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Saturday, May 31, 2014

Song of the Week! 31 May 2014


From chatbox user kathy, today's request is from the Classic genre. Finally, it's time to talk about an Italian-inspired song on this corner!

Taiko Plus - Introducing the Awesome Game Pack


Before our weekly Saturday feature, let's talk about the latest song pack release for Taiko no Tatsujin Plus, which promises to bring some more Game Music havoc for its players!

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Taiko 3ds 2's first commercials



Between the publication of today's two blog entries, the website of the latest Taiko 3DS videogame gets updated once again with the video commercials above, While some extracts of what presumably is the game's theme song can be heard, all the inormations reported are about aspects of the game we already knew from the last website update... for the most part.

Near the second video's end, it's possible to spot the first of Taiko 3DS 2's planned, downloadable songs: Let it Go ~Ari no Mama de~ (Let It Go~ありのままで~), the Japanese version of the very popular song of the same name from the Disney film Frozen, whose influence exploded on the Internet with an overload of both musical renditions and parodies. This song will be available for free to download until August 31st.

Namco Taiko Blog 2 (29 May 2014) - Taiko Team's June livestream

In today's second blog entry, Etou announced yet another Taiko Team livestream event, which once again will be exclusive to Nicovideo users.

Namco Taiko Blog (29 May 2014) - Slimey, Squiggly June

If you have been following Taiko news this past month, you would have more or less known what the first blog of the day has in stall. Still, do read on because more details are always better.

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Twitter Snippets (28 May 2014) - Momoiro Ranking Dojo Interim Statistics

Midnight doesn't stop Takemoto from bringing freshly prepared Ranking Dojo statistics on the official @taiko_team Twitter feed! Enjoy the pie chart showing Donders' highest attained ranks, and a bar chart showing how everyone fares in each challenge (golden pass/pass/fail)!

Monday, May 26, 2014

Twitter Snippets (26 May 2014) - Momoiro (Asia) Adds 8 More Songs!

Rejoice Asian Donders! Takemoto brings great news for the Taiko Momoiro (Asia) arcade, even in the two-day Twitter hiatus after yesterday's PazuDora event.

From May 29 (this Thursday) onwards, the following 8 songs will be added to the overseas cabinets! The selection includes early Touhou picks, two of the missed Vocaloid songs, and the very recent Love Live! opening and GMT remix collab tunes!

 Bokura wa Ima no Naka de μ's; from TV Anime Love Live!
 Hatsune Miku no Shoushitsu -Gekijouban-
 Juumensou colorful ver. YM feat. GUMI
 Densha de Densha de GO!GO!GO!GC! -GMT remix- COSIO (ZUNTATA/TAITO)/Chiharu Sawashiro; Densha de GO!
 Fantasy Zone OPA-OPA! -GMT remix- Hiro (SEGA); Fantasy Zone
 RIDGE RACER STEPS -GMT remix- Yuji Masubuchi (BNSI); RIDGE RACER
 Night of Knights Touhou Project Arrange; BeatMARIO
 Bad Apple!! feat. nomico Touhou Project Arrange; Alstroemeria Records



Link to original tweet

Growing Up Lyrics


Composer: a2c
Arrangement: MintJam
Lyrics, Vocal: TERRA

Saturday, May 24, 2014

Song of the Week! 24 May 2014


Anime-themed feature for today! Let's see what's inside this time.

Thursday, May 22, 2014

3DS2 Official Site Updates Again! StreetPass, Story Mode Characters and New Songs


Today the official site of the upcoming Taiko no Tatsujin: Don to Katsu no Jikuu Daibouken has a second update. Let's see what new and exciting information we can extract!

Namco Taiko Blog (22 May 2014) - PazuDora Fan Thanksgiving Festival 2014

And today's official Taiko Team blog is suitably all about Momoiro appearing at the PazuDora Fan Thanksgiving Festival 2014 this weekend, as we have previously reported.

There are some outstanding information we have yet to know though. First of all, Daifuku and Etou will be present at the venue greeting PazuDora and/or Taiko fans. There will also be a short Taiko stage event from 10:10~10:35, right after the opening ceremony ending at 10. It will also be broadcasted live on NicoNico Live at the link below.

PazuDora Fan Thanksgiving Festival 2014 Livestream on NicoNico Live

Link to original post

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Taiko Momoiro at PazuDora Fan Thanksgiving Festival 2014

Gungho's Puzzle & Dragons, the hit mobile puzzle card RPG, is once again holding their now-annual Thanksgiving Festival, to show fans how much the game appreciate their support. And as a frequent of Taiko no Tatsujin's Game Music genre, the Taiko Momoiro cabinet will once again appear in this event!

Bachi-pen DX Set from HORI


The hardware maker HORI once again produces a Taiko no Tatsujin product. With the expected released of Don To Katsu no Jikuu Daibouken (3DS2) on June 26 2014, the Bachi-pen set pictured above will be released on the same day.

A prominent feature of the Bachi-pens is their much sharper tips, compared with the officially bundled ones. The set also comes with a Taiko no Tatsujin mat, with anti-slip designs, to hold up your (3)DS steadily.

Currently we only have source from a fan Tumblr Post and the pre-order page from PlayAsia. We will keep you updated when further official announcement is available.

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Tokyo Tokkyo Kyo Kyokakyoku Kyokuchou!! Lyrics



Composer: MOES / Takuya Nishiyama (西山 拓哉)
Lyrics: Namiko (なみこ) / Namiko Hatakeyama (畠山 奈美子)
Singer: Erika Kaiho (海保えりか)

Saturday, May 17, 2014

Song of the Week! 17 May 2014


A new portable Taiko game is coming out next month! To make the wait more bearable, here are a couple of recent Namco Originals which were featured in the first 3DS videogame.

Friday, May 16, 2014

Yet another song leak for Taiko 3DS 2


Just like what happened last week with Kawagen Collagen and his new song, another musical contributor to next month's Taiko 3DS videogame showed up on the Internet, revealing in advance one of the new Namco Original tracks.

The image above comes from an entry of composer Blue Marble's personal blog, revealing his debut in the Taiko franchise with the song super star shooter. Among his works and projects, Blue Marble also collaborated with Frenesi, known on Taiko for her song Nagisa no Andromeda.

Taiko Plus - Ura modes strike back!


As of today, another couple of songs from the previous Taiko Plus song packs are getting their Ura modes unlocked for everyone to enjoy!

This time, it's the turn of Sanpo (from the Popular Song Pack 9) and DON'T CUT (from the Super Skills Pack), two songs whose Ura modes were already featured in several console andarcade Taiko instalments before today. As usual, the Ura Oni modes above will appear only if the Taiko Plus application is upgraded to the version 2.1.0 or upper!

Namco Taiko Blog (16 May 2014) - Momoiro Emergency Update (V17.03)

As previously noted, the note judgement in the Taiko Momoiro arcade has changed significantly with the last update, without Taiko Team doing anything to it.

Today's extra blog post makes an official announcement for a minor update to fix the problem. Version 17.03 will go live May 20 2014 (next Tuesday), and will revert the judgement scheme to before V16.06 (without reverting the song list).

Link to original post

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Namco Taiko Blog 2 (15 May 2014) - May 9th Stream Recap

The main attraction of the May 9th livestream by the Taiko Team was the new Touhou songs and Taiko 3DS2 (and two seconds worth of the 19th 2000 series song, Donkama 2000), but users were able to chip in for another group challenge: comment as much as you can! Fervent fans went all the way to the final prize, and there were a total of 110,401 comments made throughout the stream!

Prizes were given out all the way to 100,000 comments, and they are summarized below:

10,000: A profile picture for your Twitter account! Follow their link to grab the picture.

20,000:  A special Racecar (レースカー) costume headpiece will be available for purchase in the Rewards Shop throughout May 2014 for 500 Don Points! It's the same racecar as the one used in the Twitter icon.

30,000: Special title part 'Light Type' (光属性) given out on May 13th!

50,000: Smartphone wallpaper for the upcoming Taiko 3DS: Don to Katsu no Jikuu Daibouken!

76,500: The next stream will feature a special section on Etou's kitchen! The details are still being sorted out.

87,600: Etou wore a special Tatsu-Don T-shirt at the Reitaisai festival on May 11th!

100,000: Momoiro players worldwide get to play the Game Music PaPaPa Love for the rest of May 2014!

Then in the second half of the stream were phone interviews with 10 finalists going to the Taiko Tounament 2013 in June 2014 (yes you read that right). The remaining 11 finalists will be interviewed in the upcoming stream! Stay tuned!

Namco Taiko Blog (15 May 2014) - Taiko Wii U's May DLC


Of today's two blog entries, the first one is about the new downloadable content for the latest Taiko home console game. And for this month, the new song delivery is all about...

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

3D Projection Mapping Taiko no Tatsujin

As if a new 3DS title isn't 3D enough, this summer Taiko no Tatsujin gets even "realer" with a tie-up campaign with the theme park resort Huis Ten Bosch in their upcoming Game Kingdom attraction!

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Taiko Momoiro (Asia) at GTI and Song Poll Result

This has been a very eventful weekend! As previously reported, Taiko no Tatsujin Momoiro has made an appearance at GTI Asia Expo from May 8~10. Reported by players who made it to the expo, the exhibiting cabinets are free-to-play and with internet connection!
Bandai Namco's GTI booth and and exhibiting Taiko Momoiro cabinet gameplay
Retrieved from Bahamut report

Earlier we also promoted the poll that Taiwanese Donders has put together, aiming to tell Namco what songs overseas Donders want to see. The results have been gathered up and you can see the detailed statistics here.

Monday, May 12, 2014

Game Music Triangle Phase 2 song videos



You've heard the original renditions in Phase 1, now it's time to mix them all up for Phase 2! Released four days ago for Groove Coaster, Maimai GreeN and Taiko no Tatsujin Momoiro, the three songs are made up of pairing two together into a remix, with the composer being from the third producer, hence called the 'GMT mashup'.

First up is the easiest of the trio, Densha de Densha de OPA!OPA!OPA! -GMT mashup-, which is Sega and Taito's IPs and composed by Masubuchi from Namco. Regular clusters are mixed in together with long 1/12 streams and speedup in the middle. An 8* Oni with quite a bit of volume, though not too difficult due to the slow speed. Has 658 notes.



Secondly, Opa! Opa! RACER -GMT mashup-. Namco and Sega's property being composed by Cosio from Zuntata (Taito). This moderately fast remix pitches several weird handswitch clusters like dddkkdddk and streams making it quite a tough 9* to Full Combo. This has the highest max combo of the three, at 682.



Lastly, Ridge de Ridge de GO!GO!GO! -GMT mashup-, being the last combination of the triangle; Namco and Taito being the origin and the composer being Hiro from Sega, who has been responsible for the majority of Maimai's original songs. Loads of two-note clusters here, more than the other two, and long streams towards the end. Watch out for the super-fast scrolling notes and balloons!

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Livestream Recap (May 9 2014) - Reitaisai, National Tournament Finals and 3DS2

The livestream on May 9 2014 is available only on NicoNico Live. A first in this stream is the comment challenge, in which different rewards are unlocked by achieving total comment number goals among all of the audience. This show is hosted by the usual Etou and Takemoto (also live-tweeting), plus the first-ever appearance of Daifuku in person.

Saturday, May 10, 2014

[Breaking] Twitter Snippets (May 10 2014) - PaPaPa Love for Momoiro (Intl)

Sorry again for the late livestream recap (stay tuned!), but a breaking update for international Donders: with the 100,000-comment goal accomplished, PaPaPa Love will be available not only in Japan, but also in overseas Momoiro cabinets from May 11! One day later than Japan, but still great news. Thanks to everyone who helped achieve that goal yesterday!

First time ever on an arcade version as a Game Music (Namco Original in AC11), PaPaPa Love has only seen star cuts in Kantan and Futsuu, down to 3/5/6/8. Also note that due to the recently spotted note judgement faults, the retreat date has moved to May 31 rather than the original May 18. That said, being only a "preview unlock", it may very well appear behind certain unlock conditions after that.

A point to note is that Takemoto refers to the version as "Asia version". Also the team confirms that Momoiro is also up and running in Thailand and Malaysia, in addition to Taiwan and Hong Kong as we reported.

Song of the Week! 10 May 2014


While we wait for our coverage of yesterday's Taiko Team stream and the first video footage of Game Music Triangle's Phase 2, here's a closer look to ome of the first songs of this collaboration!

Thursday, May 8, 2014

[Breaking] Twitter Snippets (May 8 2014) - Glitches on Taiko Momoiro



Breaking news about certain confirmed glitches and abnormalities in Taiko Momoiro systems, from the @taiko_team Twitter feed.

First, on the three GMT mashup songs added today. Some cabinets may not show them properly even after the update. In that case the team suggest approaching arcade staff to reboot the cabinet (hence resetting the cabinet date to May 9) to make the songs appear.

Also for a brief moment the Donder Hiroba failed to show records for the same three songs. Fixes has been applied and the play data should show up properly on the Hiroba too.

Lastly, the note judgement in gameplay has changed from its usual state, even though the team has not done anything to it. They have confirmed this abnormalities, and is working to solve it. Do stay tuned for further updates.

Follow-up: Today (5/9) a status report is given on the note judgement issue. The team has pin-pointed the origin of the fault and work has started to tackle it. Expect more updates next week as they settle on a stable fix.

Twitter Snippets (6 May 2014) - Kawagen Collagen's latest Namco Original

The nicknamed composer and charter Kawagen Collagen has become pretty active in the Taiko scene in the last few months, but his activity on Namco's drumming rhythm game franchise is far from ended!

Through several tweets like the one above, Kawamoto Yoshinori is advertising the incoming new Taiko 3DS videogame with the early news that he has charted for a new Namco Original for the game, called Purupuru Simpuru (ぷるぷるしんぷる, lit. 'Purupuru Simple'). This song is created by a new face in Taiko - an "imaginative electro pop" (空想電子ポップ) musical unit under the alias Her Ghost Friend. The news is also reported on the unit's personal website blog, so we can safely assume this fact is 100% legit.

Namco Taiko Blog (May 8 2014) - May 9 Livestream: Final Call on New Details!

The livestream is tomorrow evening guys! As we pass the 40-hour mark in the countdown, Etou dedicates today's official Taiko Team blog update to a summary of proceedings of yhe livestream, while adding even more details!

Time: May 9 2014 19:30 JPT (expected to last 2 to 3 hours)
Link to livestream

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Theme of Alexander Lyrics



Composer: bermei.inazawa
Lyrics, Vocal: Mashiro Shirakami (白神真志朗)

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Bandai Namco at GTI Asia Taipei Expo

Bandai Namco will be present at the GTI Asia Taipei Expo, an industry-centered gaming expo for manufacturers, agents and operators, from May 8~10. Although not stated explicitly in the Exhibitor Directory, there is word from Namco employees that the new Taiko arcade will be one of the exhibiting products.

Regrettably, the expo is not open to the public and news would be scarce. Luckily, some Taiko enthusiasts from Taiwan has secured tickets to the expo, and hopefully they will bring back fruitful returns!

Meanwhile, they have created a poll asking what songs you would like to see ported the International version. Responses are accepted until May 9 22:00 (Taiwan Time/GMT+8), and they will try to relay the results to the Taiko Team on their May 10 visit.

Link to the poll

Read also: GTI Asia Taipei Expo Homepage
Read also: Poll announcement on Bahamut Taiko Board

Monday, May 5, 2014

Twitter Snippets: Namco System 10



Any really old players here? In this short news lull (and still in Golden Week mode), the team decided to take a random snapshot of the old PCB used for Taiko no Tatsujin 1 to 6 arcades, the Namco System 10. We've come a long way since then!

Sunday, May 4, 2014

Made By You: YURERO and more

This week, we take a look at some of your maps, with some special unique features! Curious? Then read on...



From tetsutaro, we have this map from rising mobile rhythm game Cytus. Cytus, developed by Rayark, is played by hitting static notes in time with a moving time line, similar to DJMax Technika. The song is a band song with male vocals, and makes for a fairly typical 7*, nothing too difficult. But what's this, there's an Ura?



...and it's a first in this feature corner: it's a 2P chart! There are two variations of this Ura chart, one for Player 1 and one for Player 2, with the charts complimenting each other. It's not that much more difficult than the ordinary Oni, though, and is quite manageable if you can clear the normal Oni.



From crystalsuicune, bemani gets another representative. Hailing from the Reflec Beat series, VALANGA is Yoshihiro Takagawa (alias DJ TOTTO)'s debut song into bemani. As to the name, 'Valanga' is actually Italian for 'avalanche'.

With a high BPM of 186, the song allows for fast and complicated streams to match the frantic 'avalanche' the song is trying to convey, settling it nicely at 9*.



More bemani! From Lokamp, we have yet another debut song: Snowfield Express is TIME CAPSULE Lab.'s first foray into bemani, this time appearing first on pop'n music Sunny Park. It's also another high BPM song at 188, with fast and sometimes complicated streams.



And finally, from AxelHino, a song from the familar iDOLM@STER series, which is very much represented in Taiko no Tatsujin. This one, though, hasn't been in any official Namco release yet: Aoi Tori, which is idol Chihaya Kisaragi's image song. A slow BPM prevents the chart from getting too difficult, leaving it at a simple 5*.

Saturday, May 3, 2014

Song of the Week! 3 May 2014


Though it's a little late, another school year came to an end, and with it, another batch of students leave the comfort of school, going separate ways from their friends heading towards a brighter future. Today's song is about that!

Taiko no Tatsujin Mobile (Taiwan) Service Terminated

Earlier today we saw news for another upgrade for the smartphone Taiko game. However, today also marks another important milestone for the mobile Taiko front. A not very happy milestone, but still important.

As fellow Taiko enthusiast Woolala mentions in his epitaph on the Bahamut Taiko Board, the Taiko no Tatsujin Mobile service in Taiwan, known as 太鼓之達人流行月租 (lit. Taiko no Tatsujin: Monthly Rented Pop Songs), has come to an end after an 6-plus-year run since January 2008.

This game is a Java-based game that supports mobile phones before the smartphone era (where there were actual number keys on the thing). Seeing how smartphones exploded in popularity in recent years, it is quite inevitable the older generation gets phased out eventually.

Still, predating even Taiko 11 Asia, this mobile gem is the first ever officially licensed Taiko game for the Chinese-speaking world. This is, in all respect, a remarkable step in Taiko history, and it is sad to see it go.

Read also: Taiko Mobile (Taiwan) Main Site (Chinese)

Friday, May 2, 2014

Taiko Plus - Introducing the Legend Pack


Even for the Taiko no Tatsujin franchise, legends never die. To prove this statement in a more effective way, the latest Taiko Plus pack features legendary licensed songs, with some of these coming from the very first Taiko arcades!

Twitter Snippets (May 2 2014) - Taiko no Tatsujin Toys: It's All Fun and Games


Takemoto drops by the official @taiko_team Twitter feed for more Taiko merchandise news! We have seen the concept art to these physical Taiko toys in a World Hobby Fair promotion poster before, but here they are carrying the drumming fun to the real life!

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Taiko Momoiro (Intl.) Adds April DonChare Song


A minor news for the overseas Donders: Last month's DonChare unlockable Flight of the Bumblebee is now available on the International version of Taiko no Tatsujin Momoiro ver., right on time with it also becoming open to all in Japan.

Now with two DonChare songs punctually unlocked in Momoiro (Intl), it is safe to say that although the DonChare system is still yet to be inplemented, the DonChare songs are indeed added and properly scheduled for automatic unlock. As such, to keep things simpler, we here at Taiko Time will stop reporting these unless things change.

So look forward to Kinniku no You na Bokura ~Muscle Love Theme~ on June 1, overseas Donders! Meanwhile, we have already compiled the Japan version's DonChare challenges for May 2014, which you can check them at the listing.

Link to FB announcement by Taiwanese agent

Namco Taiko Blog 2 (1 May 2014) - Taiko Team's May livestream

A new month has just begun, but the Taiko Team has already scheduled another streaming presentation for this month, featuring what the Taiko franchise has to offer in the next few months.

Namco Taiko Blog (1 May 2014) - 3rd Outfit Contest: The Results Are In!

Today's blog update is image-packed! Specifically we are going to see the winning entries of the 3rd Outfit Contest, hosted back in Sorairo ver. and judged by everyone at the April 11 livestream.