Namco Taiko Blog (28 February 2013): Sorairo UStream

Straight away the announcement is made: Taiko Team will be airing a livestream on March 8th, 2013, starting at 8pm Japan time! It's been such a long time since the last stream! More Tatsu-Do*snip*

Anyway, this stream lasts an hour and will showcase Taiko 0 Sorairo Version being played by the members of the team, including all new songs not shown at JAEPO. We're getting really close to the release of the update so let's see the whole default songlist already! It won;t be just Namco Original songs; there's other songs as well.

There's another mystery announcement planned for the stream besides AC0S, and it's going to be groundbreaking! What's this? A new song? A soundtrack CD? A new console Taiko? An event?

Watch the stream here on NBGI's UStream channel. See you on March 8!

One more thing, and this is regarding the current Taiko firmware, Katsu-Don. Before the release of Sorairo, there will be one final firmware update to Katsu-Don (Game Version 8.03), and this actually removes a few things and prepares arcade cabinets nationwide for the inevitable jump to Sorairo.

The changes are:

-Internal preparation for Sorairo
-Temporary removal of Dojo Ranking mode
-Temporary removal of displayed highscores on song selection screen

Don't worry about all the current rankings and scores you have though; they will be transferred to Sorairo safely when the time comes.

The final update will go live on March 6th, 2013. Now let's get hyped for Sorairo!

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Feature: Arcade ethics

Say the word 'arcade' to anyone, and most likely the first thought that forms is similar to the image above: a dark, dusty room with dark, dusty old games played by dark, dusty people. The arcade is one of the oldest industries in gaming, and over many years has fallen out of favor for many reasons, with two topping the list. One, home gaming. Consoles, PCs and smartphones were convenient, cheaper with less risk involved, and players at home would not have to deal with the second reason: the negative connotation associated with arcade gaming.

Star Trigon Theme lyrics

Composer: Jesahm (自営山)
Lyrics: yura
Vocals: Ayumi Baigo (梅郷あゆみ)

Twitter Snippets (21 February 2013) - Taiko Fan-made pics for the 12th Anniversary

Three days and twelve years ago, the first Taiko arcade hit the scene in Japan. Despite not being recordered as well as the 10th anniversary, Taiko Team's Twitter followers celebrated it with many many pics shared on twitter. Below there are two of those, shared by Taiko Team's account among many others. Even if we are a bit late, happy 12th anniversary to all donders around the world!

Song of the Week! 23 February 2013

Many Game Music songs have the tendency to be exclusive on one arcade version and playable nowhere else (like the Dragon Quest Heroes song on Taiko 8 we featured two years back). In particular, the 13th arcade has three different GM exclusives, and the final one of the three is being featured today.

Site question: What should we do with the Miku series?

Yeah, that song series we dedicated to Hatsune Miku? It's about to get way too huge for its own good if we don't do something; this is attributed to Namco allocating an entire genre for Vocaloid, allowing for a lot of room for the Miku song library in Taiko to grow larger.

The question now is: what should we do with it? I've been thinking about this since Sorairo was announced, and decided to open the issue for everyone to think about.

Song series were created because of specific sets of songs that have something in common with one another, like most of the Namco Originals (2000 songs etc.). The original reason why we created a Hatsune Miku series was because at the time of the founding of the site, it was a relatively small corner in Taiko consisting of only three songs (Melt, World is Mine, Black Rock Shooter). The three songs had one thing in common; they were all sung by Hatsune Miku, and at the time seemed to be occupying only a small niche of Taiko no Tatsujin, which is why they were grouped together.

As you can probably see, the amount of Vocaloid content has grown exponentially since the release of the HD Taiko no Tatsujin arcade, including other cyber idols like Megpoid GUMI, Kagamine Rin/Len and IA. Hatsune Miku herself already has 7 songs in Taiko, and they just keep on coming; not at the rate of one song a generation like most song series, but two or three at a time, and with the creation of the Vocaloid genre, maybe even more.

I remember getting requests that the trio of GUMI songs on Taiko 0.5 (Matryoshka, Juumensou, Mosaic Roll) be made into a series like Hatsune Miku, but we didn't do it because it would create an even more confusing classification; Matryoshka is sung by both Miku and Gumi, and I can guarantee that will not be the last group Vocaloid song in Taiko.

At this point, there are a few options to consider:

1. Dismantle the Hatsune Miku series and have its contents be turned into Songs of the Week
2. Keep the Hatsune Miku series and let other Vocaloids be featured in Song of the Week
3. Take the series out of Variety, place it in a new Vocaloid category, and place all other Vocaloids as their respective song series in this category, meaning Vocaloid songs would no longer have any place in Song of the Week

That's what I can think of at the moment. I've been weighing the pros and cons of each, but do any of you guys have a better idea of how we should handle the potential influx of Vocaloid content? What do you think?

Taiko no Tatsujin Sorairo Version song list

Taiko no Tatsujin Sorairo Version, released on March 2013, is the second major update to the two-year-old Taiko HD cabinet without any other hardware revisions, and just like the July 2012 revision (Katsu-Don), all the songs and gameplay features that were gradually added are carried forward to this upgrade, including DonChare, the Dojo Ranking mode and all the song folder options. The name 'Sorairo' is added to the official title logo instead of being a mere codename like Katsu-Don, and the interface gets a fresh blue color in contrast to the warm tones used in the previous firmwares.

Not many new features are introduced in this installment, however the biggest shuffle in the songlist is the relocation of all Vocaloid songs in all genres to their own designated Vocaloid genre, a move which promotes even more proliferation of the voice synthesizers in Taiko. All online player data is also moved from 0.5 to Sorairo without a hitch.

Namco Taiko Blog (21 February 2012) - Taiko 0 Sorairo's release date

It's now official: the next giant update for the current generation of arcades will be out in about three weeks, on March 13th, 2013!

... and that's it, for today. Aside from confirming the official release date of Taiko 0 Sorairo, today's blog page mostly acts as a reminder about data transfer (already mentioned in last week's blog entry), and also mentions some other updates to the Donder Hiroba website, like an enhanced Friend list (with its capacity upgraded from 50 to 55 friends) and the possibility to insert more personal details in the account (gender and date of birth).

Plus, Katsu-Don's score rankings and personal challenges will be reset on March 12th, 25:59 (March 13th, 1:59).

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Taiko 0 Sorairo details from JAEPO

Before we begin with these, just a reminder that the majority of this is a rumor post as there's no hard evidence or videos taken at JAEPO to prove them! let's see the details of the songs at the show.

pikaby asks: Modifiers

Double speed! Triple speed! Invisible! Some people love 'em, some people prefer to play without them. Whatever the case, they're here to stay. The modifiers increase the speed that the notes move, make them invisible, turn them inside out or randomize them, and otherwise introduce special rules that don't affect the actual play, but make the player's life harder. In other words, playing something with modifiers on is like performing stunts. Do you like gameplay mods? Which is/are your favorite ones?

They are great feats, for sure, but the score awarded for the extra challenge provided by gameplay mods were never accounted for. Although the chart itself sometimes remain unchanged as with speed mods and Doron, you have to memorize it in order to do well in them. Pointless to some, but seeing someone FC a tough song at x4 speed is eye-catching. Why not give these skilled players extra points? The random modifiers too; both take the chart to much higher levels than ever before and should be rewarded with more points. What do you think and how should the extra points be handled?

Also, we already have nine different gameplay modifiers including the console-exclusive Auto mod and Sudden Death (Kanpeki) mod. Any ideas for newer, more challenging and exciting modifiers to be made in the future?

Taiko postcards from JAEPO 2013

This year's Japan arcade expo has come to an end (the Tokyo show; this will be repeated in two other prefectures next weekend), revealing many new arcade games to look forward to for the rest of 2013. The Taiko no Tatsujin franchise has its fair share of exposure with Namco's booth being made up of one giant showcase of Taiko no Tatsujin Sorairo and the crossover with Mario Kart Arcade GP DX. So, what's new?

(images taken from the Japanese website Game Watch)

Made by You: Deep Inner World and more

Been a while since we last has a user chart feature eh? We haven't accumulated that much after that bumper crop from last time, but keep on sending those charts!

Song of the Week! 16 February 2013

It's Saturday again, and it's time for another double-song pick! Both of them are focused around a fictional, small bug which really likes people's backs, simply known as...

Taiko no Tatsujin Sorairo Version at JAEPO Tokyo!

Screenshot found by tetsutaro. Two units of the new Taiko Sorairo arcade, ready for tomorrow's big event! It'll last for 2 days and will be playtested by thousands of people. Hope they bring back good news!

Namco Taiko Blog (14 February 2013)- Taiko 0 Sorairo data transfer

JAEPO 2013 is tomorrow and Taiko Team have come up with a decidedly unromantic blog post about the transfer of player data from Katsu-Don to the new firmware, Sorairo.

Canadea lyrics

Composer: Masubuchi Yuuji (増渕裕二)
Lyrics: Misumi Yuri (みすみゆり)
Vocals: Mika Sato (佐藤美香)

*Note: Republished on February 12th, 2013 to replace unofficial lyrics sheet due to major translation differences.

Behind the Drums: Oogami Masako

Oogami Masako (大上昌子 / おおがみまさこ) is an active composer and vocalist who used to work for Namco as part of their sound designer team, but quit the game development and is now a freelance music composer, though she still actively contributes to projects by Namco, with Taiko no Tatsujin being one of them. Her backstory is currently unknown, except that she has also composed music for several other games like the Tekken series.

She has made a wide variety of songs since starting to compose for Taiko in 2005, making a good half of the console Taiko theme songs and many other memorable Namco Originals, even contributing her voice to some of them. She started the ac. series of songs, which has two distinct styles: her cute, bouncy music and Masubuchi Yuuji's more serious rock music (ac11 and ac12.5). It's hard to pinpoint a specific pattern or preferred genre in Masako's music, but one thing's for sure; her songs are all of good quality, original and memorable.

Twitter

Children/Folk

• Sakura (Haru) (さくら（春）)

Classic

• Classic Medley (Wedding ver.) (クラシックメドレー（ウェディング編）)
• O Vreneli (おおブレネリ)

Game Music

• Oodain (大打音)
• Namcot Medley (ナムコットメドレー)
• Night And Day
• Futari no Kioku (フタリの記憶)

Namco Original

• Shishihagemai (シシハゲマイ) (also vocals)
• Ta.ko.ta.i.ko (タ・コ・タ・イ・コ)
• Noshi Maite, Taiko Para! (のし巻いて、太鼓っパラ！)
• Bouken-biyori (冒険日和)
• Densetsu no Matsuri (伝説の祭り)
• Kimi ni Touch! (キミにタッチ！) (also vocals)
• Nanairo Harmony (七色ハーモニー)
• Happy de Rippa! (ハッピーでリッパ！)
• Lalala Happiness (ららら☆ハッピネス)
• Dororon Girl (どろろんガール)
• DokoDON MatsuRhythm (ドコDON★まつリズム)
• Numujika ac.10 (ヌムジカac.10)
• Arumujika ac14.0V (アルムジカac14.0V)
• 3Q-4U-AC00 (also vocals)
• Atashi Ikasama Koi wa Ikasama (あたしイカサマ恋はイカサマ)
• Hello! Halloween (ハロー！ハロウィン) - composer, vocals
• Ikasama Pirates (イカサマパイレーツ) / Oresama Pirates (オレサマパイレーツ)
• Knitting High (ニッティング・ハイ)
• Yureru Pleats Jikkoiin (ゆれるプリーツ実行委員) composer, notecharter
• Gasshou Stabofe! (合唱スタボーフェ！)

Other Music Games Songs

Idolm@ster

• My Best Friend

Back to Others page

Many wow bang! on Taiko 0.5

Almost two weeks after the latest firmware update for the Katsu-Don arcades, someone finally managed to solve the riddle to unlock Many wow bang! for Taiko 0.5. Surprisingly, its difficulty stars are unchanged from Taiko 13, even its Ura Oni!

According to wikihouse users, the unlocking method is once again based on the user's nickname; after having set their nickname to Bashon (ばしょん), the frog host of Namco's flash web series Oku no Death-michi (where the song Many wow bang! was introduced), players have to Full Combo all songs with a title starting with the letter 'M' in English (My Soul, Your Beats!, MATSURI D/A and so forth) in a single credit. Once it's officially confirmed, we'll update the Title page.

Below is a short video showing the unlock of the title and the song.

Song of the Week! 9 February 2013

Just noticed yesterday that we already have exactly 100 Google followers on our blog! Thank you so much guys, we really appreciate the support, the Taiko fan community is really coming along nicely! To commemorate the milestone, we're covering a 10* song with a total notecount of a multiple of 100! And it's one of the most requested songs of the past month too!

Random: Bachi o Sensei toy used as Tatacon sticks

Just another random video to tide us over! The Bachi o Sensei toys from the Happy Meal set being used as sticks to play a Wii Tatacon. Wonder if they'll be usable on an arcade machine too?

Namco Taiko Blog (7 February 2013) - Arcade Taiko Sorairo Version at JAEPO 2013!

In last week's post we mentioned that Taiko 0.5 (C/N Katsu-Don) and Taiko Wii Chogouka-Ban will be shown at the Japan Amusement Expo 2013. Turns out we were wrong about the arcade version; instead of the current Katsu-Don arcade, the newest one, Sorairo, will be on show!

Mario Kart Arcade GP DX

You may be wondering why we're suddenly covering news on a Mario Kart game today on this blog. Well, Nintendo holds the license to their own characters and Namco have tons of experience in making good arcade cabinets (and the cabinet camera seems to be their trademark), so the two gaming giants came together to make an arcade version Mario Kart.

Make Inu Henjou lyrics

Composer: Akitaka Tohyama (遠山明孝)
Vocals: Kani Prince

Random: Quadruple Noiz

Doom Noiz is one of those songs that was introduced into Taiko during the transition period between the 2nd graphics engine and the HD format. Here's a simultaneous play of the song on four different versions of Taiko by four experienced players (not as epic as the Shimedore rotation play we saw last time), on Taiko 14 (top left), Taiko Portable DX (top right), Taiko 0.5 (bottom left) and Taiko 0 (bottom right). The Wii3/5 play is missing in action though.

Also suddenly Maimai play at the end.

Boku wa Shinse first video

Several videos of the February 2013 DonChare song Boku wa Shinse being played have been uploaded, and this is one of them. 8* Oni with 612 combo, and a pretty bouncy song with many rhythm changes from 1/12 to 1/16 and back again, making this quite a hard song to catch a good rhythm in.

Song of the Week! 2 February 2013

Now back to some requests for this month! This first one is by tetsutaro, who wanted to see this J-Pop song being featured. Ready to see it?

Twitter Snippets (1 February 2013) - Introducing the Able-Fingered Pack

【告知】iOS用アプリ 太鼓の達人プラスに新曲の『すご指ぱっく』が登場！収録曲はナムコオリジナルの「エンジェル ドリーム」「ドドンガド～ン」「LOVE戦!!」「蒼の旋律」「はたラク２０００」の５曲です！シリーズ屈指の難易度の『はたラク２０００』は歌詞にも注目♪

Another Namco Original song pack for smartphone Taiko game is released, according to a Taiko Team tweet posted today. The new 'Sugoyubi Pack' (literally, Amazing Finger, or Able-Fingered) manages to deliver both long-time fan favourites and challenging songs at the very beginning of February. 

The pack contains the songs Angel Dream, Dodon ga Do~n, LOVE Ikuza!!, Ao no Senritsu and *gulp* Hataraku 2000! Can your fingers handle Namco's latest iOS challenge?

Credit to tetsutaro for the find!