Ludger Kresnik
Member
With the release of Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony looming over the world like a dark cloud, I thought it might be a decent idea to give whoever isn't initiated a crash course on the series. I'll be going over the main canon entries, which order is best to consume them, and just have a good time because this series is real wacky get out get out while you still have the chance it's too late for me but save yourselves
haha just kidding
First things first, if you have a PS Vita, a PS4, and/or a PC, congratulations! You have everything you need to get into the series. All the games are available on said platforms, so go nuts.
Anyway!
Surprisingly enough, you'll want to start at the beginning. Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc is the first release in the series, and starting here is basically mandatory since everything after it will directly reference it in some way. It also serves as the mission statement for the franchise, so it's important from a thematic standpoint as well.
It's mainly a visual novel with point and click/detective adventure game elements. Depending on your skill with the latter and reading speed, it should take the average player around 15-20 hours to finish. There are no branching routes aside from a missable optional scene towards the end, but the plot will always progress linearly.
The game is split into three parts: Daily Life, Deadly Life, and Class Trials. In Daily Life, you can spend time with the other characters and learn their stories and such. In Deadly Life, you're in detective mode and have to collect clues in order to solve whatever murder mystery you're faced with. In Class Trials, the game goes full Ace Attorney courtroom drama, complete with many twitchy minigames.
Personally, I'd recommend playing it on the hardest difficulty because this game can get real easy, but that's up to your judgment. There's not much to worry about here, just play it at your own pace.
There is an anime adaptation, but it's more of a recap than a replacement. I wouldn't recommend it as your first exposure to the series. The second game also has no anime version, so you'd have to get into the games anyway to continue the story.
Whoops, we're getting silly already. Danganronpa/Zero is a light novel (basically a form of short novel) released only in Japan, though fan translations have been circulating since release. It takes place before DR1 but spoils several of its plot twists, so definitely don't even look it up until after you've finished that. It explores some of DR1's more vague backstory details as well as set up for DR2's events, but is ultimately optional (and not very good imo). It factors heavily into another later entry in the series, but... we'll get into that in a bit.
Regardless of if you skipped Zero or not, the next order of business should be Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair. It has an entirely new cast in a new setting, but make no mistake, this is as direct a sequel to DR1 as you can get. Going into why would be spoilery, so just take my word for it.
DR2 is longer than the first, but also a lot tougher. As in, you're faced with what would probably be a perfect murder in reality as soon as chapter 1. I'd recommend leaving the difficulty on normal and see how the first case goes. Aside from that, the structure remains mostly unchanged from DR1, though some gimmicks like a leveling system and a virtual pet have been added. These basically don't matter so you can ignore them if you want.
So, this is where the series gets awkward. Ultra Despair Girls: Danganronpa Another Episode is a spinoffy midquel kinda dealio. Genres are shifted from ADV/courtroom drama to a third person puzzle shooter, though the heavy story focus and VN structure are retained. UDG is set between DR1 and DR2, but it spoils plot developments from the second game so it definitely shouldn't be played before that.
Anyway, UDG is optional. The only thing it ever factors into is this very next entry, and... well, we're getting to that. UDG is of questionable quality, to say the least. Play it if you want, skip it if you don't, just don't be expecting the gameplay or writing to be up to the first two games' standards.
Skip it.
...
...alright, I'll talk about... this.
Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak is a ridiculous disaster I mean bad fanfic I mean anime series that aired twice a week in the summer 2016 season. The show was split into two arcs, Side: Future and Side: Despair. Proper viewing order is starting with Future 1, then going into Despair 1, Future 2, Despair 2, etc. until you're all done with both the show and the world around you. Future takes place after DR2 while Despair takes place before DR Zero, detailing aspects of the backstory that were never meant to be fleshed out. It also gives the plot of UDG some closure in the worst way possible.
Look, just trust me on this. Not only is this a bad entry in the series, it's also a bad show based on its own merits. It's definitely optional, but really just skip it unless you want DR1 and 2 retroactively ruined for you. I won't get into details because of spoilers, but I was a huge fan of the series until DR3 pretty much soured me on the entire thing.
Take caution and steel yourself if you must go onwards.
Also, if you insist on watching it, please watch the English dub. It's really funny.
Which brings us to the most recent entry, Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony, not to be confused with Danganronpa 3. This is coming out September 29th (My birthday, by the way. Also the same date the DR3 finale aired in 2016, fun fact.) and there's a cool demo for you to try out on all three platforms. Don't worry about plot spoilers, the demo is its own original story completely disconnected from the actual game. V3 gives us a new story unrelated to DR1 and 2, but... it's still not a good place to start, is all I'll say. Definitely play 1 and 2 first.
Why is it called V3? Obviously it's just to avoid confusion with DR3. There wouldn't be any other reason, right?
There's some spinoffs out there, mostly light novels, like Danganronpa/Togami or Danganronpa/Kirigiri, but those can be safely ignored. They don't matter.
I hope this has been at least slightly helpful or at least just kinda fun to read. Just remember, don't ever google anything related to the series until you're done with all of it unless you wanna get spoiled. Full spoilers for any part of it are very easy to find, so be careful, y'all.
haha just kidding
not really though
First things first, if you have a PS Vita, a PS4, and/or a PC, congratulations! You have everything you need to get into the series. All the games are available on said platforms, so go nuts.
Anyway!
Surprisingly enough, you'll want to start at the beginning. Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc is the first release in the series, and starting here is basically mandatory since everything after it will directly reference it in some way. It also serves as the mission statement for the franchise, so it's important from a thematic standpoint as well.
It's mainly a visual novel with point and click/detective adventure game elements. Depending on your skill with the latter and reading speed, it should take the average player around 15-20 hours to finish. There are no branching routes aside from a missable optional scene towards the end, but the plot will always progress linearly.
The game is split into three parts: Daily Life, Deadly Life, and Class Trials. In Daily Life, you can spend time with the other characters and learn their stories and such. In Deadly Life, you're in detective mode and have to collect clues in order to solve whatever murder mystery you're faced with. In Class Trials, the game goes full Ace Attorney courtroom drama, complete with many twitchy minigames.
Personally, I'd recommend playing it on the hardest difficulty because this game can get real easy, but that's up to your judgment. There's not much to worry about here, just play it at your own pace.
There is an anime adaptation, but it's more of a recap than a replacement. I wouldn't recommend it as your first exposure to the series. The second game also has no anime version, so you'd have to get into the games anyway to continue the story.
Whoops, we're getting silly already. Danganronpa/Zero is a light novel (basically a form of short novel) released only in Japan, though fan translations have been circulating since release. It takes place before DR1 but spoils several of its plot twists, so definitely don't even look it up until after you've finished that. It explores some of DR1's more vague backstory details as well as set up for DR2's events, but is ultimately optional (and not very good imo). It factors heavily into another later entry in the series, but... we'll get into that in a bit.
Regardless of if you skipped Zero or not, the next order of business should be Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair. It has an entirely new cast in a new setting, but make no mistake, this is as direct a sequel to DR1 as you can get. Going into why would be spoilery, so just take my word for it.
DR2 is longer than the first, but also a lot tougher. As in, you're faced with what would probably be a perfect murder in reality as soon as chapter 1. I'd recommend leaving the difficulty on normal and see how the first case goes. Aside from that, the structure remains mostly unchanged from DR1, though some gimmicks like a leveling system and a virtual pet have been added. These basically don't matter so you can ignore them if you want.
So, this is where the series gets awkward. Ultra Despair Girls: Danganronpa Another Episode is a spinoffy midquel kinda dealio. Genres are shifted from ADV/courtroom drama to a third person puzzle shooter, though the heavy story focus and VN structure are retained. UDG is set between DR1 and DR2, but it spoils plot developments from the second game so it definitely shouldn't be played before that.
Anyway, UDG is optional. The only thing it ever factors into is this very next entry, and... well, we're getting to that. UDG is of questionable quality, to say the least. Play it if you want, skip it if you don't, just don't be expecting the gameplay or writing to be up to the first two games' standards.
Skip it.
...
...alright, I'll talk about... this.
Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak is a ridiculous disaster I mean bad fanfic I mean anime series that aired twice a week in the summer 2016 season. The show was split into two arcs, Side: Future and Side: Despair. Proper viewing order is starting with Future 1, then going into Despair 1, Future 2, Despair 2, etc. until you're all done with both the show and the world around you. Future takes place after DR2 while Despair takes place before DR Zero, detailing aspects of the backstory that were never meant to be fleshed out. It also gives the plot of UDG some closure in the worst way possible.
Look, just trust me on this. Not only is this a bad entry in the series, it's also a bad show based on its own merits. It's definitely optional, but really just skip it unless you want DR1 and 2 retroactively ruined for you. I won't get into details because of spoilers, but I was a huge fan of the series until DR3 pretty much soured me on the entire thing.
Take caution and steel yourself if you must go onwards.
Also, if you insist on watching it, please watch the English dub. It's really funny.
Which brings us to the most recent entry, Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony, not to be confused with Danganronpa 3. This is coming out September 29th (My birthday, by the way. Also the same date the DR3 finale aired in 2016, fun fact.) and there's a cool demo for you to try out on all three platforms. Don't worry about plot spoilers, the demo is its own original story completely disconnected from the actual game. V3 gives us a new story unrelated to DR1 and 2, but... it's still not a good place to start, is all I'll say. Definitely play 1 and 2 first.
Why is it called V3? Obviously it's just to avoid confusion with DR3. There wouldn't be any other reason, right?
There is.
There's some spinoffs out there, mostly light novels, like Danganronpa/Togami or Danganronpa/Kirigiri, but those can be safely ignored. They don't matter.
I hope this has been at least slightly helpful or at least just kinda fun to read. Just remember, don't ever google anything related to the series until you're done with all of it unless you wanna get spoiled. Full spoilers for any part of it are very easy to find, so be careful, y'all.
