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)
(images taken from the Japanese website Game Watch)
Namco Bandai was there for two reasons: Taiko and Mario Kart. For Taiko, several staff members involved with its production came onto the stage to announce it, dressed in festival clothing. The speakers included former Taiko Team leader Etou (in blue) and Akina (in pink), both whom have appeared in several livestreams in the past.
After pointing out the release month of the highly-anticipated Sorairo Version, Akina played a few J-Pop songs on Muzukashii on the arcade, such as AKB48's Heavy Rotation and Momoiro Clover's Ikuze! Kaito Shojo -Z ver.- (below)
After the two songs, Etou joined the fun by playing one song with Akina: the new Saraba, Itoshiki Kanashimi-tachi yo, again by Momoiro Clover. Etou being the expert player among the team, picked Oni difficulty and Full Comboed it with ease. No video footage of this was taken so we still don't know anything about its difficulty.
The presentation ended with some models from the Japanese magazine Popteen as cameo guests, shortly followed by a list of some songs which we can expect to see in Sorairo from the first day.
All the songs on this slide has been seen before in Namco's blog post two weeks back, except a new one in the Anime genre: Jojo ~Sono Chi no Sadame~ (ジョジョ～その血の運命～ ), the opening theme to the 2012 anime adaptation of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, one of Shonen Jump's oldest and longest running manga series.
Wait, what happened to the Vocaloid songs in Variety?
Wait, what happened to the Vocaloid songs in Variety?
They're on their own slide! And not just two, but four songs! Joining Senbonzakura and IMITATION BLACK are Megpoid GUMI's Jinsei Reset Button (人生リセットボタン) and Children Record (チルドレンレコード) by IA. With IA being recruited into the fold, Taiko finally has its first 3rd generation Vocaloid song in its library (previous songs were all done using Vocaloid2 software).
But while this presentation was being aired, a certain arcade-related website updated its details about the release of the Taiko update...
According to the website, Sorairo Version's release has been brought forward by eight days, from the previous March 21st to the 13th! Are your drumsticks ready?
Again, JAEPO 2013's restrictive protocol on video filming meant that gameplay footage for both Sorairo and Mario Arcade GP DX is nonexistent. All we have to show for now about the crossover is an image of said arcade's designer Hideki Konno and graphic artist Ryuji Kobayashi with Nintendo and Taiko no Tatsujin's mascots. Hope that JAEPO's attendees gather more information soon!
