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Monday, December 30, 2013

Third Taiko no Tatsujin x Puzzle & Dragons collab!


Thanks to an update post from GungHo's Puzzle & Dragons website, we already know that 2014 for Taiko games will start with another returning collaboration!

Like for the last time, the Taiko no Tatsujin dungeon (for P&D) and Walking Through The Towers as a free playable song (for Taiko +)  will be available for everyone to play from January 6th to 12th. We don't know yet if the Taiko side of the collaboration will involve additional content for Taiko iOs players, but rest assured that will be probably explained by the Taiko Team itself in one of the first 2014 blog entries.

Sunday, December 29, 2013

Megpoid GUMI

GUMI is the second Japanese Vocaloid developed by Internet Co. Ltd (the first being Gackpo). The name of the Vocaloid is simply 'GUMI'; the 'Megpoid' in front is the name of the software, which implies that more Vocaloids could technically be made under the Megpoid name. GUMI was initially developed with the Vocaloid2 engine, but has an updated version using Vocaloid3. Her voice was sampled from a Japanese-Filipino singer named Megumi Nakajima (中島 愛), which is where both the software name and Vocaloid name were derived from. The 'poid' at the end of Megpoid combines 'loid' with the 'っぽい' suffix which means 'resemblance to', making the full meaning of 'like a Vocaloid'.

As with Gackpo, GUMI has initial trouble penetrating the fandom when it was released, but soon surpassed her male vocal predecessor with more and more quality songs made using her voice, rivaling even Crypton Media's own creations (Miku and co.). She is currently the most used non-Crypton Vocaloid to date, and enjoys continued success after being updated with the Vocaloid3 engine. Merchandising involving GUMI has also picked up.

Her tenure in Taiko no Tatsujin has seen a similar rise; after initially having only a couple of songs, GUMI's library increased dramatically, in part due to the GUMI song-making contest for the arcade in 2011 and a big collaboration effort, and is now the Vocaloid with the most number of songs in Taiko, tied with Hatsune Miku herself.

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-GUMI songs-




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Saturday, December 28, 2013

Feature: 2013 - The year in hindsight

 

Time sure flies, doesn't it (and without many of our usual feature articles too; it's been difficult trying to think of new, original topics!)? As the year draws to a close, here's a recap of what's been happening in the world of Taiko so far! Perfect time to catch up if you haven't done so too.

Friday, December 27, 2013

Taiko no Tatsujin Plus - Winter Holidays promotion!


If you thought that yesterday's new song pack for Taiko + was the last treat for 2013, think again! More songs are going to be added to it in this holiday promo!

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Taiko no Tatsujin Plus - Introducing the Popular Song Pack 14


The year 2013 for the Apple-friendly Taiko game ends with a bang, thanks to the release of another songpack for Anime and J-Pop lovers!

Namco Taiko Blog (26 December 2013): Taiko Momoiro's first Donchare!


Hi guys! This is the last blog post by the Taiko Team for this year, and predictably, it's about the return of Donchare to Taiko Momoiro!

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Song of the Week! 25 December 2013


December's most anticipated day has arrived again, and here at Taiko Time things will be different for once! Not only is this our first Song of the Week outside of the usual Saturday slot, but we are also doing something different than our usual multiple features!

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Saturday, December 21, 2013

Song of the Week! 21 December 2013


This pick was requested by Axel, one of our readers who has just celebrated his birthday yesterday. This is for you, Axel!

Friday, December 20, 2013

Namco Taiko Blog (20 December 2013) - Updates on Monster Hunter 3 (Tri) G Medley's shut-down


A quick update today from the Taiko Team. Following from last Tuesday's blog post, the Monster Hunter 3 (Tri) G Medley will be removed from Momoiro arcades and will be replaced with another Monster Hunter medley (this time for the 4th game in the series). As such, additional measures are being adopted for its gradual removal.

From December 26th, 11:59 p.m. onward, Banapassport players won't be able to issue challenges and friend tournaments with this song. Additionally, on the day of its removal (January 15th, 2014) it cannot be selected by players as their favourite song in their Donder Hiroba profiles anymore (if the song was already set as favourite, the Favourite slot will be empty).

Remember, next week's blog entry will be the last one for the year 2013!

Link to original post

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Taiko no Tatsujin's awards for ZOLA Project


Do you remember the ZOLA Project contest? Briefly described in a blog entry, this Vocaloid contest gathered the effort of independent composers and prizes are given out by the sponsors of the event, one of which is Bandai Namco.

There were three slots for Namco, but only one song emerged victorious: Eccentric w (エキセントリックw), composed by GingahoumenP @ Jinno Takashi. This tune will be featured in Taiko no Tatsujin sometime in the future, while the composer receives a Taiko Wii U + Tatacon bundle for this award.

For the record, Eccentric w won with three other different sponsors (LIVE DAM, Lawson and Amuse prizes), meaning that the song's creator will see his creation being included in LIVE DAM's karaoke tracks, shopping chain Lawson's background music (among the other winners of that prize) and even being sold as an actual single in music stores! Truly an impressive feat, if you ask me.

Namco Taiko Blog (19 December 2013) - Taiko Team's 8th stream recap + Part 2 footage


With no major surprise, Taiko Team's second-to-last 2013 blog entry is about last week's UStream/Nicovideo stream, summing up all the new features that have been announced. And while we're on it, we're also taking some space in this blog post for a short coverage of Nicovideo's night-long segment of the 8th Taiko Team live stream, with pictures no less!

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Taiko no Tatsujin Momoiro Version: Rewards Shop


New to Taiko Momoiro, the Rewards Shop is a service on the Donder Hiroba website, where players can access their play data and customize their costumes, Don-chan colors and titles. The shop makes use of the accumulated Don Points (which were useless in previous HD arcade firmwares after the counter was maxed out) by allowing players to use them as currency to buy things like costumes and costume parts.

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

First video of The Other self


Due to different time zones, it's already the 18th in Japan, which also happens to be the release day of Taiko Wii U's second DLC content batch! As such, here's the first HD Oni video recording of The Other self (3/4/6/8), coming from the Anime series Kuroko's Basket.

Man, Namco is surely releasing a lot of upper-tier Oni songs these days.

Namco Taiko Blog (17 December 2013) - A Momoiro Version song replacement


As the title says, in today's blog entry one song in Momoiro Version's huge tracklist is going to leave the arcade soon, to be replaced with another one. Wanna know which tune is leaving?

Monday, December 16, 2013

Sorairo Version Premium Soundtrack CD


Released 2 years after the Full Combo soundtrack, the Sorairo Version Premium Soundtrack CD (ソライロVer. プレミアムサントラCD) is one of the rarest pieces of Taiko merchandise, and the rarest soundtrack ever, as it is not for sale. Only 100 copied of this limited-edition CD were given out in a Taiko Sorairo lottery draw at the beginning of 2014 (click here for details).

As the title suggests, this album contains all new original songs released for Sorairo Version by NAMCO SOUNDS musicians, with the addition of a few other pre-existing songs. The CD also contains additional bits not available anywhere else, like prototype versions of several, karaoke/voice-only versions of several songs with lyrics and even a fragment of a 'new' 2000 song.

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Made By You: Joubutsu 2012 and more



For this round we have mostly Taikojiro charts, in contrast to the previous edition which was made up mostly of osu!Taiko.

Before we begin though, a shout out to tetsutaro (one of our charters) for participating in Project 4 Awesome, a two-day Youtube event to celebrate charities and NGOs. He will be making Taiko charts for a charitable cause! We'll see some of them soon. But anyway, back to work!

Saturday, December 14, 2013

Song of the Week! 14 December 2013


The lore of the iOS/Android game Puzzle & Dragons has really grown onto me in the past few months! With that said, today we're closing the circle of Taiko+ exclusive game music tracks with these other two songs from PAD.

Taiko no Tatsujin Momoiro Version unlock list

 
All unlockables are limited to Banapassport users only.

Friday, December 13, 2013

Namco Taiko Blog (13 December 2013): Emergency update to Taiko Momoiro Version



A small update from the team regarding a bugfix on Taiko Momoiro Version, to delete the stacked notes on Pokemon X/Y Trainer Medley. We covered this in our update post, but in case you didn't see it, here's a video showing the two Don notes stacked on top of one another. In Detarame modifier, it might cause the two of them to be of different colors, resulting in a miss no matter what you hit!

The title screen after the fix should show Momoiro as Game Version 1.03. Score records and points awarded per note for Pokemon X/Y Trainer Medley are reset and adjusted.

Link to original post

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Namco Taiko Blog (12 December 2013) - Taiko Wii U's December DLC


As the title says, this week's blog entry is about next week's new DLC content for the latest console Taiko game. But since we already talked about this subject matter yesterday, I'll just put a link here, leading to yesterday's dlc reveal, unveiled one day in advance thanks to the Taiko Team's Miiverse communication board. Stay fresh!

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Taiko Wii U's December 2013 new DLC content


While the Taiko arcade craze is rising up again due to Momoiro Version's release, a new batch of DLC content has been announced for the Taiko Wii U videogame, featuring both songs and outfit parts!

Taiko no Tatsujin Momoiro Version update post


The new arcade build is out! Catch up on what's new in this post!

No. of updates: 27

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Taiko Team's 8th UStream: A Momoiro Version Pre-release Broadcast!

Tomorrow is arcade models's Momoiro Version release date, and the Taiko Team has celebrated it with the longest-running streaming session ever, from the day before's evening-night to the Japanese morning of the day after! Here's a recap of this streaming's contents.

Monday, December 9, 2013

pikaby asks: Taiko Momoiro Version hype


The new arcade firmware will be released in just two days from now, and it seems like only yesterday that Sorairo came out....either time is really flying or Namco is replacing arcade versions faster than ever before. We'll talk about that later though.

The default songlist and new songs were revealed last week, and includes some really exciting Game Music songs and Vocaloid songs as well. Some of the new originals from Wii U are bound to be here...Shokou would be the third Kikyoku song in a row to be a Don Point unlock instead of shown by default.

Any song you're most excited to see here? Or any Namco Original wishlist? Let's hear your thoughts!

Saturday, December 7, 2013

Song of the Week! 7 December 2013


Future song time! Our first sneak peek into Momoiro's new songs comes in the form of one of the newest Anime licenses.

Friday, December 6, 2013

Taiko Arcade Tournament 2013 delayed to next year


Nope, this is not a joke: the finals for this year's Taiko arcade tournament will be held next year, on June 14th 2014. After the event was canceled last month, now the finalists have to wait for another half a year before having the last showdown.

This banner comes from the Taiko Arcade Tournament 2013's website, so there is no doubt about the legitimacy. Since Momoiro would have been around for 7 months by this date, will the itinerary for the event be the same as the one planned on November 26th? Will the songs used still be the same (the three CreoFUGA songs would have lost their surprise and challenge factor since players will have so much time to train on them)? And will Yuugen no Ran, Zeami's new elusive song still be affected by this delay or will it be released sooner?

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Taiko no Tatsujin Momoiro Version song list

Taiko no Tatsujin Momoiro Version

Taiko no Tatsujin Momoiro Version is the successor to its color antagonist, Sorairo Version, and is the 4th HDD upgrade to the network-enabled Taiko arcade cabinet. 'Momoiro' refers to the peach-pink theme of the firmware, and may also refer to the girl band Momoiro Clover Z, as the franchise has recently scored a major collaboration with them and even have a new song in their name. In fact, one of the most pushed aspects for this firmware are the collaboration events, ranging from the aforementioned band to the Touhou Music Arrange project and even other rhythm game franchise as well, such as Taito's Groove Coaster and Sega's Maimai series.

All network activities such as Dojo Ranking, Don Challenge and others established in Sorairo Version is carried over here, as with most player data. Two things have received revamps, however; the titles and the costumes. The full-body costumes we used to know as 'kisekae' (着せ替え, changing clothes) is now given the proper name of 'kigurumi' (きぐるみ). In addition to the full-body costumes, players can also opt for a three-part costume made up of head, body and accessory; the new form of 'kisekae'. Some of the full-body costumes from previous firmwares were put into one of these three categories, in addition to more new costumes.

The other thing being split apart are titles; some will be deleted along the way but the majority will be tweaked to fit a new system of being able to piece together two parts to form a single title. Of course, singles titles will still be available for unlock and use. Increased player customization is the name of the game in Momoiro.

Online features are beefed up too, with the Dojo Ranking gaining another fiendish tier above the current highest rank, 10-Dan, and a Rewards Shop added into the online player network Donder Hiroba, marking the first time accumulated Don Points can be spent to buy more costumes (some of which are promotional and time-limited), Taiko sounds, and even new songs.

Namco Taiko Blog 2 (5 December 2013) - Taiko 0 Momoiro's new default songs!


Well, here is the post we've been waiting for today!

Namco Taiko Blog (5 December 2013) - Taiko 0 Momoiro data transfer


As promised, today's featured entries for the Taiko Team blog are about the upcoming new firmware build for the arcade, split into two posts, starting from the data that Banapassport players can carry over from Sorairo Version to Momoiro Version.

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Release Date of December 2013's Taiko Wii U DLC content


Among the Miiverse features for the latest console Taiko videogame, there is a sub-group made for the Taiko Team's communications about the game. The latest one is about the next batch of DLC. Its release date will be announced on December 11th, the same day Taiko Momoiro Version is released. Fingers crossed for more intriguing new songs!

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Tatakae! T3 Booei Tai ~GDI mix~ lyrics



Composer: Linda AI-CUE
Vocals: Yanagisawa Naomiki (柳沢直幹), norion5, Aru Majirou (ある☆まじろう), Linda AI-CUE
Voice: Yanagisawa Naomiki (柳沢直幹), norion5, Linda Ai-CUE, Gin-gitsune (ギンギツネ)

Monday, December 2, 2013

Oshiete Kumatomo in Taiko Plus


As Namco's Kuma-Tomo app for iOs devices has been around for a half-year, the Taiko Plus videogame celebrates this milestone with another free song to play for a limited time.

Since last Friday, it's possible to play with Oshiete Kumatomo, the theme song of the videogames related to this cuddly bear! It will be removed from the app after December 8th, 2013.

And since we are in the theme of limited-time songs, here's an update coming from wikihouse: the two free Tamagotchi songs from the past Hokkori! Tamagotchi collaboration (Miracle☆Travel and Itsuka Itsuka) are not deleted from Taiko Plus after the campaign's running period, as long as players have downloaded them in said event.

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Made By You: Chiri Chiri Juso and more



It's been a long time, hasn't it? I've taken a long break from this feature due to real-life commitments, and I'll just try to get a short one up for today.