Namco Taiko Blog (31 October 2013) - Sorairo's last Donchare

As announced yesterday, the Taiko Team's Halloween blog post is about the last Don Challenge for the month of November.

That's right; despite the fact that there is no more space allocated for Don Challenge titles in the list (probably appended at the end, I don't know), the monthly goals will extend by one more month!

Twitter Snippets: In for a surprise!

Amidst all the fuss over the Taiko Tournament finals (or lack thereof), aren't we all forgetting one thing? Yep, we're at the end of October, and still no sign of the Donchare update for next month! Tomorrow's the final Thursday for the month, and the team are signalling that they are about to cover it there.

The new arcade firmware comes out in December, so this would make next month the final Donchare song and costume for Taiko Sorairo. It's been a good eight months!

The other interesting piece of news, especially for those living outside Japan, are the 300 new Taiko Sorairo cabinets that are being made. This is pure speculation on my part, but wouldn't it be nice if those were meant for export? Don't keep your fingers crossed until we hear something more concrete, but it doesn't hurt to hope!

Taiko no Tatsujin 3DS Script (5-9): Lou Ya Restaurant: A Suite

Warning: may contain plot spoilers.

Taiko no Tatsujin 3DS Script (5-8): Lou Ya Restaurant: Great Toad

Warning: may contain plot spoilers.

Song of the Week! 26 October 2013

The power of nature may have stopped the biggest Taiko event of the year, but not this weekly corner! (us not being in Japan has everything to do with it) Here's a pick from the last Wii Taiko.

Namco Taiko Blog (25 October 2013): Taiko Tournament 2013 Finals postponed

It's never a good idea to go against the forces of nature. Typhoon Wipha has left Japan, but two more are closing in, Typhoon Francisco and Lekima. Because of this, the team have retracted their decision to organize the tournament as planned and have instead put the finals on indefinite postponement. Any enquiries should be directed at their official Twitter account.

When the coast is clear, the next planned date for the finals will be announced through the blog, official website for the tournament, and on Twitter. Participants will also be notified through their personal emails.

We hope sincerely that they will weather the storm, and stay safe.

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Taiko Wii U - multiplayer, costumes, stamps and new songs!

More clear screens for the upcoming Taiko Wii U! 4Gamer.net posted another new article today to cover the new details released for the game.

Taiko no Tatsujin Plus - 7.65 Million Downloads Celebration, part 3

The last round of free songs has been released yesterday, featuring time-limited songs once again!

Another lot of three songs can be played for free until October 28th, 6 p.m. (Japan Time): 2 Namco Originals (Pastel Dream and Hyakki Yakou) and Brahms's Hungarian Dance No.5 for the Classic genre, with the star ratings finally tweaked to the new standard. Try them before they're gone!

Namco Taiko Blog (24 October 2013) - Taiko Tournament 2013's live streaming

Regardless what was said last Tuesday, the Taiko Team posted a final update about the tournament to confirm the Finals' definitive date and other details about the event, such as the online stream.

The old date is being kept, so the tournament's Finals will be held this Saturday as promised from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. (Japan time); again, as explained two days ago, this date may change at any moment if Namco feels there is a safety risk.

Online streaming of the event will be aired on NBGI's Nicovideo and UStream channels, for everyone to enjoy the fun. But the competition won't be the only topic of this long event, as the Taiko Team will make their first announcement for the anticipated new arcade firmware, which will replace Sorairo this December.

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More Taiko Wii U magazine scans

These are not as groundbreaking as the past reveals, but it gives us a look at Taiko Wii U's new costume system, which allows for far more customization than any Taiko game, even the arcade, has ever offered.

The three color schemes are back, along with not two, but four different costume parts: a hat, facial accessories, body part and side pattern! This new costume combination lets you create something like the silver knight-golden wings-cloudy body costume you see in the right of the first scan. How many possible combinations are there? The right scan says 167 billion? Let your imagination go wild!

Thanks to tetsu and Lokamp for finding the scans!

Taiko no Tatsujin Plus - 7.65 Million Downloads Celebration, part 2

Part 2 of the Taiko iOS rewards was distributed last Friday onwards, with sone new songs for everyone!

Three new limited songs are available for everyone to play until October 28th, 6 p.m. (Japan time). This time's featured songs are Densetsu no Matsuri and Kikyoku ～Seasons of Asia～ for the Namco Original genre, and Dvorak's From the New World for the Classic genre, which finally got its star ratings updated to the current generation's standards (the Oni mode is a 7* threat now!)

Also, a third part for the 7.65 million download event is scheduled, but no details are available yet. Stay tuned!

Namco Taiko Blog (22 October 2013) - Updates about Taiko Tournament 2013's Finals

Another Tuesday update, this time for some important flash news. 

Last week, Japan was hit by a typhoon named Wipha, which caused several casualties and territorial damage on Guam and Japan. As such, the tournament's Finals may be delayed in order to prevent any traffic problems or putting people's safety at risk.

The finalists will be personally emailed this Friday, 1 p.m. (Japan time) about the status of the event. In the case that a delay has to be issued, the Taiko Team plans to have it the following Monday or Tuesday, but it could be up to a week or two after the planned date of October 26th.

In addition, no blog updates this Thursday are scheduled, so that's about it for this week...

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Song of the Week! 19 October 2013

Last month, one of the licensed songs I featured in this corner is doomed to leave the arcade starting next week, so what did I said to myself for today's pick? Screw it, I'll just close the 'doomed' circle of songs with the leftover Anime song!

And about time too; we are finally covering the largest Anime staple for Taiko no Tatsujin!

New future song removals for Taiko arcades?

As we know already, four J-Pop/Anime licensed songs will be removed from Sorairo next Tuesday. As such, the Q&A corner in the official website has added a reminder of the song removal. But don't you notice something more here?

According to the second paragraph, another four more songs are affected: Natsu Matsuri, Tentai Kansoku, TRAIN-TRAIN and Super Mario Bros, all of which are staples of the series. They will be playable in Sorairo and the future December firmware update (removing any one of these four songs would raise a LOT of eyebrows), but if for some reason a cabinet is still using the original Taiko 0 or Katsu-Don, these four songs will be deleted; probably to encourage arcade operators to upgrade the HDD.

Thanks to tetsutaro for the find!

Namco Taiko Blog (17 October 2013) - Final details for Taiko Tournament 2013's finals

Puns aside, this week's blog entry is simply an update of an early October blog post. 

On October 26th (next Saturday), from 13:00 to about 17:30, the last phase of the 2013 arcade tourney will be held at NBGI's Future Lab. For those who won one of the lotteries for a spectator seat, there will be another lottery on the tourney's final day to decide who can watch the final matches live on stage (everyone else will have to make do with a few other rooms equipped with TV screens). Also, spectators won't be able to leave the building until the end of the event for security reasons.

The Taiko Team is also working on a live broadcast of the event for the public, as well as video recordings in high definition. For those who are in the venue, they can acquire the much-anticipated song Yuugen no Ran even for other friends by bringing a few extra cards; there are limitations to the number of friends, but this limit was not specified in the blog post. One last reminder: Yuugen no Ran won't be unlocked if the Banapassport has not been used with Sorairo before!

And... that's about it. See you next week!

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First videos of Karamari no Hana and Calculator

The title says it all; we now have HQ capture vids of the final two CreoFUGA songs, both of which will be joining Hurtling boys as 10* gauntlets to be used in the tournament finals!

The video above is Karamari no Hana, the second Vocaloid song in the winner's circle. The chart is frantic with lots of confusing 2 and 4 note clusters and mixed 1/16 1/24 streams, very much like Nightmare Survivor Ura before it. It has 774 total notes.



And here we have Calculator! On first sight the confusing clusters used seem similar to those used in Karamari no Hana, but slightly faster. However, Calculator takes the challenge up several notches by introducing surprise speedups and slowdowns to throw the player off. Beware the frantic ending with a massive increase in both BPM and scroll speed! It has a neat notecount of 777.

Hurtling Boys still seems like the hardest of the three charts, however. If you've forgotten what it was like, here's a video of the chart.

Oh yeah, in case you were wondering, the firmware number is 8.03 (since they were undecided on the blog update two weeks back).

Rumor: More details on Taiko Sorairo successor

Taken from the website of an arcade game machine distributor in Japan (which also has an English version of the site), this page shows details of the deadlines to order kits of the new Taiko (September 27...my, it's already passed) along with some details.

Thought Momoiro Dodon-ga Bushi and the various plushies were the end of the Momoiro Clover Z collab? Think again; this new firmware which will replace Sorairo this December takes the collab to a whole new level as it will be prominently featured (though not sure if it's for the entire lifespan of the firmware) with many elements of Momoiro Clover in the interface, promotional videos, and obviously, the collaboration song itself. Stay tuned for more about this!

Another thing to note is Namco releasing another 300 cabinets of Sorairo for distribution for the end of this October, with the HDD upgrade kit following suit on the designated date.

Taiko no Tatsujin Plus - 7.65 Million Downloads Celebration!

Last Friday, Namco's portable Taiko game for Apple devices reached the 7.65 million download milestone. As such, a fancy 2-part celebration is heading to iPod/iPhone with tons of freebies and new content!

The first part, which will last until 6 p.m. (Japan time) on October 28th , includes four new Namco Original songs as free downloads after the purchase and download of a new song pack during the promotional period (the songs are also available to whoever has bought any song pack before the promo!). The songs involved in this first batch are Fly away, Obake no Oshigoto, Yuugao no Kimi and Yuujou Pop.

No information about the campaign's 2nd part yet, but stay tuned for more updates!

Made By You: Cookie Clicker and more

Phew! After the long break following the 3rd anniversary mega-feature, it's time to get regular postings of your creations back up once more.

Song of the Week! 12 October 2013

Sometimes, a single letter can really make the difference between two songs! Today's featured couple of J-Pop tunes is a valid example of this.

Namco Taiko Blog (10 October 2013): Want to Hear More? Notecharters #3

Kuboken from the first part of the interview opens up the expose by proudly announcing that his new and very first 10* Oni chart is now complete! Which of the finalist charts belong to him?

Anyway, another two notecharter ninjas take the stage: Nocchi (のっち) and Sasaoka (ササオカ)

Namco Taiko Blog (8 October 2013): Taiko no Tatsujin Sorairo Game Version 8.XX

Surprise update on the blog, and on a Tuesday at that!

For the past two months we've seen the CreoFUGA contest winner songs gradually being introduced and used in the Taiko tournament. We've seen them get harder and harder still. The final set of songs is set to coincide with the tournament finals. It's time.

Taiko no Tatsujin 3DS (5-7): Lou Ya Restaurant: B Suite

Warning: may contain plot spoilers.

Taiko no Tatsujin 3DS (5-5): Lou Ya Restaurant: C Suite

Warning: may contain plot spoilers.

Song of the Week! 5 October 2013

It's no longer just a niche; the Vocaloid craze had invaded most of the Japanese rhythm games as mainstream additions. It's so big that some songs are used in more than one rhythm game from more than one different manufacturer! Today's song is one of them.

Namco Taiko Blog (3 October 2013) - More about Taiko Tournament 2013's finals

For every skilled player who passes the Area Elimination (and for everyone else who wants to watch the Finals), today's blog entry has further details about the conclusive day of this arcade competition.

Taiko Wii U at today's Nintendo Direct

Since the last few years, Nintendo is starting to showcase some of their future games and hardware thanks to a series of monthly videos called Nintendo Direct. Even if said videos are generally made for news and updates which affect the entire gaming world, part of the single Directs are specifically made for specific regions: Japan, North America and Europe.

Today, a new Nintendo Direct video has been made, with the inclusion of more Taiko Wii U footage in the Japanese run! Though if no new content or extra informations are being featured in this instance, it's surely awesome to see Taiko-related stuff into one of Nintendo's biggest appointments with their fans, isn't it?