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| Peter Triezenberg |
I, for one, welcome our new robotic teddy bear overlords.
03.16.15 - 3:11 AM
The Hunger Games-meets-Persona hijinks of Danganronpa have proven to be very successful, so it's no surprise that we'd see some unique despair-filled spinoffs. In a recent interview, series creator Kazutaka Kodaka sat down to discuss all things Danganronpa, including the future of the series.
Kodaka had some interesting things to say about the inspiration for various themes and other elements he included in the Danganronpa games. In particular, the concept of "truth bullets" used to uncover deception came from the Japanese video service Nico Nico, where one can see other user's comments and "break" them as they fly across the screen. Kodaka thought this would be an interesting way to visualize a debate, which is how truth bullets became a key gameplay mechanic in Danganronpa.
The central theme of Hope and Despair was compared to the opposite sides of a swinging pendulum, where the game designers could "move the player's heart in different directions" with opposing themes such as Hope and Despair, Cruelty and Humor, and, of course, Life and Death.
On the subject of more spinoff titles, such as the recently announced Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls, Kodaka said that he was a fan of action games and RPGs and would like to do an RPG in the Danganronpa world.
The prospect of an Ace Attorney crossover was raised as well, although Kodaka jokingly mentioned that the temptation to kill off a major Ace Attorney character may prove too great. He also addressed the series' oft-perceived similarity to the Persona games, and said that while Persona does its own thing, if they did end up doing a crossover, "Monokuma's going to kill Teddie" (nooooooooo!).
On the subject of possibly bringing the Danganronpa series to Steam, Kodaka said that it would be "neat" to do a Steam version of the game, but he probably wouldn't make a PC-exclusive entry in the series. Either way, it looks like we haven't seen the last of old Monokuma yet (who, surprise surprise, is Kodaka's favorite character!).
If you haven't played the games yet, make sure to check out our very own John McCarroll's reviews for Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc and Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair as well! If you'd like to read the full interview, you can find it here.
