A list of difficult words and terms used in the world of Taiko no Tatsujin. If there's any difficult words you've encountered while reading our articles (particularly Song of the Week/Song Series), you'll probably find a brief and easy explanation here.
Beat- All music follow some sort of beat. Play your favorite song and tap your fingers to it. Each tap is a beat. It comes naturally!
Beat Stanza- While tapping your fingers to music, count to yourself 'one-two-three-four' then start over. Each set of four beats in this way is one beat stanza, the "basic building block" of every song. Some songs however, have 3 beats in a stanza instead of 4, like Yokuderu 2000.
Compound beat- A beat divided into three or six instead of four, but still makes sense rhythmically. Try tapping your fingers to a song again, but instead of four times, do three. That's a compound beat.
BPM- Beats per minute. The higher this number, the faster the song.
SongID-The filename given to each song in Taiko no Tatsujin for easy reference by Namco, much like you would name a song 'taiko.mp3' on the computer. Up to 6 digits/letters in length.
Note- The red and blue things you hit while playing Taiko (
) is referred here as a note.Scrolling Bar- The grey, horizontal bar on the center of the screen where notes appear. It can go slower or faster in several songs, according to their variations of BPM.
Note cluster- Multiple notes placed one-fourth of a beat or closer to each other is called a cluster.
1/12- Note clusters with notes placed a third of a beat to each other
1/16- Note clusters with notes placed a quarter of a beat to each other
1/32- Note clusters with notes placed one-sixth of a beat to each other
Note stream- A very long note cluster.
Note chart- The total patterns of notes in a song can be drawn out in one big picture, and the patterns are called a note chart.
Difficulty level- Refers to Kantan, Futsuu, Muzukashii and Oni, or easy, normal, hard and insane.
Difficulty star- The higher this number, the harder the song is to pass. Different for each of the four difficulty levels in Taiko. Presented as (number of stars)* in this blog, e.g. 8*.
Game modifier- x2, x3, x4 speed, invisible and so on. Something that changes the way notes are presented without changing the song, BPM, or number and position of notes.
Preview Point- A sample extract of a song that it can be heard before choosing a song in the Song Selection menu. May be different for each game.
Go-Go Time- A 'high-energy' portion of a song, usually the chorus or the ending part, in which notes and drumrolls give out more points than usual.
Taiko sound- Different sounds for the 'don' and 'kat' sound that is made each time a note is hit, for example, the Dog/Cat taiko sound changes the tapping sounds of the taiko to barking and meowing sounds, just for fun.
Dancer- Characters that dance on the lower half of the screen. Starts with one, if you do well, more will appear. Usually up to five dancers can be on-screen at one time, and they are an indicator of how close a player is to a Normal Clear.
Special dancer- Cameo characters from games and media other than Taiko no Tatsujin acting as dancers.
Normal Clear- Filling the spirit gauge past a certain point will allow you to clear the song, and is called a normal clear.
Kiai Clear- A Normal Clear with a full spirit gauge, other dancers will appear on the bottom left/right corners. The 魂 letter at the tip of the gauge will burst into flames, and Don-chan will glow gold. Considered a better achievement than simply getting a Normal Clear. Does not need an FC to achieve.
Full Combo- All notes hit, with no misses. Shortened to FC. Called 'Perfect Combo' in Taiko Drum Master.
Great- An accurate hit. 良 in Japanese.
Good- A less than accurate hit which gives half points. 可 in Japanese.
Full Great / Donder-Full Combo (DFC)- Hitting all notes with 良 in a song, with no misses or 可. Is a feat attainable only by the highest ranked players.
NN- Shortened form of 'No miss, no clear'. Is possible because of the fact that 可 fills the spirit gauge much slower. Getting very high numbers of 可 on a song without missing any beats and failing the song is called NN, and is an even more difficult feat than a DFC.
Arrange play- Hitting imaginary notes, or adding extra hits to places without notes for fun.
Non-stop arrange play- Adding imaginary notes to every single space between notes from the beginning to the end of a song. Only possible in certain songs.
Double play- The act of one player playing on both drums in the arcade by himself, with one hand for each drum. Used to practice coordination/stamina and to show off skills.
Forked paths- Normal, Advanced and Master notes. The better your performance, the higher the level you advance to.
Ura mode- An alternate version of a song's note chart or an alternate song with its own note chart, usually harder than 'regular' mode. Not limited to Oni difficulty.
God-tier song- Extremely difficult song, on the top of Taiko no Tatsujin's difficulty scale. Only reserved as descriptions of the game's hardest songs.
Seiyuu- Japanese for 'voice actor'
