Formed on May 2003, YMCK has published six albums, sold from Japan to Korea and USA. The band is comprised of three members: Midori Kurihara (栗原みどり; vocal), Yokemura Takeshi (除村武志; music, lyrics, arrangement) and Nakamura Tomoyuki (中村智之; music video) and their primary specialty is songs that sounds like they come from 8-bit or 16-bit videogames of old. YMCK's name is based on a subtractive color model: Yellow, Magenta, Cyan and Black. Aside from their own discography, they also composed the retro NES-style soundtrack for DSiWare game ArtStyle: PiCTOBiTS.
In Taiko, the songs created by YMCK have not been seen on any of their albums (which means they were composed specially for Taiko), and all feature the YMCK members and Don-chan, in 8-bit form, dancing on the bottom of the screen.
 |  | |
 -YMCK series- | ||
 | |
 | | |
 |  |
Family Don-Don (ファミリードンドン)| Version |  |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | x4 (139) | x4 (170) | x6 (387) | x9 (607) |
Taiko 13, Taiko Wii 2, CD Full Combo
122
none
ymckFirst appearing on Taiko Wii 2 and garnering instant popularity for the cute music and song, this is the first exclusive YMCK song for Taiko. The song is named Family Dondon due to the Wii Taiko games placing emphasis on playing with family members, seen prominently on the game's TV ads (which is the aim of nearly every casual Wii game). Was ported over to Taiko 13, but cut out of Taiko 14.
One of the first songs in Taiko to use 1/32 clusters, and therefore they are extremely close together. This seals its place as one of the toughest 9* Oni songs to full combo. After the intuitive and relatively easy first half of the song, the bridge kicks in with all the 1/32 clusters, beginning with Saitama 2000's Don-Katsu Chitai then moving on to some original note patterns. The Don-Katsu Chitai is only slightly slower than that of Haya Saitama 2000, making it very hard to manage from a slow song like this. The crazy notes in this song were arranged by none other than Taiko Team's Takahashi. The title font is one-of-a-kind in Taiko, as no other song nor any other song in the YMCK series uses the blocky 8-bit style for it.
Okashi Deka no Uta (お菓子刑事の歌)| Version | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | x4 (155) | x5 (207) | x7 (368) | x9 (765) |
Taiko DS 3, Taiko 14 152 none coro2Inexplicably the second YMCK song, first seen in Taiko DS3, was moved out from the J-Pop genre into the Variety genre. The song Okashi Deka no Uta, was previewed to the public months before Taiko DS3 was announced, with incomplete lyrics. People were supposed to submit their choice of lyrics via CoroCoro magazine, and the winner has the final lyrics played out in the song. Cool, huh?
'Okashi Deka' is Japanese for 'Sweets Detective', and the dancers feature the titular man dancing with the YMCK members and Don-chan. Much faster than Family Dondon and considered harder because of the speed increase. The beat clusters are also a lot more complex than the simple ones in the first song. As with Family Dondon, Okashi Deka has a 'tough to hit' stream that will kill off combos, in this case, it's at the speedup portion of the song, with a mixed 1/24 and 1/16 stream at the quickest part later seen in songs like In The Zone.
Okashi Deka is the very first licensed song and the very first song that isn't Namco Original or a game music that has 765 notes in the Oni difficulty, is the first Variety 9* song since Freedom on Taiko 6, and its song ID, 'coro2' refers to the fact that its creation is related in some way to CoroCoro Magazine (this being the second song. 'coro' is the song ID for Bokutachi CoroCoro Age on Taiko Wii 1)
Danba Danba Din Dan (ダンバ・ダンバ・ディン・ダン)| Version | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taiko Wii 4 | x5 (191) | x6 (283) | x7 (448) | x9 (683) |
| Taiko 0, Taiko PSP DX | x5 (191) | x6 (283) | x7 (448) | x8 (683) |
Taiko 0, Taiko PSP DX, Taiko Wii 4, CD Donderful 145~170 none ymckFrom J-Pop to Variety and now to Namco Original, YMCK is one rare series that has swapped genres more than once. In tune with Family Don-Don, Danba Danba Din Dan's simple lyrics emphasizes Taiko drums as the main essence of Japanese festivals. Danba Danba Din Dan was one of the 10th Anniversary songs performed first at the Tokyo Game Show 2011, where the YMCK band held a live performance of the song, allowing people to listen to it months before it is seen on both arcade and Wii. This is sung by YMCK's female member, Kurihara Midori (栗原みどり)
Comparatively, this song is easier than the previous two YMCK songs with no obvious combobreakers or malicious 1/32 clusters, however players should be wary of the slightly slower 1/24 portion in the middle of the song, which resembles a marching band rhythm. It was first seen as an 8* song but still difficult enough on the old standard to be a 9* on Wii 4.
Back to song series page
