A Super High School Level Look at the Localization of Danganronpa

 Introduction

Danganronpa is a series that I really like. I know, stop the presses: “A guy on the internet likes Danganronpa!” But for a while, it used to just be a guilty pleasure of mine. As I’ve gotten older though, and started caring less about what others think of me, it's grown into a series I can openly express my enjoyment for.

When I look at the games as a complete package, they embody many of the reasons why I enjoy Japanese media so much. One of those reasons is how experimental the series was. It tries several new things that no one else was doing at the time. Sure, visual novels and murder mysteries are a dime-a-dozen, but how many visual novel series have tried to immerse the player by incorporating elements from first-person shooters of all things? Then using that bullet motif as the central visual theme of the game. 

One of the things I really love is that they take the concept of a typical slice-of-life high school anime, parody it and exaggerate those elements. Even the most basic character tropes are ramped up to 11. When playing the games, you really feel like they were made with a lot of heart and soul, as if you’re witnessing Kazutaka Kodaka’s own thoughts, passions, and creativity bloom into an entertaining story that only he could tell. The game very much wears all of its intentions on its sleeves and is unapologetic about it. Even with all the flaws the games have, those flaws stem from the creator’s imperfections, rather than from a lazy corporation trying—and failing—to appeal to a broader audience.   

All of this, combined with Rui Komatsuzaki’s iconic art style which sets the visuals of this game apart from anything seen before, and music from Masafumi Takada, adding a unique psycho-pop vibe makes this game stand out a lot to me.

Now, I know no one will care to listen to me suck Danganronpa’s cock for fifty paragraphs, so let me just cut right to the chase. The chase in question is a discussion regarding the first game’s localization and looking into what was changed about the game when it was brought into English. Despite several changes being made to the game’s localization script, I was surprised that there wasn’t much comprehensive documentation regarding these changes. I mean, there are some isolated discussions, comments on forums, and blogs here and there talking about specific aspects, but there aren’t any that cover the whole game in relative depth. So, back by unpopular demand, I’m here today to compile these changes and discuss them in this one blog post!

The Girl Who's Right on the Money: A Review of Money Idol Exchanger (PSX)

 💰Introduction💰

Last time, when talking about Magical Drop, I mentioned how I wasn’t too big into puzzlers. While I’m still not someone who actively plays puzzlers outside of casually killing time, my love for Magical Drop possessed me to check out some other games in the genre. While browsing the internet, I found a cute-looking puzzle game that almost instantly caught my attention. This game was called Money Idol Exchanger.

From a cursory glance, the game looked like something right up my alley. It was a puzzle game with gameplay similar to Magical Drop with a focus on exchanging coins into bills. The game was originally released for the Neo Geo MVS arcade system, and since I couldn’t get the Neo Geo emulator to work properly on my PC, the only way I could play the game for a while was to visit the local retro game arcade...which is an hour-long drive from my house.

It wasn’t until a bit later that I learned the game was also ported to home consoles and systems. So, I downloaded the PlayStation 1 version, booted it up on an emulator, and played it a considerable amount. The only real caveat was the fact that the PSX version was never translated into English, so I had to play the game in Japanese. That said though, while the game was quite simple, I still had a lot of fun with it and have a lot I wish to discuss and preach to the choir about. So, without further ado, Let’s Exchanging to Cash!!