So let's recap the major events in Taiko of last year.
January 2012
Predictably enough, January was a pretty quiet month for Taiko and gaming news in general (
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February 2012
Two major things were announced in the shortest month of the year; another Taiko x AKB48 campaign and the soundtrack CD "Full Combo!" (image above), which would be released a month later in March, filled with new Taiko 0 Namco Originals and even brand-new songs.
February 2012 at Taiko Time was mostly filled with more Taikojiro material and the first mini-surveys by pikaby.
March 2012
Besides covering descriptions of Taiko 0 Namco Originals, the Taiko Team were kept busy updating the arcade with new firmware, as well as announcing the eight winners of 2011's Taiko no Tatsujin song-making contest on CreoFUGA: seven new Namco Originals and a custom interpretation of a song from Rage Racer. As we already know, the eight winning songs have been made available to play both on Taiko PSP DX (as part of July/September/October/November's DLCs) and also on the arcade as unlockable songs.
Then, all of a sudden... this happens. The Taiko Anniversary banner on the main Taiko website was replaced with a red curtain and some shadows behind it, marking the final surprise for the anniversary year. What was it covering? We had to wait two more weeks to find that out...
April 2012
...but first, April 1st comes in, with a lot of pranks in the gaming world in general (a lot more active participation than last year too). Even Namco joins the fun by illustrating a spoof Taiko fighting game!
Back to normal stuff, the final surprise for the 10th Taiko Anniversary happened to be a brand new console game for 3DS, Nintendo's next-gen portable console, becoming the first console game to use the new game mechanics and interface from the HD arcade. Even though the release of information regarding the game's songlist and features was not as well-paced as PSP DX, the hype surrounding Taiko 3DS was still extremely high.
On April we also knew about part of Namco's future plans by leaks from Internet websites and arcade retailers: a massive hardware upgrade for the current arcade models with in-built camera planned in conjunction with the release of Taiko 3DS for July (the one we now know as the Codename Katsu-Don update) and the domain registration for a Taiko Wii U, which is still surrounded with a veil of mystery.
May 2012
Another quiet month, and much like May 2011, this month was focused on news for Taiko 3DS, with other minor stuff in between like the 2nd online arcade tournament and other articles about old songs. We also hit our 765th post on this month (and reaching 1000 very, very soon)! If Namco loves to celebrate number plays so much, why can't we?
Also, Japanese singer Ayane published a longer version of Red Rose Evangel, one of Taiko 0's debut songs. It's not every day you get to see a Namco Original song on a music album not directly related to Taiko no Tatsujin, right? (let along a full version)
June 2012
Besides a mischievous Photoshopped movie poster by pikaby and some other song leaks for Taiko 3DS (the full default songlist was leaked by the end of the month), the major things happening this month was the official revealing of Codename Katsu-Don by the Taiko Team themselves, introducing many new things which we were all unfamiliar with, especially Donchare.
We also say goodbye to one of Taiko no Tatsujin's most prominent contributors, lead graphic designer Yukiko Yokoo, who masterminded the cute 2D vector style so characteristic of Taiko no Tatsujin. She retired after 18 years of service to Bandai Namco. Props to her!
July 2012
Taiko no Tatsujin news can be in either of two states; completely dormant and quiet or completely crazy. This was one of those crazy months; both Taiko no Tatsujin 3DS and Codename Katsu-Don came out almost at the same time sending fans into a tizzy and gave our blog one of the busiest times of its life. Making it even more hectic was our site renewal; the tables on Song of the Week and Song Series, the main Arcade and Console Taiko pages, and the Others page were given a complete revamp together with much-needed updates to our site banner and button designs!
The scene quieted down towards the end of July, again giving us time to reflect on the situation and fully update things, including some of the secret passwords for Taiko 3DS.
August 2012
Anniversary month, in which we organized an (admittedly) fiddly quiz involving our new table system which was a lot of work. All participants, regardless of what they did for it, received a wallpaper made by pikaby, so all was good!
Crossovers were also rife this month, with Sega announcing their end of the Yakuza collab with Taiko no Tatsujin, and GungHo Entertainment putting a song from their iOS game Puzzle & Dragons in Taiko iOS (if only for a short time). The fan feature of your Taikojiro charts was also a booming post, and we have one every two to three weeks even now.
But probably the biggest surprise was reserved for the very end of the month, when rumors quickly led up to an official revealing of Taiko no Tatsujin Wii: Chogoukaban, marking the 5th Taiko game for the ailing console, even as it was going to be replaced by a successor soon after this.
September 2012
Official news for the team has Taiko Wii 5 completely in the limelight this month, with its appearance in the annual Tokyo Game Show being the most intriguing and exciting, as its entire default songlist (plus some secret songs!) were seen there! Other news was not neglected however, the monthly PSP DX pack entry goes without question, and Joubutsu 2000 finally gets featured in the blog, sans the deathwishes.
There were a few other interesting happenings as well, like the Dragon Quest X collab and an exclusive feature on the insides of Namco Wonder Park Plus in Hong Kong, courtesy of flyboy87/dewanakatta.
October 2012
Another quiet month, with Taiko Wii 5 hype simmering in the background after so many things seen in Tokyo Game Show, and 'Made By You' finally started properly as a regular feature, provided there are maps being submitted to us.
Other than that however, October was a month of rest, with not much notable events happening except for the usual arcade/PSP updates, and also a set of Happy Meal toys unlocking bonus content for both arcade and 3DS.
November 2012
A month of gradual buildup; early November was really bland without anything to note. The middle part of the month was the first anniversary of Taiko 0 arcade, and a large update with many major songs was given out for Taiko fans to enjoy, including the final Rose song, Purple Rose Fusion.
The final part of the month was frenzy time all over again as Taiko no Tatsujin Wii 5 was released together with the arcade update from two days earlier and the PSP DX download pack of the month on the same day as well! It's our second busiest month of this year behind July!
December 2012
A month of ends. The PSP monthly DLC ends here (with a bang too), the year 2012 ends here,
Other than that, the past month has everyone in winding down mode as we shifted gears down for a relaxing break on Christmas and herald the year of 2013 after surviving the apocalypse. Cheers everyone, and see you in a thrilling 2013!
