiction in their statements and debunk them with evidence. There are several modes during the class trials which consist of different minigames. There is the debate mode, epiphany anagram mode, machinegun talk mode, and climax logic mode. Sadly, each one of these modes is more frustrating than the last. With each consecutive trial, they also add a layer of difficulty to each minigame. It is the most convoluted way I have ever had the experience of going through solving a murder.

Still, the story the game has to tell is a good one. I don't think anyone should deprive themselves of such a great experience just because of a few minor details. There might even be some sadistic twisted individuals who find the minigames fun. If you play through this game, I suggest at the start of the game choosing the easiest mode. You aren't rising up to any meaningful challenge playing it on hard. The only meat and potatoes this game has to offer is its story, and it's pretty twisted. The narrative really has a dark japanese horror film vibe to it, or something akin to the Korean films by Park Chan-wook such as Oldboy or Sympathy for Lady Vengeance.

Asahina is adorable. I am so glad she didn't die.

The ending was something I didn't expect. I had my suspicions, but never as drastic as the world ending. Or did it really?!

Kinda odd that one of the only survivors of this game is a serial killer that was neither killed or attempted to kill.

Togami could be a lot cooler if he wasn't such an asshole.