Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls
Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls is an action-adventure and third-person shooter video game developed by Spike Chunsoft. It is a spin-off in the Danganronpa series, set in between the events of Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc and Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair. The game was originally published by Spike Chunsoft for the PlayStation Vita in Japan on September 25, 2014, and internationally by NIS America in September 2015. Ports for the PlayStation 4 and Windows were released in June 2017.
Although different in gameplay to its murder mystery visual novel predecessors, Ultra Despair Girls retains the series' visual style and focus on narrative. The player controls Komaru Naegi—the younger sister of the first game's protagonist, Makoto Naegi—and Toko Fukawa, a returning character with split personality disorder. Komaru is forced to participate in a death game within a city overtaken by murderous bear robots called Monokumas, and teams up with Toko to escape. Behind the Monokumas are the Warriors of Hope, a group of abused children who intend to massacre all adults and construct a safe haven for kids. In combat sections, the player uses a megaphone gun as Komaru to fight the robots; as Toko, they control her serial killer personality Genocide Jack, who fights using scissors. Other sections feature visual novel, puzzle, and stealth game elements.
Ultra Despair Girls was conceived by series creator Kazutaka Kodaka and producer Yoshinori Terasawa shortly after the completion of Danganronpa 2, while they took time to prepare for a third mainline installment. They wanted to differentiate the spin-off from the main entries and considered multiple genres before they settled on action-adventure, since they thought the movement-based gameplay would compliment the story. Due to a difficult development process, Ultra Despair Girls became the most expensive Danganronpa game at the time; several staff members described the project as stressful in regards to budget and scheduling.
The game was met with mixed reviews. Critics were divided on the gameplay; some thought it was a strange direction for the series, but others enjoyed the dynamics provided by different bullet types available for the megaphone gun. Several critics thought the game retained a high level of writing quality from previous Danganronpa games, although some had issues with the story's pacing. It was considered the darkest Danganronpa game for its portrayal of themes such as child sexual abuse. Commercially, Ultra Despair Girls had sold about 500,000 copies by 2021. The game spawned manga adaptations and an anime continuation through an episode of the TV show Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School. Kodaka and co-director Shun Sasaki have indicated the possibility of a video game sequel.
Gameplay
Unlike the mainline Danganronpa series of murder mystery visual novels, the spin-off Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls is an action-adventure and third-person shooter video game. The player controls teenager Komaru Naegi in linear areas throughout a city overtaken by kids and an army of Monokuma robot bears, who massacre the city's adult population. Despite the change in genre, Ultra Despair Girls is still focused on narrative; in between the action-adventure segments, the player advances the story in visual novel-styled dialogue and cutscenes. The game is divided into chapters, which typically end with a boss fight against a mecha robot.To fight the variations of Monokuma enemies, Komaru wields the Hacking Gun—a megaphone that shoots Truth Bullets, which are projectiles of computer code that destroy or modify the behavior of the robots. The player acquires various types of ammunition for the megaphone throughout the story, which can be used on enemies or have environmental effects such as opening blocked paths. Break bullets damages Monokumas, Move activates machinery such as switches or cars to run over enemies, Dance temporarily stuns enemies by putting them into a dance, Detect acts as a light ray that allows the player to see puzzle clues or other secrets, Knockback will send enemies and objects flying backwards, Paralyze creates a field of electricity that can be used to damage multiple Monokumas at once, Burn sets enemies aflame and can be used in rapid fire, and Link allows the player to temporarily gain control of a Monkuma. Some of these are limited by an ammunition count, whereas others such as Move can be used indefinitely. The player encounters a variety of Monokuma enemies throughout the story, which are susceptible to different Truth Bullets. For example, Guard Monokumas use a shield that can be countered with Knockback, and using Dance on alarm-equipped Siren Monokumas will lure other nearby enemies.
Komaru is accompanied by Toko Fukawa, a girl with split personality disorder. On a limited timer represented by batteries, the player can control Toko's serial killer personality Genocide Jack, who fights using a pair of scissors, is invincible to enemy attacks, and deals greater damage than Komaru. As the player defeats enemies using Genocide Jack, she will charge up a fever gauge that can be used to unleash special attacks and combos. Unlike Genocide Jack, Komaru runs on a health bar; a game over is produced if her health reaches zero, though she can be saved by Toko if the player has at least one Genocide Jack battery and succeeds at a quick time event. Some sections deviate from combative gameplay and feature stealth and puzzle game elements. The player can also encounter Monoku-Man arcade machines, which will give access to an overhead camera view of an upcoming room with enemies. The camera offers clues to how the player can try to destroy or avoid all Monokumas without being spotted; successfully doing so increases the score received at the end of the chapter.
Throughout the city, the player can find "MonoMono" gashapon machines and gift boxes that award megaphone ammunition, hearts that replenish health, or batteries for Genocide Jack. Monokumas drop "MonoCoins" upon death, which can be used to purchase upgrades for Komaru and Toko at shops that are scattered throughout the city. A levelling system incremented by defeating Monokumas increases Komaru's skill points, which allows the player to equip more upgrades. The game includes several collectibles for the player to find. While not consequential to the story, they provide background on the game's setting and additional dialogue among characters. The collectibles include notes left by victims of the tragedy in the city, additional upgrades for Komaru and Toko, and manga sidestories.
Plot
Ultra Despair Girls takes place in between the events of Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc and 2: Goodbye Despair. It follows Komaru Naegi, an energetic but simple-minded ordinary high schooler who is the little sister of the first game's protagonist, Makoto Naegi. At the start of the Tragedy—a global societal collapse instigated by the terrorist organization Ultimate Despair, led by Junko Enoshima—Komaru is kidnapped by Junko's followers and confined to an apartment complex in Towa City, an artificial island created and administered by the conglomerate Towa Group. After one and a half years in captivity without knowledge of the outside world, her door is suddenly broken down by a murderous Monokuma robot. Komaru flees to the outside of her room and is saved by Byakuya Togami, a survivor from Trigger Happy Havoc and now an agent for the Future Foundation—a non-governmental organization aiming to restore the world from the effects of the Tragedy. Byakuya gives Komaru the Hacking Gun and orders her to flee, while he stays behind and fights the remaining Monokumas in the apartment.As the outside city is attacked by swarms of Monokumas, Komaru is guided to an escape helicopter by Future Foundation agents. The escape is intercepted by Monokumas and results in Komaru's capture. Her assailants reveal themselves as the Warriors of Hope, a group of five children responsible for the riots in Towa City, whose goal is to genocide all adults and create a utopia for children. They force Komaru to take part in the Demon Hunting—a death game where they will compete to kill her—and send her back into the city. Komaru finds herself cornered by Monokumas, but is saved by the split personality serial killer Genocide Jack. She soon reverts to the persecutory deluded Toko Fukawa, another survivor from the first game and intern at the Future Foundation who is infatuated with Byakuya. Although Toko takes a repulsive attitude towards Komaru for her airheadedness, they team up to venture into the city.
Throughout their exploration, Komaru and Toko fight the Warriors of Hope and learn of the traumas that led to their hatred of adults. Masaru Daimon was abused by alcoholic parents; Jataro Kemuri was berated by his mother to the point of extreme self-hatred; child actor Kotoko Utsugi was sexually abused by producers; Nagisa Shingetsu was overworked and drugged by his parents to improve his performance in school; and Monaca Towa, the illegitimate child of Towa Corporation's president, was outcast from her family. The five kids planned to commit group suicide but were stopped by Junko, who taught them to hate and murder adults.
Komaru and Toko are aided by a seemingly friendly Monokuma named Shirokuma to an underground resistance, led by Towa family member Haiji; however, he rejects their help due to Toko's affiliation with the Future Foundation, who he despises. After an excursion to contact Makoto, Komaru and Toko return to find the resistance under attack from Monokumas. Despite casualties, they assist in repelling the ambush and Haiji agrees to help the pair.
Supported by the resistance, Komaru and Toko advance into the Warriors of Hope's headquarters. They fight and destroy a mecha controlled by Monaca and the Warriors of Hope's advisor, a Monokuma named Kurokuma. Monaca reveals that her true goal is to turn Komaru into Junko's successor. Komaru falls into despair when Monaca claims to have murdered her parents, but Toko convinces her to not give in. After a battle with a Godzilla-sized Monokuma controlled by the traitorous Shirokuma, Monaca is left alone under a pile of rubble whilst Komaru and Toko rescue Byakuya, who had been captured at the start of the game. To prevent the outbreak of another war and to search for the true fate of her parents, Komaru chooses to stay behind in Towa City; a token of their friendship, Toko decides to join her. Monaca is rescued by the Warriors of Hope's servant, Nagito Komaeda, who promises to set her up as Junko's successor. Shirokuma and Kurokuma are revealed to contain an artificial intelligence of Junko's consciousness. Data chips of the two robots are taken by Junko's ally Izuru Kamukura, who uses these to start the killing game in Danganronpa 2. An image shown during the credits reveals that the other four Warriors of Hope have separated from Monaca and survive together.