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Friday, October 15, 2010

Song of the Week! 16 October 2010

 

Lokamp on air! From now on, Taiko Time will have a Song of the Week section to feature trivia and interesting facts about all the different songs in the series, that aren't already covered in the Song Series section. If you have some preferences or suggestion about particular tunes, just post a comment, or email any of the contributors!

And our very first song of the week is...

Taiko Time (タイコタイム)
Version
Taiko 14, Taiko Wii 3, 4, Taiko iOsx5 (205)x7 (240) x8 (492,427,394)x10 (765,685,651)
Taiko 0, Taiko PSP DX, Taiko Wii U 2x5 (205)x6 (240) x7 (492,427,394)x9 (765,685,651)
Taiko 14, Taiko 0, Taiko PSP DX, Taiko Wii 3, 4, Taiko Wii U 2, Taiko 3DS 3, Taiko +, CD Full Combo
170
none
 tktime


Normal Notes

Taiko Time is the name of our blog (which we are most proud of) and also our first Song of the Week. This techno track, released very recently for Taiko 14, comes from the hands of Denji Sano, already known for the creation of other Game Songs, such as Rare Hero, from Ridge Racer. In Namco's interview with Sano, he had said that he wanted a song with fun, crazy hand-switching notes. Sano voiced the digital sounds in the song himself.

According to Taiko fans, the composition of Taiko Time was highly influenced from another techno tune, The Carnivorous Carnival. It's not confirmed but there's a pattern between them. Both songs are fast-paced techno, and both have two words in the title with the same first syllable for each word ('Kanikani' is the street name for The Carnivorous Carnival, and 'Taitai' looks set to be this song's new nickname).

Taiko Time boasts an extremely high BPM and 10* difficulty on Oni but as a song at the top end of the difficulty scale, many found Taiko Time to be just average and did not present much trouble to seasoned players, and this was soon reflected in Taiko 0 with a difficulty reduction. However, the iPhone port of this song still consider it as a 10* tune, making it the second 10* song on the iOS version of Taiko (the first one was Classic Medley Rock Version).

The method to reach Master Notes in this song is (almost) the same notorious strictness seen in Metal Hawk BGM1, in that most of the first 28 notes have to be hit with 良 to proceed upwards, with only 1 可 being tolerated.

Taiko Time (タイコタイム)
Version
All arcade


x10 (876)
Taiko Wii 4x5 (248)x7 (302) x8 (583)x10 (876)
Taiko PSP DXx5 (248)x6 (302) x7 (583)x10 (876)
Taiko 14, Taiko 0, Taiko PSP DX, Taiko Wii 4, Taiko Wii U 2, Taiko 3DS 3
170
none
 extktm


Taiko Time hid a deep, deep secret within it ever since Taiko 14's launch. The emphasis placed on the song in the official blog before Taiko 14 came out, the fact that it wasn't very hard even for a 10*, the leaking of the rumor list of secret code songs, and the notes shown in Taiko Wii 3's dojo challenge. All hinted at the existence of a Ura Oni difficulty for Taiko Time; there was just one problem, it just wasn't there.

Finally, the Taiko Team saved the best for last and released Taiko Time's much-awaited Ura Oni on one of Taiko 14's final secret codes. The notes on Taiko Wii 3's dojo correspond exactly to the final portion of the song, deathstream and all, except faster. Although the BPM is still a letdown for songs of this difficulty level, it's a lot harder than the regular notechart, especially towards the end where there are a lot of exhausting streams and a long, confusing chain. Other changes include the removal of the super-strict Master notes, and fast/slow-scrolling balloon notes (20 hits for fast, 25 for slow) were added to the beginning for effect. The number of notes on this Ura mode is, like its regular, a very special number.