Sunday, April 12, 2026

Taiko no Tatsujin Donderful Festival April 2026 Updates

This post will be periodically updated across the month as announcements are revealed.

Taiko Music Pass Track Additions

Title
2026/03/26 (source)
刻竜 ~Kokuryu~ Azu♪
  あず♪




★10
2026/04/02 (source)
HOT LIMIT ★3 ★4 ★6 ★7
2026/04/09 (source)
Joubutsu 2000
万戈イム-一ノ十
★5 ★7 ★8 ★10

2026/04/16 (source)
Imasugu Rinne Nakiso feat. Hatsune Miku
いますぐ輪廻/なきそ feat. 初音ミク
★? ★? ★? ★?
Next reveal: ???
?? ??? ★? ★? ★? ★?
?? ??? ★? ★? ★? ★?
Key: red = series debut; green = subscription/freemium debut

DLC Additions

Title
2026/04/02: Hatsune Miku Pack Vol.6 (source)
Suna no Wakusei Hachi feat. Hatsune Miku
砂の惑星/ハチ feat. 初音ミク
★3 ★5 ★5 ★9
Monitoring DECO*27 feat. Hatsune Miku
モニタリング/DECO*27 feat. 初音ミク
★2 ★4 ★6 ★8
Konton Boogie jon-YAKITORY feat. Hatsune Miku
混沌ブギ/jon-YAKITORY feat. 初音ミク
★3 ★5 ★6 ★8
Key: red = series debut; blue = console debut

Taiko Music Pass Featured Playlist

Title
Title
2026/04/02: Pre-1980s Hit Songs (source)
Umi no Mieru Machi
海の見える街
CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA
TRAIN-TRAIN Kaze no Toori-michi
風のとおり道
Sanpo
さんぽ
Linda Linda
リンダリンダ
Get Wild Pegasus Fantasy
ペガサス幻想
Kimi o Nosete
君をのせて
Touch
タッチ
Romantic ga Tomaranai
Romanticが止まらない
LAST CHRISTMAS
Plastic Love
プラスティック・ラブ
Lum no Love Song
ラムのラブソング
Mayonaka no Door ~ Stay with me
真夜中のドア~Stay with me
Monkey Magic
モンキー・マジック
Lupin III Theme '78
ルパン三世のテーマ'78
Uchuu Senkan Yamato
宇宙戦艦ヤマト
Cutie Honey
キューティーハニー
I Want You Back

Saturday, April 11, 2026

Song of the Week! 11 April 2026


It's not rare for select game music tracks to only be featured in a single game in the series overall but most surprisingly, the biggest share of this tune subset comes from Namco's gaming history itself!

Here's one of such tales, for an ongoing playable exclusive to the PlayStation 2's Appare! Sandaime.

Chirping Crumbles (April 6th-11th, 2026) - Traces of an Ominous Encounter

 
While we've already indulged on this ongoing mystery via our SNS feeds, we've come to a point where it's safe to have a recap on the blog about what's going on since April 1st, considering the current state of matters.

Namco Taiko Blog (April 9th, 2026) - Mid-Spring Nijiiro and Livestream Chimes


Nijiiro Version's next update day is slated next week, on April 15th in Japan and the following day for all other regions (excluding mainland China). Three more licensed tunes will join the Taiko ranks for the first time, alongside the iLiFE! song which was teased last Saturday.

On top of this, we also got the date for the next Taiko no Tatsujin livestream event! The broadcast will start on May 31st, with a Questant form for all arcade-related inquiries to be asked (and a chance to be read live by Etou and Kimizu on stream!); the submission deadline is on May 9th.

Saturday, April 4, 2026

Song of the Week! 4 April 2026


Gather around to hear once more the tale of a song that got more than a year's worth of teaser deliveries via official livestreams, before its fiendish debut. And without the perk of being a 2000 song at that! 
(although arguably, its upbringing may be as popular as one of those...)

Chirping Crumbles (April 4th, 2026) - Real-(i)LiFE Footage of Upcoming Nijiiro Version Licensing




Credit to Discord server user arcaeusgreen for the find!

For today's live event at the Tokyo Kabuchicho Tower, in celebration of the ongoing 'Kabuchicho Game Festival', members of idol unit iLiFE! have revealed the upcoming release of one of their songs to the ongoing Taiko no Tatsujin arcade line!

See you in 2-ish weeks for the playable debut of Idol Life Starter Pack (アイドルライフスターターパック), currently slated for an April 15th release (worldwide, mainland China later) as shown in the pictures.

Thursday, April 2, 2026

Feature: Taiko no Tatsujin in South East Asia

 
New Taiko no Tatsujin Nijiiro cabs being set up in various arcades in the Philippines on March 2026 (pictured: Quantum Greenhills Mall, San Juan City and Q Power Station, Power Plant Mall in Makati City)

It has been a long, tumultuous journey for the non-Japanese Taiko scene to get to this level of availability. The Philippines, one of the last major countries in South East Asia with an arcade scene but no Taiko, has finally gotten a large batch of Nijiiro cabs of their own. From the information I have been given, they're mostly centered around Metro Manila, but if anyone here is reading from the Philippines, well. It's been 3000 years. Very glad to have more people be able to access the game. Congratulations to the community and have fun!

Things weren't always like this for the game if you didn't live in Japan. It was one of those rare, niche games with a few recognizable songs that sometimes caught the attention of outsiders for a week or so, before being forgotten again because it was just not possible to play. There were offline (refurbished) cabs up to Taiko 14 being shipped out of the country to places like Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and some scattered places in South East Asia (mostly Malaysia and Singapore), and the communities were small but dedicated. Under that environment was when this blog was created, actually.

Then came the online era of the game in 2010 and the landscape shifted overnight.