Nintendo Switch Critic Reviews

Ultimately, everything about Danganronpa is highly elevated: the story’s stakes, the characters’ tropes, and even the unique factors of its gameplay. While these sometimes won’t stick their landing, such as some rather exaggerated character stereotypes, the game’s foundation is very strong. It’s no surprise that Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc Anniversary Edition is joined by three other titles, because the sacrifices made for this first entry in the series pave the way for improvements down the line while remaining an unforgettable experience in its own right.

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc offers a memorable Killing Game with fantastic, iconic characters, a genuinely funny and smart script, and some superior twists and turns along the way with well-earned emotional hooks and at times shocking violence. It's funny, it's dramatic and it's very problematic, so exercise some caution — this is resolutely not a game for kids, but even adults will struggle with some of its less savoury or more overtly brash, thoughtless content. It's not enough to mark the game down in any way, but readers should be aware that this is not a tactful piece of software, which for some will ward them away but we suspect for others is a major selling point. We urge you to check the game out for yourself, as it is, quite frankly, a classic in the visual novel genre.

While none of the problems are significant enough to truly prevent someone from enjoying this game, the fact that such fundamental problems from a previous version have not been addressed makes it difficult to justify this version over any others. I think it’s worth seeking out and trying Danganronpa for yourself, but I can’t recommend doing so by playing a port of the mobile version running poorly on Switch.