Hikari no Kanata e Lyrics

Long version

Vocal: Takayoshi Tanimoto (谷本貴義)

Game Music Showcase: Muscle March

In 2006, a new arcade game was released in Japan, consisting of two vertical levers. The game inside the cockpit was full of typical Japanese insanity, and was called Muscle Kōshinkyoku (マッスル行進曲), or what we know in the US today as Muscle March (500 Wii Points on Wiiware). The idea was to control a bodybuilder's arms with these two levers (or your Wiimote) and chase after a protein shake-stealing thief. He busts through walls and your arm positions have to match the hole created to proceed. Simple concept, but with a crazy presentation, crazier than we are trying to make it sound. Go look for footage of the game! You will never keep a straight face after that.

Starting from Taiko 11, part of that game's soundtrack was used as songs in Taiko no Tatsujin. They are sung by Kani Prince and arranged by Akitaka Toyama (遠山明孝) known for the creation of other Namco Original songs like The Carnivorous Carnival.

Taiko no Tatsujin: Wai Wai Happy Rokudaime song list

The sixth Taiko no Tatsujin game for PS2, released on December 2005. Since the introduction of the new graphics engine and increased difficulty through the 2000 songs, emphasis was increasingly being placed on the Namco Original genre to please skilled players. And Rokudaime has quite a lot of challenging songs on offer in its 40-odd song list.

The game modifiers for double, triple and quadruple speed were introduced, together with the console-exclusive Sudden Death modifier, which are all accessed by entering specific profile names on the main menu. That aside, it's basically a bigger, better, newer version of Taiko PS2 5.

~ Ending Movie variants ~

Muzukashii mode credits

Futsuu mode credits

Kantan mode credits

~ Opening song ~
Noshi Maite, Taiko Para! (のし巻いて、太鼓っパラ！)

Namco Taiko Blog (22 September 2010)- New mode?

It's not a game modifier like Double and Triple, and it's not an alternate difficulty like Ura Oni. This time it tackles something completely different....the scoring system. This alternate way of scoring points is called by Namco as Shinta Mode '真打モード' and will be implemented into Taiko 14 on October 1st using god knows what method. Secret code sequence? Definitely hope so...unlock a few new songs while you're at it too.

Not much is known beyond the name of the mode, though it can be seen that under Shinta Mode, the number of points you get is higher. It could be that the usual points increment with hit combos no longer applies, and instead focus on your hit accuracy. Don't hit a note- 0 points, hit a note with 'good'- regular points, hit a note with 'great'- double points (thanks crystalsuicune!). Simple as that. No more multipliers. What this means is that....well, see the difference for yourself. The first screenshot is regular Taiko, the second one is Taiko with Shinta Mode applied.

The number of missed notes is greater in the one with Shinta Mode, but the score is higher? WTF. It's...somewhat appreciated, but at the same time any idiot can just bash the drum, hit random notes, and get a high score (won't matter if they don't clear the song though).

Anyway. October 1st. Mark it down, guys!

Unlocking Oni

Where are you trying to unlock the Oni difficulty? Arcade or console?

Taiko no Tatsujin 9 song list

The ninth arcade Taiko machine, released on December 2006. Minor aesthetic changes were made, with the result screen showing the number of  良・可・不可 obtained by the player in a song, as opposed to just showing just the percentage accuracy in previous arcades, which makes gauging accuracy much easier for expert players.

Song Select was taken out, as it seems a bit pointless at this juncture to choose a single difficulty for two or more songs in a row (with all the modifiers, players might want to swap between them after one song). So the only way of choosing songs is by, more conveniently, choosing a difficulty first, then a song, then repeat. The final modifier, Abekobe mode, which reverses red notes and blue notes, was introduced here.

No other major modifications was made on Taiko 9, however the legendary song, Kita Saitama 2000 made its debut here (and on PSP1 at roughly the same time)

Game Music Showcase: Symphonic Songs

A spinoff of the game music Medley series, the Symphonic series is a specific form of videogame BGM medley; instead of simply cutting and pasting bits of music and sound effects together to make a song, Namco remixes the game music with orchestral instruments, giving them a fresh concerto-like feel. Because of the nature of orchestral music, the BPM for each of these medleys are very unstable and change very often throughout the song. The series began on Taiko 10 arcade and is still quite new.

All three songs currently in the series have 'Symphonic' as the first word of their titles, and have difficulties averaging from 6* to 7* on Oni. They are usually pretty limited to a few releases per song. Katsuo Tajima (田島勝朗) is the person who composed all three songs.

Taiko no Tatsujin- Go! Go! Godaime! song list

The 5th PS2 Taiko game, released on December 2004. As the title suggests, this is the console game to introduce Go-Go Mode to the Taiko series, where choruses of songs light up with fire and extra points are handed out to the player. Doron Mode (invisible notes) was also introduced in this version, together with the Yam note. In fact, the theme song of Godaime sings about yam half the time too. Godaime is pretty vocal about the changes it made to the Taiko series.

Doron Mode can't be unlocked or selected normally, and can only be accessed through a secret code in the game involving setting a specific name to a new save file. This trick, and together with later game modifiers, is repeated for all later Taiko games released on PS2 and PSP. Only after Taiko DS1 was released do the game modifiers have standard unlocking methods and the ability to be selected freely.

~ Ending Movie variants ~

Muzukashii mode credits

Futsuu mode credits

Kantan mode credits

~ Opening song ~
Kyou no Gohan wa Taiko Zakari! (今日のご飯は太鼓盛り！)

Boss Battle! Wii Selection

Boss battles are a part of Taiko no Tatsujin Wii 2, like in the DS Taiko game before that, brought over because of popularity.

Over the course of the storyline, Don and Katsu, together with their newly found friend Arumi-chan, will have to protect an ongoing festival from being under attack by a fun-hating mad scientist, Dr. Waruru, using the only way they know how, through the power of the Don Spirit! (basically by playing the taiko, the Don Spirit is evoked as power)

The rules are simple. You will play a song with the mecha opponent on the screen. The regular gauge is replaced with two life bars, one for you and one of the mecha. The objective is to lower the opponent's life gauge by playing well throughout the song avoid missing notes and hitting bomb notes, which lower your drum's life.

But the play is often disturbed by your opponent, who sometimes can try to distract the player by covering part of the screen, change the scrolling bar's speed, bomb notes, fight notes and so on. The boss battles can be played in one of three difficulty settings, Ama-guchi, Kara-guchi, and Geki-kara (with the third being the hardest).

If your life bar is longer than the opponents' when the song ends, you win!

Spoiler warning ahead.

Taiko no Tatsujin DS: Touch de Dokodon! unlock guide

Taiko no Tatsujin: Atsumare! Matsuri da! Yondaime song list

The 4th PS2 Taiko no Tatsujin game, released on July 2004, and is the first Taiko game to upgrade to the PS2-grade graphics engine (Namco System 256), even before the arcade did. As a result, the subsequent arcade releases of Taiko 7 and 8 use Yondaime's in-screen menus as their song list/menus layout format.

Yondaime set the trend for unlocking hidden material for the rest of the PS2 and the first two PSP games; the Don Point system. You're awarded a certain number of these points every time you clear a song or complete a minigame. The amount you get depends on the difficulty of the song and your performance. Go past a certain point total and something gets unlocked, whether it's a song, Taiko sound, or the Oni difficulty.

The modes have also been overhauled. Instead of a two-song Arcade Mode, Survival Mode and Battle Mode, everything has been discarded and replaced with a Play Mode (Ensou Game, the main mode where you play everything), where you're allowed to play through the songs as much as you want without restriction (similar to the Free Mode from older PS2 Taiko games). Minigames still prevail through the makeover. Auto-Play also becomes an official modifier option, with Mekadon from Sandaime appearing on the top-left corner instead of Don-chan.

Just for this game and the next, difficulty stars in Kantan aren't regulated. There are actually 6* songs in Kantan in this version and in Taiko PS2 5. Of course, all 6* have been cut to 5* soon after.

~ Ending variants ~

Don-chan Sekai Ryoko (Muzukashii)

Don-chan Sekai Ryoko (Futsuu)

Don-chan Sekai Ryoko (Kantan)

~ Opening song ~
Ohayou! Taiko Summer (おはよう！太鼓サマー)

Hidden content rumors in Taiko 14

Anime
・LISTEN TO THE STEREO!! (Ura)

Game Music
・Make Inu Henjou (負け犬返上)  Released
・KARMA(Tatsujin Mix) Released
・No Way Back (Ura)  Released

Namco Original
・Mulberry Released
・SORA-IV Bunpasong (SORA-Ⅳ ﾌﾞﾝﾊﾟｿﾝｸﾞ)Released
・Taiko Time (Ura) (ﾀｲｺﾀｲﾑ(裏)) Released
・Hikari no Kanata e (ﾋｶﾘﾉｶﾅﾀﾍ) Released
・Hikari no Kanata e (Ura) (ﾋｶﾘﾉｶﾅﾀﾍ(裏)) Released
・Arumujika ac14.0V (ｱﾙﾑｼﾞｶac14.0V)  Released
・Shunyuu ~happy excursion~ (Ura) (春遊(裏)) Released
・Senpuu no Mai (Ura)  Released
・Shimedore 2000 (〆ﾄﾞﾚｰ2000)  Released

Revived Namco Originals
・Kurofune Raikou (黒船来航) Released
・Hyakka Ryouran (百花繚乱)  Released
・Karui Zawameki (軽いざわめき) Released
・Go Go Kicchin (ｺﾞｰｺﾞｰｷｯﾁﾝ) Released
・Fuun! Bachi o Sensei (風雲!ﾊﾞﾁお先生)Released
・Fuun! Bachi o Sensei (Ura) (風雲!ﾊﾞﾁお先生(裏)) Released

With the 6th 7th secret code out, everything in this list has been accounted for...save for one song. Mistake?

Taiko no Tatsujin 14- Soroban 2000 Morse Code

Once more, the infamous Advanced Notes Morse Code messages for Soroban 2000 have invaded Taiko 14. They span all four difficulties. Being released today, no one's tried to decode it yet, but stay tuned for more updates! I'll add this to the Morse Code page as soon as I hear any results!

For the uninitiated, read up on what it all means here!

So, what's this then?

The enigmatic picture hidden in the folds of HTML code on the Taiko Team's blog a week ago. Now that all the new 10* songs have been revealed and recorded, we can safely confirm that none of them are the song shown in this picture. New 2000? Are you there?

Namco is teasing us.

Taiko no Tatsujin 14 high-quality captures! Papa Mama Mc

So you're at the results screen...hold it! You have one more song to go through! It's optional though, but who can resist having an extra 1/2 a minute tacked on to the end of your play, even if you can only play one song? Good thing the song is good. It's the McDonalds promotion song, Papa Mama Mc. It's not added to your records, it doesn't have a high score of its own, and it's not the one in Taiko DS3, but a cut-down, shorter version of it, like you'd expect from a half-minute ad.

I'd expect them to eventually put up the full version of Papa Mama Mc onto Taiko 14 after this promotional version gets taken down in October though. It only makes sense.

Taiko no Tatsujin 14 high-quality captures! Part 4

Remember 5 Namco Original songs were revived for Taiko 14? A couple of them have got modern recordings of their own.

Taiko no Tatsujin 14 high-quality captures! Part 3

Part 3 with more videos! A lot of them are appearing on arcade for the first time from DS3 or other consoles.

Taiko no Tatsujin 14 high-quality captures! Part 2

5 more videos, in no particular order.

Taiko no Tatsujin 14 high-quality captures! Part 1

Taiko 14's official release date was yesterday, and now that excited Japanese fans have finally given the arcade a fresh run, (nearly) all the significant songs have been recorded in high-quality capture, just the way they should be! First, the new songs we all want to see.

Game Music Showcase: General Medleys

In musical terms, a medley is a song composed of bits from other songs, played one after another. The 'medley' series in Taiko no Tatsujin are actually collections of background music from videogames, whether they're from Namco themselves or from other publishers. The reason why they're in a series is because they tend to have the word 'medley' at the end of their titles. Most of the game medleys from Namco games were originally in the Namco Original genre, and later moved to Game Music.

This series used to encompass medleys from the ongoing Pokemon and Monster Hunter franchises, however, they are now split into their own separate series, as Namco have made them a regular feature in Taiko games.

Meccha! Taiko no Tatsujin DS: Nanatsu no Shima no Daibouken! secret songs

Yokuderu 2000 lyrics

Composer: Linda AI-CUE

Taiko no Tatsujin DS: Dororon! Youkai Dai Kessen! secret songs

Below are all the secret songs found in Taiko DS3 and how you can unlock them.

Taiko no Tatsujin 8 song list

The 8th arcade Taiko, released on March 2006. Arcade Taiko became a lot more forgiving from this version onwards with the addition of the Revival Roulette, giving you a chance to continue to the next song if you failed to clear the first. The number of chances is reduced as you go higher up the difficulty scale (Futsuu-Muzukashii-Oni), and no matter how badly you suck at Kantan, you'll always be able to play all the songs without going through the roulette. This was to make the arcade more kid-friendly so they can get their money's worth on their first steps into Taiko.

In other developments, the Game Music genre was added here, which is the final genre in the modern set. Baizoku, Sanbai and Yonbai modifiers were added in Taiko 8, and can be accessed together with Doron. The legendary J-Pop song Kurenai was introduced here, and instantly became a revered symbol in Taiko, for being generally a great song, for having long, long streams, and for being the first song with 999 notes (the first song to go beyond 900, in fact).

Kare Kano Kanon lyrics

Lyrics: Yasugawa Shougo (ヤスカワショウゴ)
Vocals: Mamechiyo Nakamura (中村豆千代)
Composer: Keiichi Okabe (岡部啓一)

First Taiko no Tatsujin 14 videos up!

They're here! They're finally here!~ The first gameplay videos of the new songs in Taiko 14, leaked out on Youtube! Not all of the new songs have been recorded (Taiko Time, NECOLOGY and ~happy excursion~ are missing) but then there's the rest of it. All the rumors posted yesterday on 2ch were true. Click 'Read more' to see all the footage.

Taiko no Tatsujin 14 more info

~contributed by crystalsuicune. Thanks!

According to 2chan, a Taiko 14 arcade machine was leaked out before the official release date (September 8) so this info may not be 100% accurate but they are shown as follows:

1.There's no AC version of Tenyou no Mai,it's the same as the one in DS3. (Good. They understand the confusion Senpuu no Mai caused back in AC13)
2.Taiko Time's a 10-star song,although it's easier than it sounds.There are tatsujin/kurouto/futsuu notes,BTW (HOLY CRAP YES! THE BLOG IS NAMED AFTER A 10-STAR ONI SONG!)
3.SORA-III is a 9-star song,with slow BPM and mixed patterns (9* makes it the highest difficlty in the whole SORA series. Looking forward to it!)
4.NECOLOGY is a 9-star song
5.KAGEKIYO gets an 10-star Inner Oni notechart (single player),with those crazy 1/24 patterns seen in Inner!Tank (Hurp...wasn't expecting this. What happened to KAGYUKIYO? Anyway, hard notes = good news)
6 .Ridge Racer also gets a 10-star Inner Oni notechart (Yes, yes, yes! BRING THE PAIN!)
7.Both "Black Rock Shooter" and "My soul,your Beats!" are 8-star songs (8* for BRS? I expected 9)

No videos yet, but all should be made clear once the official release comes.

Taiko no Tatsujin 14 secret screenshot

Using the same 'View Page Source' trick as the previous blog entry, this secret screenshot was revealed on last week's Taiko Team blog. They cut out the name of the song (the title bar being completely back makes it so convenient for them to hide secrets), and shows a new impossible balloon note before another long stream of notes. Is this Taiko Time?