Walkthrough/FAQ: Dangan Ronpa 2: Goodbye Despair

Hello and welcome to Diehard GameFAN’s Dangan Ronpa 2: Goodbye Despair walkthrough! For those who follow along with us here at Diehard GameFAN, or have perused the the original guide, allow me a bit of expository backstory. When the original game, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, was released, Josh Moore took on the responsibility of reviewing the game, but as I’ve become something of a de facto guide writer around these parts, I thought having a strategy guide for the game might be fun. Apparently fans of the game agreed with me, because the piece is constantly drawing new and existing eyes to it, and to say that I’m genuinely surprised as to how well it’s been received would be an understatement. Well, with the release of Dangan Ronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, I took on the responsibility of reviewing the game, and opted to take notes as I was playing with the intention of writing this follow-up guide, figuring it would be a similar process.

This is not the case.

Make no mistake: when I mentioned in the review that there’s a lot more content to this game, I meant it, and that’s going to be reflected here, believe me. While those of you who are coming here for a straight walkthrough of the game will basically find that the first section fills your needs nicely, those who are looking for help with the other oddities this game has to offer will find that the remaining sections detail everything you need just as well. My goal was to make this your one stop Walkthrough/FAQ for Dangan Ronpa 2, and while there will almost certainly be questions I’ve missed somewhere along the way, I’m hopeful this will fill in the majority of what you might want.

This guide is broken into six segments; the first three focus on the main plot, how to max out the Report Cards of your classmates and how to get the most out of School Mode, while the latter three focus on how to completely level up your Virtual Pets, how to best complete “Magical Girl Monomi” and finally, the other random odds and ends one would need to know to completely earn all the Trophies for this game, such as the locations of the Monokuma Plushies. I do want to note that, as in the first guide, I’ve opted to skip over explaining what to look out for in the Investigation sequences, with good reason: the game makes it a big point to highlight the locations it thinks you need to visit with an exclamation point on the map, and each area you can visit shows you every possible point of interaction at the press of a button, making these segments very easy to complete. It’s rare that you’ll find yourself unsure of where to go next or pixel-hunting for a specific object in these sequences, so there’s not really a need to document what you need to look for in this case, and since the game generally won’t let you leave an area until you find everything you need or talk to everyone who has info for you, you’ll be fine. It’s the other elements of the game that can require some additional review, which is what we’re going to focus on with this guide, so keep that in mind and you should be just fine. That said, there is one section that kind of apes from the Zero Escape series, which can be a little bit of a pain (even with the built-in help) so I opted to explain how to complete that section to make your life easier.

Once again, before we get started, thanks to NIS America for bringing the game stateside, and a big thanks to the Japanese Wiki creators and Tumblr user alteregobot for some of the information I used when completing the game and cobbling this thing together (especially the latter; if you have a Tumblr you should follow them, they post cool stuff).

Anyway, bear in mind the following observations before we begin:

1.) This guide is about as spoiler-free as I can possibly make it; in this case, that means that I’ll be leaving out a lot of pertinent details as to WHY you’re doing specific things, but clearly spelling out what you have to do. As such, you might be able to infer who’s doing what if you read too far ahead, because there’s honestly no way to get around that. In the cases of things that are useful but very spoileriffic, I’ll link to them separately, so as to avoid spoiling too much, but there may still be things that reading ahead might ruin, so keep that in mind. That said, I’m also going to “white-out” anything that’s probably a bit of a spoiler, so if something seems to be “missing,” highlight the text and that’ll answer whatever question you might have. If you’re confused, feel free to practice here, by highlighting the space between the quotation marks below:

Congratulations! Your spoiler is, Monokuma’s a jerk.

2.) When I wrote the original guide, it was with the idea in mind that I’d edit it a bit when I completed new School Mode sections in case I found better places to take people to improve your relations with them. Well, it turns out that this wasn’t really viable, as many of the characters didn’t have any “100% BEST” locations, so one location was really as good as any other in that regard. This time around, every character has at least one location where every question prompt generates the best possible responses, so I’ll be listing all of the possible locations you can take someone that will generate the best possible answers, as well as the answers I used when taking them there. Any characters that have several locations listed for them AND several sets of answers gave me the fastest possible question generations I could hope for, while any with several locations listed and ONE set of answers decided to be jerks about question generation. If I go back and clear out other locations with those characters I’ll add their responses to the list, but honestly, everyone has at least one location listed, so unless you’re desperately in need of variety, you should be good here.

3.) If you have any questions, feel free to use the comments section at the bottom or my E-mail link to ask away; I am here to help. You can also feel free to leave comments about which School Mode route you liked the best; for reference I liked Mikan’s (yes she’s basically a stalker but SHE WAS ABUSED AND I FEEL BAD OKAY SHUT UP) but I’d be interested to hear what your favorite was and why.

4.) Please try to keep obvious spoilers to a minimum in the comments, if only because not everyone knows that everything was caused by lizard people and molemen. Wait, shit.

With that out of the way, let’s get started.


SECTION ONE : NORMAL MODE

For the most part, anything listed here will be effective in the normal story mode regardless of the difficulty chosen. While some things may change (the amount of Truth Bullets available during Nonstop Debates, for example), the evidence you need to use, statements you need to shoot, prompts you need to choose and icons you need to set will be consistent regardless of difficulty. Also, while I have taken efforts to make this as spoiler free as possible, including linking to screenshots to assist with some sections rather than posting them in the document and whiting out text that could be an obvious spoiler, reading ahead could potentially spoil some information about the chapter outcomes, so consider yourself appropriately warned.

As mentioned before, we’re skipping anything in this section that deals with normal day-to-day student interactions and investigation sections outright during this guide, instead focusing only on Class Trial sequences and nothing else. The reason we’re skipping the interaction sections is simple: with one exception we WILL cover, everything you can do in these sections is either done in a fashion that holds your hand the whole way through it or allows you total freedom to interact with whoever you wish, so there’s no real reason to get into it. The Free Time sequences are yours to do with what you will and no choice here is better than any other.

That said, I will also be pointing out a couple of instances where you can get extra cutscenes and the items you will need to unlock said cutscenes so as to make sure you don’t miss out on anything, both here and in the last section, because the game doesn’t make it obvious you can do this thing, and because you’ll need to unlock these scenes to complete the game entirely. Also, most of them are cute as hell so you’ll want to see them anyway.

CHAPTER ONE:

This chapter is essentially a primer for things to come; unlike the last game, though, you’ll be a lot less likely to know who the killer is during the investigation phase, or possibly even during the Class Trial, so I’ll try to hide that info where possible. The game covers a lot of its gameplay bases in this chapter, and while a couple of systems (such as Logic Dives) aren’t addressed until next chapter, you’ll probably see a good portion of the gameplay systems in play during this chapter. This chapter is still a lot easier than those that come after it, however, so it’s a good introduction to things to come at the very least. You’ll probably want to make this the chapter you use when you’re going for the “No Damage” Trophy, if nothing else.

Notes on scenes you can unlock during daily life:

If you talk to Kazuichi Soda right after breakfast on the first day while you have the Replica Sword (Present #104) in your inventory you’ll unlock a cutscene. This one’s kind of cute.

If you talk to Mahiru Koizumi before breakfast on the second day while you have An An Aan (Present #105) in your inventory you’ll unlock a cutscene. This one’s also pretty cute, though the end is kind of mean.

On the Class Trial:

Nonstop Debate One: Choose “Bloodstain under the table” and shoot “moved the body” (sixth prompt).

When prompted, choose “Knife”.

(At this point we go from one weak spot in Nonstop Debates to several, and introduce Concentration as a mechanic; for newcomers, this lets you slow down sections by holding the Right Trigger so you can make precision movements as needed.)

Nonstop Debate Two: Choose “Night-vision Goggles” and shoot “Byakuya couldn’t see” (ninth prompt).

(Here we see our first new mechanic, in Argue Interrupts and Rebuttal Showdowns; in short, you have to slash across the screen when your opponent’s dialogue comes up to “cut through their argument” and stay in the debate. These generally don’t last more than two sections, and the weak statement you need to hit with your Truth Sword is almost always in said second round, but I’ll point out where you’ll be likely to see it so you’re at least partially prepared.)

Rebuttal Showdown One: Choose “Duralumin Case” and slash “brought them” (last prompt of the second round).

When prompted, choose “Duct tape”.

When prompted, choose “Murder Threat”.

When prompted, choose “Glowing Paint”.

(Here we get our second big mechanical change in Agree Spots; basically they’re blue arguments that you can shoot to Agree with someone’s assessment via a piece of evidence instead of arguing against them. Basically, instead of contradicting a statement, you’re corroborating it. These aren’t mechanically different from one to the other, though, so I won’t be distinguishing whether you want to Agree or Counter a statement; the wording and timing should be generally accurate so just point and shoot.)

Nonstop Debate Three: Choose “Nekomaru’s Account” and shoot “before the blackout” (sixth prompt).

Nonstop Debate Four: Choose “Party Dishes” and shoot “laxatives” (sixth prompt).

Nonstop Debate Five: Choose “Irons in Storage Room” and shoot “caused a power surge” (eighth prompt).

Rebuttal Showdown Two: Choose “A/C Timer” and slash “irons caused the blackout” (third prompt of the second round).

(Here we see another new system, where you point at something in a picture to highlight evidence. Adventure games have been doing this for decades and if you’ve played a Phoenix Wright game you’re intimately acquainted with this concept, but if not, just point where I say to point and you’ll be good.)

When prompted, select the Desk Lamp in the picture.

When prompted, select “Power Cord”.

When prompted, select “Nagito Komaeda“.

When prompted, select “When he was cleaning”.

When prompted, select “Ultimate Lucky Student“.

(This is where the game introduces White Noise into debates, though you can’t shoot it down just yet. It only shows up on difficulties above Gentle, though, so as the game says, if you’re playing on Gentle, don’t worry about it.)

Nonstop Debate Six: Choose “Mikan’s Autopsy Results” and shoot “knife he hid” (seventh prompt).

When prompted, select “Ibuki’s Account”.

(At this point the trial is interrupted for no obvious reason except to prompt you to save, and because Monokuma’s a jerk, more or less. This happens during most trials, I guess as a reminder to save your game, and also, one presumes, because the trials can get kind of long this time around, so you probably should regardless.)

When prompted, choose “Because there’s no blood on Nagito“.

When prompted, choose “Storage Room Tablecloth”.

(This is where we get the (Improved) Hangman’s Gambit; since the game refers to it with the parenthetical name, so do I, not because I feel it’s actually improved or anything. This time around, instead of shooting at letters as they fly in and completing part of an already filled in word, you have to fill in the entire word, using letters that are flying in from two sides of the screen. The trick is that you can pick up one letter at a time and drop it somewhere else, and when two of the same letters collide they make a larger, stationary letter. You can combine up to four letters in one block before the letter block stops increasing in size, and the larger the block, the wider the shockwave when it’s detonated, which breaks other letters of the same size in the blast. Dumping letters into an existing block does reset the timer on the block, though, so if you have a letter on the field you don’t want to use, but might need in a minute, dumping the same letter into that big block you made resets its timer to keep it on the field. Note that if a letter block sits for too long, or if two different letters collide, they detonate and deal damage to you, and if you place the wrong letter in a space you also take damage. Also note that the game isn’t all that interested in giving you the letters you need when you need them, and may give you a big flood of letters you don’t need yet, or at all, before giving you a set you can use. In other words: this minigame will take you a while, and will probably be the one you like the least of the lot.)

(Improved) Hangman’s Gambit One: The phrase here is “Under the floor”.

When prompted, choose “Gundham Tanaka”.

(This is where you get the silencer, which allows you to shoot down White Noise with X or the back touchscreen.)

Nonstop Debate Seven: Choose “Chiaki’s Account” and shoot “no alibi” (ninth prompt).

Nonstop Debate Eight: Choose “Kitchen Equipment List” and shoot “used a light” (eighth prompt).

Rebuttal Showdown Three: Choose “Fire Door” and slash “Kazuichi have seen it” (fourth prompt of the second round).

When prompted, choose “Teruteru Hanamura“.

When prompted, choose “Knife”.

Nonstop Debate Nine: Choose “Gaps in the Floorboard” and shoot “I was in the dining hall” (tenth prompt).

When prompted, choose “Embarrassing Pose”.

(Improved) Hangman’s Gambit Two: The phrase here is “Iron Skewer”.

(We’re now introduced to the replacement for Bullet Time Battles, Panic Talk Actions. Basically, they’re similar to Bullet Time Battles, but they’re a little easier to deal with. Holding down X when a beat market passes through the bottom display starts up an auto-tracking system of sorts that will auto-target statements made by the opponent, and releasing X when a beat marker passes through the bottom display shoots down all of the arguments you’ve highlighted. Otherwise the system works identically to Bullet Time Battles: as you destroy arguments, they damage the opponent (with health being replaced by shields) and when you’ve destroyed all of their shields you confront them. This is where the other big difference comes up: four snippets of a phrase will appear at the outer edges of the screen with a button assigned to them, and you’ll have to press the buttons in the correct order to assemble the phrase. Succeed and you beat the PTA, fail and the opponent gets a shield back and you have to fight them down again. It’s mostly easier than BTB’s were, and most of the phrases are pretty obvious, to be honest.)

Panic Talk Action One: The phrase you want here is “Meat On The Bone”.

(Here we get into Closing Arguments, which are much different from how they worked in the first game. This time around, the game assigns you a set of tiles you can place more or less at random, and you have to figure out where they go. This is much better, as if you place a tile wrong you know immediately, instead of having to play out the scene, only to see a failure, correct it, and try again. To make things easier, I’ve simply taken a picture of every page that has pieces set into it, so you can just check the page and go, and I’ve left out any pages that have no events in them, so you can just look at the page you need and you’re good to go.

Closing Argument, in order:

Page One
Page Two
Page Three
Page Four
Page Five
Page Seven
Page Eight
Page Nine
Page Ten

CHAPTER TWO:

This case goes out of its way to nominate a bunch of suspects early on and goes through a lot of twists and turns before it gets to its eventual conclusion. In theory it’s kind neat, as it makes you solve multiple cases, throws a lot of evidence at you that points in multiple directions, and calls back to the first game in a couple cases. In practice, well, that’ll be your call. If you did the Report Cards for some specific characters in advance you’ll have a pretty good idea where this is going before it gets there, but otherwise it’ll probably throw you for a few loops at least. As in the last game, the action sequences also get more intense, so anyone playing above Gentle difficulty should be aware that their shooting skills will be getting a workout.

Notes on scenes you can unlock during daily life:

If you talk to Mahiru Koizumi right after breakfast on the first day while you have the Man’s Nut (Present #106) in your inventory you’ll unlock a cutscene. I’m just going to say “These were not the subjects I would have preferred in this situation” and leave it at that.

On the Class Trial:

(We start out by having to establish the sequence of events for the video game murder, which takes a good while.)

When prompted, choose “Mikan”.

When prompted, choose “Girl B”.

When prompted, choose “Ibuki”.

When prompted, choose “Mahiru”.

When prompted, choose “Fuyuhiko”.

When prompted, choose “He had a little sister”.

When prompted, choose “High school girl who died in the beginning”.

When prompted, choose “Because Girl E was the killer”.

Nonstop Debate One: Choose “Broken Vase Photo” and shoot “window shattering” (eleventh prompt).

(At this point, we’re introduced to White Noise that needs multiple shots to break; they’re not much more complicated than normal White Noise, though, just shoot them up to three times to shatter them and you’re good to go. For reference, this is where I chose to run through the White Noise achievements due to how much of it spawns here and the time payoffs you get when you break it.)

Nonstop Debate Two: Choose “Stolen School Swimsuit” and shoot “beating her with gravel” (tenth prompt).

When prompted, choose “Guy F”.

When prompted, choose “Metal Bat”.

(Around about here is when we rejoin the actual murder that just happened, for reference purposes.)

Nonstop Debate Three: Choose “Footprints on the Beach” and shoot “didn’t go” (seventh prompt).

Nonstop Debate Four: Choose “Letter on Mahiru” and shoot “only during my morning walk” (second prompt).

When prompted, select the closet in the picture.

Nonstop Debate Five: Choose “Gummy Bag” and shoot “dropped the gummy” (eighth prompt).

Nonstop Debate Six: Choose “Mikan’s Autopsy Report” and shoot “last ounce of strength” (seventh prompt).

Rebuttal Showdown One: Choose “Shower Room” and slash “washed it off in the shower” (fourth prompt in the second section).

When prompted, choose “She can’t get dressed by herself”.

When prompted, choose “Letter on Mahiru”.

When prompted, choose “Both letters”.

(And we get another intermission.)

(When we return, this is where we’re introduced to the “Logic Dive” mini-game. Basically it’s a snowboarding mini-game where you’re surfing down a tube and have to maneuver around to avoid obstacles and gaps, while picking the path that leads to the correct answer. The colors of the paths make no obvious difference that I can find, and seem like they might be there to screw with you. At this stage of the game the paths aren’t too complex but you’ll see lots of gaps, narrow paths and obstacles by the end of the game, so keep that in mind.)

Logic Dive One: The paths you want are “Before Hiyoko Arrived”, “After Hiyoko Left” and “Beach House”.

When prompted, select the closet in the picture.

When prompted, select the surfboard case on the right side in the picture.

(Here we’re introduced to the final gameplay element, Truth Flashbacks, which are the same as ever, though they can only be used to REFUTE, not AGREE. Basically press and hold on a statement to “Convert” it, replay the sequence and use this newly acquired Truth Bullet to shoot down a statement, done and done. This mechanic appears a lot less often than it did in the original game, honestly, so don’t expect to see it a lot; it only appears once in this trial, for example.)

Nonstop Debate Seven: Convert “other than the shower” (eighth prompt), repeat the sequence, and shoot “would’ve been impossible” (fourth prompt).

When prompted, choose “The drinks inside the refrigerator”.

Rebuttal Showdown Two: Choose “Trash Can” and slash “no water bottles” (second prompt in the second section).

When prompted, select “Peko Pekoyama“.

When prompted, choose “Small window in the shower room”.

(Improved) Hangman’s Gambit One: The phrase here is “Bamboo Sword”.

(This is when we’ll start to see Fever and Nega Time in PTA battles. The former allows you to shoot wantonly without having to worry about timing, the latter allows the enemy to obfuscate the playing field so you can’t see the timing markers, and Fever Time cancels Nega Time so you can kick it in to fight back against the enemy if you need to. Simple enough.)

Panic Talk Action One: The phrase you want here is “Bamboo Sword Bag”.

Closing Argument, in order:

Page One
Page Two
Page Three
Page Four
Page Five
Page Six
Page Seven
Page Eight
Page Nine

(You might think you’re done here, but not so much.)

When prompted, choose “Nationality”.

When prompted, choose “The body discovery announcement”.

When prompted, choose “Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu“.

When prompted, choose “Ending Prize”.

CHAPTER THREE:

This case depresses the hell out of me so let’s just get to it.

Notes on scenes you can unlock during daily life:

If you talk to Kazuichi Soda in the hospital on the first day immediately after the “it” conversation while you have R/C 4WD Battler Taro (Present #113) in your inventory you’ll unlock a cutscene. Uh. Okay then.

If you talk to Hiyoko Saionji before breakfast on the second day while you have the Toy Camera (Present #61) in your inventory you’ll unlock a cutscene. This one’s weird, but cute.

If you talk to Ibuki Mioda before breakfast on the second day while you have Summer Festival Tree (Present #111) in your inventory you’ll unlock a cutscene. This one’s cute all around.

On the Class Trial:

Nonstop Debate One: Choose “Movie’s Invitation Ticket” and shoot “imitating the movie” (tenth prompt).

Nonstop Debate Two: Choose “Semitransparent glob” and shoot “from the inside” (second prompt).

When prompted, choose “Glue”.

(Improved) Hangman’s Gambit One: The phrase here is “wallpaper”.

Logic Dive One: The paths you want are “It was hidden”, “The wallpaper” and “They covered the pillar”.

When prompted, choose “To mix up the killing order”.

Nonstop Debate Three: Choose “Blood on the soles” and shoot “sign she stepped on something” (sixth prompt).

Rebuttal Showdown One: Choose “Smudge on the floor” and slash “blood” (fourth prompt in the first section).

Nonstop Debate Four: Choose “Mikan’s Account” and shoot “nobody has an alibi” (eleventh prompt).

(Intermission time! Yeah, this case goes by super fast mechanically speaking.)

Nonstop Debate Five: Choose “Motel Room Key” and shoot “went of her own free will” (eighth prompt).

Rebuttal Showdown Two: Choose “Sonia’s Account” and slash “fought the killer” (fourth prompt in the third section).

When prompted, choose “Stepladder”.

When prompted, select the stepladder in the picture.

(Improved) Hangman’s Gambit Two: The phrase here is “Filming Location”.

Logic Dive Two: The paths you want are “the camera”, “the music venue” and “They took it with them”.

When prompted, choose “Destroyed it”.

(Improved) Hangman’s Gambit Three: The phrase here is “Conference Room”.

Nonstop Debate Six: Choose “Music Venue Curtain” and shoot “look like the conference room” (fifth prompt).

When prompted, choose “Candle”.

When prompted, choose “The Ibuki in the conference room”.

When prompted, choose “Mikan Tsumiki“.

Nonstop Debate Seven: Choose “Rope used for hanging” and shoot “someone’s lie” (eighth prompt).

Nonstop Debate Eight: Convert “killer’s mistake” (seventeenth prompt), repeat the scene, then shoot “camera angle” (twelfth prompt).

(Here’s where ammunition and reloading are added to PTA battles; basically, on any difficulty beyond Gentle, you’ll have to press Square to reload your bullets after you’ve shot down arguments. That’s about all there is to it.)

Panic Talk Action One: The phrase you want here is “Theater Bonus Prize”.

Closing Argument, in order:

Page One
Page Two
Page Three
Page Four
Page Five
Page Six

(Told you.)

CHAPTER FOUR:

Compared to the last case, this one’s longer and goofier than Max Goof’s family tree, and it’s still not the craziest case in this game. We will be seeing no new mechanics to speak of or anything like that; the case stands alone in its sheer complexity and absurdity, owing entirely to the environment and everything about the location itself. Oh and Nagito goes super douche mode here, so there’s that.

On the Final Dead Room:

As I’ve mentioned, THIS is the one section of the investigation I wanted to really get into due to how wacky it is. This is a Zero Escape-style “Escape” scenario; your objective is to use the tools in the room to escape the room. If you’re not interested in doing this, you can click on the bars over the weapon door and the game will offer you the option to skip; it costs 100 Monocoins to do so, however, so it’s better off to solve it. I’d give you hints here, but honestly, Nagito will basically do that for you if you interact with Monomi, so just do the following to get through here:

1. Look at the wall with the Number 6 on it, and interact with the desk. The middle drawer has a pair of pliers in it; take them. The right drawer has a note to keep in mind for later.
2. Turn around and look at the closet next to the “Watch the NEWS” prompt. Open the closet and take the hanger inside.
3. Use the pliers on the hanger to get a “Wire”.
4. Interact with the numbered panel below the “Watch the NEWS” message; enter “3957” and take the camera and USB stick.
5. Use the wire on the bed to get the desk key.
6. Use the desk key on the left-side desk drawer to get scissors.
7. Use the scissors to open the Monokuma plushie and get the batteries.
8. Use the batteries on the digital camera.
9. Use the camera and note the picture.
10. Use the flash drive on the PC.
11. Use the drive on the PC again, and enter the password of SMVEMJS
12. Note the dot code on the screen and compare it to the LED screen to the left and the blinking lights.
13. Go back to the panel below the “Watch the NEWS” message, and input “9875”.
14. Go back to the LED panel and use the USB drive on the slot that’s opened up.

And there you go. Enjoy?

On the Class Trial:

Nonstop Debate One: Choose “New Looking Hammer” and shoot “beat the crap” (sixth prompt).

When prompted, choose “The broken pillar”.

Nonstop Debate Two: Choose “Pillar Fragments” and shoot “tipping the pillar over” (fourth prompt).

Nonstop Debate Three: Choose “Strange Feeling in the Tower” and shoot “exact same place” (second prompt).

Rebuttal Showdown One: Choose “Oil on the Floor” and slash “everything” (fourth prompt in the second section).

When prompted, choose “The Life-Threatening Game”.

When prompted, select the sky in the picture.

When prompted, select the forest in the picture.

Logic Dive One: The paths you want are “They exist”, “They’re the same building” and “Vertically”.

When prompted, choose “The floors above Grape House”.

Nonstop Debate Four: Choose “Strange Feeling in Tower” and shoot “dummy” (fourth prompt).

(Improved) Hangman’s Gambit One: The phrase here is “Elevator”.

When prompted, choose “They were all on the floor”.

When prompted, choose “Only the floor moves”.

Nonstop Debate Five: Choose “Kazuichi’s Account” and shoot “vertically” (third prompt).

When prompted, choose “An eight-sided shape”.

When prompted, select a spot at the seam between Strawberry and Grape House in the picture.

Intermission time!

When prompted, choose “Falling”.

Nonstop Debate Six: Choose “Good Night Button” and shoot “moving object” (ninth prompt).

Nonstop Debate Seven: Choose “Wire” and shoot “doorknob on the floor” (ninth prompt).

Rebuttal Showdown Two: Choose “Clock’s Alarm Timer” and slash “still been in sleep mode” (second prompt in the second section).

When prompted, choose “He collided with the pillar”.

Nonstop Debate Eight: Choose “Radio Clock” and shoot “messed with the clock” (ninth prompt).

Logic Dive Two: The paths you want are “The time in the building”, “The building’s clocks” and “Both houses”.

Nonstop Debate Nine: Choose “Akane’s Account” and shoot “the sound when he fell” (eighth prompt).

When prompted, choose “Two hours”.

When prompted, choose “Monokuma Tai Chi”.

When prompted, choose “Nagito Komaeda“.

(Improved) Hangman’s Gambit Two: The phrase here is “Deluxe Rooms”.

When prompted, choose “Gundham Tanaka“.

Nonstop Debate Ten: Convert “secret passageway” (eleventh prompt), repeat the scene, then shoot “the only means of travel” (second prompt).

When prompted, choose “Nagito Komaeda“.

Rebuttal Showdown Three: Choose “Wire” and slash “maelstrom of blind confusion” (I have no idea what prompt, he talks WAY TOO DAMN MUCH, but it’s the only weak prompt in the second section).

Panic Talk Action One: The phrase you want here is “The Four Dark Devas“.

Closing Argument, in order:

Page One
Page Two
Page Four
Page Five
Page Six
Page Seven
Page Eight
Page Nine
Page Ten

CHAPTER FIVE:

This case really goes off the rails from the start, and never stops being bizarre and screwed up until the very end. That’s the only way I can reasonably describe what’s going on here, to be honest. From a mechanical perspective, this trial is fairly simple, but from a “whodunit” perspective it’s insane, as you’ll be assembling the sequence of events from beginning to end, and everything about this case is crazy. That said, you’ll probably know who you’re aiming to target as the “killer” fairly early on, so it’s just a matter of connecting the dots. Enjoy.

Notes on scenes you can unlock during daily life:

If, during the initial search sequence in daily life, you stop by the Haunted House before going to Nezumi Castle, you can get a “Used Carrot” gift; there’s no POINT to it, but…

On the Class Trial:

Nonstop Debate One: Choose “Duct Tape” and shoot “tortured Nagito” (fourth prompt).

Rebuttal Showdown One: Choose “Duct Tape” and slash “after they killed him” (fourth prompt in the second section).

Nonstop Debate Two: Choose “Monokuma panels” and shoot “opening the door” (fifteenth prompt).

When prompted, choose “MP3 Player”.

When prompted, choose “The killer couldn’t have left”.

When prompted, choose “Nagito Komaeda“.

Nonstop Debate Three: Choose “Burned Rope” and shoot “tie up your own arms and legs” (first prompt).

When prompted, choose “His right sleeve”.

Nonstop Debate Four: Choose “Monokuma Plushie” and shoot “propped the knife somehow” (seventh prompt).

Nonstop Debate Five: Choose “Blood on left hand” and shoot “rules out his left hand” (sixth prompt).

When prompted, choose “Gripping”.

When prompted, choose “Cord”.

Logic Dive One: The paths you want are “Above Nagito“, “A ceiling girder” and “The spear’s cord”.

When prompted, choose “Monokuma File #5”.

(Improved) Hangman’s Gambit One: The phrase here is “Cause of Death”.

(Intermission time!)

Nonstop Debate Six: Choose “Monokuma’s Special Poison” and shoot “something that cannot be seen” (seventh prompt).

Logic Dive Two: The paths you want are “Gas” and “Through his nose”.

When prompted, choose “The sprinklers”.

When prompted, choose “The container”.

(Improved) Hangman’s Gambit Two: The phrase here is “Fire Grenade”.

When prompted, choose “Piece of Blue Paper”.

When prompted, choose “When we all threw the grenades”.

When prompted, choose “Nagito Komaeda“.

When prompted, choose “Nagito Komaeda“.

When prompted, choose “To make someone throw the poison”.

Closing Argument, in order:

Page One
Page Two
Page Three
Page Four
Page Five
Page Six
Page Seven
Page Eight
Page Nine
Page Ten
Page Eleven
Page Twelve

When prompted, choose “His talent”.

When prompted, choose “The traitor”.

When prompted, choose “Chiaki Nanami“.

Panic Talk Action One: The phrase you want here is “Monomi’s Notebook”.

When prompted, choose “Final Dead Room”.

Nonstop Debate Seven: Choose “Sonia’s Account” and shoot “Me” (eighth prompt).

Rebuttal Showdown Two: Choose “Monokuma’s Account” and slash “fake beforehand” (eighth prompt in the second section).

When prompted, choose “Chiaki Nanami“.

CHAPTER SIX:

Okay, so we’re at the end, and from a mechanical perspective, this final case is actually pretty simple; only four Nonstop Debates, one PTA, two (Improved) Hangman’s Gambits, two Logic Dives and one Rebuttal Showdown to run through, as well as a handful of choices to make. There’s also a huge novelty sequence at the end of the case, but unlike the one in the first game, this one’s a lot less frustrating and works a lot better overall, honestly. The (Improved) Hangman’s Gambits can be a bit over the top at times, but this case is actually pretty fun, overall, so have at it. That said, yeah, it’s also a bit lengthy and spoiler-filled, so, keep that in mind.

On the Class Trial:

(Improved) Hangman’s Gambit One: The phrase here is “Virtual”.

When prompted, choose “Our school memories”.

Nonstop Debate One: Choose “List of Subjects” and shoot “lived that life” (seventh prompt)

When prompted, choose “Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu”.

Nonstop Debate Two: Choose “Neo World Program” and shoot “a killing game” (sixth prompt)

When prompted, choose “Observer”.

When prompted, choose “Chiaki Nanami“.

Logic Dive One: The paths you want are “Hajime and the others”, “Hajime and the others” and “To recover from despair“.

(Improved) Hangman’s Gambit Two: The phrase here is “Kill us all”.

Nonstop Debate Three: Choose “Vision of Nagito” and shoot “destroyed your own bodies” (fifth prompt)

When prompted, choose “…”.

Nonstop Debate Four: Choose “Email to Makoto Naegi” and shoot “defy” (eighth prompt)

Panic Talk Action One: The phrase you want here is “11037“.

When prompted, choose “Junko Enoshima“.

When prompted, choose “Jabberwock Park”.

When prompted, choose “Press Graduate”.

When prompted, choose “The school trip’s rules”.

When prompted, choose “The Reserve Course students”.

When prompted, choose “Shutdown Sequence”.

When prompted, choose “Not enough people”.

When prompted, choose “Revert to Ultimate Despairs“.

Logic Dive Two: The paths you want are “The Future Foundation”, “The killings” and “Surveillance cameras”.

When prompted, choose “Teacher’s final decision”.

When prompted, choose “The founder of the academy”.

Nonstop Debate Four: Choose “Hope Cultivation Plan” and shoot “created hope” (fourteenth prompt)

When prompted, choose “Choose “Graduate””.

(Let the gimmicks… BEGIN!)

You can’t do anything here, so sit back and wait for the sequence to fade to black.

Okay, in this sequence, you have to let the cycle run twice; during the second pass, convert “part of the game” (nineteenth prompt), then repeat for a third time, then shoot “eternal game utopia” (third prompt)

So this is another repeated sequence, but the actual rules are a bit simpler; in this one you have to absorb the last statement “create your own future,” then repeat and shoot down the other eleven statements with it. This is much less annoying than it sounds; the converted Truth Bullet stays with you through the whole second sequence, so it’s really more of a plot device battle. Have at it.

Okay, this time, what you have to do is literally what the game says: spam Triangle until the icon disappears, then hold Triangle until the fireworks start. Enjoy.

Rebuttal Showdown One: Choose “Future” and slash “Hopeless Future” (only prompt in the second section).

Panic Talk Action Two: The phrase you want here is “That’s wrong!”

END OF NORMAL MODE.


SECTION TWO: REPORT CARDS

Before we move onto talking about School Mode, I want to stop and talk about the student Report Cards for a bit, since you’ll essentially want to max them out before you buckle down in School Mode. Now, before you begin tearing your hair out about having to go through the story mode, AGAIN, to do this thing, fear not, for as in the first game, School Mode understands your pain, and allows you the option to “Spend Time” with any of your classmates, which acts as a Report Card hangout session. This allows you to progress your Report Cards with each of your classmates without having to deal with the campaign a second (or third, or fourth) time, allowing you to fill everything out without having to deal with plot or the trial gameplay. There are a few reasons you’ll want to fill out everyone’s Report Cards, for those wondering; it develops the characters further and gives you more information on their background and motivations, it unlocks extra Hope Shards to buy skills from the Report Card page, and you’ll need to complete the Report Card of a character before you can successfully earn their ending in School Mode. There’s also several Trophies tied into doing so, for those who are interested in maxing the game out, so keep that in mind.

Maxing out a character’s Report Card is a simple matter of hanging out with them during Free Time events until their particular discussion path is complete (which is marked with a gold Hope Star next to their picture and a Trophy unlocking to signify this), though if you simply do this thing on its own, it will take a great deal of time to clear most Report Cards. As such, you can also improve the way your classmates see you through gifts, which can be earned through the MonoMono Yashine at the Beach, or the Extras menu. By collecting Monokuma coins, be it through completing cases, maxing out Virtual Pets or by finding all of the Monokuma Plushies, you’ll be able to buy knick-knacks from the machine that will, in turn, potentially make people like you more. Characters can have various levels of appreciation for an item, ranging from outright hatred to apathy to strong love, and the objective is to give characters the items they want most, which often means you’ll complete a Report Card page every time you hang out.

The following list breaks down each character, what items they respond best to, what skills they provide when you max out their Report Cards, and what the skills themselves do. For reference, any skills that are unlocked through the purchasing of Hope Shards describe what they do on Monomi’s page in the Report Card section, so I’m not going to re-list them here. Also, everyone has exactly seven pages in their Report Card; the first one is unlocked by default during the Prologue, the other five are unlocked as you talk to them, and the final page describes the skill you unlock from completing the Report Card. The one exception is Hajime’s Report Card; this only has two pages, with the first detailing his basic information, and the second detailing his stats.

02: Nagito Komaeda:
Skill Earned: Trance – Even low combos will increase the tempo in PTA’s.
Best Item Choices: 33, Hope’s Peak Ring; 90, Memory Notebook; 91, Mukuro’s Knife. Yes, that’s it.

03: Byakuya Togami:
Skill Earned: Sting – When you find Monocoins, you earn more than usual; I have no idea how this works since you can’t find Monocoins but okay.
Best Item Choices: 9, Chocolate Chip Jerky; 13, Sweet Bun Bag; 17, Cocoshimi; 45, Black Rabbit Picture Book.

04: Gundham Tanaka:
Skill Earned: Infinity Unlimited Flame – Increases the power of your silencer against White Noise; you can’t use this with Cheat Code, though.
Best Item Choices: 18, Sunflower Seeds; 31, Earring of Crushed Evil; 56, Small Degenerated Reactor; 108,

05: Kazuichi Soda:
Skill Earned: Handiwork – Lets you reload two bullets at one time during PTA.
Best Item Choices: 47, Radiosonde; 53, Lilienthal’s Wings; 56, Small Degenerated Reactor; 70, Old Timey Radio; 92, Broken Warhead.

06: Teruteru Hanamura:
Skill Earned: Tasting – Reduces arguments to three statements or less during Nonstop Debate and Rebuttal Showdowns.
Best Item Choices: 29, Passionate Glasses; 44, Kiss Note; 67, Kokeshi Dynamo.

07: Nekomaru Nidai:
Skill Earned: Power of Life & Death – Makes it easier to plow through an opposing argument during Rebuttal Showdowns.
Best Item Choices: 19, Coconut; 24, Fresh Bindings; 42, Ogami Clan Codex; 89, Sand God’s Storm Horn.

08: Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu:
Skill Earned: Silver Spoon – Reduces damage to the Influence Gauge whenever you screw up.
Best Item Choices: 71, Antique Doll; 81, Stardust. Yes, that’s seriously it.

09: Akane Owari:
Skill Earned: Peach Muscle – Increases your rate of fire with Truth weapons during Nonstop Debates and Rebuttal Showdowns.
Best Item Choices: 8, Prepackaged Orzotto; 86, Century Potpourri. Yup.

10: Chiaki Nanami:
Skill Earned: Cheat Code – The time limit during Nonstop Debates doesn’t decrease when shooting at White Noise if you miss, even if you hit a statement.
Best Item Choices: 41, Tips & Tips 2nd Edition; 62, Power Gauntlet; 64, Nitro Racer; 86, Century Potpourri; 102, Rose in Vitro; 103, Skullhead Mask.

11: Sonia Nevermind:
Skill Earned: Envious Influence – Jacks up the Influence Gauge; cannot be combined with Attentive Influence.
Best Item Choices: 11, Gugelhupf Cake; 21, Brightly Colored Jeans; 74, Another Battle; 86, Century Potpourri.

12: Hiyoko Saionji:
Skill Earned: Pivot Turn – Erases Dummy Panels during the Closing Argument.
Best Item Choices: 35, Cloth Wrap Backpack; 38, Biggest Fantom; 77, Paper “10th Act Verse”; 86, Century Potpourri; 102, Rose in Vitro.

13: Mahiru Koizumi:
Skill Earned: Auto Focus – Automatically targets weak points during Nonstop Debates when you kick on Concentration.
Best Item Choices: 32, Silver Ring; 54, Kirlian Photography; 82, Japanese Tea Cup; 86, Century Potpourri; 102, Rose in Vitro; 107, Compact Costume.

14: Mikan Tsumiki:
Skill Earned: Silent Massage – The Focus Gauge recovers faster.
Best Item Choices: 25, Queen’s Straightjacket; 55, Mr. Stapler; 109, Bandage Wrap. Yup.

15: Ibuki Mioda:
Skill Earned: Shred Guitar – Increases acceleration speed during Logic Dives.
Best Item Choices: 46, 2.5D Headphones; 60, American Clacker; 75, Desperation; 83, Two-Sided Ukulele; 87, Absolute Tuning Fork.

16: Peko Pekoyama:
Skill Earned: Lightning Flash – all counterattacks are considered “raging” during Rebuttal Showdowns.
Best Item Choices: 22, Apron Dress; 71, Antique Doll; 79, Gold-Coated Sheath; 86, Century Potpourri; 110, Secret Wind Sword Book.

Now, since there are only a few gifts some people are super into, you might find yourself without something super awesome to give out. With that in mind, on the off-chance you’re out of gifts that a particular person would like, here are some gifts everyone generally likes at least a little:

01, Mineral Water (a little)
03, Coconut Water (a little)
17, Cocoshimi (a little)
19, Coconut (a little)
33, Hope’s Peak Ring (a lot)
38, Biggest Fantom (a little)
55, Mr. Stapler (a little)
60, American Clacker (a little)
63, Mesopotamia (a little)
80, Mini Wave-Dissipaters
86, Century Potpourri (a lot; ladies especially like it)
96, Tissues (a little)
101, Lust Setsugekka (a little)
102, Rose in Vitro (mostly a lot; a couple of the ladies love it)

Finally, when you’re looking at the Vending Machine in hopes of grabbing a quick can’t lose gift, here’s a quick guide:

Mineral Water, 1 coin – Everyone likes it a little.
For a cheap, can’t lose gift, you can’t go wrong here.

Ramune, 1 coin – Byakuya, Akane, Sonia and Ibuki like it a lot, Fuyuhiko and Peko don’t care for it, everyone else likes it a little.
This is your best available choice for Akane, Sonia and Ibuki; for everyone else there are better choices available, but so long as you don’t give it to Fuyuhiko or Peko it’s a fine gift.

Blue Ram, 3 coins – Nagito and Gundham like it a lot, Fuyuhiko, Chiaki, Mikan and Peko like a little, everyone else is ambivalent or hates it.
This is your best available choice for Nagito; for everyone else there are cheaper and/or better options available.

Chocolate Chip Jerky, 3 coins – Byakuya loves it, Akane and Ibuki like it a lot, Teruteru and Sonia are ambivalent, everyone else likes it a little.
This is your best available choice for Byakuya, but not worth it for anyone else.

Cod Roe Baguette, 2 coins – Byakuya and Akane like it a lot, Teruteru and Sonia are ambivalent, everyone else likes it a little.
Not worth it, since the only people who like it a lot like Ramune a lot, which is cheaper.

Potato Chips, 5 coins – Byakuya and Akane like it a lot, Teruteru and Sonia are ambivalent, everyone else likes it a little.
Way too expensive, pass.

Sunflower Seeds, 2 coins – Gundham loves it, Byakuya and Chiaki like it a lot, Hiyoko is ambivalent, everyone else likes it a little.
This is your best available choice for Gundham, and worth considering for Chiaki if you’re almost broke, but not worth it for anyone else.

Jabbaian Jewelry, 10 coins – All of the men like it a little, except Fuyuhiko, who likes it a lot. Of the women, Akane is ambivalent, Chiaki and Sonia like it a little, and everyone else likes it a lot.
Eugh. This is good for a lot of people but there are much better, and cheaper, choices available.

Tips & Tips 2nd Edition, 6 coins – Chiaki loves it, Ibuki likes it a lot, Nekomaru and Hiyoko are ambivalent, Akane hates it outright, and everyone else likes it a little.
This is your best available choice for Chiaki, but it’s not worth it for anyone else.

Go Stone, 7 coins – Nagito, Byakuya, Nekomaru and Chiaki like this a lot, Akane and Ibuki are ambivalent, everyone else likes this a little.
Too expensive and other things work just as well for cheaper. Pass.

Bojobo Dolls, 2 coins – Chiaki is ambivalent, Nagito, Gundham and Kazuichi like these a little, and everyone else likes these a lot.
This is your all-purpose winning gift, as it’s the best available gift for Teruteru, Fuyuhiko, Hiyoko, Mahiro, Mikan and Peko, and one of the two best possible gifts available for Nekomaru. Plus, it’s pretty cheap so it’s an easy way to make friends if you don’t have anything amazing.

Tissues, 2 coins – Nekomaru and Ibuki like these a lot, everyone else likes them a little.
This is the other best option available for Nekomaru, but it’s a pass for anyone else.

For reference, Kazuichi Soda doesn’t like anything in the vending machine more than a little bit so just give him Mineral Water and let him think about what an ingrate he is, I don’t know. He likes five different other gifts that are mostly unique to him, you should be fine.

The last six items that appear in the Vending Machine are for the events I listed in the story guide, and nobody actually wants them for anything.


SECTION THREE: ISLAND MODE

Island Mode, also known as “Dangan Island: Huge Panic at the Heart-Throbbing School Trip” (no, really) is unlocked once you beat the main game, and as you’d expect, it’s a sort of “What If?” scenario where you’re just goofing around on Dangan Island instead of trying to deal with MURDERS. What you might NOT expect is that, as in the first game, it’s basically a time management/item acquisition mode, where you essentially have to 1.) acquire enough parts to build whatever weird nonsense Usami asks of you, 2.) manage the stats and health of your classmates while doing so, and 3.) get into the good graces of your classmates in the process through proper questioning of their interests. This might sound a little weird, but once you get used to the flow and structure of everything it makes a lot of sense. Basically, gameplay revolves around spending your day gathering items to build whatever cute and (generally) useless stuff Usami wants, and spending your off time hanging out with classmates and taking them on trips to other parts of the school to curry their favor.

The first time you go through Island Mode, I’d strongly recommend that you use this playthrough to boost the stats of your characters and complete all of your missing Report Card pages if possible. While the game informs you it’s possible to complete the mode entirely in one shot, using the New Game Plus feature built into the mode is far more sensible, and there’s honestly no reason to do so except personal satisfaction. On the other hand, since you’re going to have to repeat the mode (at the very least) four times to unlock everything if you’re looking to do everything the game has to offer, you might as well spend the first playthrough improving yourself and making sure you have as many Report Card pages as possible, so that you can clean up any missing ones in your second through fourth playthroughs. If nothing else, this is the most economical use of your time when playing Island Mode, and it lets you see everything available to you with a minimal amount of difficulty or frustration, since from your second playthrough onward you should also be able to complete all of the tasks set before you with minimal challenge. It’s also worth noting that you NEED to complete all of the Report Card pages to “win” the mode, since Usami won’t consider you as having succeeded unless you’ve collected every Hope Shard there is to find.

The general flow of Island Mode is as such: each day you’ll have to choose what each of your classmates do, from three options: Gathering, which collects items to use in construction, Cleaning, which keeps the island clean, and Resting, if they’re too tired to go on. Every time you have a student perform an action, it depletes some of their stamina, with Cleaning depleting a set amount no matter what while Gathering depletes more stamina the further away the particular location you send them to is located. If your classmate gets too tired, they’ll collapse and be unavailable for a while, so you’ll want to let them rest before that happens if possible. You can also create various items that heal stamina and boost stats from the items you Gather around the school, and Usami will occasionally give you these things as well. Characters can also occasionally enter into a hyper state that makes their Cleaning and Gathering much more effective and causes them to not lose stamina while doing so, though you can also use items to force classmates into this state. You can also make items that make Gathering and Cleaning easier for everyone, by improving the amount of items you get and the efficiency of Cleaning or reduce the stamina used in doing anything, so there’s really a lot you can manage here.

When you start Island Mode for the first time, your sixteen students will have a total of five stat points, with three points in their default primary stat and two points in their default secondary stat, so for instance, Hajime starts with three points in Gather and two points in Cleaning, while Chiaki starts with three points in Cleaning and two in Gather. As characters Clean and Gather, their stats improve, making them more effective at the tasks assigned to them, and you can also gain items that improve these stats from crafting. These stats are the only things that carry over to a new game once you’ve completed a session, so you’ll want to do everything you can to boost them on each playthrough to make your characters better at their given tasks as you progress. In theory, you’ll want to commit the characters who are good at to Cleaning and Gathering by default to those tasks, but in practice I found that you could commit three or four characters to cleaning and set the rest to Gathering and generally do adequately early on and exceptionally in later sessions, so take from that what you will.

Once you’ve finished out a day, you’re then dumped back to Jabberwock Island, allowing you to spend time with others or sleep in, depending on what you’d prefer to do. Spending time with others allows you to either “Spend Time” with a character (which goes through Report Card page earning) or “Use a Trip Ticket,” which lets you take a character on a trip elsewhere in the school to boost their opinion of you in this mode. You’re given Trip Tickets each time you complete a request for Usami, and the tickets you’re given allow you to take exactly enough trips to correspond to your breaks before the next request is due. Assuming you complete every request, you’ll get a total of fifty eight tickets (as you’re given a set holiday every seven days, as well as two holidays at the end of the mode). Characters require (at a minimum) ten Trips before they’ll achieve the maximum fondness for you, so you can max out (at most) five characters per session, meaning you’ll need to play through School Mode (at a minimum) three times to complete the mode; since you definitely will not complete the Report Cards during the story mode, you’ll likely want to play through four times (as mentioned above) to save your sanity. Either way, burning Trip Tickets and befriending your classmates is the reason to play Island Mode, so you’ll want to make sure you’re making the most of your time, which is where this guide comes in.

There are a couple of things worth noting about Island Mode in comparison to the prior game’s School Mode. First, there is no “special” ending to get for completing all of the requests; if you have all of the Hope Shards collected, you “win” no matter what, because Usami generally doesn’t care if you complete your requests or not. However, failing to complete requests means you don’t get more Trip Tickets, and you don’t get the big Monocoin payout for completing all the requests, so it’s in your best interests to try and do so from your second playthrough on. For the first playthrough I’d recommend just trying to make one or two of the booster items for collecting, to be honest, but really anything works. Second, it bears noting that, from testing, Cleaning characters can max out their Cleaning stat on their own without intervention so long as you heal them with items instead of letting them rest, so you shouldn’t feel the need to ever make items that boost your Cleaning stat. Gathering characters, on the other hand, might top out at around 7 or 8, so it’s worth it to make items that bring them up the last couple levels if you’re looking to get the most from your Gathering experience. Third, the items you can make that reduce stamina use when working, as well as the items that double collection rates, are totally worth it to make, and from your second playthrough onward it’s worth it to consider making those as early as possible. If you can make a few Jabba Hotpots, this will basically allow you to never need to rest anyone ever again, so it’s worthwhile to consider it. Fourth, this time around, every character has at least one location where every prompt has a “Really Good” response, so I’ve only bothered to include those in the list. Finally, I’ve also included the answers to every “Shot Through the Heart” event, as well as the Ending answers (though you can just keep choosing these until you get the right one) so you’ll be fully prepared for anything that comes unless you go to a location I didn’t list or something.

So, with that in mind, here’s the list of characters and responses to use:

02: Nagito Komaeda:

Best locations: Only the Beach.

Beach:
Let’s make a sand castle!
I guess we could go fishing.
Let’s split a watermelon.

Shot Through the Heart: Negation > hate me (seventh prompt)

Ending: Bad Luck.

03: Byakuya Togami:

Best locations: Only the Library.

Library:
All right, let’s look for treasure!
That’s a lot of books.
Shall we study?

Shot Through the Heart: Affirmation > stand with me? (ninth prompt)

Ending: An imposter.

04: Gundham Tanaka:

Best locations: The Library and Movie Theater are best.

Library:
I should probably read some technical books…
This place is dangerous…
This is a great place to kill time.

Shot Through the Heart: Affirmation > have this island under his control… (fourth prompt)

Ending: You’ve become more atrocious.

05: Kazuichi Soda:

Best locations: Only the Military Base.

Military Base:
Let’s ride the tanks.
This is pretty exciting.
Let’s look for fuel.

Shot Through the Heart: Negation > too abnormal (seventh prompt)

Ending: Make a rocket ship.

06: Teruteru Hanamura:

Best locations: The Beach and the Movie Theater are best.

Beach:
Let’s take our clothes off.
Let’s fish!
Let’s drop some coconuts.

Shot Through the Heart: Affirmation > has that quality… (eighth prompt)

Ending: Diner.

07: Nekomaru Nidai:

Best locations: He likes everywhere but the Military Base.

Jabberwock Park:
All right, let’s go running.
All right, let’s pick up the litter.
Speaking of parks, the bathroom…

Movie Theater:
I’m going to go to the bathroom…
A sports movie…
It’s all about the salty flavor!

Shot Through the Heart: Negation > doesn’t trust me. (fourth prompt)

Ending: Hope.

08: Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu:

Best locations: Only the Movie Theater.

Movie Theater:
A yakuza film, huh…
We need to have popcorn.
3D, huh..

Shot Through the Heart: Negation > waste of time. (fourth prompt)

Ending: Courage.

09: Akane Owari:

Best locations: The Beach, Library and Movie Theater are best.

Beach:
Let’s go fishing.
Let’s look for crabs.
Let’s go swimming!

Library:
Let’s look for some valuables.
Let’s take a nap…
There’s not much to do here…

Shot Through the Heart: Affirmation > Nothing more important than food! (fourth prompt)

Ending: To gather Hope Fragments.

10: Chiaki Nanami:

Best locations: Jabberwock Park, the Beach and the Amusement Park are best.

Jabberwock Park:
This looks like a great spot for napping.
Let’s sit down for now.
If we break that statue…

Beach:
Let’s split a watermelon.
Let’s go fishing.
Let’s make a sand castle!

Shot Through the Heart: Negate > disappointed (fifth prompt).

Ending: Dating sims.

11: Sonia Nevermind:

Best locations: Sonia likes every location but the Military Base.

Jabberwock Park:
How about some tree climbing?
The scenery is so nice…
If we move that statue…

Beach:
Let’s go running.
Let’s gather seashells.
Let’s build a sandcastle!

Shot Through the Heart: Negation > decide for me? (eighth prompt)

Ending: Makango.

12: Hiyoko Saionji:

Best locations: Only the Amusement Park. Brat.

Amusement Park:
This place looks like fun.
Let’s go inside the haunted house.
Let’s climb that castle.

Shot Through the Heart: Negation > hate me (seventh prompt)

Ending: Father.

13: Mahiru Koizumi:

Best locations: Jabberwock Park, the Beach and the Amusement Park are best.

Jabberwock Park:
There’s no one here.
What a weird statue.
Let’s climb that statue.

Beach:
Let’s drop some coconuts.
Let’s take it all off. (Yes, seriously.)
Let’s build a sandcastle!

Amusement Park:
You could take some pictures here.
Do you want to hold hands…?
Let’s ride the carousel.

Shot Through the Heart: Negation > all I can do is take photos (fourth prompt)

Ending: About your camera.

14: Mikan Tsumiki:

Best locations: Jabberwock Park, the Beach and the Amusement Park are best.

Jabberwock Park:
The sky is blue.
There’s a nice breeze.
Let’s take a walk.

Amusement Park:
Let’s ride the carousel.
We could get lost here.
Do you want to hold hands?

Shot Through the Heart: Negate > doesn’t care about me… (eighth prompt)

Ending: Propose (seriously)

15: Ibuki Mioda:

Best locations: Ibuki literally likes every location just fine.

Jabberwock Park:
Let’s climb that tree.
If you break that statue…
Wanna take a walk?

Library:
I’m bored.
All right, time for some hide-and-seek.
Where’s the CD corner?

Movie Theater:
We can’t miss out on popcorn.
Wanna watch some horror movies?
Let’s sit at the very front.

Shot Through the Heart: Affirmation > aren’t strangers anymore (ninth prompt)

Ending: Band members.

16: Peko Pekoyama:

Best locations: Jabberwock Park, the Beach and the Amusement Park are best.

Jabberwock Park:
Let’s take a walk.
Let’s climb a tree.
Let’s pick up some trash…

Amusement Park:
This place looks fun.
Let’s ride the carousel.
Let’s climb that castle.

Shot Through the Heart: Affirmation > waiting for an opening (third prompt)

Ending: It’s friendship.

Final note: for those who are wondering, unlike the original School Mode in the first game, nothing funny or cool happens in the plot of this mode once you complete it, not even once you’ve completed it with everyone’s affection towards you maxed out. It’s the same base ending no matter what, so don’t expect any kind of last minute twist at some point down the line, what you see is what you get.

So let’s move on, shall we?


SECTION FOUR: VIRTUAL PETS

So here’s everything you need to know about Virtual Pets.

Generally speaking, your pet will go through four forms from birth to retirement: Eggs, which evolve in about 100 steps and don’t do anything else; Chibimi, which is always your starting point, evolves in about 1000 steps, and generally seems to crap around every 70 to 100 steps; Cocoon, which evolves in about 100 steps and doesn’t do anything else; and the FINAL FORM, which changes based on how you treated your Chibimi, but all of them generally evolve in a couple thousand steps.

Now, there are six evolved Virtual Pet forms, and you’ll need to get two of them if you want all the skills, and all six if you want the Trophy associated with them. Doing that requires you to have the Chibimi evolve at specific Hope and Despair levels, so you’ll have to micromanage Chibimi’s existence until it turns into a Cocoon. Despair is very basic: the more Chibimi has to live in its own feces, the more Despair it feels, and so long as you don’t let it fill to the top you’ll be fine (if it fills up the majority of your pets will die outright). Hope is a little more complicated. Basically, you can raise Hope by giving your pets presents; they like everything exactly the same, so you can give them anything you don’t need or just buy a crapload of Mineral Water and go to town and they’ll be happy with it. However, each time you give your pet a present, this not only raises their Hope, but it also lowers their Despair. What this means is, if you’re looking to get a specific Despair rating, you’ll want to load the Chibimi up with presents first to get Hope where you need it to be, then let it crap itself until Despair is where it needs to be. From there, just be super anal retentive about cleaning up pet doo and you’ll be golden.

Here’s what you need to know about each of the forms:

Egg/Cocoon:

This is a transitional form; you’ll see it either when you’re starting up a new pet or when the pet is evolving. It does nothing, and changes into an actual pet in 100 steps. You can mostly ignore it once you’ve acknowledged its existence; I’ve just included it for completeness purposes.

Chibimi:

This is your starting evolutionary form. As I mentioned before, it poops about once every 70 steps or so, evolves in 1000 steps, and directly influences how the next evolution will pan out based on how you treat it. I don’t have a lot else to add here, to be honest; just make certain you tend to its needs as you must for the evolution you want and you’ll be fine. The only point I can make here is, if you need to get a Chibimi’s Despair AND Hope up high, jack its Hope up first, then carefully monitor its Despair until it’s at the level you want, and clean up regularly from there.

This form, above all others, requires the most maintenance, observation and care of any form, so keep that in mind and you’ll be golden.

Snakemi:

This form requires Hope be between 0-2 points, and Despair be between 0-5 points. Completing this form nets you 100 Monocoins, as well as Ramune and Coconut Juice for free. Also, Snakemi seems to crap the least out of all of the evolved forms, but I may just have been very lucky.

Shitimi:

This form, aside from being the first form I unlocked, requires Hope to be between 0-2 points, and Despair to be between 6-9 points. Completing this form nets you 250 Monocoins, as well as two Tissue items, ha ha. Also, Shitimi, as the name implies, craps far and away more than other forms, so you’ll have to micromanage the hell out of it to keep it from dying.

Pigimi:

This form requires Hope be between 3-5 points, and Despair be between 0-9 points; in other words, Despair can be whatever you want, it doesn’t matter. Completing this form nets you 150 Monocoins, as well as a Cod Roe Baguette and a Cloth Wrap Backpack.

Gorimi:

This form requires Hope be between 6-8 points, and Despair be between 0-9 points; in other words, Despair can be whatever you want, it doesn’t matter. Completing this form nets you 125 Monocoins, as well as a Male Cylinder and a Measuring Flask; I don’t know why.

Usami:

This form requires Hope be between 9-10 points, and Despair be between 0-5 points. Completing this form nets you 200 Monocoins, as well as a Century Potpourri and the skill Menacing Focus, which is quite good.

Monokuma:

Yep, this little dick is in here. This form requires Hope be between 9-10 points, interestingly enough, and Despair be between 6-9 points. Completing this form nets you a whopping 300 Monocoins, as well as a Memory Notebook and the skill Tranquility, which is also quite good. Additionally, Monokuma is the only Virtual Pet who can survive with full Despair, so you can basically ignore cleaning his poop if you want and just run around.

Now, as far as leveling the pets goes, I generally recommending holding in one direction and counting to one hundred in your head, then checking your pet to see if it dropped a deuce. It doesn’t matter if you walk or run, though walking technically accomplishes more steps per minute because the animation is shorter, so that’s a better choice as it requires less effort. Note that presents will still lower the Despair on evolved forms, so you can go to town with those if you forgot to clean up and it’s about to die, but otherwise, just walk a lot, clean regularly and you’ll be set. Oh, and auto-movement with the D-Pad doesn’t rack up any movement, though walking in 3D environments does, so keep that in mind.

Insofar as how to proceed with pet management, well, honestly, Shitimi is probably the best pet to start with, as weird as that sounds. It’s the easiest one to get in the early going when you’re poor as dirt, so you don’t have to worry about presents, it has the second highest Monocoin payout of the lot to give you an early edge with coin count, and since it’s the one that requires the most attention, it’s the best one to start with because you won’t be annoyed with grinding out pets yet. Conversely, while Monokuma has the highest overall payout, his lack of caring about his Despair level means he’s good for late-game leveling when you’ll be tired of flushing poop. Usami is a good second evolution, honestly, since her payout is high and you can max her Hope with ten Monocoins. The other pets are kind of lame, to be honest, so just go for them in whatever order you want.

Also, don’t grind them out all at once like I did; it gets super boring fast.


SECTION FIVE: MAGICAL GIRL MONOMI

Oh God, here we go.

“Magical Girl Monomi” is a minigame that tasks you with slaying various monsters on Dangan Island that are under the control of Monokuma. You do this by using Monomi to draw rainbow circles around them, and occasionally by jumping on their heads. It’s really not very complicated. That said, the game has two Trophies tied into this minigame (for completing all of the stages and for… sigh… collecting all of the items) so if you want to win the associated Trophies, I thought I’d give you some helpful pointers.

1.) Don’t run a Google Image Search for the phrase “Magical Girl Monomi”. That’s less a tip for completing the game and more a tip for your own mental health, honestly, but I wanted to warn you just in case.

2.) Most of the enemies in this minigame can be killed simply by drawing rainbow circles around them until they die off, but this enemy:

Is more readily affected by Monomi bouncing on its head. Given what a hassle it is to kill it by either method, however, this isn’t an improvement so to say, but it’s at least slightly less of a hassle so keep it in mind.

3.) If you’re looking to hit hard and survive for as long as possible, I recommend completing the stages on the Easy difficulty, then playing the “Secret” stage on Hard several times, until you get the Seventh Sea Hope Rod, Autumnal Hope Ribbon and Hope Cloth Beam 1000; these are the best items in the game and they almost always drop during this mission. You’ll almost certainly die the first few times you try, but you get to keep any items you collect regardless so if you get even one of the items it’ll go a long way toward keeping you alive to collect the rest.

4.) For those who are looking to complete the “Collect Every Item” Trophy, however, I recommend equipping the “Old Man’s Grass Skirt” as soon as you find it; it increases the chances of enemies dropping gift boxes, so it’ll make finding all sixty items you need for the Trophy a bit easier.

5.) The bosses aren’t terribly difficult to defeat; they mostly just need to have circles drawn around them until they die, to be honest. That said, here’s what you should watch out for when fighting them:

– The first boss is honestly pretty simple; the worst thing you’ll have to deal with is its charge attacks, which hurt if they hit and take it outside of your circle if it goes off while you’re circling the boss. It also fires a beam weapon at long range, though this is easily avoided. If you can jump on the boss immediately just circle attack it to death as quickly as possible, and try to goad it into dashing if it gets away, then circle it when it lands.

– The second boss is mostly problematic because its weak point changes based on how it’s sitting; the rear of its body is the weak spot when it’s reared up in a “standing” position, while the center of its body is its weak spot when it’s laying down. Otherwise, the boss can toss out some projectiles and is able to spin in a circle on its tail, but if you jump over it and keep circling it to death you’ll be fine.

– The third boss has a tornado attack that can hurt like crazy, but when it’s airborne it tends to behave erratically, so if you draw a circle somewhere near yourself it’ll almost certainly fly into the area of effect and fall to Earth. It’s one of the easier bosses if you don’t try to chase it down but instead exploit its need to come after you, honestly.

– The fourth boss is a pain for one reason: it likes to jump backward repeatedly, and can end up with its back to the edge of the stage, making it harder to fight than it needs to be. Either try to lure it away from the edge of the stage or bounce on its head when it’s at the edge and you’ll be able to do some real damage to it, since it’s otherwise limited in attacks, but if it gets stuck at the edge it can be really annoying to fight otherwise.

– The fifth boss mostly just spins around as it chases you (which hurts but is easy enough to avoid) and smacks the ground (which can stun you briefly and does AoE damage), but it gives you enough time to circle it down and beat it unmercifully between ground smashes, so it’s not too bad.

– The final boss is honestly best handled by kicking on Usami Mode and beating it into paste with repeated circles, but in the event you either can’t do so or can’t kill it in time, it has two attacks of note. The first is an AOE star attack that either requires you to evade or draw outside of its range of effect, and a chase attack that, if you’re paying attention, allows you to lead the boss as you draw and rainbow circle it into oblivion.

6.) For those who want to go at the item collection Trophy full-on, below is a full list of the items you can collect, as well as where the Japanese Wiki indicates you can find them. It should be noted that the majority of the items can be found in the various “Secret” stages, so you can almost certainly camp these stages and collect most of the equipment without too much trouble. For a couple, however, I found it easier to camp the specific normal stages listed here, so I opted to list both on the off chance that might help with your grinding. For the most part, you’ll get the majority of the items if you complete every stage on every difficulty, so you’ll probably want to start there and move on from that point. For the equipment you’re missing, though, read on:

WEAPONS:
Wooden Branch: You start the game with it.
Sturdy Branch: Can be found in any Easy stage.
Bamboo Broom: Can be found in any Easy stage.
Souvenir Wooden Sword: Can be found in any Easy stage, as well as the first two Normal stages.
Wash Line Pole: Can be found in any Easy stage.
Carpenter’s 2×4: Can be found in any Easy or Normal stage.
Sacred Tree Branch: Can be found in any Easy stage.
Barbed Wire Bat: Can be found in any Easy or Normal stage.
Witch’s Broom: Can be found in any Easy or Normal stage.
Summer Carnival: Can be found from Easy stage 3 onward, and in all Normal stages.
Bartholomew: Can be found in the Secret Easy stage, as well as in Normal stage 5 and Secret.
Rayxanber’s Rod: This one can be found in Easy stage 4 and beyond as well as Normal stage 5 and beyond, though I had my best luck in Normal Secret.
Topsy Turvy: Can be found in Easy stage 5 and beyond as well as Normal stage 5 and beyond.
Pink Bomb’s Rod: Can be found in Easy stage 5 and beyond as well as Normal stage 5 and beyond.
Master Rod: Another tough one, this one can be found in Normal stage 5 and beyond or Hard stage 4 and beyond.
Gold Rush: Can be found in Normal stage 5 and beyond or Hard stage 4 and beyond.
Meteor Rod: Can be found in Normal stage 5 and beyond.
Vanquish: Can be found in the Normal Secret stage, as well as Hard stage 4 and beyond.
Despair Rod: Can be found in Normal stage 5 and beyond or Hard stage 5 and beyond.
Seventh Sea Hope Rod: Can be found in Normal stage 5 and beyond or Hard stage 5 and beyond.

RIBBONS:
Monomi’s Ribbon: You start the game with it.
Freshman Ribbon: Can be found in any Easy stage.
Polka Dot ribbon: Can be found in any Easy stage.
Red & White Headband: Can be found in any Easy stage.
Camellia Hairpin: Can be found in any Easy stage.
Bunny Ears Headband: This one can be found from Easy stage 3 and above.
Feather Scrunchy: This one can be found from Easy stage 3 and above, and apparently in the first Hard stage.
French Twist Ribbon: This one can be found from Easy stage 4 and above.
Bride’s Veil: This one can be found from Easy stage 3 and above, as well as in most Normal stages.
Gold Brocade Ribbon: This one can be found from Easy stage 5 and above, and in Normal stage 5 and above. This is a tough one to unlock, for reference, and required a lot of grinding Normal stage 5 to finally get it to drop, so keep that in mind.
Pop Star: This one can be found from Easy stage 4 and above.
Melancholy Ribbon: This one can be found in the Easy Secret stage, as well as in most Normal stages.
2 Tax Gold: This one can be found from Easy stage 5 and above, and in most Normal stages. Of note: this bow also increases gold block drops, for those who are interested.
Magical Ribbon: This one can be found from Easy stage 5 and above, and in most Normal stages.
BPM: This one can be found in most Normal stages, as well as in Hard stage 3.
Silver Rabbit’s Ribbon: This one can be found from Normal stage 5 and above, as well as in most Hard stages.
Swallowtail: This one can be found from Normal stage 5 and above, as well as in most Hard stages.
Mercurius: This one can be found from Normal stage 5 and above, as well as in most Hard stages; that said, this one was a pain to get, and I had to grind Normal 5 a few times because no Hard stages would drop it, so keep that in mind.
Despair Ribbon: This one can be found from Normal stage 5 and above.
Autumnal Hope Ribbon: This one can be found from Normal stage 5 and above, as well as in most Hard stages.

DIAPERS:
Monomi’s Diaper: You start the game with it.
Crawley Diaper: Can be found in any Easy stage.
Aquatic Diaper: Can be found in any Easy stage.
Copyrighted Diaper: Can be found in any Easy stage.
Wool Pants: This one can be found from Easy stage 4 and above, as well as in most Normal stages.
Holy Diaper: This one can be found from Easy stage 2 and above.
Premium Diaper: This one can be found from Easy stage 3 and above, as well as in most early Normal stages.
Old Man’s Grass Skirt: This one can be found from Easy stage 3 and above. Of note: this one increases the chance present boxes will drop from slain enemies, so it’s worth wearing while you’re grinding out enemies to complete the Trophy, if you’re so inclined.
Stealth Scanties: This one can be found from Easy stage 4 and above.
Normal Undies: This one can be found in the Easy Secret stage, as well as Normal stage 5 and above.
Cattle Trunks: This one can be found from Easy stage 4 and above, as well as Normal stage 5 and above.
Briefs of Resolution: This one can be found from Easy stage 4 and above, as well as in most Normal stages.
Ante Panties: This one only seems to spawn in the Secret stages, as I’ve seen it in Easy and Normal (but not Hard).
All or Nothing: This one can be found in the Easy Secret stage, as well as Normal stage 5 and above.
Ruler’s Underwear: This one can be found from Normal stage 5 and above.
Bayonet Bikini: This one can be found from the Normal Secret stage, as well as in Hard stage 3 and above.
Orthodox White: This one can be found from Normal stage 5 and above.
Mystery Cruise: This one can be found from the Normal Secret stage.
Despair Diaper: This one can be found from the Normal Secret stave, as well as Hard stage 4 and above.
Hope Cloth Beam 1000: This one can be found from Normal stage 5 and above, as well as in the Hard Secret stage.


SECTION SIX: TROPHIES AND ODDS AND ENDS

So first off, let’s talk Monokuma Plushies.

The original game essentially allowed you to poke at just about anything and get coins from it, usually about one to three at a time, which was a fine enough method of earning Monocoins if you were super bored and liked exploring everywhere. This time around, each chapter has five Monokuma Plushies hidden in various places throughout the environment, and you’re expected to hunt high and low for them to earn your coin. Generally, many of the Plushies are right out in the open (relatively speaking) and finding them isn’t very challenging at all, but a few are hidden behind really awkward obstacles, making them harder to find than you’d expect unless you’re really keeping an eye out. In the first three chapters, there are generally three Plushies out in the open that you can find during Daily Life sequences, while the other two can only be located during the Deadly Life sequences. The fourth chapter, meanwhile, has two Plushies available before you go into the funhouse and three available after you’re inside, while the fifth chapter locks away only one Plushie in the Deadly Life sequence, and the sixth chapter has all of the Plushies out in the open as you encounter them.

Monokuma Plushies Locations:
Chapter One:
In your room, in the upper right corner of the screen (this one is mandatory)
In the RocketPunch Mart, to the right of the vending machine.
In the Airport, on the baggage carousel.
In the Office in the Old Hotel, in the bottom left of the desk on the wall.
In Byakuya’s room, in the upper left, above his bed.

Chapter Two:
In the library, on the right-side second floor balcony.
In the Drugstore, right above the Detergent section, in the upper-right corner.
On Chandler Beach, on the left side, out in the ocean.
In the Closet in the Beach House, in the upper left corner.
In Mahiru’s Cottage, behind the TV on the left side.

Chapter Three:
In the Movie Theater, on the right side, next to the obvious product placement poster.
In Electric Avenue, on the left above Voyeur Corner.
In the Hospital Hallway, on the right side at the end of the hall, in the room marked “Heaven”.
In Hiyoko’s Motel room, on the toilet (you’ll have to pan the camera all the way to the right to see it).
In the Hospital’s Conference Room, in the ceiling.

Chapter Four:
In Nezumi Castle, just to the left of the mouse sign, on the top of the castle wall.
In the Roller Coaster, in the third cart.
In Strawberry House, on the Third Floor, in the flowerpot in the upper-left corner.
In Strawberry House, on the Second Floor, in the Standard Bedroom, behind the desk on the right.
In Grape House, on the Third Floor, in the Monokuma Archive, behind the Gold Monokuma standing normally, just to the left of the entrance door.

Chapter Five:
In Vendor Street, on the right side, eating ramen.
In the Plushie Factory, in the upper right, sticking up out of the top of the Basket.
In the Military Base, in the upper-left corner on some red boxes.
In Sea King Industries, on the right side, on the catwalk in the background.
In Komaeda’s room, in the shower on the right side.

Chapter Six:
In the classroom you start in, in the rafters, to the right.
In the Gym, on the left side, in the bleachers.
In the Biology room, under the desk on the left.
In the Staff Room, on the right side, under a metal plate.
In Class 2B/Laundry Room, on the right, next to the vending machine.

Got all that? Good.

Next, let’s talk Trophies. Now, the vast majority of the Trophies are simply earned by completing the plot and Island Mode, and if you plug away at both you’ll have around 60-70% of the Trophies by sheer force of will if nothing else. But if you want to Platinum the game, well, that’ll take a bit more effort. With that in mind, let’s go through the Trophies, without spoiling them, and see what does what; for the purposes of this review, I’m assuming you’re looking at the Trophy list as I go down it, so it’ll make more sense, order-wise, if you’re doing that.

The first one in the list is the Platinum Trophy, which you can only get by doing everything else, so there you go.

The next seven Trophies are entirely plot-related, and are awarded to you for completing the game, so earning them is as simple as beating the game, no fuss, no muss.

The next sixteen Trophies are paid out for completing each character’s Report Card; the first fifteen are assigned to each character, while the last Trophy is for completing every Report Card entry in the game. You’ll probably complete this by the end of your first session of Island Mode, and the gift guide above should ensure that.

The remaining Trophies are the complicated ones, and are, in order:

“The 1 Percent” – This is the “have 999 Monocoins on your person” Trophy. I recommend doing this after you’ve ensured you have enough must-have presents for everyone unless you want to grind a class trial or ten to get there, as you can basically max one Virtual Pet and the first chapter (including hidden Monokuma Plushies), use the ill-gotten gains to completely fill up on presents, then spend the rest of the game earning coins and win this easy. You can try to earn them from class trial or Virtual Pet grinding, of course, but this is far more boring and I don’t recommend it.

“Look at This Stuff, Isn’t it Neat?” – Collect 50 unique presents. Just keep dumping coins into the MonoMono Yachine and you’ll be fine.

“For the Hoard” – Collect every possible present. For this one you need to rob the MonoMono Yachine blind, collect every Report Card entry, and complete the entire game to get everything. I’d only recommend going for this one once you have “The 1 Percent” done since you’ll need a lot of coins for the MonoMono Yachine, but otherwise it’s nothing that isn’t covered above.

“Be Beary, Beary Quiet”/”I Should Start a Circus” – Collect half and all of the hidden Monokuma Plushies, which is explained above, nothing special there. If you miss one, they don’t reappear in later chapters, nor do ones you collect reappear again in their home chapters, and as you can see in the screenshot above, you can check the display in your bedroom to confirm what chapter yours is missing from so you can jump to that chapter and poke around.

“Can We Keep Him?”/”Gotta Raise ‘Em All!” – Raise one and all types of Virtual Pets, respectively. Follow the guide above and you’ll be just fine.

“I Wanna Soak Up Some Sun” – Complete Island Mode one time. Self-explanatory.

“Life’s a Real Beach” – See everyone’s Island Mode ending. This requires playing through, at minimum, three total times, but more likely four, as you can only woo a maximum of five characters per playthrough. Beyond that, just follow the guide above and you’ll be just fine; the game keeps track of who you’ve seen endings for (as noted in the above screenshot) by placing hearts next to the icons of people you’ve maxed in prior playthroughs, in case you forget.

“Halfway There!”/”Capped Out!” – These two are for leveling Hajime up all the way to Level 99; this one is just a matter of grinding a lot, though you’ll almost certainly hit this on your own through Plushie hunting, Virtual Pet raising and trial completion. If not, you can just redo the first couple chapters if needed to push yourself over the edge.

“Walking the Walk”/”Nice Calves” – Earned for walking 5000 and 10000 steps, respectively. You’ll almost certainly do this while raising Virtual Pets.

“Hey Big Vendor”/”A Fool and His Money…” – Because the wording isn’t clear, these two refer to the MonoMono Yachine; the former is awarded for performing 100 separate transactions with the thing, while the latter is awarded for earning every possible present from it that you can. You’ll pretty much earn these on your way toward completing “For the Hoard” so don’t worry about them too much.

“A Magical Ending” – clear every stage in Magical Girl Monomi. The difficulty doesn’t matter, just complete each stage one time and you’re good. Easy enough.

“Monomi Won’t Miss These, Right?” – Oh God. This is the “collect every possible item available in Magical Girl Monomi” Trophy and it sucks out loud. Follow the guide above, more or less, and pray a lot.

“This Belongs in a Museum!” – Unlock the entire Gallery. Just blow through a crapload of Monocoins and make sure you catch the scenes I listed above in the plot guide (the ones that need specific items) to unlock the relevant screens, and you’re good to go. Since a couple of people have mentioned this was an issue, though, let me make this point: the very last scene in the Movie Gallery is unlocked by reading through DanganRonpa: IF, so you will need to go through that, either by reading or fast-forwarding, at least once to unlock the associated movie. Any other missing scenes should be unlocked normally or through the hints listed above.

“Any Objections?” – Complete a trial without taking damage. I recommend the first chapter’s trial for this; there are two (Improved) Hangman’s Gambit’s to deal with, though, so make sure you save before (and after) each one and it’s not too bad at all.

“Case Closed” – Don’t retry once during a class trial. Just don’t die in one trial, easy enough.

“Blowin’ Through My Screen”/”The Airborne Static Event” – Destroy 100 and 500 white noise lines across all class trials, respectively. Honestly, I did this one by grinding the first couple Nonstop Debates in the second chapter, repeating the trial discussion until there was only about 30 seconds left each time. Since the White Noise gives you time back, you can repeat most Debates twenty or thirty times, and each one usually has a few lines of white noise, so you can do it in two or three Debates. You could also try to earn this one the good old fashioned way, but this may conflict with the “don’t lose health” and “don’t Concentrate” Trophies, so, really, do whichever works best.

“I’m Sorry, What Were You Saying?” – Clear a trial without using Concentration once. I did this in the first trial by accident, so that’s as good a place as any. Later trials make this more difficult, especially during (Improved) Hangman’s Gambit, so keep that in mind.


On that note, that’s all we have so far. Hopefully this has been helpful, and if you have any questions or comments to offer, please feel free to do so in the comments or by emailing me as needed. Good luck!


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56 responses to “Walkthrough/FAQ: Dangan Ronpa 2: Goodbye Despair”

  1. L Avatar
    L

    Thank you so much!!

    1. Mark B. Avatar
      Mark B.

      You’re very welcome, and I’m glad I could help!

  2. ThomThomP Avatar
    ThomThomP

    Thank you so much for this walkthrough :)

    I have few questions :

    – How I can unlock the scene with Nekomaru & Akane (the massage event) ?

    – You say : “If you talk to Kazuichi Soda immediately after the “it” conversation while you have R/C 4WD Battler Taro” but I don’t understand what is the “it” conversation :/

    Could you help me please ?

    1. ThomThomP Avatar
      ThomThomP

      Oh Sorry, I made a spoil, you can delete my comment :/

  3. R Avatar
    R

    Hey, noticed a few things with the Monomi mini-game. First one, is the Cane of Despair actually the Despair Rod? I’m guessing yes, but definitely something that should be corrected.

    The second is likely an inaccuracy in the Japanese wiki. The Despair Diaper and Vanquish are also dropped in Normal Secret and both are listed as only in hard levels. I can confirm this because I got both in that stage personally.

    1. Mark B. Avatar
      Mark B.

      You are correct, the Cane of Despair should say “Despair Rod” and that’s been corrected. Going back and forth between the JP Wiki and the game gets confusing after a while, oops.

      I didn’t see either in Normal levels, personally, but I’ll add that into the guide; thanks for the heads up there. The more info we have the easier it’ll be, especially with this mode.

  4. ZekeFreek Avatar
    ZekeFreek

    So from your wording, I assume you can get multiple character’s endings in each Island Mode run? I didn’t quite understand that part.

    1. Mark B. Avatar
      Mark B.

      Oh, yeah, sorry. Basically, you can earn five endings per run at most. Each character REQUIRES ten hangout sessions in order to max them out (you can check how well you’re doing with Usami), and you get (at most) 58 hangout sessions to work with. At the end, it’ll give you the option to talk to everyone you’ve maxed out during that run, and you can see all five endings at that point, then start a new game and work on the next five.

  5. Ain Avatar
    Ain

    “These were not the subjects I would have preferred in this situation” I would have preferred it not to happen at all, honestly. That was creepy as hell.
    And you’re right, one thinks they can’t overdo the fourth case and then Chapter Five happens. Well, at least that trial cemented the victim as my favourite character. What an insanely clever asshole.
    Thanks for the guide, it’s really useful!

    1. Mark B. Avatar
      Mark B.

      They did something similar in the first game so I kind of expected it was going to happen again, though the weird “I’M A MAAAAAAN” dialogue beforehand was super-gross, no argument.
      The victim was certainly an awesome villain, I’ll give it that; I couldn’t get to a point where I could LIKE the character, personally, but that is (to my mind) the sign of a good villain, when you can’t really get past what they’ve done and LIKE them. That’s an effective villain to my mind.
      No problem, glad I could help!

      1. Aaron Sirois Avatar
        Aaron Sirois

        At least Hajime was honest about it, unlike that pansy Makoto!

  6. DV THE FOX Avatar
    DV THE FOX

    I might pass on this sequel’s platinum…To be honest,i already had too much “DESPAIR” doing the 1st one’s Platinum Trophy (wich i have)…And if this one’s WORSE….Then better finish the game and that’s it

    …..LIKE I DID…….

    Oh where’s my manners,THANK YOU FOR THE GUIDE,used it a few times for the last 2 Chapters (Pretty fucked up to be honest…But i’m spanish,even though i understood most of the game..It’s just…some Truth Bullets were hard to understand where they should be shot at because of the dialogs)

    1. Mark B. Avatar
      Mark B.

      I’m glad I could help out! And yeah, it’s very difficult to complete the Platinum on this game, especially because of the Monomi mini-game, unless you are very patient.

      1. Alexander Lucard Avatar
        Alexander Lucard

        That’s Nippon Ichi for you. I’ve logged nearly 100 hours in the Vita version of D4 and I think I only have 1/3d of the trophies. They really make you work for those things.

        1. Mark B. Avatar
          Mark B.

          Yeah, DR and DR2 aren’t half as bad as the Disgaea games are, thankfully. I think I cleared everything in DR2 in 30 hours? So it could be a lot worse.

          1. DV THE FOX Avatar
            DV THE FOX

            You’ve 100%’d DR2 (including the story,island,monomi etc,aka platinum ) in just 30 hours?….Can’t be!,i’ve passed more than 40h and i’m unlocking Story Mode’s scenes! XD ^^;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

          2. Mark B. Avatar
            Mark B.

            Hah, well to be fair I was following the JP Wiki for a lot of the stuff I was doing, which expedited the process a lot. But yeah, about 30-32 hours for everything, but 40-ish isn’t bad at all to be honest.

      2. DV THE FOX Avatar
        DV THE FOX

        I have ONLY these presents left,wich i don’t know what they’re:

        -012
        -040
        -053
        -090

        Pedobear Machine says i have a 92.10% Repeat Rate and i only have 237 PedoCoins (Sorry for the “puns” but i hate monokuma….)

        Can i get these if i throw 90? coins (0% repeat) or are these 4 items ONLY avaliable during special events?..If it’s the latter,where/how do i get them?

        Thanks in advance,it’s the only trophy that’s worrying me for now (besides the….Monomi game i haven’t tried YET)

        1. Mark B. Avatar
          Mark B.

          I’ll take a look when I get home and see what those presents are, and if they can be acquired via normal means or if they have special restrictions. Most likely they can all be acquired through the MonoMono Yashine though.

          1. DV THE FOX Avatar
            DV THE FOX

            Thanks. However,if my mind’s not wrong, even with a 0.00% repeat…A normal item pops out….

          2. Mark B. Avatar
            Mark B.

            That’s correct. Those four items are most likely normal items, though, so that’s likely fine; I had to jack up the coins I dumped in to get the last couple because of how high the repeat rate was, so that’s most likely what you’ll have to do here. I’ll double check to be certain though.

          3. DV THE FOX Avatar
            DV THE FOX

            Got the “FOR THE BITCHES!” Trophy….Aka all presents…BANKRUPT’D FOX X_X;;;;…Just 48 pedobear coins left…
            I guess i have to do the tamagotchi and CASE 01 repeatings to get the Events and pics and songs and vids..

            Ugh…now i must know if i have the items for the special events for the chapters…Else no trophy (DAMN YOU SPIKE CHUNSOFT!!!)

            After this platinum’s done, next would be Project Diva F 2nd (November 21st in Spain)

            Thanks again. Yes,the items has been gotten from the PEDOBEAR YACHINE (YACHINE EH,NOT MACHINE…Translation?)

            Also,do you have to unlock the songs for the Gallery trophy or..?

  7. Dan Avatar
    Dan

    I’ve completed the story, and went back for the bonus scenes, but i’m missing an event and movie. I’m missing the one after the final story event and before the bonus scenes, while i’m missing the bottom movie in the list. Are these island mode related?

    1. Richard Avatar
      Richard

      The last scene is unlocked by completing the Novel Mode. At the very end there is a scene that will play. That will unlock the last slot on the Movie Gallery.

      1. Mark B. Avatar
        Mark B.

        Exactly this; I didn’t think to include it in the guide, but when you get to the end of the Novel it unlocks for purchase.

        1. Dan Avatar
          Dan

          Thanks Richard, and thanks Mark for including it for the future. Thanks generally for this fantastic guide. :D

  8. Tobi Avatar
    Tobi

    Thanks for the wonderful guide dude! But whats the final thing to buy in Movie Gallery its titled “???” for me at the moment.

    1. Mark B. Avatar
      Mark B.

      It’s the last scene of the DanganRonpa: IF Novel; I’ll add that to the guide, but just go through the novel and it’ll be available to purchase.

  9. Pedro Avatar
    Pedro

    What’s the “it” conversation before talking to soda?

    1. Mark B. Avatar
      Mark B.

      In the third chapter, Akane and Nekomaru have an extensive conversation about “IT”. You’ll know it when you see it. The only thing I can tell you to look out for is it happens when you visit the hospital.

    2. Mark B. Avatar
      Mark B.

      In the third chapter, Akane and Nekomaru have an extensive conversation about “IT”. You’ll know it when you see it. The only thing I can tell you to look out for is it happens when you visit the hospital.

  10. DV THE FOX Avatar
    DV THE FOX

    A little Fix suggestion for the guide:

    In CHAPTER 03 ,for the Scene Unlocking,it’s a bit “MISLEADING” or having a bit of incorrect order.

    Whenever you meet Hayui (the “brat”) for the 1st time at the very beginning of the Chapter,there’s no chance to make the scene to happen. You must wait after visiting “that person” at the hospital.

    So a nice order would be

    -Kazuichi Soda’s “it” moment with the present (after the event,SAVE)
    -Hayui event (Save after the event)

    then reload the chapter,skip the hell out and instead of Soda and Hayui’s talk,go talk to Ibuki after the Hospital Event.

    Hope that helps

    1. Mark B. Avatar
      Mark B.

      I believe I know where you’re going with this; if so, I’ll run through the day to confirm and change the day it occurs later today. I probably miscounted and meant the second day, but I’ll take a look at it as soon as I have a second and update. Thanks for the heads up.

  11. Xavius Avatar
    Xavius

    Hello there. Great guide! Just wanted to point out that link to Page 3 of the Closing Arguments in Chapter Four is broken

    1. Mark B. Avatar
      Mark B.

      Yeah I don’t think there’s actually a slide to drop into that page and I simply made the link without thinking about it. I deleted the link but I’ll double-check and see if there’s a slide to drop in there, and if so recreate it. Thanks for the heads up.

  12. DV THE FOX Avatar
    DV THE FOX

    Well,finally got all the trophies EXCEPT…The USAMI MINIGAME,wich will start tomorrow probably…or not XD

    Though i’ve played a little bit stage 1 on EASY to see how it worked and good lord 60FPS! =D…I like that (i just don’t know how,with the power of the Vita,can make the rest of the game….30FPS?! ¬¬…)

    Still,let’s pray. Good to know too that you can check wich items you own and in the guide where to find the rest.

    Yes,i’ll try to get that fucking item skirt or something to get the damn items! ><;…

    1. Mark B. Avatar
      Mark B.

      Yeah this is going to be a two hour task easily, from experience. Good luck!

      1. DV THE FOX Avatar
        DV THE FOX

        Well that’s great to know…If i do that,i’ll be able to do many other personal things and drop the game to the game box…Also,InFAMOUS FIRST LIGHT’s platinum.

        Thanks for the reference.

      2. DV THE FOX Avatar
        DV THE FOX

        Only 2 items left for both Weapons and Diapers (Whoa….)

        ….but 7 left from Ribbons

        God damn you,Japan!

  13. Austin Avatar
    Austin

    I feel like I’m missing something here. How do you obtain a character’s ending in Island mode? I’ve achieved Sonia’s maximum “Love-Love level” but I didn’t get any sort of special scene, and I tried spending time with her again but it’s just another date scene as usual. Is there something I’m supposed to do or do I not get her ending until day 51?

    1. DV THE FOX Avatar
      DV THE FOX

      In ISLAND MODE, you must make Monomi’s stuff to obtain Trip Tickets. Once you get the first 5 talk with,in your case, Sonia, in the area mentioned in this guide, and answer only to the options mentioned,again,in the guide. If a Truth Bullet event happens,just follow the guide.

      Once you’ve reached 10 hearts,STOP TRIP TICKETING WITH HER!!!,and do it with someone else. Note that you must complete each Monomi task to obtain then 8 more tickets to well,date the other persons.

      You can do a maximum of 5 persons per Island Mode playthroughs depending of your skills on finishing Monomi’s stuff in time.

      For Sonia’s Ending,now that you’ve accomplished the 10 hearts thing,you must wait for Day 51 where the ending will happen and you’ll have the chance to talk to the persons you’ve 10 heart’d with, then give them the correct Ending Answer (else it won’t count for the trophy!!!!!).

      Do this with everyone (except Monomi) and the trophy’s yours once you get the last person’s ending, then get out from that boring mode!

      Hope that helped!

  14. Samizo Kouhei Avatar
    Samizo Kouhei

    Hi ! I have a question about Island Mode and trophies : I maxed out some Report Cards (and unlocked trophies and undergarments), but not the 10 Hearts in Usami Diagnosis. Are these the same thing ? Or is it another trophy (Island endings) ? I didn’t manage to finish all Monomi’s tasks, and I wonder if the full profiles (golden stars with 6 shards) are sufficient or not to unlock these special endings.
    (Sorry for my broken english. I’m not a native spoken)

    1. Mark B. Avatar
      Mark B.

      No problem, I think I know what you meant.

      The two things you mention are not the same thing. The Report Cards only tie into their own trophy; they do not do anything with the Island Mode trophies. HOWEVER, you WILL need to complete all of the Report Card pages before you can start properly unlocking the Usami Diagnosis hearts, so you’ll need to get all the Report Cards completed before doing that.

      The Usami Diagnosis part is related to getting all of the Island Mode endings; for every person you get ten hearts with, you unlock the ability to see an ending, and you need to see all fifteen to get the trophy. The Report Card profiles are not sufficient to unlock this, but you DO need the Report Cards to be completed before you can complete Island Mode.

      1. Samizo Kouhei Avatar
        Samizo Kouhei

        OK, thank you for your explanations ! ;-)

  15. Haith Avatar
    Haith

    Hi! I have a few questions!

    First off, regarding the bonus cut scenes, do you know for sure when Ibuki and Hiyoko’s are in the third chapter? They don’t appear to be available on the first morning prior to breakfast. And another thing, is the Monokuma plushie in Standard room in chapter 4 standard life or deadly life?

    1. Mark B. Avatar
      Mark B.

      – It’s more accurate to say they’re available the SECOND morning; the first morning doesn’t really offer you much but a lot of railroaded scenes so I kind of forgot they let you walk around in the beginning of the day.
      – All Monokuma Plushies are available at all times during the chapters they appear in; only the rooms themselves are restricted between Normal and Deadly Life. Which one are you having an issue with?

      1. Haith Avatar
        Haith

        Ah, okay, I’ll be looking the second day then haha so thanks.

        And I found it just last night but the Monokuma Plushie in the Standard room of Chapter 4 can actually only be found in Daily Life and it isn’t there in Deadly Life for some reason. Was the only one I had trouble finding.

  16. UnLucky Avatar
    UnLucky

    For Island Mode, is there anything I’d miss out on if I were to, say, get 10 characters to 5/10 hearts, save on the 48th day, and then reload after I get each of their endings with the remaining 5 chances to interact with them? At this point the gathering is over, so it’s pretty much just back to back trips until the end.

    This would let you get all the trophies in two runs, but your save wouldn’t keep track of them (if it even does that). Is there concept art or something that unlocks?

    1. UnLucky Avatar
      UnLucky

      Nevermind, looks like it doesn’t work since the trophy is technically for having all 15 characters with a heart icon on one save file. 3 complete runs is indeed the minimum.

      1. Mark B. Avatar
        Mark B.

        Yeah, it’d honestly be complicated to get ten characters to 9/10 and push them to the final point in time anyway; in the original game it was easier since you got their reward item at that point so it made more sense, but you need to have all fifteen marked with the heart icon in Island Mode for it to count.

  17. DV THE FOX Avatar
    DV THE FOX

    Thanks for fixing CHAPTER 3’s Unlockable events! =D

  18. […] a good walkthrough and especially for Trophy help check out this link.  It helped me a ton. Also it doesn’t have any spoilers compared to the other options out […]

  19. Ateru Shimotsu Avatar
    Ateru Shimotsu

    I just obtained a Gold Brocade Ribbon on Stage 3 Easy, can anyone else confirm?

  20. […] (Note to anyone who might be arriving here looking for a walkthrough for Dangan Ronpa 2: Goodbye Despair: you can find it here.) […]

  21. […] choses à faire dans un procès (tout est relativement bien expliqué au premier procès, des solutions assez complètes existent si vous êtes perdu), je ne vais pas les détailler mais c’est […]

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