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noxiatoxia · 23 hours ago

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Danganronpa Trigger Happy Havoc Beta Sprites found in the Demo

I always lamented about the lack of THH beta sprites as opposed to SDR2. It just seemed there were very little out there. And while true that SDR2 has far more easily-obtainable beta sprites, it turns out I was just being a little short-sighted.

I looked in places that I looked for SDR2 beta sprites. Old gaming articles, other games that mistakenly use beta sprites (like UTDP or DRS), merchandise...and found nothing (much).

But you know what THH has that SDR2 doesn't? A demo version.

Somehow, it never crossed my mind! I had always passively known about the PSP demo version - you know, the one where Hagakure dies - but never thought to actually check there. Until now.

And wouldn't you know it, a number of the sprites used in the demo are beta renditions!

So, preamble over. I will be covering all I know about beta THH sprites so far...from the Demo version.

As always, this post exceeded 30 images, so for the part two covering the full body sprites, please click here (it's a reblog).

If you want to look at these sprites without the GIFs, or have them for yourself, I uploaded them all here on the Spriters Resource!

Also, something I can't share over text so I took a video. The sound effects in the beta version are different, for what it's worth.

You can already tell Fujisaki looks weird, right?

Okay, for real. Let's get started.

Firstly, I'm going to go in alphabetical order by last name. I'm also going to only cover the sprites that are for sure different or might be different. Sprites where I found 0 difference whatsoever will not be shared, of course. Some characters lacked any sprites with differences.

Also, sorry for the small image quality in advance. PSP sprites, you know how it is.

Asahina Aoi

While none of Asahina's sprites are changed, her testimony truth bullet is a different story.

Overlaying her final sprite, it's like night and day. Her eyes were made smaller, her eyelashes lessened, hair bigger...clearly, while her in-game sprites remain the same as they do in the final version, this truth bullet slipped through the cracks.

Interestingly, this oversight slipped through into the final game.

However, it was correct in the Vita re-release.

The Vita version would go on to become the base version of the game for North American players and every subsequent re-release (Steam, Xbox, etc.) in other words, this oversight can only be found on the original Japanese PSP release.

This is not uncommon. SDR2 has its fair share of PSP oversights and glitches, as I've discussed here. DR1 has another one which I talked about here. I will also be speaking about PSP oversights in another post soon.

Enoshima Junko (Ikusaba Mukuro)

Enoshima has one sprite that is different from the final version, and it is extremely minor. Look at her nails. Yeah, that's it.

However, this small change has an interesting background.

In the Demo version, they were originally going to be tipped white to match the red-and-white bow on her head (likely). The final sprite has her nails be a solid, bright red.

To get a better look, here's a higher-res version of the sprite from the Vita, which uses the final PSP sprite:

Full red nails.

Now, here's the full-body of that same sprite, again used in the Vita, PSP version, and Demo:

White tips!

It looks like they forgot to go back and fix it for the full-body as well, so the change only persists for the half-body sprites.

All of Enoshima (Ikusaba's) full-body sprites have white tipped nails.

What's even funnier (and cool!) is that I found that DRS not only uses PSP sprites that were then fixed/changed in the Vita release of THH, but also uses beta sprites. Up until now, I thought this was only true of a select few SDR2 characters, but I have found many incorrect sprites for Kirigiri and Kuwata specifically.

And for Enoshima...

The white-tipped nails make a return!

BTW, this is true of all Enoshima/Ikusaba sprites. Seriously, go compare any sprites where she has her nails showing from THH to DRS...

Sorry, I went on a tangent. I can't help it with these things.

If you're wondering why it was changed, my only guess is, because of the PSP's poor resolution, the team thought it would look too confusing to put so much detail into such a small area. So, they just made them solid red in the end. I doubt bringing them back for DRS was intentional, as so many beta sprites are used in that game that it makes my head spin, it was probably on accident like the rest of them. To be fair, most people wouldn't realize they grabbed the wrong sprite with a detail this small.

Fujisaki Chihiro

Fujisaki is a very interesting case. For one, all of his demo sprites are shorter than the final version. Because of this, in the comparison GIFs, the beta sprite will have an empty gap below it. I suppose they wanted him to be taller in his final sprites, so they moved him up a little.

But because of this - and because it looks like they did some color adjustments - it was impossible to perfectly sync them up. The colors are just processed differently. Because of how small PSP sprites are, it's hard to tell if very minor differences are real differences, or just pixelation differences caused by the sprite being compressed and are unintentional.

This first GIF highlights this well. Obviously, the demo sprite adds a softening affect to the colors and outlines, whereas the final sprite lacks these and appears brighter and more bold. It is then hard to tell if many of the differences are a result of this, or are actual tangible differences.

This one is much more noticeable and verifiably different. And...I actually really prefer the demo version over the final sprite. The bigger arm looks nice on him, but most of all, I like the sort of demure but disinterested look he has without the blush. It's so much cuter to me!!

Unlike above though, I think the final sprite is much better here. The demo version looks unfinished and kind of goofy. They slimmed his face down, reworked the mouth, and made the shading darker. The blush is a bit overkill in my opinion, but overall I like the look of the final sprite more. It's so fascinating to see these beta sprites and see how they decided to go about reworking them into their final versions. Sometimes, the direction the beta was in may look better to you. Other times, you're so glad they decided to go back and change it.

Only 3 differences I can spot with this one (that for sure aren't a result of the compression): his left eyebrow was moved down a little, his shirt collar was edited a tad, and they forgot to make the space between his neck and right hair strand transparent, which they fixed in the final sprite.

If you're using dark mode, you won't be able to catch that last one. Change your Tumblr theme to a lighter color (white would be best) and then look - it's very clear then.

Ishimaru Kiyotaka

You know what's funny? Ishimaru has the opposite problem to Fujisaki. His final sprite was lowered instead of raised. So, in these comparison GIFs, the one with a transparent gap below it is actually the final sprite, as I had to raise it up to match the demo sprite.

Again like with Fujisaki, some differences may be caused by compression.

His right shoulder button was raised in the final sprite, and his mouth was made into a thin line. His eyes were also flattened at the bottom more, overall giving him a sterner look. It seems his uniform collar was also raised and straightened out. I feel these very small changes did a lot over all. The amount of flat, straight lines added really hit home with giving Ishimaru the upstanding, straight-laced feeling his final character has.

This one is interesting, because it's one of those things you don't notice until it's pointed out. The final version has this sort of dusky air brush affect around the clothes, while the demo version is completely white. I never noticed that until doing this comparison. It seems a strand of hair on the right side of his head right next to his eye was shortened, and the buttons on his collar were forgotten in the beta sprite, but fixed in the final.

I'm grouping these two together as they're very similar sprites with similar differences. Both sprites had the right side of the uniform collar shaved off a bit, and they also had the button threads rounded to better fit the curvature of his chest. It seems the top sprite also had a thicker thumb in the original demo sprite.

While the right shoulder button is made smaller in the final sprite, the biggest difference here is Ishimaru's left eye. The outline was much thicker in the demo sprite, and was erased a bit for the final sprite.

Lastly, this one probably has the least amount of differences. The shoulder pad&buttons were modified just slightly, and maybe the hands were changed too? But it's hard to tell if it's genuine or just the image compression.

Kirigiri Kyouko

Firstly, I want to point out that a majority of Kirigiri's sprites were off-center in the demo. Here's the comparison before I centered them:

Here is the corrected (as best as I could) comparison:

It seems with the exception of her mouth being moved down like, one pixel, it's largely the same.

The beta sprites are also generally taller for Kirigiri, hence the weird cut off. Anyhow, the main change here is her mouth and nose, which were redrawn significantly closer to the middle of her face.

In this sprite, her whole face and jawline was reworked to be less tilted.

You gotta admit, this one is pretty funny. A comparison GIF between the two sprites makes it look like she's bopping to some music, haha.

But anyways, a lot was redone here. Her entire head - hair and all - was redrawn to be more tilted. She also wears a more thoughtful expression in the final instead of appearing like she's asleep. Her shirt collar was also touched up to fit the new head tilt.

Still, I really like this sprite. It's different enough to the point that it feels like it could be an extra sprite for Kirigiri. I think that's really, really cool.

Kuwata Leon

It's pretty obvious to see why this one got changed. The left side of Kuwata's face is somewhat asymmetrical, and so it was redrawn to be fixed. He used to have a cute eyelash, but it got removed. His grin also used to be a little wider.

Yet another one you'll have to turn off darkmode to see! For some reason, the beta sprite has this weird black dot hovering by Kuwata's right fist. No clue why, and it was removed come time for the final game.

Maizono Sayaka

Maziono has a similar edit made to her that Fujisaki did. Her beta sprite lacked a noticeable blush, so it was upped in the final version. Her face shape was also made fuller, and her right eye edited a tad.

Togami Byakuya

For Togami, they made his eyes less narrow, his nose longer, and his mouth more clearly a frown.

Yamada Hifumi

As you can see, Yamada's hairline was fixed on the left side of his head. His mouth was given minor touch-ups, the details on the glasses were also reworked, and most prominently, they added a shadow over his face in the final sprite.

Alright, so that's it for the half-bodies. In Part 2, I'll look at the full-body sprites, as some characters have unique sprites that are only used in the trials (like Naegi!). So please check that it!

#makoto naegi #kyoko kirigiri #sayaka maizono #chihiro fujisaki #byakuya togami #kiyotaka ishimaru #aoi asahina #hifumi yamada #mondo owada #leon kuwata #mukuro ikusaba #danganronpa #dr #;danganbetasprites #dr1 #;noxiatalksia

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