Hi there, folks! It's an almost creepy coincidence that this year's Christmas Day happened to be on a Saturday (we didn't make this column with holidays in mind), so let's go with a Christmas Taiko song!
Jingle Bells 765 Edition (ジングルベル第765番)
| Version |  |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | x2 (94) | x3 (103) | x4 (201) | x8 (417) |
Taiko 0 K, W, R (promo only), Taiko PS2 7, Taiko Wii 4, Taiko 3DS 2, CD Donderful
140
Children/Folk -> Variety -> Namco Original -> Variety
santaTaiko PS2 Nanadaime was released in December and was the Taiko game with the most winter/holiday themes. Even the opening movie was based around Christmas, or at least, part of it. That contributed to the exclusivity of this song to that version, only to be revived once more for another console, Taiko Wii 4, in the Variety genre instead. Not to be confused with the other Jingle Bells song in Children/Folk, this is a rejigged version of the melody, composed by Masubuchi Yuuji, also heard in the minigame "Santa Claus is coming tonight" (サンタが町にやってきた) on PS2 7.
It takes inspiration from the carol Jingle Bells, written by James Lord Pierpont in 1850. This famous song, originally copyrighted with the title "The One Horse Open Sleigh" in 1857, was actually for the Thanksgiving celebration; due to its high popularity in American festivities and the close proximity between Thanksgiving and Christmas Day, Jingle Bells was mistakenly branded as a Christmas carol. The copyright status passed into public domain in 1859, meaning anyone can use the song and lyrics in whatever form they want, or make their own version of Jingle Bells without having to pay royalties to the creator.
The 765 remix of Jingle Bells is a combination of the famous carol together with the background music of XEVIOUS, and is one of the toughest songs in the Children/Folk genre, above the level of Alphabet Song and Amazing Grace. It is also the only song in this genre that is unlockable, as the remix is Namco's property, and so, many years later, the song gets moved once again, this time to the Namco Original genre on the 3DS as a downloadable song. However, immediately after that was announced, Jingle Bells 765 Edition is introduced to Taiko no Tatsujin Kimidori as a limited-time song...in the Variety genre. So, where should it be? As it is, the song is still stuck in a limbo between the two genres, like everything else remaining in the Children/Folk genre. However, the fact remains that its limited run on Taiko Kimidori is the first ever time the song is playable on the arcade, 8 whole years after its first appearance. since then the iconic jingle rears its head up once that Christmas times are approaching for the ongoing arcade line in general for more limited availability.
This song is a short and sharp challenge with lots of streams requiring much skill to perform well on, with some handswitch thrown in too, and the 1/4 clusters are not to be taken lightly. Even after the new difficulty standard it maintains an 8* rating on Oni.
Merry Christmas from the Taiko Time staff!
