Just in case you were worried I'd never play anything but the first Danganronpa on my Vita ...

The truth is, I've spent a lot more time talking about the Vita and its catalog of games than I have playing the system and carts currently in my possession.

There are reasons for that, of course. One of which is that it's just easier for me to play my 3DS at the moment. Admittedly, that's because I'm terrified of taking my Vita to work (for fear that its screen will be scratched to hell and back as it bounces around in my field bag), but I'd still say it's a valid excuse.

All that said, I'm going to do my best to turn things around in the coming months. The question is: which Vita game will I play once I finally make my way to Danganronpa's credit roll?

I certainly have a number of titles from which to choose. Along with Dokuro, a handful of digital offerings and a couple of Japanese Vita carts (which I'll chat about in an upcoming post), I've also got the following:

Showcased in the photo above are four North American Vita games I recently picked up: Danganronpa 2, Persona 4 Golden, Steins;Gate and Virtue's Last Reward.

Actually, I bought all four of them around the holidays. And not only that, but if memory serves, each one was on sale when I placed my order.

At this point, I think there's little doubt I'll want to take a vacation from Hope's Peak Academy once I've wrapped up Danganronpa, but other than that I'm not sure which of the titles mentioned earlier to stick into my pink-and-white Vita when a vacancy opens up in its cartridge slot.

What do all of you think? Part of me thinks I either should go with Virtue's Last Reward (because I so loved 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors) or Persona 4 Golden, but I'm open to any suggestions you're willing to leave in the comments section below.

See also: 'Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears ... as well as your Vita game recommendations'

I don't know how 'new' it looks or sounds, but I'm still pretty darn interested in Danganronpa V3

Granted, the sentiments expressed above are coming from the mouth of a guy who's only put a few hours into the first Danganronpa game thus far.

So, for all I know, the footage (found in the trailer below) of the in-the-works third Danganronpa title, which apparently will be called New Danganronpa V3: A New Semester for Everyone's Killing Life in its home country, is quite a departure from its predecessors.

Speaking of my unfortunate lack of experience with the initial pair of Danganronpa games, keep that in mind while you consider whether or not to check out the following video. I have no idea if does or doesn't contain spoilers, so view it at your own risk.



With that out of the way, what do those of you who actually watched it think of it? Are you excited? Are you feeling wary? Are you experiencing some other emotion or emotions altogether?

Share your answers to those questions in the comments section below when you've got a second to spare. Oh, and also let me know if you think there's anything "new" to New Danganronpa V3 based on what you saw in the trailer above.

See also: some of the thoughts I've shared so far regarding my playthrough of the first Danganronpa

Shall We Do It? (Danganronpa, The Legend of Legacy demo and Mr. Driller: Drill Spirits)

Now that I've wrapped up my many-hours-long playthroughs of 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors and Hotel Dusk (read my impressions of this pair of top-shelf DS games here and here), I'm finally spending time with some other titles I've been eyeing up for ages.

Specifically, I'm spending time with Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, The Legend of Legacy demo that hit the 3DS eShop last week and Mr. Driller: Drill Spirits.

Here are a few thoughts on the above-mentioned games based on my recent experiences with them:

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc (Vita)--I started playing this Vita-based visual novel earlier this year but then moved it to the back burner because ... actually, I have no idea what prompted me to walk away from it for a bit.

Regardless, I’m back to playing it again—although I’ve got to admit I’m only doing so in fits and spurts at the moment. (You can blame that on The Legend of Legacy demo that commandeered my attention shortly after I downloaded it late last week. Thankfully, I think I’ve nearly exhausted that teaser’s content, so my schedule should open up again shortly.)

Anyway, the few hours I’ve played of Danganronpa since I wrapped up 999 a couple of weeks back have been pretty darn enjoyable. In large part, that's because I really like this game’s unsettling atmosphere. Its jazzy, low-key soundtrack is partially responsible, too.

One aspect of Danganronpa that I’m currently reveling in and reviling in equal measure is its free-roaming nature. On the one hand, I love being able to move around as I please, but on the other, that flexibility makes it easy to get lost—or at least become confused as to where I'm supposed to go or what I'm supposed to do next.

Of course, that’s a problem I've had with every single visual novel I’ve played to date, so maybe I shouldn't point to it as an example of something that's wrong with this particular example of the genre.

I'd recommend taking all of the above with at least a medium-sized grain of salt, by the way. I still have a long way to go before I see Danganronpa's credit roll, so it's more than possible my opinions of this much-acclaimed game will change between now and then.

The Legend of Legacy demo (3DS)--In the six days since I downloaded this demo, I've put nearly five hours into it.

That alone should indicate how much I'm digging it, as only the most special of games are able to grab that much of my attention these days.

So, which of The Legend of Legacy's components are most responsible for me feeling so gaga about it at the moment? One would be the map-drawing focus of its overworld and another would be the strategic, turn-based nature of its fights, that's for sure.

Speaking of The Legend of Legacy's overworld, I've become similarly enamored with the pop-up effect that's used with such confidence in each and every area you're tasked with exploring within this demo. I'm sure some will find it maddening, but I think it meshes well with the rest of the game's coloring-book aesthetic.

So, which of this FuRyu-made and Atlus-published (in North America) RPG's many components have yet to trip my trigger, as that quaint old saying goes? The best example I can come up with is its character designs. Although I love the frog prince, Filmia, and the bosomy Amazon, Eloise, I find the rest of this game's potential party members to be a snooze.

Sadly, I consider even the most boring character designs to be downright thrilling when compared to the majority of The Legend of Legacy's enemy designs. A few of the bosses showcased in the demo are OK, but the rest of what's on offer here is blah at best and tragic at worst.

All that said, I'm very much looking forward to getting my hands on the full, retail version of The Legend of Legacy halfway through October. I don't suppose any of you are in the same boat?

Mr. Driller: Drill Spirits (DS)--I've got to be honest here: when I bought Drill Spirits, I did so expecting not to like it very much. My previous experiences with the Mr. Driller series left me cold, mainly because they made me think there was absolutely no depth to its gameplay.

Still, I've always loved the series' protagonist, Susumu Hori, and I've also always loved its Candy Land graphics, so I picked up Drill Spirits in the hopes that they would prompt me to fall in love with the rest of what Mr. Driller has to offer.

Has it succeeded? Actually, I think it has. After all, I've devoted more than three hours to Drill Spirits in the last week or so.

An even more impressive feat, if my opinion: all of that time has been spent on the first two of this game's "Mission Driller" stages. (I call that impressive because usually spending such a long time on just two stages would drive me batty--to the point that I'd rather toss the cartridge in the trash than continue to plug away at it.)

I'd say the most positive thing about my playthrough (if it even can be called that) of Mr. Driller: Drill Spirits so far is that it's gotten me to stop thinking of this series as being one full of releases that feature paper-thin gameplay. No, there isn't a ton of depth to be had here, but there's more than initially meets the eye, that's for sure.

Even if that weren't the case, though, I'd still probably get a kick out of Drill Spirits' frenetic excavating action. I don't know that I'd call it fun, exactly, but it's definitely satisfying--especially whenever I'm able to complete a level without any special-item assistance--and that's more than enough for me right now.

See also: previous 'Shall We Do It?' posts

Feast your eyes on Taiko no Tatsujin V Version's first trailer

Considering it was announced almost a month and a half ago, it's kind of shocking that it took the folks at Bandai Namco until a couple of days ago to release the first trailer for Taiko no Tatsujin V Version.

That's the name of the latest entry in the company's vaunted series of music games, by the way. Oh, and it's about to be released for the Vita--a fact that's made patently obvious about four seconds into the following, three-minute-long clip.



Despite the fact that I pre-ordered this sucker the first day I was allowed to do so at amiami.com, I can't say I'm completely thrilled by what I see here. I mean, it all looks nice enough, but it's also very ... "more of the same," I guess?

At any rate, I'm still looking forward to getting my hands on it--in part because it'll provide my only other physical Vita game (the first Danganronpa) with a bit of company.

See also: 'Taiko no Tatsujin V Version, eh? If it were up to me, it'd be called Taiko no Tatsujin VI Version...'

Shall We Do It? (BOXBOY! plus more Danganronpa and My World, My Way)

I may have only added one new game to my "now playing" roster in the last couple of weeks, but that title--Nintendo's BOXBOY!--has proven to be quite a thrill, so at least my precious time hasn't been at all wasted.

Along with the above-mentioned 3DS effort, I've also put some additional time into two games I slobbered over in my last installment of "Shall We Do It?"--the cult-ish, Vita-based visual novel, Danganronpa, and the oddly endearing DS RPG known in this neck of the woods as My World, My Way. (Elsewhere, which in this case means Japan, it's known as Sekai wa Atashi de Mawatteru, a phrase that apparently translates to something like The World Revolves Around Me.)

Here are a smattering of my thoughts on each of these captivating titles:

BOXBOY! (3DS)--In the hours and days since I bought and downloaded HAL Laboratory's BOXBOY!, a just-released 3DS eShop title, I've spent a good bit of time with it. 

Actually, I've only sunk about two-and-a-half hours into this intriguing puzzler-platformer thus far, but that's been enough for me to get to its eighth world (each world is stuffed with five or more stages), so I'm not about to punish myself for not giving it an acceptable amount of attention.



In conquering those 35 or 40 bite-sized stages, by the way, I've experienced a surprisingly broad array of gameplay elements, although all of them are showcased within similar set pieces--monochromatic, minimalistic affairs that wouldn't have looked out of place during the GameBoy "era."

Anyway, the aforementioned variety definitely is the main thing that's keeping me glued to my digital copy of BOXBOY! at the moment. There's simply a depth to what you can do with this game's protagonist, or to what you can make the protagonist do, that makes the overall experience a grin-inducing blast.

All the said, one slight piece of criticism I'd lay at the otherwise gorgeous feet of BOXBOY! is that I'm not sure I'll ever return to it after I complete it. Of course, the same could be said of the majority of the games I've played over the years, and this one cost me just a couple of bucks (as opposed to many times that), so maybe that won't seem like such a big deal when all is said and done.

Danganronpa (Vita)--Considering how much I loved my first hour or two with this dark Vita adventure, I assumed it would basically take over my life for the next couple of weeks. That didn't happen, surprisingly enough, although I think the addition of BOXBOY! to my ever-growing list of "now playing" titles had a little something to do with it.

Still, I've continued to kind of methodically plug away at it, and over the last few nights I've devoted two or three more hours to its nail-biting story.



I have a feeling I'll devote even more time to it in the coming week, as Danganronpa really turned up the drama dial during my last 60-minute-or-so stint with it, and now I'm chomping at the bit, so to speak, to get back to it and see how things pan out for the colorful cast that sits at the center of this title.

I've still yet to experience any of Danganronpa's trial segments, by the way--though I know one is going to be forced on me shortly--so it'll be interesting to discover how they manage to change things up.

Hopefully I'll be able to chat about that in my next installment of this series.

My World, My Way (DS)--Despite the love I expressed for this quirky, Atlus-published RPG in my last few posts about it, I basically gave it the cold shoulder after I started BOXBOY! and Danganronpa.

Thankfully, that only lasted for about a week, and a few days ago I started playing it again in earnest. Well, maybe I shouldn't say "in earnest," as I've only put about two more hours into it in the last couple of days, but considering this time last week I was worried I'd never play it again, I'd say a two additional hours is worth at least a mini-celebration.



As for how far I was able to progress during those two hours, the CliffsNotes version is that I made it through two more of the game's rather miniscule maps--which, as I believe I've mentioned in earlier posts about My World, My Way, usually contain a town, an exit gate (which allows you to access the next map location) and somewhere between 20 and 30 or so "overworld tiles" that can be traversed, step by step (almost like you would in a board game), and which offer up enemy encounters, items and the like.

My World, My Way's still pretty darn repetitive, by the way, but I can't say I'm all that bothered by it. In large part, I think that's because the game does an excellent job of throwing new environments, baddies and abilities at you right around the time you begin to feel bored with the existing ones.

A case in point: shortly after I gained access to My World, My Way's desolate desert zone, I was introduced to a new pout ability that allowed me to produce unique areas called "southern islands." These map-altering creations feature sandy beaches, crystal-blue waters and even breaching whales--as well as a couple of curious-looking enemy types that only can be encountered while within their borders.

For whatever reason, all of the above have re-ignited my interest in this weird role-playing game--which is a very good thing indeed, as I have a feeling I'm still a considerable distance from its credit roll.

See also: previous 'Shall We Do It?' posts

Shall We Do It? (Danganronpa, Dokuro, Final Fantasy: Record Keeper and My World, My Way)

For the first time since I started my new job two-and-a-half-months ago, I'm finally feeling somewhat settled. One of the side effects of that feeling is that I'm playing--and enjoying--more games than I have in ages.

Given that, I thought now would be the perfect time to type up another "Shall We Do It?" post that compiles some of my thoughts on the four portable titles that are mentioned in the header above.

Danganronpa (Vita)--Although my precious pink-and-white Vita has been in my hands for a couple of weeks now, I didn't actually play a game on it until this weekend due to the vacation that popped up just after the system arrived on our doorstep.

The first game I stuck into my Vita's cart slot, of course, was NIS' acclaimed Danganronpa, a dark visual novel that certainly didn't disappoint in the couple of hours I spent with it on Saturday and Sunday. 

As much as I'm loving Danganronpa's well-crafted, whodunnit-style story, though, I'm loving Rui Komatsuzaki's delicious-looking art even more. I also really like how playing this game "feels." Stalking the halls of Hope's Peak Academy is more engaging than I thought it would be, for instance, and interacting with your surroundings in other ways (such as clicking on background elements to learn more about them, or doing the same to your comrades to converse with them) is similarly enjoyable.

That's about all I can say about Danganronpa at the moment, I'm afraid, but I can assure you I'll continue to plug away at it this coming week, so hopefully the impressions I share in my next "Shall We Do It?" post (which I hope to publish about seven days from now) will dig a bit deeper into the experience.

Dokuro (Vita)--Danganronpa isn't the only Vita game I spent some time with this past weekend. I also bought--for just $2.99 via PSN--and played Dokuro, a Game Arts-developed puzzler-platformer that's quite a looker in its own right.

This digital effort is attractive in a slightly different way than Danganronpa is, though; here, the visuals look like they've been created using colored chalk or crayons. The effect isn't quite as eye-popping as, say, the original Yoshi's Island, but it's still undeniably pretty.

As for the rest of the game, well, I like it, but I can't say I'm head-over-heels in love with it. Players are given a good number of things to do--like pushing boxes, flipping switches and even carrying princesses--and the great majority of them provoke a lukewarm feeling of accomplishment, but on the whole, so far, Dokuro seems to lack a bit of energy.

Hopefully things will pick up as I continue to pick away at the adventure at hand, which is exactly what I'm planning to do (to an extent, at least) over the course of the following week or two.

Final Fantasy: Record Keeper (iOS)--This mobile RPG's North American launch came out of nowhere for me. I vaguely remember hearing about its Japanese release, but I assumed it would remain unique to that region and so quickly forgot about it.

Given its nostalgic content and liberal use of sprites, though, I nabbed it from the iOS App Store as soon as I heard about it.

Despite my eagerness to download it, I'm not sure how long it's going to maintain a presence on my iPhone. Why? For starters, Record Keeper's battle-centric gameplay isn't as engaging as I expected it to be given its pedigree. Also, as much as I love all of the spritework that's on display in this game, it's somewhat tarnished by all of the not-sprite art that tends to surround it. (Sorry, I've never been a fan of such juxtaposition. For me, I'd much rather a game focus entirely on sprites or entirely on hand-drawn illustrations, although I know I'm probably in the minority in feeling that way.)

Anyway, I'll give it a fair shake before dumping it--which means I'll give it at least a couple of more plays between now and the next time I write about this Final Fantasy offshoot. 

My World, My Way (DS)--Of all the games included in this write-up, this Atlus-published RPG is the one I put the most hours into over the last week. In fact, I'm pretty sure I've put more time into this title than any of the others than have been played as part of my "A Decade of DS" series.

I'm going to publish a more in-depth post about this quirky DS game shortly, so I don't want to share too much about it here, but one thing I definitely want to get across is that I'm having a blast with it.

If you've never heard of it, it's an RPG that stars a spoiled princess who channels her inner adventurer in order to attract the attention of a handsome bloke--an adventurer himself--who has melted her heart.

One of the handful of elements that sets My World, My Way apart from the JRPG pack is that its spoiled-princess protagonist has to juggle "pout points" as well as experience and hit points. By pouting, Elise (that's the princess' name) can alter the landscape around her, call more enemies to a particular area, force them to drop more items or experience points than they would otherwise and a number of other interesting actions.

As intriguing as that may sound, My World, My Way's definitely not for everyone. It's pretty repetitive, for one, plus it's far from the most attractive of DS games. That said, it's managed to keep my attention for more than five hours so far, so maybe its allure is more than the sum of its somewhat-unappealing parts?

Have any of you played some or all of the games discussed in this post? If so, please share your thoughts on them in the comments section below.

Just in case you haven't seen enough game and system photos as of late...

Please accept my apologies for the recent deluge of "photo posts." I'm a busy and stressed guy at the moment, and this is the easiest way for me to keep this blog up to date while also dealing with all of the stuff in my life that actually pays the bills.

Don't worry, though, I'll soon--as in, later this week--begin a month-long break from the certificate program that's been eating into my free time, and that will make playing and writing about games a lot easier (not to mention more enjoyable).

In the meantime, why not take a gander at the following photos, a few of which were published to my Flickr photostream in recent weeks, one of which was published to my Instagram account during the same timeframe and the rest of which have yet to be published anywhere.

The photo above was taken around the time I wrote my last "A Decade of DS" post, naturally. And, yes, I bought the European version of Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales because I prefer its more minimalistic cover art to what the designers at Square Enix concocted for the North American release of the game. 

This photo, on the other hand, was taken shortly after I received my copy of Koei's Pop Cutie! Street Fashion Simulation and before I began playing it (for another of my recent "A Decade of DS" posts).

You may remember that I mentioned in my last post--about the beautiful light pink and white Vita that arrived on my doorstep just over a week ago--that I've already bought a retail Vita game, with the game in question being the original Danganronpa.

Why did I sit my copy of Danganronpa on top of my copy of Catch! Touch! Yoshi! for Nintendo DS? Because I wanted to show just how small the boxes of Vita games are--a fact that quite honestly shocked me during my first run-in with NIS America's highly acclaimed title.

In yet another recently published post, I blathered on about the Hobonichi Techo I picked up after landing my new-as-of-six-weeks-ago job. Although I included a whole bunch of photos in that post, I didn't include the one seen above, which showcases both the "Onett" (yes, of Mother 2 and EarthBound fame) cover and the Mr. Saturn pencil board I bought alongside this Japanese planner.

My "A Decade of DS" post about Maestro! Jump in Music may not have been as joyous as I expected it to be (before I actually played the game), but it still produced the snapshot shown above, which I originally shared with the world via Instagram.



Finally, this photo was nabbed shortly after my pal, Jess, bought and sent me the sparkly purple PSP-3000--more of that story can be read here--that seems to be itching to launch the wondrous Qix clone (kind of, but not really) that's known outside of Japan as Patchwork Heroes.

Did any of these photos stand out for you in particular? If so, why? Also, if you have a Flickr or Instagram or similar account that often highlights photos of games or systems, please let me know about it in the comments section below.

It looks like I'll be getting my second Vita game sooner rather than later

Which game am I alluding to in the header above? Why, Oreshika: Tainted Bloodlines, of course--which will be released in North America on March 3 (and in Europe on the following day).

I'm a bit bummed that Oreshika won't be getting a physical (boxed) release in either of the above-mentioned regions, but I'm far less bummed than I'd be if the game weren't being released at all.

Plus, Oreshika will cost just $19.99 upon release in North America, and €19.99 in Europe, so it's hard to complain too much about the situation surrounding the localization of this lovely looking RPG.

Oh, and in case I haven't said so here already (I know I've mentioned at least part of the following somewhere on line in the last few weeks, but I can't remember where), I recently bought a Vita. More specifically, one of the Japanese pink-and-white Vita 2000 systems, as they're sometimes called.

And just before I bought that Vita, I bought a Vita game--with the game in question being the first Danganronpa, of course.

Anyway, the Vita is due to be dropped on my doorstep any day now, and as soon as that happens I'll let everyone know via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and here, although not necessarily in that order.

In the meantime, are any of you planning to buy Oreshika--either at launch or at some point down the road?

Oh, hey, it's another fresh-from-the-oven episode of The Nichiest Podcast Ever

OK, so this episode of The Nichest Podcast Ever, our eighth, actually was pulled from the oven yesterday, it's still pretty fresh.

Anyway, a new episode. Yay! Assuming you like podcasts, I mean--and this one in particular.

What kind of ground do Anne, shidoshi and I cover this time around? Well, we begin by chatting about our "holiday halls" before moving onto the return of Wonder Momo (don't feel bad if that means nothing to you), the newly announced Senran Kagura and Persona 3DS and Vita sequels and spin-offs, the censorship (or not) of Bravely Default and Chibi-Robo! Photo Finder as well as Anne's Twitter-based #Falcomonth.

Finally, we grab our pompoms for that Nichiest highlight, the "Cheerleading" section. This time around we chant, bounce and shake our booties in support of Attack of the Friday Monsters! A Tokyo Tale, Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc and The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds. (That last one was my pick, by the way--and, yes, I know it isn't a very niche-y title. Sue me!)

Anyway, if you'd like to give it a listen, direct your favorite Internet browser to radio.morningproject.com as soon as time permits.

I like pretty much everything about DanganRonpa: Trigger Happy Havoc's first English trailer except for Monokuma's voice

I've been itching to see the North American version of DanganRonpa: Trigger Happy Havoc in action ever since its release was announced a few months ago.

Am I still interested in this suspenseful Vita title, which will hit digital and physical store shelves in this part of the world sometime in February, now that I've gotten my wish (via its first English trailer, below)? Yes, I think you could say that.

In fact, my only qualm with DanganRonpa: Trigger Happy Havoc at this point is that the voice of its antagonist, Monokuma (he's the two-toned bear), doesn't seem quite evil enough to me.

What do all of you think? Are you still curious about this one now that you've seen a bit of it in action?

I'm *this* close to pre-ordering Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc's limited edition

And, yes, that's despite the fact that I don't yet own a Vita.

What can I say? I'm really interested in this title, whose gameplay is said to be part Ace Attorney and part 999. (Bonus: it sports a really cool art style.)

Making matters worse is that Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc's limited edition is just $10 more than the regular release (which will carry a $40 price tag), even though it includes an appealingly designed collector's box, a soft-cover art book and a jewel-cased soundtrack.

Thankfully, it seems I'll be able to hem and haw about this decision for at least a little while yet, as neither version of Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc will hit the streets until Feb. 11, and at the moment more than 75 percent of the limited edition's stock is still available.

Have any of you already staked a claim to one of these beauties, or are you considering doing so at some future point in time?

Pre-order: Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc limited edition and Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc regular edition

Calling all present and future Vita owners: here's a Q&A about DanganRonpa that's worth a peek

I'm going to have a very interesting decision to make once Sony finally gets around to announcing the Vita TV's North American release: am I going to buy one of those sleek (and cheap) micro-consoles--along with a handful of games, of course--or am I going to buy a regular ol' Vita?

Regardless, I think the writing is on the wall that I'm going to buy a Vita in some form over the next 12 months or so--thanks in large part to the release of delicious-looking games like Spike Chunsoft's DanganRonpa: Trigger Happy Havoc.



Speaking of which, DieHard GameFan's Joshua Moore recently picked the brains of two Nippon Ichi Software of America staffers about their employer's decision to localize this enhanced remake of the first DanganRonpa title, which achieved a respectable amount of attention from Japanese PSP owners all the way back in 2010.

A few of the passages of this Q&A--with Phoenix Spaulding, the NISA editor working on the project, and David Alonzo, the company's marketing coordinator--that particularly stuck out for me:

Spaulding on why NISA decided to work on this title--"We’d been doing a lot with the Vita and wanted to do something that was a little bit outside of our normal wheelhouse. The tone is really different from anything we’ve done and the gameplay is different, but we saw with 999 and Virtue's Last Reward that there’s an audience [for this type of game], not just in Japan, but an establishing audience here as well."



Spaulding on DanganRonpa's being like 999 mixed with Phoenix Wright--"In terms of style, I guess that closest thing that a lot of people would know would be the Phoenix Wright games, where there’s sort of two components: the research and investigative part, and the trial portion. It’s sort of an information game where you have to keep track of a lot of details and look for those little points in the game." Also, like 999 and Virtue's Last Reward, the tone and style are "very dark, where you can’t really trust anyone and your life is on the line, while you’re sort of under pressure to figure out what’s going on."

Spaulding on the title's "hardcore gameplay"--"A lot of people tend to describe [the game] as sort of a visual novel, or that kind of thing, but I think people will be surprised that there’s a lot of hardcore gameplay elements that people don’t realize: there’s a lot of timing-based stuff, once you get to the class trial you’re not just sitting there. It’s very active, you have to be paying attention. There’s a lot more than just sitting there reading a lot of text."



To read the full comments of Spaulding and Alonzo, direct your browser of choice to diehardgamefan.com.

DanganRonpa: Trigger Happy Havoc will be released in both Europe and North America--and in both digital and physical formats, I believe--in early 2014, courtesy of NISA. Pre-order the boxed US version here.

This week in 'Import-Only Box Art That Has Piqued Bryan's Interest': Danganronpa 1+2 Reload (Vita)

I know, it really doesn't take much to pique my interest when it comes to Japanese box art.

Still, you have to admit the box art that's been produced for Spike Chunsoft's upcoming Vita title, Danganronpa 1+2 Reload, is pretty snazzy.

Of course, I've been known to be swayed by the presence of rainbows and bears, and Danganronpa 1+2 Reload's cover art features both, so it's possible I'm a smidge biased.

Anyway, Danganronpa 1+2 Reload, which includes remade versions of Spike Chunsoft's pair of PSP-based visual novels known as Danganronpa and Super Danganronpa 2, will hit Japanese store shelves on Oct. 26.

One half of that game's content--the first half, if you're curious--will be released in Europe and North America sometime early next year.

I guess this means I'll have to get myself a copy of Danganronpa (PSP) soon

Although I remember being intrigued by the Spike-developed and -published PSP title, Danganronpa: Kibō no Gakuen to Zetsubō no Kōkōsei, around the time of its original Japanese release back in late 2010, it fell off my radar pretty quickly when it became clear it'd never see the light of day outside of the Land of the Rising Sun.

That all changed a few days ago when I discovered that not only has someone (or a team of someones) decided to produce an English-language fan translation of this portable "murder mystery visual novel," but a patch containing said translation already is available for download at danganronpa.wordpress.com.

My own personal reason for wanting to play Danganronpa has less to do with the unique quality of its content, by the way, and more to do with its absolutely superb art style. Cases in point:

I mean, really--who wouldn't want to play a game that's filled with illustrations like the ones above?

If that's not enough for you, though--and there's certainly nothing wrong with that--here's the fan-translation team's rather enticing description of the title:

"Danganronpa ... is a unique kind of adventure game. Described by its creators as 'psychopop' and 'high-speed action mystery,' [it] takes your typical whodunnit mystery and straps it to a rocket, fusing puzzle-solving with real-time action elements inspired by shooting and rhythm games–and it does so to incredible effect."

My only qualm with all of the above at the moment is that I'm pretty sure I'll have to softmod my PSP in order to patch the game (after I pick up a physical copy of it, of course), and for some reason I'm a bit nervous about doing so. Should I find a way to overcome those fears, though, you can bet your butt I'll play through this thrilling-sounding sucker as soon as possible (i.e., after my Animal Crossing: New Leaf obsession wanes a bit).