A double pick, to start May off with a bang! Let me humbly introduce one of the greatest songs in Taiko history.
KAGEKIYO ～Genpei Toma Den Medley～ (～源平討魔伝メドレー～)| Version |  |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taiko 5, Taiko PS2 3 | x6 (412) | x7 (765) | x10 (765) | |
| Taiko 6 | x6 (412) | x6 (616) | x10 (765) | |
| TDM | x4 (244) | x6 (412) | x7 (616) | x10 (765) |
| Taiko 7, 8, Taiko PSP 1, 2 | x4 (244) | x6 (412) | x6 (616) | x9 (765) |
| Taiko 9 | x5 (244) | x6 (412) | x6 (616) | x9 (765) |
| Taiko DS 1 | x5 (165) | x6 (245) | x8 (616) | x9 (765) |
| Taiko 10 | x4 (165) | x5 (245) | x6 (616) | x9 (765) |
| Taiko 11 to 14, Taiko Wii 4 Taiko iOS | x4 (165) | x5 (245) | x7 (616) | x9 (765) |
| Taiko 0 | x4 (165) | x5 (245) | x7 (616) | x8 (765) |
Taiko 5 to 14, Taiko 0, Medal 1, 2, Taiko
PS2 3, Taiko Drum Master, Taiko PSP 1, 2, Taiko Wii 4, Taiko Wii U3, Taiko DS 1,
Taiko +, CD 2008
130
Rock -> Game Music -> Namco Original -> Game Music -> Namco Original -> Game Music
genpeKAGEKIYO, composed by Masubuchi Yuuji, is the most repeated Game Music song in the entire list, being used on a whopping 11 arcade versions and 6 console games. The song has overseen nearly every aspect of the development of the game, from its old genre Rock, and fluctuating between Namco Original and Game Music during the tumultuous Taiko 7 to 9 generation, before settling in Game Music after Taiko 10, when most of the Namco-made game musics were no longer relegated to Namco Original.
The song's subtitle (～源平討魔伝メドレー～, or 'Genpei Toma Den Medley'), reveals that KAGEKIYO is actually a game music medley of a 1986 videogame, Genpei Toma Den (literally, "The Genji and Heike Shooting Demon Tale"), an action coin-op released only in Japan and running on the Namco System 86 hardware. In the game, players have to defeat enemies while scrolling along a Yamato painting landscape.The arcade itself was never seen outside of Japan, however it was released in America and Europe in 1997 as an included game in Namco Museum Volume 4, with the name "The Genji and the Heike Clans". This also explains KAGEKIYO's change of name for Taiko Drum Master.
So, why not directly call the song "Genpei Tōma Den Medley", instead of KAGEKIYO? The name comes from the main character of the videogame, Taira no Kagekiyo (平 景清), who was actually a REAL samurai of the Heian dynasty. Coming from the Taiya clan, he fought in the Genpei War (1180-1185) against the Minamoto clan. After the failed attempt to assassinate the leader of the Minamoto clan, Minamoto no Yoritomo (源 頼朝), he was captured in the battle of Dan-no-ura and died in 1185. These historical facts are reflected in the game; as a matter of fact, Genpei Toma Den's plot tells about Taira no Kagekiyo's resurrection and his rematch against the highest representatives of the Minamoto clan.
It's also known that KAGEKIYO is the first Taiko song to introduce word play with the number of notes: the trend of '765-songs' (which means 'Namco' if read in Japanese) started with this when KAGEKIYO first came out on Taiko PS2 3 on Donderful difficulty. Its middling BPM is complemented by a densely packed chart with lots of 3, 4 and 7 note clusters, which are very distinctive and follow the rock guitar melody to a T. Its most famous pattern, the one on each of the three Go-Go Times of the song, are featured in a few other songs like Taberuna 2000, and also inspired the musical creation of several songs, even if not originally planned for Taiko (Samurai Rocket, from Ridge Racer V).
KAGEKIYO ～Genpei Toma Den Medley～ (～源平討魔伝メドレー～)| Version | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All arcade, Taiko Wii U 3 | x10 (999/998/997) | |||
| Taiko Wii 4 | x4 (290) | x5 (471) | x7 (756) | x10 (999/998/997) |
| TDM (2P) | x6 (355/348) | x9 (527/518) (video) | ||
| Taiko 11 to 13 Taiko Wii 4 (2P) | x9 (527/518) (video) | |||
| Taiko 14, 0, Taiko Wii U 3 (2P) | x10 (527/518) (video) |
Taiko 14, 0, Taiko Wii 4, Taiko Wii U 3, Taiko + 125.86~133.37 none exgenpAdvanced Route
Normal Route
Taiko 14 introduced a much-needed upgrade to this classic song together with Ridge Racer. Now it has more notes, longer streams and some nasty 1/24 note clusters which have little to no resemblance to the characteristic notes of the original and are much harder to master (if you look carefully, the 1/24 bits involve handswitching too). KAGEKIYO's Ura Oni is also a forked-path song, although it isn't anything significant, occurring in the very final stanza with the final three notes, and all three paths are just one note apart. The trick to get to the higher paths in this chart is by getting accurate hits on the large notes, and there are 7 of them. Less than 2 良 and you go to the Normal route, 3~6 to Advanced, and all 7 to Master. Guess who made this insane chart? Etou, of course!
In terms of 2P however, KAGEKIYO has already had a Ura before this. KAGEKIYO has had a 2 player exclusive notechart first seen in the PS2 game Taiko Drum Master, and has been used in Ura mode for 2 players, like Soul Calibur II before it, since Taiko 11. It's possible to play the 2P charts in Taiko 14, although why this old 2P chart is still 10* on Oni is anyone's guess.
Also for some reason the BPM on both 1P and 2P Ura Oni fluctuates a little around 133 although the music is completely identical to regular Oni. Whether this is due to inaccurate measuring of BPM on regular Oni way before this, no one knows for sure yet. The 1P version of this Ura Oni has two Go-Go Time bugs: the 1st one ends a stanza later than it is supposed to last, while on the other hand the 3rd Go-Go Time section starts a stanza later than usual.
KAGYUKIYO| Version | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | x5 (149) | x6 (193) | x8 (369) | x8 (412) |
Taiko DS 3 65~130 none ds3bs1A Taiko DS3 exclusive, KAGYUKIYO immediately reminded players of KAGEKIYO and everyone expected either an alternate version or remix or something of it. Well, it is, but it's something no one expected. Kita Saitama 200 started the slowdown phenomenon, and KAGYUKIYO takes it one step further, cutting the BPM by a complete half, making for the slowest song in Taiko history! Even the Japanese pun inside the name tells everything: in Japanese, Kagyu (蝸牛) means 'snail'.
The title is also linked with Ushi-Oni, the cow demon fought in DS3's RPG story mode who uses this song; the word Gyuuki (牛鬼) means 'cow demon', and KAGYUKIYO's SongID is ds3bs1, which makes this Taiko DS3's boss song, and will not be easily ported over to other Taiko games. Why it is called the first boss song in its ID is unknown, as there is one other DS3 boss song before it- Bubbly Queen (the rest are existing songs and series with their own IDs)
If we were to slow down the entire length of KAGEKIYO for this, the song would last more than 4 and a half minutes long, which simply is not feasible on the tiny DS cartridge since it's a large music file, and also playing such a slow song for that long a period would probably put many players to sleep. Instead, the entire second half of KAGEKIYO was cut off, and this version ends in the middle. There are sped up notes which would be considered 1/32 notes of the song's BPM, and KAGYUKIYO has a lot of room to play with note scrolling speed given its BPM.
