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Saturday, January 15, 2011

Song of the Week! 15 January 2011

 

The Theme Songs month is still going strong! This time, I want to pick one of my favorites...

 Nijiiro Yumeiro Taikoiro (虹色・夢色・太鼓色) --- Old ---
Version
Taiko 3

x4 (245)x7 (245)
Taiko PS2 1
x5 (199) x4 (245)x7 (245) 
Taiko PSP 1x3 (132)x6 (199)x4 (245)x3 (245)
Taiko PS2 1 (2P)x3 (132)x6 (199)x4 (245)x7 (245/245) (video)
 Taiko 3, Taiko PS2 1, Taiko PSP 1
 135
 Pop -> Namco Original
 opng


 Nijiiro Yumeiro Taikoiro (虹色・夢色・太鼓色) --- New ---
Version
Taiko 0x3 (116)x5 (175)x4 (265)x6 (390)
Taiko Wii 4x3 (116)x5 (175) x4 (265)x7 (390)
Taiko 0, Taiko Wii 4, CD Blue, Anime (Extended version)
 135
Namco Original
 opng2


Opening movie (PS2)
Opening movie (PSP)

Nijiro Yumeiro Taikoiro is one of the fewer opening themes to be repeated in more than one console Taiko game- PS2 1 and PSP 1, both of them 3 years apart in release. It's sung by Yoko Takahashi and composed by Go Shiina, the man who provided us most of the IDOLM@STER tracks, and later on composed No Way Back and In The Zone.

The usual fate of console Taiko themes is to remain on the game which they were the opening of. Not so for Nijiiro; it is the very first console opening theme and quite nice-sounding to boot; for Taiko fans who have been with the game since the very beginning, this is a song that brings back so many memories. Thus, it has been used as sound samples in several places; playing as background music in the Wii Taiko games while reading a letter, and ten seconds of the song is used for the sound test samples in Taiko 13 and 14's setup menu, when Nijiro Yumeiro Taikoiro doesn't appear in their tracklist. There is a full-length version of Nijiiro, which can only be found in the Taiko no Tatsujin Tobikkiri Anime Special album and not featured in any game as a Ura difficulty, unlike Hibike! Taiko no Tatsujin. To listen to the full version, click here. The song is about 4 1/2 minutes long.

When Nijiiro was introduced into Taiko PSP1 three years after its PS2 debut, the notes were untouched, which contributed to the sharp difficulty star reduction. Like many old songs, the Oni/Donderful notes are exactly the same as the notes on Muzukashii. The only difference is the level of the Tamashii gauge required to clear the song. There is a slight difference when the song is played by 2 players, both with the same note total.

Many years later, Nijiiro Yumeiro Taikoiro came back to Taiko's library of songs in conjunction with the 10th anniversary; where memories were revisited and many old favorites brought back and remade. Nijiiro was definitely remade, from easy notecharts in the first generation to slightly better charts that maintain the star rating as an average Oni challenge. Nijiiro's new set of note patterns has been labeled with a different songID, from opng to opng2, with no traces left of the old 2P notechart from PS2.

...and now it's time for a little poll! For the last Theme song of this month, we'll pick one with a Ura difficulty...therefore we have two choices.

-) Hibike! Taiko no Tatsujin (響け!太鼓の達人), the Tobikkiri! Anime Special opening with its full version being the Ura mode, first seen on Taiko 12
-) Saturday Taiko Fever (サタデー太鼓フィーバー), the PS2 Nidaime ending theme, recently revived on Taiko Wii 3 with a brand new Ura mode

To express your opinion, simply post a comment on this article, or on the next Song of the Week pick. The song with the most votes will be our last Song of the Week for January! We also remember that after January we return to accept requests from our readers, so if you want to see anything featured just comment!