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.
It may be a bit too late since the remaining Taiko games after DS1 didn't capture the attention of the general gaming community, but I always wished I could teach those retards a lesson in thinking before they say something stupid. It's simple to spot them- the ones who say the video is Autoplay is the one who's never played a Taiko game before, no matter how much they try to deny it. If there is a third Taiko game that manages to get people chattering all over again, let's all link them to this simple guide to debunk the Autoplay myth once and for all.
There are five basic differences between a human play and Autoplay:
1. The player name on the side of the screen:
When an actual person is playing, his player name will be in a white square on the top-left corner of the screen like so:
There will be a group who will argue that the white box says 'Auto'. What's really laughable is that they'll say that even if the letters in the box are completely different in two different videos. You don't need to know a shred of Japanese to know this basic logic!
In Autoplay, the box will still be there and it will actually say 'Auto'
See that? That's how you spell Auto. 'オート'. If you play Taiko and don't know Japanese, at least learn to recognize this phrase here so you won't be confused in the future. オート. In newer games such as the ones on DS/Wii where the player name isn't displayed, you'll see this in the case of Autoplay.
Got that? Now onto the next one.
2. Perfect vs. non-perfect
This is another important mark to notice. Remember, there can be two types of hits, 良(great) and 可(good), which are denoted by yellow and white. Autoplay has perfect accuracy and will ALWAYS get a full great no matter how many times you repeat it, while the human player, no matter how good he is, will not be so robotic in their playthroughs. Even 1 可, ONE, will give away the fact that the video is not Autoplay at all.
A score of Autoplay (note the yellow arrows):
0 可. And a slight slip-up by a human player:
That white hit is something Autoplay will never get, and neither will any cheat device. This is the second condition. Of course, there will always be the godlike players who get full perfects when they play, which can sometimes be a point of argument. In that case, we move to the third difference.
3. Drumroll hits
A human player would hit a drumroll as many times as he can possibly achieve and do it frantically without any order. When Autoplay approaches a drumroll, it:
-only uses Don hits
-always gets the same number of hits for that drumroll
-does it following the BPM and rhythm of the song
Compare the two screenshots below of the exact same drumroll, taken near the end of Soroban 2000. The first is a human player:
And Autoplay, which disregards getting the highest score and just wants to do it robotically:
See the disparity between the two? And Autoplay will continue to hit 14 times even if you replay it a billion times, while human player hits can vary widely, or they can even choose not to hit it at all. Not to mention the sides of the drum used- see the drum on the player's side. Do you notice the blue area lighting up as well? He's using both Don and Kat notes to hit, while Autoplay sticks to just Don.
A few songs don't contain drumrolls, so you can't detect it in this way. Okay, the fourth difference.
4. Constant scoring
Because of Autoplay's rigidity in getting points and hitting drumrolls, the score it gets at the end of each song is and will always be the same for that game. A human player will always get a different score from Autoplay, which is another point of comparison. See the two shots below:
Autoplay's score above, human score below. Even a 10-point difference would break the myth.
And yet, there are people who full-perfect songs, and what's more, those songs don't have any drumrolls! (eg, Kurenai). In that case, we move to the final, most important difference between Taiko man and Taiko machine.
5. FRIGGIN MEKADON
Seriously, this is so obvious it hurts. Mekadon has been there as a substitute in Autoplay since Taiko PS2 3 and will continue to stay there until the end of Taiko no Tatsujin. If someone tries to suggest that Don-chan is playing as Autoplay in any game newer than PS2 3, you'll know, not only has the guy never played a Taiko game before, he obviously hasn't even seen more than half a video of a Taiko play before mouthing off. The stupid things people say...
And now you know the difference. Go clear the names of all the skilled Taiko players you know!
