Regular readers will know of the huge love we have for the Danganronpa series here at Everybody Plays. A rather sinister selection of murder mystery "visual novels" for the PS Vita, each game follows a similar sort of plot, taking a number of exceptional students, imprisoning them on a school/remote desert island, and letting them know the only way to escape is by murdering one of their classmates and getting away with it. Of course, to make things a little harder for the guilty party, each murder concludes in a class trial, where the remaining classmates have to figure out whodunit - or lose their lives instead. With people dropping like flies, it's up to you to solve the mysteries and find a way out of the nightmarish tyranny of the foul-mouthed, sadistic headmaster, a bipolar teddy bear called Monokuma.
With two games under their belt so far - the stellar Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc and it's sequel Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, both visual novels, the upcoming third game is more of a spin-off than anything. Effectively acting as a pre-sequel to Danganronpa 2, it follows the tale of two girls - Komaru Naegi, the sister of the original game's protagonist, and the ever-so-slightly insane ultimate novelist of the first Danganronpa, Toko Fukawa. Having been locked up in a mysterious apartment for the past year, Komaru's rescue gets derailed by a sudden attack of hundreds of Monokumas, which have taken over the despair-ridden Towa City. Trying to survive the rampaging Monokumas and escape the city, she joins up with Toko in a part third person shooter, part puzzle solving adventure that will hopefully help bridge the gap between the two main series games.
We're sure PETA would have something to say about this game too.
While the game itself isn't due out for a good few months, scheduled to hit the Vita sometime this autumn, the folks at NIS have a rather fancy special edition up for grabs - if you get in quick and preorder it, anyway. Orders open from 12 midday on Friday 28th May, exclusively through the NIS America Europe Online Store, and while we have no details on the price, we're expecting it to be a rather eye-watering £59.99-£69.99, based on the price of similar limited editions on the store. It is a seriously fancy set though, all housed in a classy glossy collectors box, and includes:
- Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls PS Vita game
- 32 page soft cover art book
- 15 track original soundtrack CD
- Kurokuma tie
- Kurokuma eyepatch
- 4.5" diameter tie clip
- 1 Warrior of Hope pin
All we need is a hat and a cigar and our Kurokuma outfit will be complete!
If you've not played any of the Danganronpa games yet, we highly recommend picking up a copy of the first game on the PS Vita - followed by the second game, seeing as you really need to play them in order. And while we're not ordinarily a fan of anything shooter-y, we're going to make an exception for the upcoming Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls - after all, it's not every day you get to shoot Monokuma with a megaphone.
