This time I'm going to talk abut two Game Songs! The first one is suggested by kookono:
IN THE ZONE Ace Combat X2 Joint Assault | Version |  |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taiko PSP 2 | x5 (161) | x6 (222) | x8 (493) | x10 (765) |
| Taiko 14, Taiko Wii 3 | x5 (161) | x7 (222) | x8 (493) | x10 (765) |
| Taiko 0 | x4 (161) | x6 (222) | x8 (493) | x9 (765) |
Taiko 14, Taiko 0, Taiko PSP 2, Taiko Wii 3
170~177
none
acex2First appeared as one of the new PSP2 downloadable songs, one month before Taiko 14 came out. IN THE ZONE is a rock song composed by Go Shiina (椎名毅) and sung by Jonathan Underdown, with the lyrics written by Ben Franklin. Singer aside, the other two people involved in the making of this song also had a hand in No Way Back, the other English Game Music song released at around the same period of time.
Together with the special download pack, the game which IN THE ZONE came from, Ace Combat X2: Joint Assault, the combat-flight PSP game, was released a week later. In the game, the player assumes the role of a pilot freshly hired by a private military company called Martinez Security. After a global financial crisis, an unknown group of bandits called the Valahia start to cause havoc around the world, together with the Varcolac Squadron, an ex-ally force previously known as Rigel Squadron. In order to restore peace, Martinez Security joins the International Union Peacekeeping Force (IUPF). This is also the first plot of an Ace Combat videogame which is set into the real world.
The shortened Taiko version of IN THE ZONE offers a dense notechart with lots of 3-5 note clusters; its Oni also involves many difficult streams, with one particularly annoying 1/16-1/24 mixed stream towards the end of the first Go-Go Time that will stop many players dead in their tracks while in pursuit of the FC (the note density of the 1/24 is noted to be higher than that of Soroban 2000). The beginning of both the Go-Go Time sections have similarities to Kurenai's notechart. The song was downgraded to a 9* Oni on the new arcade, removing yet another 10* song from the long list.
Like a few other songs (eg Kimi ni Touch) there is a title wording discrepancy between the versions IN THE ZONE appeared in. On PSP2 and Taiko 14 (with an additional "X2" on Taiko 14), the title of the game 'Ace Combat X2 Joint Assault' is shown in English, however in Taiko Wii 3 the romanized katakana version of the title is used instead.
The 14th arcade game introduced even more game songs! The second one comes from the latest unlock code.
KARMA (Tatsujin Mix) Tekken 6- Bloodline Rebellion| Version | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taiko 14, Taiko PSP DX | x5 (157) | x7 (245) | x8 (472) | x10 (876) |
| Taiko Wii 5 | x5 (157) | x6 (245) | x8 (472) | x9 (876) |
Taiko 14, Taiko PSP DX, Taiko Wii 5 145 none teken6Don't be confused- this KARMA has nothing to do with the other song named Karma in the J-Pop genre. That one's the theme song for Tales of the Abyss, this one is the remix of a stage song for Tekken 6, Electric Fountain, both of which are published by Namco of course, but this Karma is a lot harder. It is composed by the same person in charge of The Carnivorous Carnival and all songs in the Muscle March series, Tohyama Akitaka (遠山明孝).
KARMA (Tatsujin Mix) was revealed first as Taiko 14's secret song (and was pretty low-profile on the rumor mill due to the title) and fans immediately jumped onto it just like any other 10* Oni song. The game involved here is Tekken 6, one more sequel in the long line of Namco's successful fighting game series. The subtitle 'Bloodline Rebellion' was added to Tekken 6 one year after its initial release, with updated graphics and better technical frippery. The story involves Jin Kazama declaring war on Earth after taking control of the Mishima Zaibatsu, turning the world into a chaotic place. His father, Kazuya Mishima, tries to stop him by taking over the G Corporation and offering a bounty on Jin's head. Jin organizes the 6th King of Iron Fist tournament to oppose Kazuya.
This 10* Oni sounds great with a techno vibe to it, though the notes aren't anything that will make expert players work up too much of a sweat. Unlike IN THE ZONE, Karma doesn't have a definite 'combo-breaker' stream and all the notes can be hit pretty easily, save for the 1/24 red note chains at the end of the song. It has no drumrolls and the scoring for this song is such that getting exactly 4 white hits after 100 combo and outside of Go-Go Time will net you exactly 1,200,000 points. This amazing feat is shown in the above video too.
