No Killing Games here, just good ol beach fun. Puhuhuhu!
Danganronpa S: Ultimate Summer Camp is a spinoff entry of the Danganronpa series. It is an enhanced stand-alone version of the Ultimate Talent Development Plan minigame from Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony, intended to be a part of the Danganronpa Decadence Collection on the Nintendo Switch.This game was released as both part of Decadence and as a stand alone Nintendo eShop Game in Japan on November 4th, 2021, and on December 3rd, 2021 outside of Japan. Spike Chunsoft announced on June 29, 2022 that the game will be available for international download on PlayStation 4, Steam, iOS, and Android on July 21, 2022; these versions will include additional illustrations from official series merchandise, with no plans to add these illustrations to the original version of the game.
Note: All spoilers from previous games will be unmarked.
Provides examples of:
- Achievement System: The game has a built-in version called the Usami Flower, which rewards the player with Monocoins for completing specific goals such as landing on a certain type of space in Development mode enough times in a single run. The Usami Flower is the only way to earn Monomicoins, which can be used on the MonoMono Yachine for very high odds of unlocking an S-tier character variant compared to the regular machines.
- Alternate Universe: Like Danganronpa V3's Ultimate Talent Development Plan minigame, Ultimate Summer Camp takes place in a universe where the characters are attending Hope's Peak Academy normally and no killing games occur. Fuyuhiko's sister Natsumi is also still alive, as he and others talk about her as if she's still alive, where she was murdered early into their first year in Hope's Peak and they're near graduation at this point.
- There are also two alternate universes of the alternate universe- due to the game's inclusion of both Junko and Mukuro, Hajime and Izuru, and Monomi and Usami as separate playable characters from each other despite each pair being mutually exclusive, there's an alternate universe where Junko participates instead of sending Mukuro to impersonate her, and another where Izuru and Usami exist instead of Hajime and Monomi.
- Beach Episode: The story has the casts from past games having fun on Jabberwock Island while battling Monokuma and his various Mono-Beasts.
- Big Bad: Monokuma as per usual. Except he's also being assisted by Shirokuma and Kurokuma.
- Big Bad Wannabe: Monaca attempts to take the position of Big Bad during the Final Episode but after the boss fight with her and the Warriors of Hope, Kurokuma betrays her and hands off the Monokubs' wands to Monokuma.
- Climax Boss: The battle against the Warriors of Hope's Mini-Mechas during the Final Episode.
- Covers Always Lie: The game's official visual features Junko, Kokichi, and Komaru with completely different summer outfits than the ones they wear in the actual game.
- Did You Get a New Haircut?: Komaru asks Ultimate Imposter disguised as Byakuya if he got a new haircut due to believing he is the actual Byakuya. Seconds later, Someone points out the real Byakuya, who looks exactly the same as he always has.
- Dissonant Serenity: On the cover, a W-sitting Junko is shown smiling cheerfully in a bikini. Those who know this franchise will already be aware that Junko is an Ax-Crazy Hope Crusher, the personality of which is not reflected in that artistic choice. However, it is reflected in the game itself.
- Double-Meaning Title: Specifically for the "S" in the title; in addition to the game originally releasing for the Switch, it's set in a Summer Camp, and every character gets a new Swimsuit outfit.
- Embarrassing Nickname: Aoi doesn't like Tenko calling her Guru or Senior of the sea.
- Fan Disservice: Every character gets a swimsuit, even Gonks like Hifumi and Teruteru. Also, Toko Fukawa/Genocide Jack also wears a swimsuit, but it shows her tallymarks cut into her skin to count her victims as a Serial Killer (Toko covers it with a sarong, but Genocide Jack does not).
- Another notable example is Kotoko. Her in a bikini is unnerving if you know her backstory.
- Foil: Junko and Mukuro, Hajime and Izuru, and Monomi and Usami get the same skits with the same people, but the conversations they have take different turns depending on which character the player is using. For example, one skit starts with Monaca telling Junko a story, when Gonta enters the scene while chasing a bug. The bug lands on Junko's shoulder and then flies to Gonta on her command, impressing both of them as it seems her popularity extends even to insects. The same skit with Mukuro begins with Monaca stalking Mukuro because she recognizes her as an imposter. Gonta enters the scene chasing a bug, and Mukuro catches it out of the air with her hands without injuring it, impressing them with her dexterity instead.
- Go-Karting with Bowser: Just like V3's Ultimate Talent Development Plan, Monokuma, Junko, and Izuru are playable characters. And in this game, Monaca and the other Warriors of Hope are as well.
- Height Angst: Kokichi repeatedly brings this up to mess with people, offering Fuyuhiko fake advice on how to deal with looking like a kid and condolences to Hiyoko over having an avatar that doesn't reflect her growth spurt. However, Kokichi himself claims his own height doesn't bother him.
- Hotter and Sexier: It's to be expected from a game focused on the beaches of Jabberwock Island, but in particular is Mikan Tsumiki's official swimsuit sprite compared to her swimsuit from Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair. Where in that scene she wears a school swimsuit, albeit one that hugs the curvature of her butt, her swimsuit in Ultimate Summer Camp is a skimpy white bikini, though said swimsuit change can also be said for the others in the same DR2 picture, Sonia, Mahiru, Peko, Nagito, Ibuki, Kazuichi and Gundham all have differing or skimpier swimsuits, (Peko's matches her swimsuit from later in the same game) though Nekomaru's is pretty much the same and Teruteru's covers more.
- Interface Screw: In the final story section, while on Monokuma's second virtual Jabberwock Island, the screen periodically glitches out and the only option available to select is development mode with the initial Makoto card.
- Late-Arrival Spoiler: If you haven't already played all three of the mainline games, as well as Ultra Despair Girls, you will get spoiled on something during this game. The real Junko Enoshima appears on the cover; Mukuro Ikusaba is shown dressing as Junko, but is still listed by name and depicted as herself in her ultra rare card and hype cards; there are two different Byakuyas, one explicitly billed as an impostor; the existence of the Neo World Program, one of the biggest twists of Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, forms the basic premise of the game; one look at Hajime and Izuru's identical faces and clothing will immediately tell you there's some connection between them; Monaca's affiliation with the Towa group; and so on.
- Loose Canon: It's left deliberately unclear how much of the canon information from the other games applies in this one. Among many other strange details, all three classes appear to be graduating in the same year (even though the classes of the first game and second game are a year apart in canon); they attend Hope's Peak for three years instead of the two in canon; Komaru is close friends with Toko, has met Byakuya before, and mentions having met Hiroko and the Warriors of Hope in Towa City, meaning that something reminiscent of Ultra Despair Girls took place; Monokuma knows about Killing Games despite none having apparently occurred in this timeline; and so on. At the very least, Danganronpa S takes place in the continuity of V3's Ultimate Talent Development Plan, as many characters also mention events that occurred during UTDP's interactions; specifically, it takes place right before graduation, as confirmed by Kaede and Maki during the former's bonfire event, stating that as soon as the trip's over, it'll be time for them to graduate.
- Additionally, development mode has a pair of its own alternate continuities- one where Junko replaces Mukuro for character events, and another where Izuru and Usami replace Hajime and Monomi.
- Loot Boxes: By default, the only playable characters are the Normal-tier versions of Makoto from Danganronpa, Hajime from Danganronpa 2, Komaru from Danganronpa Another Episode, and Kaede & Shuichi from Danganronpa V3. The main way to unlock more characters, permanent power-ups for these characters, as well as everyone's Rare, Swimsuit, and Ultimate variants (which can equip more skills at each higher tier and have different art) is to earn Monocoins (which come in Silver, Gold, and Monomicoin tiers) through the Usami Flower and Despair Tower, and spend them to randomly obtain new things through the MonoMono Machines. Alternatively, see Microtransactions.
- Macrogame:
- After completing an individual character's Development mode at least once, they can be used for the Despair Tower battle mode, and every 20th of the first 100 levels of Despair Tower allows the player to skip a corresponding boss fight when replaying Development mode, allowing immediate access to higher-tier rewards. Despair Tower is also the easiest way to gain Monocins for the MonoMono Machines, which unlocks new characters for Development mode.
- After collecting increments of ten Hope Fragments by playing Development mode with different characters (including different rarity tiers of a single character), the player progresses the game's overall story and gets a permanent buff to experience and money earned in Development mode.
- Microtransactions: Alongside the MonoMono Machines, there is a Vending Machine where a player can just buy the character cards they want by spending real-world cash, with higher rarities costing more money.
- Mythology Gag:
- The swimsuits Kyoko and Aoi wear are the same ones they wore in promotional material for Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School.
- Several parts of the beginning of Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair outright are copied wholesale, even including the use of pixel art and the faux boot title sequence.
- During the final leg of the game when everyone loses their memories, Nagito's introduction to Hajime is almost word for word how Danganronpa 2 starts.
- Compounding this are the fact that throughout the game a lot of character interactions are a direct result of character growth the cast members have had for the past three years, such as Mikan walking back some of her comments and being able to stand up for herself. However, once Monokuma takes everyone's memories, a lot of character comments are very reminiscent of how veterans will remember these characters from their on eggshells behavior during killing games, Byakuya being a prime example as it's lampshaded by Makoto.
- Chihiro Fujisaki pauses for a few moments when everyone talks about going to get swimwear, since it was only after he died that everyone figured out he was male.
- Near-Villain Victory: Wouldn't be a Danganronpa game if Monokuma didn't try to start shit. He almost gets away with turning everyone against each other in the last leg of the story, but fortunately Makoto's talent lets him avoid having his memory erased. And after the significantly easier battle against all five Monokubs, the player is led to think that Monokuma won't be that much more difficult. This is not the case. In fact, this example almost becomes a different trope entirely when Makoto's efforts appear to be in vain and Monokuma clobbers him in one hit. Fortunately, Makoto's efforts rally the other Ultimates to get their memories back and band together to beat the robotic stuffing out of Monokuma, ending any chance he, and by extension Junko, has of inflicting Ultimate Despair.
- Never the Selves Shall Meet: Averted hard, with the impostor Byakuya and Junko being prominent examples.
- Played straight with Izuru and Usami, who outright replace Hajime and Monomi for their versions of the same events.
- Noodle Incident:
- Komaru mentioned that she previously met Hiroko and the Warriors of Hope on a field trip to Towa City.
- Himiko brings up the Insect Meet and Greet that Gonta put them through when invited to meet his bugs.
- Sayaka brings up that she and Kotoko did a variety show together before the latter retired.
- Penny Shaving: In Monosuke's Hope Fragment event, Monosuke steals all of the students' Jabbercoins, figuring that whoever controls the virtual world's currency controls the virtual world. Sonia is outraged, scolding that he should've started by stealing small amounts so they wouldn't notice. Her response makes the other students a little concerned about her.
- School Swimsuit: Junko Enoshima chooses to wear a standard issue school swimsuit as a joke against guys who were expecting Fanservice from her. But she also mentions that there are guys who are into that sort of thing, especially Hifumi.
- Sequel Escalation: While UTDP from Danganronpa V3 had minimal maps and select scenes, Summer Camp has much larger maps and a major amount of new scenes for each character.
- Super Title 64 Advance: The game is called Danganronpa S: Ultimate Summer Camp and it's a game originally for the Nintendo Switch.
