Reviews from

in the past


Finally done; tl;dr games good, arts good, story's good, music is playlist worthy, dumb characters being dumb doesn't make for any more interesting a plot point, BTB is like some of the worst gameplay I've played in a game before. I'll warn for spoilers later in the review btw.

Don't wanna spend too long typing up a long review, I was like almost done with my first one but my progress didn't save.

Art and music:
Honestly really good, it looks like a psp game but it has the willingness to make it work, characters are like cardboard cut-outs and backgrounds are kinda like diorama type things, it makes good use of the hardware and doesn't actually look all that bad even today. (Some of the cutscenes with the 3d-ish look a bit crunchy, but besides those we chilling.)

And the music is good too, honestly, imo playlist worthy, that's what I'd consider highest marks. Sure a game can have a super orchestral or maybe super emotionally gripping sound track that enhances the experience, those songs are good too, really good. But being able to listen to a song in daily life? Let it be the background of whatever you're doing? I love listening to game music, and at least DR1 music as joined alongside other game osts.

Story:
I had to try to separate my knowledge from a prior playthrough to the one I did now, I vaguely knew what was going to happen, but it had been years so it was still worth a playthrough. I will admit, the story had me interested even though I knew the plot points going forward. A desperate struggle to attempt to survive, coexist or escape from a situation like this, each individual character interaction, a lot of dialogue didn't feel forced but still gave characters opportunities to interact. Individual free time hang outs were kind of one note, like just trying to convey one concept for a story and that's it. But they aren't the main meat and potatoes of the game, so I can give that a pass. Game's story is good, not exceptionally great, but solid, enjoyable imo at the the very least.

Class trials: (Spoilers from here btw)
I consider this section of the game to be almost entirely seperate bar maybe the story, this is where gameplay really comes into play because the "gameplay" that is in during free time and even investigations is just visual novel style gameplay, I.E not really gameplay more of a vessel to facilitate the player to experience the story. Class trials are serviceable, they get the job done. Broken down it's a series of minigames which serves as the second big part of the "detective" portion of the game.

Most times questions aren't too asinine during the multiple choice section, but it's more so a logic problem.

Non-stop debates are fun (minus absorbing statements.)

Hangmans gambit is certainly a minigame, it's not overly hard since you can just pause and attempt to figure out the word then shoot the letters and bam, answer found.

Climax reasoning was the easiest for me but that's cause I remember it the most vividly, all up it's a fun mini game, I make-a da manga.

And now onto the big stinker, the yucky yucky, BTB's, or MTBs, basically the rhythm game minigame. These things suck, omega bad. I don't know whether spike chunsoft like botched the code behind this minigame, or if it was this bad on the psp, but why do my hits sometimes just not register? Plus they're honestly too much visually, the statements fluctuating in size as the approach sort of pulsing in and out is just distracting. Plus the constantly changing bpm coupled with negative mode makes it really really hard to tell when to press, so it's pretty much the designated use fenzy portion. All of that would be fine, if you didn't take so much god damn damage. Missing timing on one beat or losing it during negative mode means that I just watch my hp trip and fall down a flight of stairs. Which wouldn't be an issue if they decided to make it so every BTB was at the end maybe, increase the difficulty and make it a last challenge where you're rewarded with a more forgiving minigame if you did well. But having to do like 3 BTBs during the 4,5 and 6th iirc trials was a nightmare.

Plus certain moments made me so unbelievably upset at the game. Like Takas fucking wrist watch, where I had to use some roundabout absorbing a statement instead of using that piece of evidence, only to later have to either answer a multiple choice question or present evidence which was Taka's wristwatch. (This happened a couple times, including times when I had to absorb statements, my memory is a bit foggy on this part though.)

Plus this could be me being too reliant on just remembering how things go, but like 5/6 times when the discussion shifted to accusing someone I didn't know why it changed to accusing someone, so I'd put in the culprit who I knew ahead of time and it'd be correct. Maybe I just zoned out cause I was getting bored though.

In conclusion:
Good game, good first game as well, I'm gonna try to play through dr2 but for some reason starting dr2 makes me just feel bored. I'll try to muscle through till I actually start getting interested. I'm hopeful that spike has also made the rest of the minigames better in later games - especially BTBs - though I've heard legend about hangmans gambit. Also I gotta finish school mode and 100% the game, so I might change my mind, but school mode is basically just all vn stuff really.

This review contains spoilers

I know she's not in this game, but Chiaki plis come back life's not the same since u were gone ;-;

BACKDATED LOG
Steam review from 13 Jul, 2022:
"A fun detective visual novel. Surprisingly good English VA and relatively engaging puzzles. The game's main draw are the Ace Attorney style "class trials" that have the player answering questions and playing minigames under a time constraint. There are light social interaction mechanics but they don't contribute much to the main gameplay loop. Worth looking into if you enjoy Ace Attorney or detective games."

incredibly strong art direction and music but the writing isn''t great. story has some good moments, it's just overall kinda meh. the cases themselves are pretty good, though.


This game is good, I like the characters a lot and the mysteries are pretty fun. Weakest of the Danganronpa series though, and a lot of the quality of life improvements from later games are very notably missing here which can make for a clunky experience. One thing I think Danganronpa does better with THH is I feel like it takes itself a lot more seriously, and doesn't delve into absurdity AS MUCH as the next two games.

its a good game when youre a teenager in a pandemic and your brain is so rotted you cannot tell that youre consuming toxic sludge

like with many other visual novels its lowkey a massive drag during many parts of the narrative/gameplay. but danganronpa 1 is so extremely special, unbeatable atmosphere and fantastic stakes. genuinely one of the best story twists i've ever expereinced during the climax of the game. Very glad I went in blind. Kinda stinks at some parts, but damn this shit kinda bangs

A maioria dos personagens n sao tao bons tirando a celestia, junko e byakuya, pra um começo de jogo está até q bom, e como sempre a primeira vez tu joga é um experiência mt foda

2nd best game in the series which is honestly isnt saying much. also one of the 2 good games in the series

it was my first visual novel, and certainly a fun first one

Liked it. Interesting gameplay, interesting concept, interesting characters, absolutely horrible fandom, but it is a fun game.

Vi o anime depois fui jogar, entrei em desespero mas fiquei melhor e acabei o jogo

es perfecto lo tiene todo el mejor danganronpa con diferencia

goofy fun game love solving mysteries with these silly guys

Having to play this shitty weeb game was far more excruciating than any of the fuckass punishments

game is funny and has a talking bear i never seen before!

O clássico

Eu não gosto muito do pacing desse jogo, acho ele meio lento sem necessidade, e os casos desse são os mais óbvios da saga.

l’ll shove that nigga byakuya in a locker

My least favorite in this series but still a lot of fun

Got hooked on the anime and when I came to play the game it didn't disappoint. What a fun take on the courtroom drama visual novel with interesting characters, great crimes and nice twists. I still quote this game to this day


Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc is actually a game I’ve played before, and it’s an intense one. Looking at it, you may just expect a normal visual novel, however this game is SO much more. It follows Makoto Naegi who is going to his new school called Hope’s Peak Academy. However, when he gets there he suddenly faints, and when he awakens he is trapped in this school. He meets this strange black and white bear called Monokuma who tells the 15 students that the only way to escape the place is to kill another student. Gameplay is split into three parts, standard visual novel talking to people and choosing choices while searching a room, exploring the school with first person gameplay, or during the class trials, when a student kills another you must play through a trial with a bunch of minigame, like Non-Stop Debates where you must shoot down incorrect statements with truth bullets. If you can solve the killer, the killer is executed, but if you can’t, everyone else is executed, so the stakes are set really high. This game is dark and depressing and creepy, and it’s a really fun yet long game to play. I would recommend this game to anyone who likes visual novels or detective games, this game is an amazing experience with excellent characters, and it will bring out a lot of emotions within you.

i could go at length but i wont

po esse aqui é EXTREMAMENTE divertido, a plot geral é interessante e da aquela cocerinha de querer saber o que vai acontecer, uns personagens aqui e ali são meio massantes e ficam em evidencia tempo de mais e o começo dos julgamentos as vezes é facil em demasiado e alguns momentos acho que a interface é mais convoluta do que precisa mesmo sendo estilosa (talvez uma parada por ter saido no console primeiro) mas é compreensivo o sucesso da série, sabem jogar um suspense no ar e são criativos com os casos, todo mundo que jogou phoenix wright tinha que dar uma chance, estou animado para o proximo.