Danganronpa Games in Order: Where the Anime Fits

For the three main mystery games, play Trigger Happy Havoc → Goodbye Despair → V3: Killing Harmony. This is the simplest route if you mainly want investigations and class trials.

For the fuller story, add the Ultra Despair Girls side game and the Danganronpa 3 anime after Goodbye Despair, before moving to V3. That anime concludes the Hope’s Peak storyline—the story centered on the school introduced in the first game. Danganronpa 3 is an anime; V3 is a different game. The table below separates the core games from the extra steps.

Danganronpa games and anime: the first-time order

If you want the main mysteries and the Hope’s Peak conclusion, use the full route below. The unusual step is switching from games to the Danganronpa 3 anime; that is intentional, not a missing game in the list.

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Ultra Despair Girls swaps class trials for action-adventure gameplay. It provides context for the anime, which is why it appears in the fuller route. The 2013 Animation, the 2.5 OVA and Summer Camp are optional retellings or extras, covered below rather than added as required steps.

Novels, manga, stage adaptations and guest appearances are outside this route.

Danganronpa 3: Future, Despair and Hope episode order

Alternate Future and Despair episode by episode, starting with Future 1. After Future 11 → Despair 11, finish Future 12 → Hope Arc. Do not watch all of Despair first or search for a separate regular Despair 12.

The original Japanese broadcasts interleaved Future and Despair rather than completing one arc before starting the other. That is the basis for this first-viewing order. Despair’s earlier fictional setting is not a reason to watch its entire run first.

There are 12 Future episodes, 11 Despair episodes and one Hope conclusion: 24 episodes in total. The official Japanese anniversary Blu-ray listing separates those components, as well as the earlier 13-episode adaptation.

If your app files Hope Arc under another season or under Despair, choose it by title after Future 12. Do not replay an episode just to make the two arc lists look equally long.

Danganronpa games in release order

This table uses each game’s first Japanese release, as recorded in the official series catalog. These are historical launch platforms, not a current shopping list. For the Switch collection and what it leaves out, jump to Decadence and the other editions.

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Ultra Despair Girls takes place between the first two games, but moving it into that gap is not the best first-time route. Play Goodbye Despair first, then return for the spin-off. You will have the context of the two earlier releases without rearranging the series around its fictional dates.

Danganronpa S belongs after you have met the casts from the main games, including V3. Treat it as an optional crossover branch, not “Danganronpa 4” or the next required chapter after Hope Arc. If you only want the central mystery sequence, you can stop without adding S.

Danganronpa 3 is not Danganronpa V3

Danganronpa 3 concludes the Hope’s Peak anime storyline; V3 is a different game. Use the full title and medium to distinguish them:

You can take the shorter game-only route to V3, but it leaves out the Hope’s Peak anime conclusion. For the combined route, finish Danganronpa 3 first.

A search for “Danganronpa season 2” can be equally misleading. Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair is the second game; it is not the title of a television season adapting that game’s full story. Do not assume a service’s season numbering fills the gap between The Animation and Danganronpa 3.

Where The Animation and Danganronpa 2.5 fit

Can you follow Danganronpa through anime alone?

Not without leaving a major gap: there is no TV-anime adaptation of the full Goodbye Despair story. The Animation covers the first game; Danganronpa 3 comes later. For the combined story, the second game is the step between those anime, not a season you have overlooked.

Danganronpa: The Animation

The 2013 series adapts Trigger Happy Havoc across 13 episodes. If you are following the game-led route, it is an optional retelling rather than an extra sequel between the first and second games.

If you began with the 2013 anime, move to Goodbye Despair for the next main story. Playing Trigger Happy Havoc is still worthwhile if you want to investigate its cases yourself, but you will be revisiting the first story rather than advancing to a new installment.

Danganronpa 2.5: Nagito Komaeda and the World Vanquisher

Danganronpa 2.5 is a bonus OVA, not the missing television adaptation of Danganronpa 2. Keep it as an optional watch after Hope Arc. The original Japanese V3 special-edition description presents it in relation to the conclusion of the Danganronpa 3 anime.

The 2.5 OVA is not included with every English V3 edition. Check the exact package if you want that bonus.

What Decadence and the other collections include

Danganronpa Decadence is a Nintendo Switch collection, not a new fourth main mystery game. Its four games are:

• Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc Anniversary Edition
• Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair Anniversary Edition
• Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony Anniversary Edition
• Danganronpa S: Ultimate Summer Camp

The collection supplies the first two numbered stories, V3 and the summer spin-off. It does not supply Ultra Despair Girls or the Danganronpa 3 anime. Those are separate gaps if you want the combined route rather than only the collection’s games.

Decadence was offered as a physical collection, while its four constituent Switch games were also made available individually through Nintendo eShop. An individual digital listing for Danganronpa S is not automatically a license for the other three games.

Danganronpa 1·2 Reload contains the first two games, not V3. Anniversary Editions are versions of the named games, not extra installments.

Where the upcoming Danganronpa 2×2 fits

As of September 21, 2026, Danganronpa 2×2 is scheduled for January 14, 2027 in North America and Europe. Spike Chunsoft’s September 9 announcement lists Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Steam and Epic Games Store.

The announced package contains an updated telling of Goodbye Despair in Original mode and a different scenario in Slayhem mode. The publisher says both can be selected from the start. These are two modes within 2×2, not instructions to alternate them chapter by chapter.

You do not need to wait for 2×2 to start the series. Goodbye Despair is already available as the second main story. Until the new package launches, keep it outside the playable route; its new Slayhem scenario should not be treated as an established replacement for that story.