And in the third blog post dedicated to New Taiko (and this was a promised update from last week), Namco details how its arcade user profiling system Banapassport will be used on Taiko.
The cards you see above are literally your ID card into any arcade machine made by Namco, ever! (well, the ones that support the card anyway) It's Namco's version of allowing the player to keep track of their progress from an arcade game, in other words a save file, to keep the flagging arcade industry alive and more relevant (a lot of other major arcade game manufacturers have their own cards already) to the console game industry. It keeps people coming back for more, simply put.
If you are lucky enough to have access to a Banapassport, you have to sign up at the Banapassport website first before getting one. You need to sign in to another website specially for New Taiko, but that will be in another blog entry. For now, Etou has detailed the uses on this machine. All the technical stuff is for a later day!
The Banapassports connect online, and if the Taiko machine is connected, this icon will be on the top-right. You cannot use Banapassport if the arcade isn't online, because the data isn't stored on your card! Of course, normal offline play can still be done, you just won't have any recorded progress or costumes.
Touch the Banapassport in the middle of the arcade like so. Wait, what about your money? Not so fast, don't be so generous yet!
After the data is read from the online server and verified with the card, the arcade will ask you whether you want to use this card as the profile for the left or right side. You can scan a second card after that for the other side if you're playing with a partner who also has a card of his own.
You cannot use the same card for both sides on the same play, obviously.
And NOW you slot in your coins.But really? 100 seconds of waiting time?
Oh look, Player 2's coming, but he hasn't played a single round of Taiko yet using his card? No worries, you can enter your profile name for Taiko on the spot! So that's what the extended timer is for. You're limited to 5 characters for your name.
As for the song selection screen, we've seen this before, you can earn crowns and keep track of which songs you've cleared or FCed, like on the console.
Modifier and Taiko Sound options are to the bottom-left for P1, and bottom-right for P2. It's divided into four categories, speed (x2, x3, x4), Doron, Abekobe and Random (Kimagure and Detarame).
And that's not all! After you've finished playing, you earn Don Points. Yes, the old system is back, and it's the same deal as before, gather enough points and fill up a meter. Each time the meter reaches maximum, you get a gift of some sort (costumes, Taiko sounds and new songs) and increase your player rank!
The more you fill up your Tamashii Gauge during play, the more points you get. Same as the PS2 then.
New note (added 23/10/12): After Game Version 3.13 was released on April 17, 2012, the number of Don Points you can get per play is not fixed to 500 per song, but extra points will be awarded based on your performance and titles obtained.
Well, that's it for this week and there will be one last blog entry on New Taiko before its shipping date of November 2. Get excited!
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