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.
Yumeiro Coaster (夢色コースター)| Version |  |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taiko 13 to 14, Taiko Wii 3 | x4 (154) | x4 (220) | x7 (567) | x9 (728) |
| Taiko 0 M, Taiko Wii U2 | x4 (154) | x4 (220) | x7 (567) | x8 (728) |
Taiko 13, 14, Taiko 0 M, Taiko Wii 3, Taiko Wii U2, CD Donderful
130.7~160
none
ikshimYumeiro Coaster is one of the few genuine surprises in Taiko 13, given how few unlock codes there are on that machine. While two of its crucial, new stablemates were being torn apart and unlocked months before they were supposed to (Zeihen~transformation~ and mint tears), it remained hidden behind the curtain because Namco did not assign any special secret method to get the song early, unlike those two. These unlock methods, though only doable by only the craziest of professional players, made their way to the Internet regardless, and when something goes there, it stays. All Taiko fans with Internet access knew of both songs long before they were supposed to. Not with Yumeiro Coaster.
And when it was finally seen, it was one of the most glorious revealings of a Namco Original song to date. With the official secret code for Yumeiro still under wraps, the song made itself known to the world on the stage in the grand finals of the first Taiko no Tatsujin tournament in 2010. You can tell all four finalists were taken aback as it was definitely not a song they had practiced before, and they had the chance to play the song firsthand. Guess being the best of the best has its privileges. The simple obvious reason for doing this is to get the finalists to show their true ability impromptu, and not for things they would have rehearsed very well and probably months in advance.
The song is not sung by any of the staple Namco vocalists, but a more well known Japanese singer called Haruka Shimotsuki (霜月はるか) who provides vocals for various anime series and also composes music. Her official website is called Maple Leaf, and many have come to associate that name with her. She even has her own solo live concert shows.
On first impression, it's easy to mistake Yumeiro Coaster for a song on the Angel Dream series- it is after all an upbeat song with cute lyrics, like Angel Dream, has repetitive 3-1-1 note clusters, like Angel Dream, and a higher than average BPM, like Angel Dream. The difference can be told apart simply because songs in the Angel Dream series follow an extremely strict pattern that makes them distinct from other similar songs, like the '765 note rule' for all Oni difficulties, which Yumeiro does not have. Its difficulty matches that of Angel Dream (yet again) with some slightly challenging streams. It's a great song and was truly worth hiding until the right chance presented itself.
Oretachi CoroCoro Age (俺たちコロコロAge)| Version | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | x4 (124) | x5 (230) | x5 (332) | x5 (456) |
| All (2P) | x4 (124/124) | x5 (230/230) | x5 (332) | x5 (456) |
Taiko Wii 1 200 none coroApparently CoroCoro Magazine's theme song which can be heard in approximately...zero places on the net. It is extremely difficult to track down the history of this song other than the simple fact stated above, and the only place you can actually hear it outside of Taiko Wii 1 are random Japanese television ads for CoroCoro. No artist or band has been named for its creation, and no backstory either. This is one unknown song.
For all intents and purposes though, it was used as a front to promote the first ever Taiko no Tatsujin Wii game. If anyone still remembers, Taiko Wii 1 was at the Tokyo Game Show 2008 and the provisional starting songlist was demoed to the public and the media to try out the brand new Wii Tatacon controller, and Oretachi CoroCoro Age was one of them. To add to the fun atmosphere, a band actually performed this song live on stage at the gaming convention in question too. If that isn't some epic advertising, both for the magazine, for Namco and for the game, I don't know what is.
And it goes without mention, Wii 1 is the only place where you can play this fast-paced easy song. As a high BPM 5* Oni song, it's faster than Linda Linda and has more big notes than it, which makes up for the lack of challenge via 1/16 note clusters which Linda had in droves. It is actually possible to score very highly, as high as 900,000 points, a rarity for such a low difficulty song, because of the big notes, a large majority of which are in Go-Go Time. The high BPM is a missed opportunity though, at 200, you could do a lot of crazy stuff with it and easily bump the song all the way up to 10*. Its song ID is coro, and there actually is a coro2 lying around (the YMCK song Okashi Deka no Uta, which had its lyrics made from user submissions to CoroCoro Magazine)
Not to mention the song is pretty cool by itself too, a positive, rocking song with CoroCoro Magazine's slogan plastered all over the lyrics, and the mascot of the comic strip, the black CoroCoro Dragon, making a cameo up on the top half of the screen each time you hit a note correctly. The title's final word 'Age' is an English word, and not pronounced in Japanese as 'AH-ge'. It's a reference to how old CoroCoro is, about 30 plus years in the running and still going strong, making people laugh with super energy and force all the way. Subtle, but secretly awesome.
