Disclaimer: This will not have any story spoilers for the Danganronpa Series.
“Danganronpa S: Ultimate Summer Camp” (DRS) is coming to the Nintendo Switch in late 2021 as part of “Danganronpa Decadence,” a collection made up of the three main Danganronpa games and DRS. Although, Danganronpa S will be available individually.
DRS is being developed and published by Spike Chunsoft. Decadence and DRS were announced in Nintendo’s E3 this year, which is still bewildering to me.
To see Danganronpa and “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate” in the same presentation is still mind blowing to me.
To give some background, I’ve been a Danganronpa fan since 2016. I have every achievement, in every game. Yes, I got a S rank in Monolith Treasure Hunter, and yes, I suffered a lot.
So, as a Danganronpa fan for over five years, I’m both excited and concerned about this new title.
My excitement
Firstly, the new art. It's gorgeous.
Secondly, seeing my favourite characters return and seeing more of them. I tend to like most of the Danganronpa characters and I’m especially happy to see my favourite characters in both Danganronpa and fiction overall return.
Furthermore, we get to see new character interactions to see more of the characters and birth new dynamics, such as Celestia Ludenberg and Sonia Nevermind.
Thirdly, including the “Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls” characters. I really like the cast of Ultra Despair Girls (UDG), so I’m happy to see them return.
Their inclusions can also help flesh out the characters that were lacking screen-time in UDG, such as Hiroko Hagakure, Yasuhiro Hagakure’s mom.
Fourthly, the turn-based combat. I heavily enjoyed Monokuma Test in “Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony” (V3), which was a turn-based JRPG dungeon crawler.
Your party members could be your favourite Danganronpa characters, or even three of the same character if you enjoy consistency.
I’m excited to see the JRPG gameplay come back. I'm hoping it gets expanded on.
Finally, I’m the most hyped with hearing new Danganronpa music. I love the Danganronpa soundtracks, so I’m excited to hear more music from Masafumi Takada (I’m assuming he’s the composer).
There’s even a remix album made by Masafumi Takada in the “Danganronpa Decadence” Collection’s Edition, and I’m excited to listen to it.
...On YouTube. I don’t want to buy all three Danganronpa games again. I have them all on Steam, I’m good.
My Concerns
I have two major concerns going into DRS the first being the Ultimate Talent Development Plan board game.
While the board game in UTDP in V3 was fine, it got boring after a few playthroughs of it. Doing the board with every character to get the Masterful Development achievement was extremely tedious too from personal experience.
I don’t mind UTDP in V3 since it’s a minigame, but it only works as a minigame. Spike Chunsoft would have to mix up the gameplay in UTDP to keep it entertaining, enough to play with over fifty characters.
Another concern is the “in-game purchases” part of the ESRB rating on the Switch store.
Best case scenario, this could just mean optional downloadable content like with Pokémon Sword and Shield, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, etc..
Worst case scenario, you can or might need to spend real money to get in-game characters or in-game money.
In that scenario, DRS would be a Gacha, which would be a deal breaker for me.
A Gacha for anyone unaware is a game that you usually play for free where you use in-game currency to roll a slot machine of sorts for better characters, equipment, and more.
Some popular Gachas include "Fate/Grand Order", "Arknights," "Genshin Impact" and more.
While these games are free and you can do everything without paying a single cent, these games will become grindy and excruciatingly long if you go the free-to-play route.
The ethics of Gachas and their gambling elements is its own rabbit hole I don’t want to go into. I don’t like Gachas and I admittedly have poor self-control when it comes to them, but I see the appeal.
I can see the different card qualities being a Gacha element, given the new swimsuit card.
The cards give higher stat boosts earned in UTDP. They were Gacha-like in V3 too, but you could never use real money.
Playing UTDP over 50 times is one thing, but a Gacha of UTDP sounds painful. Microtransactions in something you pay for is unethical too, I don’t want to support that sort of thing.
Unfortunately, the latter is more likely than the former given the previous Danganronpa games have never had DLC. The closest thing would be bonuses if a game was bought in the first week of launch or from preordering a Danganronpa game.
Even if they do count, they were only for a limited time.
Finally, and this is a personal one, but I’m not the biggest on the fanservice. I think swimsuits can work as fanservice if they’re utilized well, such as to enhance the comedy of a situation.
Although, DRS seems to only have them for the sake of fanservice of seeing these characters in revealing clothing.
Given how this franchise usually handles fanservice, with characters acting out-of-character in some cases, or at worst with it being disgusting, I don’t have the highest hopes.
I know some people are genuinely looking forward to the characters being in swimsuits though, so it’s more of a personal problem for me.
Closing Thoughts
Whether this is a cash grab or something with heart and soul put into it is something we’ll have to see. It’s not the end of the world if it is a cash grab, since at the end of the day, this is a light-hearted party game that isn’t canon to the main storyline.
This article isn’t meant to sour the mood of the announcement, and despite my concerns, I’m still excited for DRS. I'm just cautious with my excitement of DRS is all.
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