Since this blog has reached the 765th post this week, it's time to celebrate it with a Nam-combo song! Once again, it's a niche song exclusive to console games. And also another song not related to it.
XEVIOUS Supervised by Haruhomi Hosono (細野晴臣 監修)| Version |  |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | x4 (185) | x5 (299) | x7 (589) | x9 (765) |
Taiko PS2 6
156
none
xevi2In the early days of gaming, Namco was known for two things: Pac-Man and shoot-em-ups. Unfair generalizations aside, the early days of arcade gaming were indeed dominated by the side-scrolling shmup, and Namco is one of the key players driving the genre. As the title suggests, this time the game is Xevious (or COLUMBIA, for the Brazilian version), released in 1982 under the Namco Galaga arcade system, with Atari's support, and is one of the earliest in the genre.
The player uses an 8-way joystick to pilot a combat aircraft called a Solvalou, which is armed with a forward-firing Zapper for aerial targets and a Blaster which fires an unlimited supply of air-to-surface bombs for ground targets. The game, presumably set in Peru, was noted for the varied terrain below, which included forests, airstrips, bases, and mysterious Nazca line drawings on the ground. Like many of Namco's arcades, Xevious introduced (then) brand new gameplay concepts, like mid-level bosses (the Andor Genesis motherships in the game) and the first in-game 'Easter Eggs' not covered by any manuals, such as S-Flag powerups (from Rally-X) or hidden copyright statements which separates it from any bootleg version of the original arcade (like the infamous Xevios). Xevious was also the first arcade game to be featured in a TV commercial, a year after its release!
While Xevious enjoyed a moderate success in the States, the feedback by Japanese players was totally different. Console ports and sequels for "the arcade game you can't play at home" - as the 80s commercial stated - mushroomed quickly, from the late Atari consoles (ZX Spectrum and Atari 7200) to the most recent remakes, like the enhanced 3DS Classic version of Xevious. The game's Solvalou spaceship also made several cameos in many later Namco racing games like the Ridge Racer and Mario Kart Arcade GP series as a vehicle for Pac-Man.
Even the Taiko song we're talking about comes from a V.I.P. fan tribute: the electronic song writer Haruhomi Hosono (細野晴臣) - also known as Harry Hosono - produced an album of Namco game music medleys, simply named Namco Video Game Music (ナムコ・ビデオ・ゲーム・ミュージック), which was released in 2000 with Xevious as its centerpiece. The song we can hear in the sixth Taiko PS2 videogame is an extract from the original, which is over 6 minutes long. The charm of the song stems from the rhythmic placement of the various sound effects of the game despite the repetitive background music.
XEVIOUS's Oni notechart is astounding for the Playstation 2 era's standards: although the BPM is pretty low for a 9*, it is jam-packed with clusters which are intuitive, match the sound effects and music perfectly, and most importantly is fun to play. The song's ID is xevi2 with the first one being the Xevious Taisou, coming from older Taiko arcades.
Another feature is coming up, requested by RolanMcDolan last week. J-Pop time again!
Linda Linda (リンダリンダ) The Blue Hearts| Version | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taiko 7 | x4 (145) | x6 (264) | x4 (291) | x5 (377) |
| Taiko 8, PS2 5 | x4 (145) | x6 (264) | x3 (291) | x5 (377) |
| Taiko 10 to 14, 0, DS2, Wii2, PSP DX, 3DS 2 | x4 (145) | x6 (264) | x5 (291) | x5 (377) |
| All (2P) | x4 (150/150) | x6 (252/252) | x5 (291) | x5 (384/384) (video) |
Taiko 7 to 0 (excluding Taiko 9), Taiko PS2 5, Taiko DS 2, Taiko PSP DX, Taiko 3DS 2, Taiko Wii 2, 5 63~198 none lindaOne of Taiko's staple J-Pop songs since Taiko 7, Linda Linda is one of the flagship songs of the 80s punk rock band The Blue Hearts (ザ・ブルーハーツ), whose past popularity is now compared to such bands as Sex Pistols and the Ramones. The original band in 1985 included vocalist Hiroto Komoto (甲本ヒロト), guitarist Masatoshi Mashima (真島昌利) bassist Junnosuke Kawaguchi (河口純之助) and drummer Tetsuya Kajiwara (梶原徹也), also starring keyboardist Mikio Shirai (白井幹夫) for some tour events.
Released in 1987 with The Blue Hearts' first album, Linda Linda with its powerful rhythm and powerful vocals soon became a classic for every respectable jukebox machine in Japan. Cover versions of said song were used for Japanese TV dramas like Socrates in Love and Gachi Baka, as well as being the theme song for the 2005 movie Linda Linda Linda; the movie's plot centers on a high school girls' band practicing The Blue Hearts' songs for the finale concert of their school's culture festival.
In a similar way to GLAMOROUS SKY, Linda Linda was also included in several rhythm games from both Konami (Guitar Freaks, Drummania) and Inis's Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan. But while NANA's song in the game tells the story of a band of kids who decide to spend their time with a friend who is going to relocate in another town, Linda Linda helps Ouendan's cheer-up crew to encourage a Chinese restaurant owner in order to have customers once again.
Then the song shifted to the Taiko no Tatsujin series, where it became a must as one of the fastest 5* Oni songs ever, and is an excellent training song for rookies. After a slow beginning, a sudden speed shift paired with some merciless 1/16 streams brutally test players' reflexes, and the clusters, though simple, are even faster than the like of Saitama 2000 and The Carnivorous Carnival. Curiously enough, the 2-player Oni notechart of this song has more notes than the original Oni mode, for both players! However this 2-player duet chart was not in PSP DX's download pack.
