Random: Looking for more Hawkness around the web

While the first video shows fan-made patterns for Metal Hawk BGM1 on Stepmania, the second one is the custom Taikojiro map for another background tune of Metal Hawk. SURVIVE OR DIE

Random: Hatara has connected to our world's internet.

And he's here on twitter to vent out all his frustrations. You can stalk him over @Hataraku_exe . Go! https://twitter.com/Hataraku_exe

TT 1st anniversary: Taiko Quiz questions

It's really been that fast? Taiko Time is a year old already? Yep, we started in July 31 last year and looks like we've covered most of the basic stuff needed to be a fully-fledged fansite...and none of this would have been possible if it weren't for the great support from all of you. Really, thanks to everyone who has come here to read the pages for information, or just to comment on the blogs or chat. It's because of all the fans here that we keep on working on the site!

You may notice a few changes made to the site's layout in time for the 1st anniversary, and I'll talk about these in a bit more detail later, but right now, let's play a game.

Taiko PSP DX costume list

This is a list of the costumes in Taiko no Tatsujin Portable DX. For how to unlock them, check out the unlock guide for the game!

Song of the Week! 30 July 2011

 

For the first anniversary of Taiko Time, we have a really hot pick for the song of the week! You've seen songs in this column with 765 total notes (Nam-Combo) before. This one is the hardest one of the lot!

Namco Taiko Blog (28 July 2011) - Taiko Team on Ustream

As revealed weeks ago, on Taiko PSP DX's release day, the Taiko Team is going to have a closer contact point with users via livestreaming. And this morning Eto has officially revealed the first Ustream live session with the Taiko Team!

Next Thursday, on August 4th, from 8 to 9 p.m. (Japanese time fuse), Eto will play the Medley mode twice, with 5 and 8 songs on Oni. During the play every user who watches the stream can say something to the Taiko Team as well.

The 5 songs of the first Medley session will be decided from the basic ones on PSP, via Twitter suggestions from Taiko Team's followers. But the 8-song medley will feature some of August's downloadable songs for PSP!

From these, Saitama 2000 is here together with some other songs planned for Taiko PSP DX's August downloadable songs, but what songs we are going to see? Will they be new?


Link to original article

Random: First actual good PSPDX story mode fanart

Hi guys, Zekira G. Drake here.

Just felt like posting this because it's pretty. Really pretty.

Pastel Dream lyrics

Lyrics, singer: Yoko Takamitsu (圭一岡部)
Composer: Keiichi Okabe (圭一岡部)

Taiko no Tatsujin tournament 2011 area challenge song revealed

The songs that will be used in the Area Challenge are:

Saitama 2000
No Way Back (regular)
Angel Dream (regular)
Tenyou no Mai
Black Rose Apostle (regular)
Doom Noiz

All songs are played on Oni difficulty and using Shinta Mode for scoring. This second round begins on August 20, 2011 and goes all the way to September 4. The challenge will take place in 22 locations across Japan and the top two from each participating arcade in the first round will be eligible to progress to this leg of the tournament.

LOVE Ikusa!! lyrics

Lyrics, composer: LV.4
Vocals: Miyu (みゆ)

Okashi Deka no Uta lyrics

Artist: YMCK

Notice: HQ videos wanted

To all our loyal Taiko fans and readers: if you spot a high-quality play video of any of these Taiko PSP DX songs on Youtube or anywhere that doesn't require a mandatory login to view videos (read: Nicovideo), or are able to make a HQ play video of these songs, please inform us either by commenting on this post, or sending us an email! We appreciate your help, and together we can make the page more comprehensive and complete!

Note: After a short test, videos on Nicovideo can be embedded on a page here and viewed without logging in, however the direct links still do not work.

Here is the list of videos currently missing high-quality recording:

Yoku Asobi Yoku Manabe Recorded by anongos and added
I Wish For You Recorded by anongos and added
Lion
Guts Guts!! (DL song)
Shounetsu Tairiku
Pavane for a Dead Princess
SMOKY THRILL
DokoDON Matsurhythm Recorded by anongos and added
Rinda wa Kyou mo Zekkouchou (Ura) Recorded by anongos and added
Canadea Recorded by anongos and added
Allnight de Indenai Recorded by anongos and added

Videos completely missing:

Mujihi na Ou Recorded by anongos and added
Magical Little Spaceship Recorded by anongos and added
Inu Hoeru! Recorded by anongos and added
Arigatou Recorded by anongos and added

Other old songs with broken video links that do not have replacements or have no HQ videos:

Violin Concerto in Re Minor
Bambini (Mojipittan) Added
Happy and Peace

If you can find recordings or record footage of these songs it would be very much appreciated. Thank you!

Hatsune Miku no Gekishou lyrics

Composer: cosMo@BousouP
Vocals: Hatsune Miku

For Japan's purification! Taiko PSP DX Boss Battles

Spoiler warning ahead.

There are 7 boss battles in Taiko PSP DX, which will be available as the player beats more and more dojos in all 47 provinces of Japan.

Don Point ranks

From Taiko PS2 4 to PS2 7 and the first two PSP Taiko games, a points system was implemented to unlock the various hidden songs and Taiko sounds in those games. The points are awarded for every minigame and song you clear. Difficulty and your own performance will determine how many points you get for it.

Each time a certain number of points is achieved, you gain one rank until you reach the highest one, and the number of points required to reach each rank is different fpr PS2 and PSP. The Don Point system has been terminated from Taiko DS1 onwards in favor of newer methods to unlock stuff.

The following are the ranks for each game and the number of points to get to them.

Taiko no Tatsujin: Atsumare! Matsuri da! Yondaime
Taiko no Tatsujin: Go! Go! Godaime
Taiko no Tatsujin: Tobikkiri! Anime Special
Taiko no Tatsujin: Wai Wai Happy! Rokudaime
Taiko no Tatsujin: Doka! to Oomori Nanadaime

0 points           へたっぴ ('hetappi' - Unskilled)
500 points       素人 ('shirouto' - Amateur)
1200 pints       初心者 ('shoshinsha' - Beginner)
2200 points     見習い ('minarai' - Apprentice)
3500 points     駆け出し ('kakedashi' - Novice)
5000 points     修行中 ('shugyouchuu' - In training)
6800 points     半人前 ('hanninmai' - Half a man)
8800 points     一人前 ('ichininmai' - Full man)
12000 points   腕きき ('udekiki' - Capable person)
16000 points   すご腕 ('sugoude' - Remarkable person)
22000 points   玄人 ('kurouto' - Expert)
30000 points   名人 ('meijin' - High expert)
42000 points   鉄人 ('tetsujin' - Strong expert)
58000 points   達人 ('tatsujin' - Master)
76500 points   大達人 ('dai-tatsujin' - Grandmaster)

Taiko no Tatsujin Portable
Taiko no Tatsujin Portable 2

0 points           初心者 ('shoshinsha' - Beginner)
500 points       見習い ('minarai' - Apprentice)
1200 points     駆け出し ('kakedashi' - Novice)
2200 points     修行中 ('shugyouchuu' - In training)
3500 points     半人前 ('hanninmai' - Half a man)
5000 points     一人前 ('ichininmai' - Full man)
6800 points     腕きき ('udekiki' - Capable person)
8800 points     すご腕 ('sugoude' - Remarkable person)
12000 points   玄人 ('kurouto' - Expert)
16000 points   名人 ('meijin' - High expert)
22000 points   鉄人 ('tetsujin' - Strong expert)
30000 points   達人 ('tatsujin' - Master)
42000 points   大達人 ('dai-tatsujin' - Grandmaster)

Back to Taiko secrets

Random: Soroban 2000's PSP Morse Codes, the full set

After the Oni mode's Morse messages, we finally have Soroban 2000's Normal Course on PSP for the other three game modes! Will those lines's message link the one on the Oni mode?

Song of the Week! 23 July 2011

 

Today, another user request! A Japanese version of a well-known classic. Think you know which song it is?

Ao no Senritsu lyrics

Composer: Aile
Vocals: Sariya (サリヤ人)

Taiko PSP DX achievements and rank

Taiko Portable DX gets rid of the old Don Point system in favor of a more modern way to unlock things, using an achievement list, much like the system on PS3 and Xbox 360 except without getting any points for it. Once an achievement is cleared, players will receive a letter in the mailbox, as is the case since Taiko DS1, with gifts like new Taiko sounds, game modifiers and new songs/Ura Oni difficulties. In other words, it's the existing unlockables arranged in a more organized way that the player knows what exactly to do to get to them. Below is the list of achievements:

New gameplay mods: Kimagure and Detarame

I realize I haven't been giving the two new mods introduced in Taiko PSP DX much attention since the launch of the game, so I'm going to do it now!

Kimagure (Whimsical) and Detarame (Random) are rather similar to each other, as both of them change random notes throughout the song into red or blue. It's actually quite hard to tell the difference because they do almost the same thing, but Detarame is like a more extreme version of Kimagure, with even more messed up notes. The positions of the notes do not change, like in Akekobe (Reverse).

Comparison videos for the two, using the same song: Hatsune Miku no Gekishou, since it's the only one with high-quality videos of the two mods and is also one of the nuttiest challenges due to THOSE STREAMS

(Kimagure is regular Oni, while Detarame is Ura. The notecharts are different, but the streams are almost the same so comparisons can be made there. They're almost the same anyway. If anyone knows the real difference between the two, that would be great!)

Kimagure


Detarame

Taiko no Tatsujin Portable DX first week sales

Media Create, year 2011, week 28 (July 11 to July 18)

01. / 00. [PS3] Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu 2011 (Konami) {2011-07-14} - 117.759 / NEW
02. / 00. [PSP] Taiko no Tatsujin Portable DX (Bandai Namco) {2011-07-14} - 80.215 / NEW
03. / 00. [WII] Inazuma Eleven Strikers (Level 5) {2011-07-16} - 74.227 / NEW
04. / 00. [PSP] Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu 2011 (Konami) {2011-07-14} - 73.247 / NEW
05. / 00. [NDS] Puyo Puyo!! 20th Anniversary (SEGA) {2011-07-14} - 34.903 / NEW
06. / 00. [3DS] Star Fox 64 3D (Nintendo) {2011-07-14} - 32.475 / NEW
07. / 00. [PSP] UnchainBlades ReXX (FuRyu) {2011-07-14} - 18.256 / NEW
08. / 07. [3DS] The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D (Nintendo) {2011-06-16} - 15.636 / 256.374 (+4%)
09. / 10. [WII] Wii Sports Resort with Remote Plus (Nintendo) {2009-06-25} - 14.725 / 402.799 (+14%)
10. / 06. [PSP] Danball Senki (Level 5) {2011-06-16} - 12.085 / 256.875 (-24%)

Launch week comparison:
Taiko PSP DX: 80215 (5 days)
Taiko Wii 3: 29328 (4 days)
Taiko DS 3: 70000 (3 days)
Taiko Wii 2: 28282 (3 days)
Taiko DS 2: 55950 (4 days)

Average daily sales on launch week:
Taiko PSP DX: 16043/day
Taiko Wii 3: 7332/day
Taiko DS 3: 23333/day
Taiko Wii 2: 9427/day
Taiko DS 2: 13988/day

The verdict? For some reason handheld Taikos still always outsell their console big brothers, every single time :P

Taiko PSP DX landed second on launch, and the sales numbers are very impressive for its first week! Now if only I had some hardware numbers so I could do more number crunching.

EDIT: Hardware numbers not significant- Nintendo 3DS outsold PSP 2:1 due to the new Flame Red color for the console being released.

The Niisens, final part

The final batch of 2000 series anthros, created by crystalsuicune! Note: Does not include Mata Saitama. Yet.

Namco Taiko Blog (21 July 2011): Ao no Senritsu

This week it's the introduction to both the song and the lyrics of Ao no Senritsu (蒼の旋律), the new 10* Oni Namco Original from Taiko no Tatsujin Portable DX which kind of resembles Senpuu no Mai in style, but has a different artist altogether. And yes, we know the vocalist is Sariya.

Namco Original Showcase: Rose Songs

Zeami, the alias used by Bemani composer Tatsuya Shimizu in his Taiko no Tatsujin works, sure gets around in Taiko, having done the no Mai series and made something entirely different immediately after. The Rose songs all have English titles and each rose is colored differently in each song. As revealed in a Taiko Blog interview with Zeami, the colors in the titles of each song refers to a different ethnic community, whose energy and attitude can be compared with the challenging tunes of the song.

The Rose series is currently the fastest growing Namco Original series in Taiko, with Black, White, Red and Blue all being made in the span of just one year over three different platforms, attributed to the immensely popular reception towards the first in the series. It is the same attention-grabbing formula as the no Mai series; make one epic, super difficult song, then follow up with everything else.

[SPOILERS]Omikoshi Story Mode Progress Entry

Hi guys, Zekira here. Just felt like posting this stuff over since the many thoughts of these pictures had me occupied the entire day. Major spoilers incoming, as this is way far into the storyline!

Pikaby asks: Your favorite new PSP DX Namco Original song?

Alright, it's time to ask everyone a question about the pile of new Namco Originals in Taiko PSP DX and how much everyone likes them! Give your input- even Taiko Time editors and contributors are welcome.

Song of the Week! 16 July 2011

 

Summer is in the air~! Alongside all the fresh new entries in the various song series, today I'm going to feature an old theme song. Let's see what it is...

Taiko PSP DX release poll + website updates

 

For all the happy owners of Taiko Portable Deluxe, the Bandai Namco games has opened an Internet survey in order to gather comments and suggestions for future games. To take part of this survey, it's enough to jump on this site and enter the access game provided in the game box, together with Pastel Dream's download card. Users's patience will be awarded with the background image shown above (with higher resolutions, of course!). The survey runs from now until September 19th, 2011.

The Taiko PSP website has also added a guide for the PSP online connection and an extender of the Ponta & Lawson promotional deadline: everyone who wants to download SMOKY THRILL and the promotional outfit of the Japanese supermarket franchise can do it until July 26th.

Random: Playing with the worst conditions possible

Hi guys, Zekira G. Drake here~

Decided to pull this out of my vids because it still makes me lol everytime I listen to it.

Taiko no Tatsujin Portable DX unboxing video

Taiko PSP DX Medley Mode and Omikoshi Battle mode

A post by Zekira, who recently got the game. This is more of a personal progress entry than anything else, though there's a lot of rare screenshots you'd be hard-pressed to find anywhere else!

Namco Taiko Blog (14 July 2011): Release day!

I don't even have to tell you what it's about, this blog post is meant to mark the release date of Taiko no Tatsujin Portable DX and little of anything else! Not that we need any more groundbreaking news after videos of the game were released since yesterday...Just enjoy the game and wait another week for details!

Oh, and the team will be hosting a Ustream featuring Etou and Inamasu, though there are no time or date details yet.

Link to original post

Random: Soroban 2000's morse messages, on PSP

Here we go again: the famous Nisen tune brings us another bit of morse message on  the latest Taiko game. But what it exactly means, this time?

Taiko no Tatsujin Portable DX unlock list

Taiko no Tatsujin Portable DX official update post

Like in Taiko Wii 3, this post will be updated automatically every time we learn something new about Taiko PSP DX from now until after release, as it seems players are finally starting to get their copies. Strange that Glaroid Room is out of action for this launch though. Spoiler alert, so click Read More to read the updates.

Now at 49 updates and counting. This post will be the first post until all details are known. For the latest blog entry, see the second post after this.

More PSP leaks + first videos

The 2 videos shown above offer the original patterns for Wanya World's Muzukashii difficulty and one of Hatsune Miku no Gekishou's Oni charts. But while the second song is played on Taikojiro, the PC simulator, the first one is played on a genuine PSP game.

But there are more spoilers ahead, about some of the new songs. Click 'Read more'!

A Taiko PSP snapshot

While the gaming website Glariod Room still lays in silence, someone around the web is starting taking snapshots of the game screens. From this one, taken from wikihouse, some extra infos are brought to us:

1) The Ura mode of Hatsune Miku no Gekishou exists, and has 10 stars on Oni mode. Also the closer Ao no Senritsu has 10 stars on Oni, and 7 on Muzukashii.

2) Judging from the upper lines, the overall song count has 72 songs. It's good to remember that also the Ura modes fit into this count (shown above by Gekishou), so we don't know exactly how many hidden goodies lie around the 3rd PSP game yet

3) It looks like that some of the songs listed in the official PSP DX website aren't available from the beginning of the game and must be unlocked. On the right, Akuukan Yuuei ac12.5 shows the "New" icon used for unlocked songs, like Gekishou Ura

New Taiko arcade build!

Thought Taiko 14 Plus was the end of it? No, Namco has something even bigger in mind, to bring the current antiquated arcade build up to modern standards and hopefully make it relevant for a lot longer than the ones we currently have!

Taiko PSP DX preview gameplay videos

Pastel Dream, from Futsuu to Muzukashii to Oni. All snippets from the same part of the song, which is probably towards the last chorus (based on the combo number on Oni). You can hear the Engrish pretty clearly too. Oni looks like a 9*, which is standard. If I'm hearing it correctly the Engrish this time is:

'I can be you happiness, Angel give me pastel dream'

What. The. Hell.



Wanya World, Futsuu to Muzukashii to Oni, again, same snippet from each difficulty, with the Oni one slightly longer. There's a human voice (Asami) alongside the two Vocaloids, actually, so Wanya World is sung by a trio. Nothing too intense, looks like 8* to me.

Song of the Week! 9 July 2011

 

Today's song has gained a place in the preliminary stages of the ongoing Taiko tournament, and it's also one of our most popular requests from our readers. Can you guess it?

How to unlock Ura Oni: Console

To view full description of what Ura mode is, go to the main article.

Taiko no Tatsujin Portable DX- Song by song unlock using Taiko counter
-------
Taiko no Tatsujin Wii: Dodon! to Nidaime- Get 99999 hits on the drum counter
Taiko no Tatsujin Wii: Minna de Party Sandaime- Get 99999 hits on the drum counter
Taiko no Tatsujin Wii: Ketteiban- Get 99999 hits on the drum counter

Back to Taiko Secrets page

Taiko 14+ multiple song HQ play

So close, yet so far away...we've yet to see individual videos for the four songs, but this combines it all into one for easy viewing at least, though still not the kind of thing that can go into the song list in the site. Maybe tomorrow.

First song: Mata Saitama 2000
Second song: Black Rose Apostle
Third song: Doom Noiz
Fourth song: LOVE Ikusa!!

Mata Saitama 2000 first HD video

Aw, too bad it's on Futsuu and not Oni, well, it will come soon enough. At least this time we get to hear the song clearly. A lot of borrowed sound effects from Saitama too, it's not just the notes.

Wait, what? x6 speed-ups on a Futsuu difficulty?

Found by LivingJelly. Thanks!

Random: How Taiko 14's upgrade works

 

A Youtube user has posted the boot-up sequence of an updated Taiko 14 machine, in which we can find a new opening movie and the rest of the usual arcade screens when not in play. Remember, it's not a brand-new cabinet!

It's interesting, the 5 songs and the update are installed through... a USB port. It takes the same amount of time for the arcade itself to boot up! There's also a rare glimpse into the inner workings and menus of the arcade where stuff like number of coins, songs and input/output testing of the drums are. If you've seen these menus before (caught the technician coming in at the same time), that's because they've looked exactly the same since Taiko 7!

Note: 0:18 to 1:44 is just a black screen, probably waiting for the machine to configure itself after the update.

Twitter Snippets (July 7, 2011): Taiko Team tries to play Mata Saitama 2000

Bam. I have a feeling they're faking being terrible at playing though.

Taiko 14+ LOVE Ikusa!! first video

Wow. 9 stars on Oni. This is unexpected...anyway, Taiko 14 beat PSP DX to the punch by including this song first. It's a squeaky girl song that could probably pass off as a Precure 5 opening theme, though with the current audio quality it's still quite hard to tell. Lot of nasty streams in this one, but they're intuitive so that's okay. 666 on Oni, that's a nice number. Like Koibumi on Muzukashii!

First video of Mata Saitama 2000

 

With various patterns from Saitama and Kita Saitama, Mata Saitama is aggressive with a high BPM and lots and lots of notes. The hardest parts are arguably the borrowed notes, with the rest made up of simple streams except at the crazy end part. It's not as hard as it might seem, but at least it's a brand new song and not just Saitama in reverse!

BPM is confirmed by Wikihouse to be 245, which is insanely high. Kita Saitama notes (albeit the simpler ones) at that speed, and Saitama's clusters at a speed even higher than Haya Saitama....

Taiko 14 Plus - The fresh new remake is coming!

Exciting times ahead for Taiko 14! The Japanese website The 3rd Planet, a very good source for coin-op games, has announced that Taiko 14 machines across the country will be updated today with the 5 new songs. Some Youtube users have already posted videos for the latest songs!

Also, Black Rose Apostle will appear on the arcade together with its Ura mode, LOVE Ikusa!! has 666 notes on Oni (9 stars), while Mata Saitama 2000 is, of course, 10* with 835 notes. We're talking about the 2000 series here! Doom Noiz and Uchuu Samurai are, well, just like Taiko Wii 3 with no further changes made.

Namco Taiko Blog (7 July 2011): Some random updates

Lot of regular chat this week, with added comments on the Taiko Memories poll by Masubuchi Yuuji and Angel Dream series creator Keiichi Okabe.

Also, a second Taiko-themed town is coming to Banafest, called the Wada-Don Home. It will be open on July 12th and the interior looks really authentic.

Lots of the side characters are all here, and look there! Taiko PSP DX poster!

Then a mention about the download milestone for Taiko iPhone, which exceeded 2 million downloads a few weeks back. Nothing else much, really.

On the bright side though, it's only a week before Taiko PSP DX comes out, so, have fun!


Link to original post

Taiko PSP DX's last website update

 

As for today, the official website of the incoming PSP game is fully revealed! As for today, the last two sections complete the site's interface, with a section about Medley Mode and the TV commercials/gameplay videos already shown on Taiko Time...

...and so nothing really new, in a nutshell. Where's the Download section?

Dajare de Oshare lyrics

Composer: Yoshito Yano (矢野義人)
Vocals: Takayoshi Tanimoto (谷本貴義)

Taiko PSP DX commercial

Okay, everything seems normal here. But! That one second in the clip (around :10 to :11) where it shows the titles of downloadable songs. See one that isn't supposed to be announced? Yep, Saitama 2000, and very clearly shown too! Wonder what month it's going to be distributed.

Taiko PSP DX rumors

The World Hobby Fair is on and Taiko PSP DX is invited...players who have been there have had an early chance to test the game! The rumors I'm going to post today are coming from the Japanese imageboard 2ch, where one of its members has already seen a copy of the game at the World Hobby Fair, and had a chance to play it early. Screenshots are prohibited at the event, so there are none.

Even if they're still unconfirmed, remember that all these are spoilers. If you don't mind ruining the surprise for yourself before launch day, click Read More!

Song of the Week! 2 July 2011

 

It's me again, sorry for being slightly late! Today's feature are two songs which have organized grand introductions into the Taiko world. One of these is a user request too.

Haikei, Gakkou ni te... lyrics

Full version

Artist: Asuka Kasama (風間飛鳥) (cv. Ryoko Shiraishi (白石涼子))
Composer: Go Shiina (椎名豪)

Note: Lines in green are in full version only.

Dodododo-Donderful! lyrics

Artist, lyrics: Misumi Yuri (みすみゆり)
Vocal: Kazuyuki Oda (小田一行)