December is here, NaNoWriMo is over, and we’ve got some Danganronpa to discuss.
On the weekend, there were some special live streams for Danganronpa’s 15th anniversary, including our first look at the upcoming Danganronpa 2×2.
In case you missed it, Danganronpa 2×2 was announced in the September Nintendo Direct. It’s a full remake of Danganronpa 2 that also includes a whole new scenario where the story plays out with new victims and killers.
Now, the demo shown in the stream isn’t meant to shed light on the new scenario, but rather to give us a better idea of what the remake will look like. The victim in the demo isn’t even a Danganronpa 2 character; it’s Hiro from the first game (apparently they kill him in every Danganronpa demo, like a running joke).
You can check it out for yourself in the stream, starting around 36:28.
For my part, I mostly like the new sprites. Their movements can be unsettling sometimes, but they have plenty of still sprites as well, so I don’t think it will bother me too much.
I’m still mostly interested in the 2×2 scenario, but it was nice to get this glimpse of Danganronpa 2×2. Are you looking forward to it? And if so, will you be playing the remake first or jumping straight to the new scenario?
Danganronpa 2×2 was probably the biggest surprise of last week’s Nintendo Direct, a full remake of Danganronpa 2 that also includes a new version with different plot events.
Thanks to a new Famitsu interview with the producer, translated here by fans on Reddit, we have a few more details.
The first thing we should get out of the way is that this interview makes it clear the remake and new scenario are two separate stories, not one that branches partway through.
I bring this up first because I’ve seen a lot of confusion online about what Danganronpa 2×2 is. Lots of fans have been looking at the trailer’s trial footage, for example, and using that to determine what things will remain the same. But 2×2 includes a regular remake of Danganronpa 2 as well; the remake is the same story with redone sprites, backgrounds, etc. The new story is separate.
Moving on, the interview mentions that they originally considered doing this with the first Danganronpa, but that changing the story of the first game would have too big an impact.
That’s interesting. That makes it sound like they aren’t viewing the new story as a non-canon “what if” scenario, but as a reboot. He went on to say that events that take place before Danganronpa 2, like the first game and Ultra Despair Girls, are still the same but that we’ll have to wait and see if the ending still leads to the Danganronpa 3 anime.
There are a few things he wouldn’t go into detail about, such as mini-games and side content, but he did mention that the new scenario will be as long or even longer than the original game. It diverges shortly after the start, so it sounds like basically a whole new Danganronpa game.
I’m really excited for Danganronpa 2×2. I didn’t think a Danganronpa remake would interest me, but I’m so curious about what they’re doing with this new scenario.
What do you think about the latest Danganronpa 2×2 information?
Today’s hour-long Nintendo Direct is over! Did it have an amazing announcement that made me lose my mind? Not quite.
Did it still have some exciting surprises I can’t believe were announced? Actually, yes.
I’ll be covering the highlights for me, so be sure to check out the full Nintendo Direct if you want to see everything.
The Nintendo Direct began with a heavy focus on Mario for the 40th anniversary. I was hoping for a new 3D Mario game, but we didn’t get that. We did get a Super Mario Galaxy 1 & 2 bundle, however, with each game also available separate digitally. It’ll be out on October 2, so that’s pretty soon.
I enjoyed Super Mario Galaxy, if not quite as much as 64/Sunshine/Odyssey, but I never got around to playing the sequel. I’m tempted to pick it up for the Switch and finally play it there.
They’re also releasing Rosalina’s Storybook as a physical item, which is neat.
The new Yoshi game also got my attention. Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is a Switch 2 game announced for Spring 2026. It looks cute, like the sort of game I might play someday.
Speaking of Spring 2026, that’s also the release window for Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream, which got a new trailer at this Direct. I need it.
I love the new feature where you can grab a Mii and put them next to another one. That’s going to be great. (Of course, I hope they still randomly interact with each other on their own, too. That’s half the fun.)
It’s too bad it doesn’t have a release date, but you know what did get a release date? Hades II! Hades II will be out digitally on September 25, with the physical release to follow on November 20.
That’s really close. I might wait for the physical, not only because I want a physical copy, but also because I’m drowning in my backlog.
Meanwhile, I don’t know what Dragon Quest IV, V, and VI did, but Square Enix is jumping ahead to make Dragon Quest VII the next remake. Dragon Quest VII Reimagined will be out on February 5, 2026.
I have the 3DS version, but depending on how they compare, I might be tempted to get this one.
(Are we ever going to hear about Dragon Quest XII again??)
Soon after that came the news no one expected… Virtual Boy being added to Nintendo Switch Online, complete with a physical add-on accessory. I never saw that one coming.
Then came a welcome surprise for me… a new remake of Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly announced for 2026!
I had hoped to see Fatal Frame, but I was still surprised.
I never got around to playing Fatal Frame II on the PS2, and I was always disappointed that the Wii remake wasn’t available in North America, so I am definitely excited for this. Maybe we’ll see a Fatal Frame VI one of these days after all…
Metroid Prime 4 got a release date of December 4, Donkey Kong Bananza is getting DLC, and then it was Pokémon time.
Okay, it’s not a new Pokémon Mystery Dungeon like I predicted/hoped. It’s… Pokémon Pokopia, where you play a Ditto transformed into a human and shape the land into a home for other Pokémon. It sort of has Animal Crossing vibes, so I’m intrigued.
I thought they were announcing another game, too, but it turned out to be a DLC announcement for Z-A. Getting DLC announced before the game is even out was a little disappointing…
…but then the next announcement happened, and…
……
You can’t imagine my shock when I saw Nagito.
Danganropna 2 is getting a full remake in 2026, but not only will it include the original game, it also features an alternate scenario with different victims and culprits. It sounds like it’s going to be just as long as the original game, too, so we’re essentially getting two Danganronpa games in one.
They’re calling it Danganronpa 2×2. Danganronpa 4…..?
So that was absolutely wild.
Monster Hunter Stories 3 got a new trailer and a March 13, 2026 release date. I’ll definitely have played the second game by then, of course.
Finally, the last big announcement for me was the one they ended on: a brand-new Fire Emblem game. Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave looks beautiful, it’s due out in 2026, and it… seems to be set in the same universe as Three Houses?
I’m intrigued.
All right, those were the major highlights for me from the Nintendo Direct. It doesn’t have me running out to get a Switch 2 just yet, but there were some nice surprises in there. What were your favorite announcements?
December is here, NaNoWriMo is over, and we’ve got some Danganronpa to discuss.