It looks like the Taiko Team really likes to publish a large amount of blog posts in one day, as this Thursday we have another trio of articles to take care of!
The Taiko Wii U videogame has been released today, and the Taiko team (finally) realized that it's time to start featuring the game in their official blog, with one of 17masu's posts. Aside from briefly describing the game's features, some of the staff behind the game came in to bring impressions about the game to the readers and a recommended song to play. Let's start with
As Namco's Taiko games are becoming more and more popular in Japan, he feels that this game can meet people's expectations, thanks to the possibility to download new drum outfits and songs. He recommends to play the Amachan Opening Theme with the family, as it's a quite popular song with some modes a little bit harder than usual...
The next one is the game's director, Kijima. His favourite feature in the game is the Baton Pass mode, which also thinks is more suitable for plays with friends and the family, as it makes the harder songs a little bit more bearable. Kijima's song suggestion is the game's theme song, Atsumare☆Taiko Matsuri! for the cheerful singing voice of Don-chan, altough his fave in the game is a certain unlockable tune called Ｐ☆ｓ△■×・・・ (surely talking about Pastel Sealane, one of the unlockable Game Music tracks!)
Then we have Ishii, who is responsible for Taiko Wii U's visual style. Being involved specifically around the graphic aspect of the game, Ishii's favourite feature is the freedom offered with the drum customization, with all the costumes and color combinations it's possible to achieve. His favourite song is the new Momoiro Clover Z collaboration track (Momoiro Taiko Dodon-ga Bushi) because of its very positive lyrics and powerful sounding.
The sound manager is the next one in the line! Hirai really loves the download features the Wii U game offers, with an higher emphasis on the additional songs. Being the composer/arranger of the recent Namco Original Phoenix, he really recommends it as a father.
Last but not least, we have Okabe Hironao, which is one of the game's programmers. Among Taiko Wii U's features, he really loves the gameplay features the Wii U Gamepad can add, both as an additional controller and as a stand-alone playing machine with the Off-screen feature. He recommends to play Ninjyary Bang Bang, because it's the favourite song of the programmer sitting next to him during the interview!
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Today's second blog post is about notecharters! Specifically one of them, who somehow didn't make it for being featured in time last month. Meet the Sentai notecharter Kan (カーン)!
Joined Taiko Team: 2012 (during Taiko no Tatsujin Wii: Chogouka-Ban)
Number of charts made: more than 30
Skill level: Reached the Eight Rank in Sorairo Version's Dojo Ranking mode, clears any 10* Oni on drumsticks which is not called Hurtling Boys and DEBSTEP!
Notechart specialty-Handles Oni 5* to 10* (with personal preference to the 7-9 stars range)
-Makes notecharts under the concept of "beating the song after the player feels in unity with the song itself"
-As such, he makes notecharts which follow specific motifs, in order to make the players aware on how to hit and how to carry the hand
-He wants to convey more the fun of maps with technical sections
Sample notecharts created
Tsukema Tsukeru (つけまつける): First notechart made as a Sentai Notecharter. Kan's favourite things about it are the placing of single Don notes and the good feel brought by the repeated Kat-Kat-Don clusters.
Tanhou ～Blooming～ (綻放 ～Blooming～): After making the regular notechart, he was asked to make the Ura mode's patterns as well, but he had to wait a while until the final Wii game's production. Even with the higher tempo and different patterns, he still wonders if this is a good 8* notechart to practice with for harder treats...
Pavane for a Dead Princess ～Kimi no Kodou～ (亡き王女のパヴァーヌ ～きみのこどう～): The Ura patterns for this song are made by following the guitar lead during the song, in order to have a more comfortable sounding.
Senbonzakura (千本桜): Another Wii 5 debut Ura, and one of its most played ones! It has been packed with lots of simple elements in order to be a good training ground for harder challenges. It has been very hard for Kan to adjust, but he's happy that it's being played by lots of people!
Junction: This is Han-hen's first notechart ever made as a Namco employee, and with one of his faves no less! The chart is made with several long note clusters for a super-technical feel of playing. He also reveals that one of Katsu-Don's titles (Extreme Fusion, どフュージョン) was one of the scrapped names for this song during development!
RAGE v. Self: Hot patterns everywhere! He really liked the Go-Go Time emphasis in this song, especially in the arcade port of this song!
Tales of Xillia Medley (テイルズ オブ エクシリア メドレー): He really had fun making a long, only-Don zone for this song, and he hopes this has brought some fun to the players as well!
Boku wa Shinse (ボクハシンセ): Katsu-Don's final song! He crafted a chart with a bouncy feeling into it, thanks to the merging of both swing and jazz vibes into the patterns.
Zero no Nocturne (零の夜想曲): Sorairo Version's theme song (as Kan calls it without any permission)! He made another bouncy pattern for this alternative Oni difficulty with more conventional clusters.
ETERNAL BLAZE: At the same time of Zero no Nocturne's Ura, Kan also made the patterns for this song, thus using a similar pattern style for both the songs. The concept behind this one, however, was different: to make a song to beat while singing!
Children Record (チルドレンレコード): for IA's first song in Taiko games, the patterns used are very fast and heavy on clusters, much like the ones used for Kill Me no Baby's Oni mode (Kan urged to state that this behaviour was for pattern respect, and not for being a rip-off!)
Highschool love!: Kan looked at this song as something that comes out from a musical movie, and so the patterns are made in order to make the song feel even more spectacular to the players.
Nightmare Survivor (ナイトメア・サバイバー): This is the first boss chart he has been in charge of, and the pressure was pretty high! The patterns are made by mixing a lot of technical elements in the previous songs, but as 'trascendence patterns' go, he felt to make an upgrade of difficulty! Even if he thinks that the song itself is very elegible of being a 'boss song', Kan can't still survive the nightmare about its patterns: in the end, they were appropriate to the song or not?
Haryu (春竜～Haryu～): For this Ura mode, the notecharter has put a lot of energy in order to make the best atmosphere possible during the play. With his personal impressions about the song in mind (such as an idyllic image of Spring itself), the song is fast-packed with tons of clusters in a notechart whose parts were all connected one to the other one, just like for a dragon's long body.
Kohi no Aji to (珈琲の味と): Another speedy notechart with an endless flow of clusters has been packed for one of Harunaba's contest-winning songs, as this Gumi tune proved to be very rich and worth of a difficult challenge
Yobanashi Deceive (夜咄ディセイブ): Another IA song for Kan-This notechart relies on technical gimmick like 1/24 clusters, but still mapped in order to harmonically follow the song itself, especially during the interlude.
Kohi no Aji to (珈琲の味と): Another speedy notechart with an endless flow of clusters has been packed for one of Harunaba's contest-winning songs, as this Gumi tune proved to be very rich and worth of a difficult challenge
Yobanashi Deceive (夜咄ディセイブ): Another IA song for Kan-This notechart relies on technical gimmick like 1/24 clusters, but still mapped in order to harmonically follow the song itself, especially during the interlude.
Nijiiro no Sensou (虹色の戦争): For Sorairo Version's last new licensed track, the notechart crafted is made to be played not for who is looking for another challenge, but simply for who loves the song.
Yozakura Braiders (夜櫻ブレヰダアズ): Ponkichi's song has received an Oni notechart crafted in order to make its irregular rhythms easier and more enjoyable to hit with the Taiko drum. Particular cures have been made to the song's second half (which he calls the 'Rush Zone'), whose definitive version has been decided since the start!
Karamari no Hana (カラ鞠の花): The last Kan notechart being discussed is for another Vocaloid song. Built as an hybrid version between Yobanashi Deceive and Nightmare Survivor's notecharts, he packed another Oni mode about the satisfaction of clearing it once the song's rhythms have been absorbed by the players, thanks to its easy-to-read patterns.
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On to the final blog entry for today! The Taiko Team has decided to hold another arcade outfit contest for every Banapassport owners. Like in the past times, the winners will be mentioned in a future blog entry and also featured in a special wallpaper for everyone to enjoy, like last time's picture:
The rules are very simple: in order to join, it's enough to post an image of their favourite Taiko outfit from the Donder Hiroba on the Taiko Team's twitter account. Unlike the previous contests, images have to be sent with the creator's name (or nickname) and a short comment about the outfit chosen. Plus, collaboration-related costumes (such as the Vocaloid and the J-Pop-related ones) can still be used for the entry, but they won't be included in the final wallpaper. Here is an example of an acceptable entry:
Only one combination for each user can be sent for the event, which will last from today to November 28th, 23.59 (Japan Time).
Only one combination for each user can be sent for the event, which will last from today to November 28th, 23.59 (Japan Time).
That's all, for today! Links for the original blog posts are shown below:
