Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
is a visual novel adventure game developed and published by Spike. The first installment in the Danganronpa series, it was originally released for the PlayStation Portable in Japan in November 2010. It was ported to Android and iOS in August 2012. NIS America localized and published the game internationally on PlayStation consoles, with the first release of the game in English occurring in 2014.
The player controls a high school student named Makoto Naegi who finds himself involved in a battle royale in Hope's Peak Academy, where the robot bear Monokuma gives the students the chance to escape from the establishment if they murder another student and are not voted as the killer in a trial. Combining elements from dating simulations and third-person shooters, the game sees Makoto interact with other students to solve "class trials" by shooting at arguments displayed on the screen.
The game originated from writer Kazutaka Kodaka's idea to generate a new type of game, as he believed the original adventure games were no longer popular. As a result, he created a dark scenario that generated controversy within Spike due to the amount of violence displayed among students. Nevertheless, the company decided to develop it alongside the unique gameplay system which they thought was less derivative from other games. The cast was designed by Rui Komatsuzaki.
Danganronpa was a commercial success and earned positive reviews for the handling of the cast and story. It won awards, though critics were divided on the lack of challenging difficulty in solving class trials and its mini games. A sequel, Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, was released in 2012. A compilation of both games, titled Danganronpa 1・2 Reload, was released for PlayStation Vita in Japan in October 2013, and worldwide in March 2017. The game produced several adaptions and spin-offs: an anime television series, a stage show, two manga, and two novels.
Gameplay
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc is a murder mystery game that casts players in the role of Makoto Naegi, a student of Hope's Peak Academy who finds himself trapped in a game of mutual killing among his peers. The gameplay is stylistically similar to Capcom's Ace Attorney series by being centered around investigation and finding contradictions, albeit with an emphasis on faster gameplay. Each chapter of the game features two styles of gameplay: School Life, in which the player explores the academy and progresses through the story, and the Class Trial, where the player must determine the culprit of a crime.During School Life, the player can explore the school grounds in first-person perspective, with more areas of the academy becoming available as the game progresses. Whilst in one of the various rooms, players move a crosshair cursor which is used to initiate conversations with characters or examine parts of the environment. Examining certain objects yields Monokuma Coins, which can be used at a capsule machine in the school shop to unlock presents. School Life is divided into two sections: "Daily Life" and "Deadly Life". In the Daily Life sections, players converse with various characters and move the plot along based on dating sim elements. New information can be revealed by "reacting to" certain comments. In designated "Free Time" segments, players can choose to hang out with specific characters and give them presents, which in turn reveals more information about them and unlocks various Skills that can be used in the Class Trials. When a crime scene is discovered, the game shifts to the Deadly Life section, where the player must search for clues throughout the academy. Evidence and testimonies gathered are stored in the player's e-Handbook, where players can also save their game. When all possible evidence is located, the game moves on to the Class Trial. Prior to a Class Trial, players can purchase skills, which can assist them during gameplay.
The Class Trials occur following the discovery of a dead body. Within them, the students discuss amongst themselves who the culprit is. With the exception of occasions where the player must answer a multiple choice question or present a piece of evidence, Class Trials consist of four main modes of gameplay: Nonstop Debate, Hangman's Gambit, Bullet Time Battle, and Closing Argument. In the Nonstop Debate, characters discuss their thoughts on the case, with potential "weak points" highlighted in yellow. During these sections, the player is armed with "Truth Bullets" based on third-person shooter gaming: metaphorical bullets containing evidence relevant to the discussion. In order to "break" the debate, stopping it from going on indefinitely, the player must find a lie or contradiction amongst the weak points and shoot it with a bullet containing the evidence that contradicts it. Players can also silence disruptive purple chatter to earn extra time and utilize a Concentration meter to slow down the conversation and make shots more easily. Trials occasionally require the player to absorb a classmate's remark and use it as ammunition against another. Hangman's Gambit is a shooting puzzle section in which the player must shoot down specific letters that spell out a clue. Bullet Time Battle is a one-on-one debate against another student featuring rhythm style gameplay. As the opponent makes remarks, the player must press buttons in time to the beat to lock onto the remarks and shoot them down. Finally, Closing Argument is a puzzle in which players piece together a comic strip depicting how a crime occurred. The player's Influence amongst the other students is represented by hearts, which is reduced whenever the player makes errors in shooting contradictions or presenting evidence, and is replenished when correct evidence is presented. The game ends if the player loses all of their Influence, or if they run out of time during a segment. At the end of a trial, players are ranked on their performance, with additional Monokuma Medals awarded for high ranks.
From the PlayStation Vita version onward, the game features an additional School Life mode, based on the Island Mode introduced in Danganronpa 2, which is unlocked after clearing the game once. In this alternative mode, Monokuma tasks the students with building several backup units of himself over several days. Each day, the player assigns students to scavenge rooms for necessary materials needed to build each concept, keep the school clean, or rest up to recover energy. During Free Time, players can either hang out with the other students to unlock skills just like in the main game, or use Trip Tickets earned from completed concepts to take them on trips.
Plot
Danganronpa takes place at an elite high school named Hope's Peak Academy, which accepts talented "Ultimate" students of the highest caliber in various fields each year. Makoto Naegi, a fairly optimistic but otherwise average student, is selected in a raffle and chosen to enroll into the academy as the "Ultimate Lucky Student". He meets fourteen other newly picked Ultimate students. A sadistic, remote-controlled bear named Monokuma appears before them, telling them they will be imprisoned in the academy for the rest of their lives, and that they will be put to death if they violate any of the school's rules. He states that there is only one way that a student can leave the academy: murder another student and avoid being identified as the culprit. If they are found out, the murderer will be violently executed; if the class identifies the wrong student as the murderer, they will all be killed and the real murderer will be allowed to "graduate".After a murder occurs and the remaining students are given some time to investigate it, a "class trial" is held, in which the remaining students must determine amongst themselves who the killer is. Makoto frequently takes the role of arbiter of the trial, providing most of the logical insights. Makoto receives assistance from Kyoko Kirigiri, a distant girl possessing keen observational and deductive skills. Several murders occur over the first few days: pop star Sayaka Maizono is murdered by baseball star Leon Kuwata after her plans to murder Leon and frame Makoto for it fail; fashionista Junko Enoshima is murdered by Monokuma when she attacks him; programmer Chihiro Fujisaki is murdered by gang leader Mondo Owada in a jealous rage over the former's perceived strength; gambler Celestia Ludenberg manipulates fanfiction creator Hifumi Yamada into killing honor student Kiyotaka Ishimaru before killing Hifumi herself; and martial artist Sakura Ogami commits suicide after being revealed to be a spy working for Monokuma. The person controlling Monokuma commits the final murder. The only possible culprits from the surviving students are Makoto and Kyoko. A bad ending occurs if Makoto presents evidence that implicates Kyoko as the killer; she is executed while Makoto and the remaining students live trapped in the academy forever. In the true ending, Makoto is convicted but is saved by Alter Ego, an artificial intelligence program left behind by Chihiro. Makoto and the remaining students work together to solve the final murder and discover that the true mastermind behind the killing game is the real Junko Enoshima. She employed her fraternal twin sister, mercenary Mukuro Ikusaba, to impersonate her, only to kill her on a whim. She later used Mukuro's corpse as a "murder victim" to falsely implicate Kyoko.
Junko reveals that all of the students had already been in the academy for two years and all knew each other. However, when an academic societal uprising began, the headmaster of Hope's Peak Academy, viewing the high amount of talent in the students as a sign of hope, decided to barricade him and themselves inside the academy to wait out the crisis. Junko executed the headmaster, took control of the academy, and erased all of the students' memories that took place after they arrived at the academy two years ago. With Makoto's help, the students all overcome the doubt brought about by Junko's bombshells and decide to leave the academy. Realizing her secret has been exposed, Junko executes herself because she enjoys the feeling of despair that comes with her losing the final trial. The six surviving students exit the academy, uncertain of the current state of the world. In a post-credits scene, Monokuma re-activates.