Namco Original Showcase: Chata Songs

Chata (茶太) is a Japanese singer, born on November 21, 1979. Her career began in 1998, writing lyrics for songs on a Japanese forum. She later joined many doujin music circles and later went on to provide vocals for video games and anime, including the ending theme for anime series Potemayo. Hers is a name that will ring more than a few bells among fans of Japanese music mainly because of the immense popularity of Dango Daikazoku (だんご大家族, The Big Dumpling Family) and a similar remix called Chiisana Tenohira (小さなてのひら, Palm of a Tiny Hand), two ending songs from a visual novel game called Clannad. The songs brought out the most successful quality of her soft, whisper-like voice. Say the name 'Chata' to anyone, and chances are they will be thinking of either one first. Both songs are extremely sweet and relaxing.

'Sweet and relaxing' probably isn't the best term to use in her Taiko no Tatsujin songs, as Chata has proven herself to be a more diverse singer than one might initally think. All of them have so far been decently fast-paced Namco Original songs. You can still pick out the distinct soft quality of her voice, and she sounds as good as ever. The Chata series in Taiko is not just her, it's a triad of the same composer/lyricist, remixer and singer. Satou (佐藤; formerly 佐藤銀, Satou-gin) and mirawi (みらゐ) from luv-kraft are the composer and lyricist, bermei.inazawa from Studio Campanella remixes the song, and Chata sings the final product.

To avoid confusion, there is a Chiisana Tenohira in the Taiko tracklist (on Taiko 11 and 11 Asia), but it's a completely different song by Aqua Timez, and not the one sung by Chata.

Tenjiku 2000 lyrics

Composer/Vocal: LindaAI-CUE

Saitama 2000 remixes

The first member of the Nisen (2000) family has achieved a big popularity since its introduction to Taiko games. Several fans made tributes to this song with peculiar and funny remixes. I'll post here three of the most popular and funny:

Song of the Week! 26 March 2011

 

Let's move away from Namco Originals for a bit.

Random: What's behind Taiko 14?

You'll be surprised. (crap, the video preview gave away the hint ffff)

Taiko medley on piano

It's amazing, the things you can do when you're really inclined to music (unlike the majority of us who are tone-deaf and only know how to play Taiko :P). A piano medley of five different Namco Original songs. It's not hard to pick out if you know all five- stop listening so closely. The first 20 seconds are for testing the keys, then the following five are played out in sequence: Rumble Ranbu, Zeihen ~transformation~, Senpuu no Mai, Tenyou no Mai, Black Rose Apostle. 

He seems to give particular emphasis to Rumble Ranbu and BRA though- they're significantly longer than the other three. Most epic thing I've heard on piano in recent months.

Taiko songs on Mario Paint, part 2

Here is another selection of tunes rearranged with Mario Paint, brought us by jylee18 and kirpys. Some of their creations wink to Taiko 14's latest unlockables, too!

Song of the Week! 19 March 2011

 

My turn~! Today I'm picking a personal favorite of mine (actually, make that my most favorite Taiko song, period). Don't worry, it's a pretty popular song among fans as well.

Taiko no Tatsujin Portable unlock list

Oni difficulty - Get 8800 Don Points

Taiko Sounds
---------------------------------
Cash Register (レジ) - Get 500 Don Points
Fart (おなら) - Get 2200 Don Points
English (英語) - Get 5000 Don Points
Sukeban (スケバン) - Get 16000 Don Points
Burp (ゲップ) - Get 22000 Don Points
Super Fart (超おなら) - Get 30000 Don Points
Tower of Druaga (ドルアーガの塔) - Get 42000 Don Points
---------------------------------
Rap (ラップ) - Get 20 points in the minigame 'Wadaiko Night Fever'
Strong Man (力士) - Beat 5 or more opponents in the minigame 'Don Don Paper Sumo'
Race (レース) - Get 500 points in the minigame 'Mekadon Factory'

Songs
---------------------------------
Jupiter (木星)
-Get 1200 Don Points
Mappy Ondo (マッピー音頭)
-Get 3500 Don Points
Donko's First Date (どん子のファーストデート)
-Get 6800 Don Points
Yokuderu 2000 (よくでる2000)
-Get 12000 Don Points

Cheats
---------------------------------
Doron Mode - In a new profile, set Master (ますたぁ) as the profile name
99999 Don Points - In a new profile, set Taikono (たいこの) as the profile name, change it to Tatsujin (たつじん), then change it again to Portable (ぽたぶる), then play one song.

Back to Taiko PSP song list

Feature: Detecting Autoplay for Dummies

Now, how do I start...I remember when there was a time, right when Taiko DS 1 was released, that Taiko picked up a small second wave of popularity among non-Japanese players due to so many people owning a DS at the time and the fact that it was region-free. People started to discover Taiko once again, but at the same time, older videos of skilled Japanese players perfecting songs on Oni have also been vandalized by clueless newbies condemning the videos as using Autoplay to fool people. Most prevalent at the time were INSIGHT777's full combo videos of Kita Saitama 2000, Soroban 2000 and Kurenai.

It got so bad to the point that there were fights erupting over the issue, whether it was Autoplay or not (which it obviously isn't to anyone who's ever played a Taiko game before) or even whether Action Replay was used.

Namco Taiko Blog (14 March 2011) - 10th Anniversary Countdown delay

As Taiko fans might remember, the countdown for Taiko no Tatsujin's 10th anniversary on the Donder home page will end tomorrow, on March 17th. And it would have been a glorious celebration, but with the recent disasters in Japan, no one there is in any mood to celebrate.

Rotter Tarmination at 0.1 scroll speed

From the same maniac who made the 2600-note Kita Saitama custom notechart, this is an exact replica of Rotter Tarmination's Ura Oni difficulty. Except this time you can't see the notes properly. Not because they're invisible or scrolling too fast. This time, it's scrolling so slowly, we can barel see anything going on! This guy found a way to make the entire song scroll as close to zero speed as possible, making for one eye-gaping moment, even if it is just notes we've all seen before. I nearly fell out of my chair laughing, especially all the notes hidden behind the large ones!

And this isn't Autoplay for once, it's played by a human. You can tell by all the misses.

Kikyoku ～Seasons of Asia～ in Karateka Mania

Karateka Mania (カラテ家マニア) is one of the rhythmical challenges available on Rhythm Tengoku, a Nintendo rhythm game. The player, controlling karateka, must hit a sequence of flying objects with punchs, kicks and a good musical sense. The minigame became a PC freeware application in 2009, in order to let people create their musical patterns even for other songs! This one is the well known Kikyoku ～Seasons of Asia～.

Song of the Week! 12 March 2011

 

This week is special, as I've chosen to give it a space theme! Which two galactic songs have I chosen to feature today?

Namco Taiko Blog (10 March 2011) - Namco Original survey results

A month ago all of us (yep, me and all the Taiko Time staff included!) voted on Namco's official website in a survey. The subject was 'Which Namco Original would you like to see a second song of?' The results came out today.

Taikojiro - Custom Game Songs

Here's another demonstration of the creativity of Taikojiro players! I've picked this time a couple of original Game Songs:

Song of the Week! 5 March 2011

 

We're picking a lot of high difficulty songs for this section, aren't we? Let's switch things up a bit, and allow me to cover the easiest Anime song in Taiko!

Mulberry / Taiko Time Ura first videos

Mulberry is sung by Chata, who previously lent her voice to Yuujou Pop, a really sweet, upbeat Namco Original from Taiko 12.5. We can't really hear the music on this video, but I expect great things from it when the HQ videos start rolling in!

As for Taiko Time Ura, as expected by nearly everyone, uses the notes from the final Dojo challenge in Taiko Wii 3, including the confusing deathstream at the very end. It was easy on Wii due to the low BPM, but here? Probably not. No more strict Master Notes, which is good, and it's appropriately much harder. Taiko Time (the blog) now has an awesome and difficult song as its main theme!

No point in looking for Karui Zawameki, as no major changes were made to it from Taiko PSP2.

Taiko no Tatsujin 14 arcade code 6

Conditions: After Taiko no Tatsujin 14 code 5 has been used
Number of songs unlocked: 2

• Mulberry
• Karui Zawameki (軽いざわめき)

Ura difficulty unlocked: Taiko Time (タイコタイム)

Slot in your coins and stay at the Title screen. Hit the rims of the drums the listed number of times in this order.

    Player 1            Player 2
 Left     Right      Left     Right
                                        4
                           10    
               7
                                        3
               5
                                        4                                  
    4             
                           10
   1                       1

If the code is successfully inputted, a mochi will appear on the lower-right corner of the title screen:

 

 Back to Taiko Secrets page

Namco Taiko Blog (3 February 2011) - Taiko 14 6th code

 

Namco did again! As for the first Thursday of the month, Eto's Taiko Team has released another unlocking code for the latest Taiko arcade. Surprises are spicer this time, trust me!

Back from the past, the arcade's tracklist now includes Karui Zawameki, of of the theme songs of Taiko PSP 2. Together with this song, the Namco Original genre becomes larger with Mulberry, a brand new 7* tune. But this time, the Ura release concerns this blog's favourite! Taiko Time managed to achieve an alternative way to see a techno 10-starred song. And....and, it's exactly the same notes seen before on Taiko Wii 3's final dojo challenge. Fans were spot-on in their guess!

According to the blog, this 6th unlock code is also the final unlock code for Taiko 14, then goes on to tell us that Taiko 14 boasts the largest tracklist of any version ever made (as if the previous versions didn't feature an upward trend in song count :P ). Still, the more the merrier.

That makes Shimedore 2000 the only song in the rumor list not unlocked as of now. Where is it then? *suspense builds*

Link to original post

Taiko no Tatsujin: Doka! to Oomori Nanadaime unlock list

Oni difficulty - Get 8800 Don Points

Taiko Sounds
---------------------------------
Wasshoi (わっしょい) - Get 500 Don Points
Cymbal (シンバル) - Get 1200 Don Points
Cheer (かけ声) - Get 3500 Don Points
Beast (もうじゅう) - Get 5000 Don Points
Double Taiko (ダブル太鼓) - Get 12000 Don Points
Mahjong (マージャン) - Get 22000 Don Points
Ramen (ラーメン) - Get 30000 Don Points
Flying Mekadon (飛べメカドン) - Get 58000 Don Points
Gorgeous Taiko (豪華な太鼓) - Get 76500 Don Points

(incomplete info for minigame-related Taiko Sounds. Please contact me if you know!)

Songs
---------------------------------
Takkyu de Dakkyu (卓球de脱臼)
-Get 2200 Don Points
URBAN TRAIL
-Get 6800 Don Points
Gekkabijin (月下美人)
-Get 16000 Don Points
Soroban 2000 (十露盤２０００)
-Get 42000 Don Points
--------------------------------- 
Densetsu no Matsuri (伝説の祭り)
-Complete the Waku Waku Bouken Land story mode
Jingle Bells 765 Edition (ジングルベル第７６５曲)
-Get 27 presents from Santa in the minigame 'Santa Claus Comes to Town'

Cheats
---------------------------------
Doron Mode - In a new profile, set Master (ますたぁ) as the profile name
Double speed - In a new profile, set your player name to 'Baisoku' (ばいそく)
Triple speed - In a new profile, set your player name to 'Sanbai' (さんばい)
Quadruple speed - In a new profile, set your player name to 'Yonbai' (よんばい)
Reverse Mode - In a new profile, set your player name to 'Abekobe' (あべこべ)
Sudden Death - In a new profile, set your player name to 'Kanpeki' (かんぺき)
99999 Don Points - In a new profile, set 'Point' (ぽいんと) as the profile name, then change it to 'Max' (まっくす)

Back to Taiko PS2 7 song list