Is the new story mode in Taiko no Tatsujin Portable DX confusing you? Don't know what to do other than play normally in battle? Don't know what all those numbers mean for you? Don't know how the support powers work? Worry not, here's a simple picture guide to sort it all out!
Screenshots and world map supplied by kathy, anongos and Zekira. Thanks!
First of all, as you select the Omikoshi Battle mode for the first time, you're thrown into the world map and are asked to select one of the 47 prefectures of Japan to begin. Each prefecture has its own dojo and its own song to challenge. You can choose whichever takes your fancy, from Hokkaido in the north to Okinawa in the south. Then you have to select a difficulty, of which there are three, Ama-kuchi (甘口), Chuu-kara (中辛), and Kara-kuchi (辛口), the latter being the hardest.
The tutorial battle is played in Kantan no matter which mode you choose, so don't worry too much about it. Then, Ama-kuchi is played in Kantan, Chuu-kara in Futsuu, and Kara-kuchi in Muzukashii. After 25 prefectures conquered, the difficulty is raised one level for each mode chosen (Ama-kuchi = Futsuu, Chuu-kara = Muzukashii, Kara-kuchi = Oni). All boss battles are played on the higher difficulty.
After the tutorial battle, you will loop in this way.
I will explain them step by step to avoid confusion.
When you begin the next day, you are shown a number, which will be something like 102/105. The first number represents the number of disciples you have on hand, and the second number represents your total number of disciples. The remaining 3 have been knocked out in a previous battle and have to be revived. As you begin each new day, you will recover a few units at a time.
Two things will happen as you enter your dojo. Either you proceed as normal, or an unconquered dojo will walk up to you and challenge you directly. I will explain the challenge shortly, first off is navigating your dojo. There are four areas in your dojo.
This is the main room. Pressing Circle here will take you to the world map. More on that soon.
The second room, where you can choose partners. Initially you can choose just one, but it will increase up to three as you progress.
The third room, where you can change the difficulty if things get tough or you want an extra challenge. The number shown is the maximum number of disciples that can carry the shrine at any one time, which is basically your power level. The initial power level is 25, and will increase to 50, 75 and 100 as you progress. More on that when I explain the shrine battles.
The 4th room, where you can participate in Wadaiko Enbu sessions and view your dojo stats. At any room you can press Start to bring up a screen where you can view cutscenes that you've seen before.
Now would be a good time for me to explain the stats on that screen. the two numbers separated by the backslash I've mentioned before, it's your current number of disciples and your total number of disciples (like current HP / total HP, and the deficit is the damage you've sustained). The last number is the limit to the number of disciples you can recruit in the dojo. As you progress through the story mode and conquer more dojos, this limit will go up until it tops out at 300. It is recommended that you come here regularly to recover units and increase your disciples to the current limit, as this will help you greatly in battles.
Now, for the Wadaiko Enbu.
It's basically the same things you've been doing on Taiko Wii 1, 2 and 3, where you can practice rhythm and meet certain conditions, like getting a certain amount of accuracy or achieving a certain score. What this will do for you is recover many more knocked out units if you have any, and recruit new ones as well! (you can't spam this however, the number of disciples you can get is controlled by the current limit). If you succeed, you recover many disciples and recruit 5 new ones. If you fail, you don't recover, but you gain 2 new disciples for your efforts.
The other way to gain new disciples is when an unconquered dojo comes to challenge you directly (see chart). If you win, you gain lots of new disciples. Beware, however- this is the only way in which you can lose disciples in addition to having some knocked out. If you lose the battle, you lose a few disciples, but you lose even more if you reject the challenge. So the best way is to just battle them. You will not be able to conquer their prefecture in this way.
For either Wadaiko Enbu and the dojo challenge, no matter whether you win or lose, after it is over you start a new day.
And, now to the world map! (click to enlarge)
Each prefecture has its own song. I'll list them out here, the number labels are in the map above.
| No. | Prefecture | Song |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hokkaido (北海道) | Natsu Matsuri (夏祭り) |
| 2 | Aomori (青森) | Light Cavalry Overture (「軽騎兵」序曲から) |
| 3 | Iwate (岩手) | MISTER |
| 4 | Miyagi (宮城) | MachineGun Kiss |
| 5 | Akita (秋田) | No buts! |
| 6 | Yamagata (山形) | Shiro Neko Caramel Mugen no Wata Ame (白猫きゃらめる夢幻のわたあめ) |
| 7 | Fukushima (福島) | Radetsky March (ラデツキー行進曲) |
| 8 | Ibaraki (茨城) | SORA-V Cosmic Bird (SORA-V コズミックバード) |
| 9 | Tochigi (栃木) | Lovers (ラヴァーズ) |
| 10 | Gunma (群馬) | Arigatou (ありがとう) |
| 11 | Saitama (埼玉) | KARMA (Tatsujin Mix) |
| 12 | Chiba (千葉) | Akuukan Yuuei ac12.5 (亜空間遊泳ac12.5) |
| 13 | Tokyo (東京) | Taiyou mo Yappappa (太陽もヤッパッパー) |
| 14 | Kanagawa (神奈川) | Kurenai (紅) |
| 15 | Niigata (新潟) | Magical Little Spaceship (マジカル・リトル・スペースシップ) |
| 16 | Toyama (富山) | Punishment |
| 17 | Ishikawa (石川) | Kare Kano Kanon (カレ・カノ・カノン) |
| 18 | Fukui (福井) | Yoku Asobi Yoku Manabe (よく遊びよく学べ) |
| 19 | Yamanashi (山梨) | MAGICAL SOUND SHOWER |
| 20 | Nagano (長野) | The world is all one!! |
| 21 | Gifu (岐阜) | One day |
| 22 | Shizuoka (静岡) | Ao no Senritsu (蒼の旋律) |
| 23 | Aichi (愛知) | Rinda wa Kyou mo Zekkouchou (リンダは今日も絶好調) |
| 24 | Mie (三重) | Canadea (カナデア) |
| 25 | Shiga (滋賀) | Shounetsu Tairiku (情熱大陸) |
| 26 | Kyoto (京都) | Pavane for a Dead Princess (亡き王女のためのパヴァーヌ) |
| 27 | Osaka (大阪) | Don Engasu no Fuefuki (ドン・エンガスの笛吹き) |
| 28 | Hyogo (兵庫) | Heavy Rotation (ヘビーローテーション) |
| 29 | Nara (奈良) | I Wish For You |
| 30 | Wakayama (和歌山) | Dodododo-Donderful! (ドドドドドンだフル!) |
| 31 | Totori (鳥取) | Hyakki Yakou (百鬼夜行) |
| 32 | Shimane (島根) | Kirame Kirari (キラメキラリ) |
| 33 | Okayama (岡山) | Ra Morena Kumonai (ラ・モレーナ・クモナイ) |
| 34 | Hiroshima (広島) | DON'T CUT |
| 35 | Yamaguchi (山口) | Monster Hunter Medley (New) (モンスターハンターメドレー(新)) |
| 36 | Tokushima (徳島) | Joyful (じょいふる) |
| 37 | Kagawa (香川) | Etude Op.10-4 (練習曲Op.10-4) |
| 38 | Ehime (愛媛) | Hatsune Miku no Gekishou (初音ミクの激唱) |
| 39 | Kochi (高知) | Sengoku Sangen (戦国三弦) |
| 40 | Fukuoka (福岡) | Eine Kleine Nachtmuzik (アイネクライネナハトムジーク) |
| 41 | Saga (佐賀) | Inu Hoeru (犬吠える) |
| 42 | Nagasaki (長崎) | Happy & Peace |
| 43 | Kumamoto (熊本) | Ode to Joy (第九交響曲) |
| 44 | Oita (大分) | Lion (ライオン) |
| 45 | Miyazaki (宮崎) | Mujihi na Ou (無慈悲な王) |
| 46 | Kagoshima (鹿児島) | Tentai Kansoku (天体観測) |
| 47 | Okinawa (沖縄) | Mappy Medley (マッピーメドレー) |
And this is the prefecture select map.
After pressing Circle, you can view the opponent stats in more detail, including how many disciples can hold their shrine and the support powers they have (up to three). The bonus condition I will explain in a bit.
The full list of costumes and their prefectures can be found on the unlock article for PSP DX
After choosing the prefecture you wish to fight, you go into the preparation screen (same with the dojo challenge). Here you can change your partners or call on clones of players from other profiles to help you with the battle.
And now I explain the partners.
1. Kame (かめ)- Increase knockback by 1.5x
2. Mekadon (メカドン)- Full autoplay
3. Donko (ドン子)- Increase gauge to max once
4. Cat and Ladle (ネコと杓子)- Turn all 可 hits to 良
5. Wada-Inu (和田イヌ)- Autoplay on Don notes
6. Lantern Eel (ちょうちんうなぎ)- Disables music (for the opponent)
7. Hana (はな)- Autoplay on Kat notes
8. Tetsuo (テツオ)- Increase gauge fill rate by 1.5x
9. Miko (みこ)- Random power, lasts longer than normal
And these are their locations (Note: may differ slightly based on where you choose to start the Story Mode on the world map)
Lantern Eel: Okinawa
Wada Inu: Saga
Hana: Okayama
Turtle: Wakayama
Mekadon: Fukui
Donko: Ibaraki
Ms.Cat and Mr.Spoon: Hokkaido
Tetsuo: Tokyo
Miko: conquer 40 regions and watch the Devil Don-chan movie after the 40th battle
Next up, clones.
'Clones' are copies of Don-chan from another player profile of Taiko Portable DX, which can be players you've battled before over wireless connection or save files on the same PSP. They will visit your dojo occasionally and then you can use them in battle. Once a clone is chosen, it can help during a battle by making your disciples stronger or helping them regenerate faster. The more disciples the clone has on his original profile at the time of visit, the stronger the effect. You can choose one clone at a time, and it disappears right after the battle. However, it might return some days later. To be able to use them infinitely, complete the Boss Rush mode after the final boss is beaten.
Now, you know that there are two variables to the battle, your total number of disciples, and the number of disciples that can carry the shrine. Effectively they are your Hit Points and Attack Power. The higher the number of disciples carrying the shrine, the higher your knockback. So, do not be afraid to challenge dojos with a lot of recruits if you notice their attack power is lower than yours! You can win if you keep it up.
While you play, the gauge in the middle will fill up and when it reaches max, your disciples will charge forward with the shrine and knock into the opponent team, sometimes knocking out a few opponent disciples, and the opponent can do the same to you. Now, let's explain attack power. Usually it will either be the opponent having a slight edge on you, or you over him. This will decide who knocks who back during the battle. So, if you have lower attacking power than the opponent, it's a guaranteed loss right? Not so.
Let's say you have 150 recruits and 50 recruits can hold the shrine. That means you have 100 left over. If some of your disciples get knocked away, the reserve units will come and hold the shrine instead, and same goes for your foe. If you have no reserve units left, there will be less disciples holding the shrine and hence your attack power will go down steadily, which is not a good sign. However, this can be an advantage to you as well. If you notice that your opponent has higher attack power than you, but very few reserve units (eg. total disciples 55, attack power 52), then you can force them to collapse midway after pushing off the opponent's disciples (they will be less than 52 before you know it). In other words, attack power can only be as high as your total remaining number of disciples!
After the end of the song, the bonus condition will come into play. Look at the above screenshot again and notice the letters on the top-center. The conditions will either be number of 良, current combo or number of hits. The winner of this bonus will get to do a final attack on the opponent team which pushes it back by several meters. Note however that the final attack will still not guarantee victory, but it's there to help. A lot. Note that the condition can also be kept hidden until the end of the song.
Your partners come into play at 3 fixed points through the song, usually on Go-Go Time and their power fades after about 7 to 10 seconds depending on the song. If you have less than 3, partners will come in at any of the 3 fixed points, without any prompt by the player. Missing notes or hitting bomb notes will also cause many of your disciples to be knocked away. The rules of the shrine battle are the same in boss fights, except there is no bonus condition involved.
At the end of a battle is the results screen, which shows victory/loss and how many disciples were knocked out during the match. Note that units knocked out during the battle may not stay knocked out after it, and only a few will need recovering through Wadaiko Enbu or just by passing days. There's no loss of total number if you lose the fight though, that only happens in dojo challenges. After every battle on the world map, or after a boss battle, you move on to the next day again, ready to continue with the conquest.
As for the boss battles, here's how many prefectures you have to beat to get to them
6 regions - Guts Cannon
14 regions - Dokon Gang
24 regions - Dokon Gang + Dokon
25 regions - Difficulty up
32 regions - Guts Jet
40 regions - Devil Don-chan
All (47) regions - Guts Eater / Armageddon
As for footage of boss battles and a description of each one, click here.
Alright, I've explained everything I can, now go have some fun!
Back to Taiko PSP DX song list
