Throughout our experiences playing Taiko, almost every time the first thing we compare in a Taiko game is the total number of songs that are in it. With each passing generation of Taiko games the storage capacity of discs has increased, and so has the number of songs. Before, 30+ songs was the norm in the PS2 era, and in the past five years the average number of songs has doubled. And with more consoles supporting downloadable content, it increased even further.
The situation is the same on the arcade, and the song count has increased greatly after the networked machine was introduced. Now in its 3rd year, Taiko HD has over 300 songs to choose from.
It sounds great, but would we ever reach a point where there are too many songs? How much time would we need to scroll through them all, and not to mention how long would it take for a new player to start getting accustomed to all the original songs if they're not familiar with them?
Increasing the number of songs on a console Taiko also means increased repetition of songs. It's perfectly fine for newcomers to the series or if you don't feel like switching consoles just to play a couple of classics. However, the team can only produce a certain number of songs at a time. What would happen if console Taikos had 100 songs per game, every game? How many of those would be repeats and how many more new songs would Namco need to churn out every time?
"How much is too much?", basically. Share your thoughts!
