The Japanese game magazine Famitsu recently hosted a 40th Anniversary event in Tokyo, which it livestreamed on YouTube. The event featured interviews with various figures in the Japanese games industry. However, since it was (unsurprisingly) aired exclusively in Japanese, Western media outlets have largely been unable to cover it. That said, a user on Tumblr by the name of @asaka-lucy-dr-rc was kind enough to provide a partially complete English transcript of the event, specifically for the parts related to the upcoming Danganronpa 2×2.
Three people involved in the development of Danganronpa 2×2 were interviewed during the Famitsu livestream: Danganronpa series creator Kazutaka Kodaka, Spike Chunsoft game producer Shohei Sakakibara, and Nagito Komaeda’s voice actress, Megumi Ogata. Though the interview itself is far too long to cover in just a few paragraphs, most of it goes over details that were already publicly known. Nonetheless, there are a few interesting pieces of info here that are worth highlighting.
Danganronpa 2×2, in case you didn’t know, is a remake of the 2012 visual novel Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair that contains a brand-new story campaign called Slayhem Mode. This means that 2×2 is, in essence, two games in one, as Slayhem Mode has been confirmed to be approximately the same length as the original title. While some scenes will remain largely unaltered in this Mode, roughly 90% of its narrative is entirely new. The original story campaign will also contain “a little additional story content, with some extra lines of dialogue here and there,” according to Ogata.
Danganronpa 2×2’s Original Story Mode Will Contain Updated Dialogue and Newly Voiced Lines
Elaborating on this further, Kodaka and Ogata hinted later on during the interview that some lines of dialogue that weren’t voiced in the original game will be fully voiced in Danganronpa 2×2. None of the interviewees, however, clarified which types of dialogue that they were referring to. As Kodaka and Ogata both said, players will have to “find out” for themselves when the game launches next year.
When asked why Spike Chunsoft decided to remake Danganronpa 2 instead of the first instalment in the series, Sakakibara claimed that “changing Trigger Happy Havoc too much would fundamentally alter what Danganronpa originally was.” Therefore, he and Kodaka decided to rework 2 instead, as it already had a “story setting” that made this easy to pull off.
Spike Chunsoft Has Implemented New Gameplay Features in Danganronpa 2×2
In addition to story content, Danganronpa 2×2 makes adjustments to gameplay-related features, as well. Logic Dive, the skateboarding-themed minigame in Danganronpa 2, has been made significantly easier in 2×2, according to Kodaka. Many assistance features have been added to the minigame so that “anyone can clear it.”
Another feature, tentatively titled Akimbo Consensus, will also be introduced in Danganronpa 2×2. When debates during class trials “get heated and things get out of hand,” players will be able to use either an Agree or Disagree bullet on the characters’ statements to sort out the discussion. Akimbo Consensus is somewhat similar to the Mass Panic Debate in Danganronpa V3, but more simple.
Additional information about Akimbo Consensus and other new features in Danganronpa 2×2 will be revealed in the November 12 issue of Famitsu magazine. We’ll probably have to wait for an English translation of that issue, too, though!
