Fanart: Don-chan's costumes

From a distance they may seem like Don-chan's regular clothing, but take a closer look! They're all costumes of characters from a particular series of Nintendo games. Can you pick them out?

You can check out the fullview version on pixiv here.

pikaby asks: Your most memorable non-Namco Original song?

Phew, another week with no interesting news (though I'm fully expecting the March 2012 DLC songs to be announced for PSP DX this Thursday) so just a simple discussion question to go around!

Namco organized that 'Taiko Memories Poll' last year right? It covered all genres, but obviously the most focus was given to the Namco Original genre. What if we took that out of the equation? Now, which songs in all the other genres do you remember the most fondly, and would play over and over again regardless of difficulty level?

For me, Glamorous Sky by NANA. The first time I heard this song was not in Taiko no Tatsujin, but from Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan on the Nintendo DS. I'm not a big fan of noisy rock songs, but the upbeat nature of Glamorous Sky really got to me, like no other rock song has ever done before. Then on the first arcade I played, which was a Taiko 8, imagine my surprise when I saw the song being in the tracklist! Truly a great moment as I took up the 5* Oni chart for the first time....and failed. Even now I refuse to call it a 5*. 600+ notes with tons of clusters and even a ddddkkkkd stream? Even by the new standards I think this would have been a 6*, very easily. Very fun chart once you start passing, and the music never, ever gets old. I play it every single time I get the opportunity to go back to that old Taiko 8.

Enough about me though. Let's hear from you guys!

Wasure na Gusa lyrics

Artist: Mika Sato

Song of the Week! 25 February 2012

Here's the 2nd classic song of the year! Another PSP debut song, like many other songs in the genre.

Namco Taiko Blog (23 February 2012) - Danba Danba Din Dan

Another slow news week and Namco are using it to highlight another of their 10th anniversary songs. After the Red Rose/Blue Rose article in January, the focus turns now onto the YMCK song, Danba Danba Din Dan.

The theme for the song is a simple one revolving around Japanese matsuri, explored in tons of other Namco Originals but a first for YMCK. The complex rhythm is inspired by a special small Taiko, and the challenge in the notechart is specially aimed at experts of the game. They even mentioned the slowdown part in the middle as being troublesome!

This song can be played on all systems, on Wii4, Taiko 0 and downloaded for free on PSP DX. Now the only 10th anniversary song left to cover with a description is Hatsune Miku no Shoushitsu -Gekijouban-. But that's for another week!

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Random: What everyone thinks we do when we play Taiko no Tatsujin

Created by Lee Jia Yi and shared through Facebook. It sure has come in handy! Anyway:

1st/2nd pic: Self-explanatory
3rd pic: Sad reality of most people's mentality towards arcade goers, as delinquents.
4th pic: This may just be for SE Asia, but most people think of vertically-inclined rhythm games first. Or Guitar Hero.

5th pic:
 

Testing the limits of Taikojiro

The ultimate garbage notechart to end all garbage notecharts! Better not wear earphones or you'll be in for it lol. Or you could just skip to the end and find out the maximum combo.

There's a lot more where that came from too. Here's another if you're really really really bored.



There was one video which tries to force Taikojiro's BPM to climb to over 30000 but I can't find it at the moment (it causes the PC to freeze).

pikaby asks: Kikyoku series speculation

mgwrt7. Supposedly the 7th song in the Kikyoku series when there's only six revealed, one being a soundtrack premiere. I've been sleeping on it for a few days actually and can't resist to do a little prediction of my own since it's unusual for a series to get so many new sequels in one go. Considering this 7th song exists of course, which I have high hopes for.

Check the titles of both Kikyoku songs again.

Tanpou ～Blooming～ (綻放 ～Blooming～)
Hanayou ～Flourishing Blossoms～ (花漾 ～Flourishing Blossoms～)

Don't you think they follow a progression of some sort? We don't know Tanpou's ID yet, but these two look like they're connected, so they're either 5 and 6, or 6 and 7. Either way there's one extra song. If Tanpou is 5, then the 7th song could be based on a harvest festival or flowers bearing fruit. If Tanpou is 6, the prequel could be something about a seed sprouting into a tree. It makes sense, doesn't it? A sub-series in Kikyoku that follows a story. It would be really interesting to have!

This turn of events in the series really gets me thinking. Keep in mind this is all my own speculation and could go any way Namco decides. What do you think? I'd like to hear your own speculations too!

Song of the Week! 18 February 2012

Ura week today, and story mode is the theme this time! Which songs are we featuring today?

Namco Taiko Blog (16 February 2012) - Taiko 0 at AOU Expo 2012

 

The AOU Amusement Expo is supposed to the the annual arcade gaming event of the year in Japan, where Japan's latest arcade games are shown, and Namco Bandai are on hand this year to show Taiko 0 (why they weren't present in all previous years baffles me). On the day of the event, which is on the 18th of this month (Saturday), Taiko 0 units can be tried out for free. Yes, free play! You don't get this chance very often in regular arcades, so if you have a Banapassport it's your chance to fill up free Don Points if you haven't unlocked everything yet. Limited edition Banapassport card designs will also be given out at NBGI's booth.

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Old Taiko Clay Anime commercial

Apologies for not updating so often this week, both of us have been quite busy with things, so here's a simple video! It's an old commercial for the Taiko Clay Anime. Go to the Others page to learn more about it!

Feature: 24 season drums

You might want to watch the video first before proceeding with this short read. It's one of our fellow readers and avid Malaysian Taiko fan, Lee Jia Yi, performing various Taiko songs on a drum meant for a '24 Season drum' performance, which he is a part of. Underneath each tribute is the song which it comes from. Can you recognize them all? Jia Yi is one skilled drummer, isn't he?

Song of the Week! 11 February 2012

 

User World War ended just a little late for us to cover this song last week. The results? Taiko Time won! Thank you to everyone who participated!

To commemorate this event, this week's pick comes from a war game.

Taiko PSP DX's IDs, take 7

More future download song hints from PSP DX!

This time only a single, hidden ID from the future releases has been found: mgwrt7. The ID suggests a Kikyoku song, but the number on the back is 7, when only six have been revealed, the latest being Hanayou ~Flourishing Blossoms~ on the Full Combo soundtrack just recently. Are the Taiko Team seriously considering making three Kikyoku songs in just one year? Tanpou, Hanayou and a 7th song?

Taiko no Tatsujin Original Soundtrack - Full Combo!

 

Taiko no Tatsujin Original Soundtrack - Full Combo! (太鼓の達人 オリジナルサウンドトラック 『フルコンボ！』) is the latter half of the 10th Taiko Anniversary's 8th big surprise. Initially planned to release alongside the first 10th anniversary soundtrack 'Donderful', it was delayed 4 months and was finally released on March 2012.

Continuing the epic fan service set up by Donderful, Full Combo contains exclusive console songs from Taiko Wii 2 and DS3, together with full sets of song series and the rest of Taiko 0's exclusive songs. Like the first album, Full Combo spoils part of 2012's new songs by featuring a new couple of Namco Originals: the sixth Kikyoku song and a remix of Ryougen no Mai.

Namco Taiko Blog (9 February 2012) - Full Combo soundtrack details

 

After months and months of delaying, the 2nd soundtrack for the 10th Taiko anniversary is going to be released! The Taiko no Tatsujin Official Soundtrack - Full Combo! (太鼓の達人 オリジナルサウンドトラック 『フルコンボ！』) is the main protagonist of today's blog entry.

Underground Taiko 0 update

And the update mentioned in the page source code from yesterday's blog update has been seen in Taiko 0. Improvements include a smoother Song Selection menu, some Taiko x AKB48 ads at the beginning and all the songs starting from a preview point like seen in the past (the song previews always started at the beginning of the song before the update in the Song Selection screen. Go check!)



Unfortunately it seems there are no new unlockable songs or costumes....yet. The update was mainly to debug the software and plaster Taiko x AKB48 all over Japan. Lol.



3rd video, an attempt to spot the differences in the Failure screen. (lol at failing Mori no Kuma-san)

Taiko 0's Boot-up sequence

Found by Lu-katsu in the Taiko Time forums.The bootup of the new arcade Taiko is unlike the one used from Taiko 7 to 14. The menu interface is completely different and looks....exactly like the one used on PS3/PSP. I wouldn't be surprised if I tore the cabinet up and see a PS3 in the center!

Namco Taiko Blog (6 February 2012): Taiko x AKB48 campaign begins

Surprise Monday update by Namco, to remind everyone of the Taiko x AKB48 campaign.

The autographed posted given out with purchases of Taiko no Tatsujin Wii: Ketteiban was only the beginning. Now, they've set up a special website for the second leg of the campaign, which runs from today till April 9th this year. What do you have to do (if you live in Japan)? Simple, sign up at their campaign page and include your Banapassport number. Five members of the AKB48 will be your Taiko 'sensei' in the campaign page, giving you comments and critique on your performance each time you record it with your Banapassport.

If all this sounds a little creepy, well, it is. Put up with it and you win some exclusive souvenir card at the end of the campaign period, sent out to the top 300 players for each 'sensei', making a total of 1500 cards being sent out. There will also be a lucky draw for participants to win a card case, and there are 1000 of these.

The Taiko x AKB48 campaign page is here.

Nothing too interesting for non-Japanese players though, so we'll just have to keep waiting. Oh, there's something else in the source code:

A version improvement with lots of new additions? Sounds like Taiko HD alright. Namco have been hinting at this update for two months now, let's see how they deliver this update package!

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UStream running Don-chan ad

Didn't watch the stream? Someone uploaded a high-quality version of the Taiko 0 advert so you can watch running muscular Don-chan in all his absurd glory. And he keeps forgetting his Banapassport card.

Cycle of Rebirth lyrics

Composer/lyrics/guitarist: Takafumi Sato (佐藤たかふみ)
Vocal: Kani Prince (蟹プリンス)

Note: Republished on 5 February 2012 due to major discrepancies with the unofficial lyrics sheet. These are official now.

Song of the Week! 4 February 2012

 

Oh hey, how long has it been since we covered a console-exclusive song? It's been a while, hasn't it? Well, here's one for this week.

Namco Taiko Blog (2 February 2012) - Taiko PSP DX February 2012 download songs

This month's download pack for Taiko Portable DX? Okay, a lot of you will be happy with these.

Karui Zawameki lyrics

Composer, chorus: Yuri Misumi (みすみゆり)
Lyrics: Yano Yoshito (矢野義人)
Vocals: micazo