Taiko Time: Shunkan Soukai! Don-chan Sawagi minigames

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Shunkan Soukai! Don-chan Sawagi minigames

"Shunkan Soukai! Don-chan Sawagi" is the lengthy name for Taiko no Tatsujin Chogouka-Ban's minigame mode, and it is slightly different from the older minigame modes. Instead of picking a single minigame, players can choose one out of three different minigame courses with multiple games in each, and there are a little over 30 total variations of minigames that can be played. All minigames can be played on all three courses because they are picked at random, but they have their own preference for certain sets of games. Each course is 7 games long.

Hana Course- Slow-paced, fun type of minigames, like the food stacking games.
Tetsuo Course- Stamina course, with many minigames focusing on drumrolls.
Donko Course- Rhythm and concentration minigames appear more often, like the single-hit games.

Each of the courses have three difficulties each, Kantan (Easy), Futsuu (Normal) and Muzukashii (Hard), with differences being higher-level CPU and slightly tougher minigame patterns (eg longer drumroll time).

Two other courses are unlocked by obtaining stamps in the minigame mode, which will be explained in a bit. These courses are 20 games long.

Lantern Eel Course- Three times as long as the regular courses, with a triple speedup at the final part.
Dark Steamboat Course- Similar to Lantern Eel, but instructions are not given at the beginning of each game and the difficulty for each of them are random.

Gameplay flow

So, how are the minigames played? Think of it as a cross between WarioWare and Bishi Bashi Champ. The courses are played by four players, and if you're alone, the CPUs will be your opponents. Each minigame is short, lasting only around 10-30 seconds each, and you have to fulfil one goal in the minigame, which is given as a simple instruction before it starts:

Then the minigame begins. As said above, all the minigames are quickfire.

Based on your performance you earn coins after each minigame. 1st place gets 4 coins, 2nd place gets 3 coins, 3rd place gets 2 coins, and 4th place gets 1 coin.

After a certain number of minigames there is a speed up and all the minigames go even faster than before (WarioWare style).

The final minigame (or every 7th minigame) has a coin multiplier of either x2 or x3, so make sure to perform well in that!

The coins are tallied up at the end of the course to give a winner.

Regardless of whether you won or lost, you get a stamp on a card. The more you play, the more you unlock! Something is unlocked every 5 stamps you obtain, which include Muzukashii difficulties for the three basic courses, the Eel course and the Dark Steamboat course. There are other unlockables too. What happens if you fully fill up the stamp card? Check our unlock guide for Taiko Wii 5 for more details!

Types of minigames

Follow the rhythm by hitting Don and Kat, like in a regular game of Taiko no Tatsujin.
3 variants:

Lion Dance (background music: Hyakka Ryouran)
Cheerleader (background music: Angel Dream)
IdolM@ster (background music: MUSIC♪)

Note patterns vary by difficulty.

Hit an object as it approaches the target on the left (one chance)
3 variants:

Baseball
Ninja
Chick

Coins are awarded based on whether you manage to hit the object or not (not by placing). Hit = 3 coins, miss = 1 coin.

Hit an object as it approaches the target on the left (multiple)
5 variants:

Bubble wrap popping
Coin toss (background music: Ikasama Pirates)
Zombie shooting (background music: Theremin Rhapsody No.42)
Bottlecap opening
Basketball throw

All have to be hit exactly on the target, except the zombie game, which can be shot at the edge of the target. One miss on the zombie game will cause the player to lose, and if all players lose the placing will be based on the last player surviving.