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Saturday, August 27, 2011

Song of the Week! 27 August 2011

 

Another reader request for one of the greatest Taiko classics! Both of them were recently revived for Taiko 14, and the first one has been requested multiple times. Know what it is?

 Go Go Kitchen (ゴーゴー・キッチン) --- Old ---
Version/
Taiko 1

x5 (510/?/?)
Taiko 2

x7 (518/453/407)x10 (518)
Taiko 3

x10 (518)
 Taiko 1 to 3
 206
 none
 ska
(note: Muzukashii notechart is identical to Donderful, however only 2P notechart video exists)


 Go Go Kitchen (ゴーゴー・キッチン) --- New ---
Version/
Taiko PS2 1

x9 (558)
Taiko 4, 6
x6 (374)x6 (558/493/447)x8 (558)
Taiko 5
x6 (374)x6 (558/493/447)x9 (558)
Taiko 7, PSP 1, 2x5 (245)x6 (374)x7 (558/493/447)x8 (558)
Taiko 11, 14,
Taiko DS 2, Taiko Wii U 2
x5 (245)x5 (374)x7 (558/493/447)x7 (558)
 Taiko 4 to 7, 11, 14, Medal 1, Taiko PS2 1, Taiko PSP 1, 2, Taiko DS 2, Taiko +, Taiko Wii 4, Taiko Wii U 2, Taiko 3DS 3, CD Blue
 206
 Ska -> Namco Original
 ska


The hardest song in Taiko no Tatsujin.....well, stop staring at me like that, it really was! On the very first Taiko arcade ever released, when there wasn't even such a thing as Oni difficulty! Anyway, no one really knows what 'Go Go Kicchin' translates into in English, but two possible romanizations for 'Kicchin' are 'kitten' and 'kitchen', as the song's title suggests in Taiko 11 Asian (Go Go Kitchen). Very ambiguous and quite frustrating, actually. The song's composer is Yuri Misumi (みすみゆり), one of Namco Bandai's staples in the music team.

Before moving on to Namco Original, Go Go Kitchen was labeled as a song in the Ska genre, a style that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and is the one and only Taiko song in that genre for the entire time. The synergy of electric instruments and brass instruments make for an active, high-energy atmosphere. One line before the Go Go Time stood out as it was not mentioned in the official lyrics sheet, which Japanese people heard as '北朝鮮 (kita chousen)' or 'North Korea', however when the lyrics sheet was released after Taiko no Tatsujin Blue came out, it was revealed to be 'to the toast man' which makes just as much sense as North Korea being in the lyrics. The song is about a frenzied man eating in the kitchen.

Go Go Kitchen's current Oni is an exact replica of the Muzukashii notechart on Master course, just like its Donderful chart was the same as Muzukashii in the old version. Beginning as Taiko's hardest gauntlet due to the crazy BPM and continuous loose strings of notes, the star reduction was justified as it just wasn't tough enough, with many notes being placed at 1/16 apart and the hardest part being snaps of 2-note clusters in the Go-Go Time. It would be a sight to see if this song got a harder notechart; at BPM 206, Go Go Kitchen is even faster than some of the current god songs, Black Rose Apostle Ura and Rotter Tarmination!

So why separate the 'old' version from the 'new' if practically nothing's changed? Listen to both again to the end, and you'll see that the old one ends right after the 1/16 "pseudo-stream"; the new version tricks the player by coming back with loud music after the initial fadeout, which you have to look out for (and the extra portion obviously bring in extra notes). Also, the song's original title has a dot more than the modern one (ゴー・ ゴー・ キッチン instead of  ゴーゴー・キッチン), and the quality of the music file was raised considerably for the new version; you can notice a significant difference between both of them. Because of the new music, the 2-player notechart was left behind in the first 3 arcades. Aside from this extension all other notes in the old and new version are the same.

Like Saitama 2000 and Ridge Racer, Go Go Kitchen was used in the boss fight of one of the Dokon Gang's Noisebots, on Taiko DS 2's story mode.

  Go Go Kitchen (ゴーゴー・キッチン)
Version
All

x10 (940)
 Taiko Wii U 2, Taiko 3DS 3
 206
 none
 nao


The Wii U line of console Taiko games are starting to have a trend: there is always some older songs that get a surprise Ura notechart. And for Go Go Kitchen this time it goes all the way with an abundance of 16th streams and clusters to its top speed, and throwing a few Calculator-like scroll speed changes in the middle because why not. In terms of "appeal Uras" (massively-star-cut old songs with a powered-up Ura), Go Go Kitchen is the only case so far that can successfully reclaim its original rating in the modern scale.

 Karui Zawameki (軽いざわめき)
Version
Allx4 (105)x6 (172) x7 (408)x9 (551)
 Taiko 9, 14, Taiko PSP 2, Taiko Wii U2, CD 2008
 146~148
 none
 orgmis


What does a funky song like this have in common with the song above? Both Go Go Kitchen and this have been revived for Taiko 14 through song unlock, and both share the same composer. But unlike the more popular Kitchen, Karui Zawameki was limited to a single entry in arcade and console, starting out on the PSP and going on to Taiko 9, then its fate was sealed in Taiko 10. It was at the borderline of the popularity polls, at 11th place.

Literally meaning 'light and noisy', Karui Zawameki's lyrics are about a trip in a dream land, and runs off on all tangents like a real dream too. The lyrics were made by Yano Yoshito and sung by another anonymous person within the team; he (or she) is nicknamed micazo, because his/her favorite singer is, of course, Mika Sato. Well, micazo does sound a lot like Mika Sato herself...

It might not be the hardest 9* Oni song, then or now, but it still has its way of challenging players with the typically confusing 2 and 4 note clusters.