DISTRUST

**DISTRUST**Gallery

This article is about content that never made it out of development, and as such, is non-canonical.

## DISTRUST

***DISTRUST*** (ダンガンロンパ *DISTRUST)*, was a prototype murder mystery visual novel developed by Spike for the PlayStation Portable. The game was scrapped and never released because it was too gruesome, but many elements of the project were redeveloped into *Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc.*

## Development

Before development began on *DISTRUST*, Spike had two-year period from October 2007 - October 2009 where most of the company's releases were either sequels or adaptations of existing franchises, with very few new original titles. This led to a drive to develop some new intellectual properties.

Kazutaka Kodaka gave a game proposal to producer Yoshinori Terasawa, with a general outline of "**15 teenagers killing time or our 7 days survival war**" (15少年少女殺戮期 もしくはボクらの7日間生存戦争). At this early stage, emails sent between Kodaka and Terasawa show that the idea of "**Psychopop Highschool Detective Mystery**" (サイコポップ 学園推理ミステリー), the main concept of the *Danganronpa* franchise, was already formed. The game was a pure visual novel, containing none of the action elements of the final game. Kodaka continued to develop the game into a "High Speed Reasoning Action" genre, with 2.5D motion graphics, and trial system where the students are executed by majority voting. The game featured red blood, and gruesome executions.

The game was intended for Sony's PSP because of the lower development costs, and because the system was very welcoming for unique games. However, the low sales figures for PSP games and the niche genre meant that it would be difficult for the game to be profitable.

The more gruesome aesthetic of this prototype version of the game and the seeming lack of marketability led to *DISTRUST's* cancellation, until it was later reworked further into what became *Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc*.

## Characters

The characters shown in images from a presentation of *DISTRUST* are prototype designs of the main characters of *Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc*.

Beta byakuya.pngByakuya TogamiBeta sakura.pngSakura OgamiBeta leon.pngLeon KuwataBeta aoi.pngAoi AsahinaBeta hifumi.pngHifumi YamadaBeta kyoko.pngKyoko KirigiriBeta chihiro.pngChihiro FujisakiBeta makoto toko.pngMakoto Naegi &
Toko FukawaBeta yasuhiro celestia.pngYasuhiro Hagakure
& Celestia LudenbergBeta mondo sayaka.pngMondo Owada &
Sayaka MaizonoBeta kiyotaka junko.pngKiyotaka Ishimaru
& Junko Enoshima### Early Names

Some characters were given different names before their final name was chosen:

* Leon Kuwata was known as **Kazuo Matsuzaki**
* Hifumi Yamada was known as **Yuji Ando**
* Kyoko Kirigiri was known as **Gyaru Kirigiri**
* Makoto Naegi was known as **Shujinkō** (主人公 lit. *Protagonist*)
* Celestia Ludenberg was known as **S. Rudenberg**
* Kiyotaka Ishimaru was known as **Kiyotaka Ishiru**
### Monokuma

Dosya:Monokuma beta.png Monokuma's original design, known as "Phantom", was distinctly human, with visible internal organs. Despite being very different from the bear design seen from *Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc* onward, the original design still featured the split half-black, half-white design. Despite being humanoid, according to producer Yoshinori Terasawa, Monokuma was always intended to be a robot.

## Gameplay

While little footage or materials of the game have been released to the public, some noticeable changes from the final version of *Trigger Happy Havoc* were visible in the presentation materials:

* Dosya:Trust distrust meter.pngDuring Class Trials, a meter called the *Trust/Distrust Meter* was seen, which gauges how much fellow students trust or distrust the player over five levels. This is likely to be an early prototype of what became the *Influence Gauge*.
Dosya:Distrust-Danganronpa-Beta-Eden.jpg* *Tough Decisions* would occasionally present themselves, which would open up branching paths and alternative endings to the story. The choices made would influence the *Trust/Distrust Meter*, and with a maximum trust level a character would become your ally during investigations. The level of the meter would also determine which murders would occur.
* Dosya:Beat weak points.png*Weak Points* appear in dialogue boxes, instead of the floating text seen in *Trigger Happy Havoc*.
Dosya:Beta execution.png* *Executions* in the style of an unanimated manga strip, rather than the fully animated executions seen later. The strip featured an early version of Junko being decapitated by guillotine. The blood featured is red, rather than the pink used in *Danganronpa.*
* Dosya:Beta rhythm game.png*A rhythm trial game* featuring bullets with trial information that need to be selected with the correct timing. This is similar to the minigames featured in the final game class trials.
## Video

One of the only videos circulating which feature in-game footage is an execution of Kazuo Matsuzaki (who would later be renamed Leon Kuwata) after he murdered Kyoko Kirigiri (originally named Gyaru Kirigiri). This execution is very similar to the final version of Kazuo's execution, although this version features notable red blood and Leon's visible corpse at the end of the execution.

## Die Kazuo Matsuzaki DieKazuo Matsuzaki's executionTrivia

* It's very likely that the overall look of classroom 5-C in *Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc* is a nod to *DISTRUST*, as it strongly resembles images of a classroom shown in the *DISTRUST* presentation. This classroom is the only room in the game to feature red blood instead of pink, and Monokuma comments that he "just left it exactly how [he] found it."
## Distrust-Danganronpa-Beta-school.jpg*DISTRUST* early classroomClassroom 5-C.pngClassroom 5-CReferences

1. ↑ 1,0 1,1 1,2 Dengeki Online: Danganronpa development team at CEDEC
2. ↑ Polygon, interview with Kazutaka Kodaka: The original Danganronpa, Distrust, was too gruesome even for its creators
3. ↑ 3,0 3,1 Interview with producer Yoshinori Terasawa
4. ↑ Unseen64: Dangaronpa BETA

## Navigation

ru:Beta Danganronpa: DISTRUST
pl:Wersja Beta oraz nieużyte pliki (Danganronpa 1)
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