First arcade FC video of Donkama 2000

We all know how devilishly hard the latest entry for the 2000 song series is. So much so that it almost took an entire month since its release to witness some video evidence of a Donkama 2000 Full Combo!

THe video above showcases a player named Oriibu (おりーぶ) performing a Full-Combo play on one of Momoiro Version's final NO nightmares... and for the second time! This feat sounds even more impressive after knowing that the expert Taiko Team member who is in charge of testing Taiko notecharts before the official release only managed to pass the song, despite being able to reliably Full-Combo other difficult Oni milestones like Joubutsu 2000 and Hatsune Miku no Shoushitsu's Ura Oni mode. Kudos!

Song of the Week! 28 June 2014

With the latest 3DS Taiko's release earlier this week, let's celebrate with the new song that started the songlist revealing hype!

Taiwan Tourney 2014 - More Updates

More updates for the first ever Taiwan AC0 Tournament!

First thing you might notice is the brand new logo above. The previous logo was just a temporary placeholder altered from the 2013 Japan Tournament, then based on the Sorairo ver. build. The agent company deemed a more Momoiro ver. style design would be more appropriate, and so here it is! The name is also officially changed to Taiko no Tatsujin Taiwan Tournament 2014 (太鼓の達人 台灣大會2014).

The rules slides are also replaced with ones bearing the new logo. None of the rules themselves are changed so we will not go through them but just link here.

Taiko no Tatsujin Taiwan Tournament 2014 Rules

Also as you might recall, all players are entitled to vote for three candidate songs, to be randomly chosen for Preliminary Round competitors. The results are now in!

Placing	Song (All Regular Oni)	Votes
1	Senbonzakura	137
2	Bad Apple feat. nomico	116
3	Noushou Sakuretsu Girl	70
4	Tokyo Tokkyo Kyo Kyokakyoku Kyokuchou!!	50
5	Densetsu no Matsuri	46
6	Memeshikute	43
7	Juumensou colorful ver.	40
8	A Cruel Angel's Thesis	37
9	Bokura wa Ima no Naka de	36
10	Pokemon XY Trainer Battle Medley	35
11	Mahou no Kissaten	34
12	Saitama 2000	31
13	Alborada del Gracioso	25
14	Yi-er Fan Club	23
15	Kinniku no You na Bokura ~Muscle Love Theme~	22
16	Nanairo Button	13
17	Amachan Opening Theme	10
18	Maji LOVE 2000%	9
19	Extract from Symphony No. 7	8
20	Dance My Generation	5

Five lucky voters has also been chosen to receive the exclusive Momoiro Banapassport card. Congratulations! More cards will be given at the Preliminary Rounds too, so there is still chance!

Voting Results Announcement

Taiko no Tatsujin 3DS2 Unlock List

 

Unlockable contents in Taiko no Tatsujin: Don to Katsu no Jikuu Daibouken can be unlocked by completing Stamp Album tasks and gathering certain totals of Taiko Points ("TP" hereafter) from stamps. Stamps also counts towards your rank.

Taiko no Tatsujin 3DS2 Additional Contents

Taiko Tori Houdai, Taiko Plus - Collaboration with Tales of Asteria!

Tamagotchi on the latest Taiko 3DS videogame is not the only collaboration even to look forward in these days! Another one just started today, featuring Japanese pop/rock band Do As Infinity and one of Bandai Namco's games from the "Tales of" series!

Namco Taiko Blog 2 (26 June 2014): Taiko 3DS2 is now out!

*cue fireworks and party poppers* It has finally arrived! Thus, a big entry was made to celebrate the release, with four main topics: interviews with the producer and director, DLC discussion, future events involving the game, and the next Nicovideo stream!

Namco Taiko Blog (June 26 2014, 1 of 2) - Kimidori de Indenai!

Put down your 3DS2 for the time being, because it is time for the weekly Namco Taiko Blog. Today's first entry of the double update is all about Kimidori ver.!

Twitter Snippets: Int'l Momoiro gets another update

【アジア版おしらせ】 こんばんはー！太鼓チームのタケモトです。 ちょっとオジャマしまして、アジア版の告知をいたします。 6/26(木)に、楽曲の追加を予定しております。詳細は、添付の表をご覧ください。 pic.twitter.com/Yh2SQq8bT8
— 太鼓チーム (@taiko_team) June 23, 2014

Before the Donchare song Donkama 2000 is released on July 1st, five more songs will be available for international Donders. They are:

• JUST LIVE MORE (from Kamen Rider Gaim)
• V (Volt), the opening of the Pokemon XY Anime
• Enmei Chiryou, the IA song by Neru
• The three GMT mashup songs of the Game Music Triangle Phase 2 collab.

These will be open on June 26th, this coming Thursday, while Donkama will be open for all to play on the following Tuesday. Have fun guys!

Taiko no Tatsujin RPG da-don!

In which we interrupt the hype for a Taiko game with RPG elements with another Taiko game with RPG elements.

The game is the iOS-exclusive Taiko no Tatsujin RPG da-don!. If you consider all those collabs with Puzzle & Dragons having an influence on Taiko, it would have boiled down to this.

Made By You: F-L-O-W-E-R and more

It's been a while since we last had this section, hasn't it?



Packer returns with a Taikojiro chart! It's F-L-O-W-E-R, originating from Kirby Triple Deluxe, and is the boss battle theme for the third phase of Queen Sectonia, the final boss. Of course, we all know Kirby, the platformer game featuring the little pink puffball himself, Kirby.

Packer's made this chart with a decent amount of difficulty to fit the marching band drums in the song, with simple but moderately long streams to go along with the short clusters that make up most of the song.

Taiko 3DS2 Update Post

The hype period starts for 3DS2! Spoiler alert for whoever wants to discover game details by themselves.

Total number of updates: 21

Song of the Week! 21 June 2014

Summer has just officially begun for this year! Let's celebrate with two fresh J-Pop songs.

Girls Pop Mania Original Soundtrack: Expected August 13

As per the title, Namco once again commissioned Clarice Disc to release another mini soundtrack album. And this time the content is a little unfamiliar.

Twitter Snippets (June 19 2014) - Huis Ten Bosch Event Sneak Peek

Takemoto's expy, to a few AC0 cabinet next to a body of water, which is opposite to a European building. It is quite nice, but wonder what could this mean?

こんにちは、、ではなくてこんばんは！太鼓チームのタケモトです。 …なんで19時なのにこんなに明るいのでしょう？ pic.twitter.com/0vM60KAc64
— 太鼓チーム (@taiko_team) June 19, 2014

ちなみに、こんなカンジのトコロです。とても居心地の良い場所です。仕事抜きで来たいですw(タケモト) pic.twitter.com/9PC5wMt8Zd
— 太鼓チーム (@taiko_team) June 19, 2014

Twitter Snippets (June 19 2014) - The Yuugen Missionaries?

Yuugen no Ran's transmittable characteristic spawned an interesting role in the Donder community: so-called Yuugen Missionaries. They will gladly accept requests to play 2-player games of Taiko to pass Yuugen no Ran along the community. Good luck in your work Missionaries!

太鼓にて！なんと幽玄伝道師がアルゴに出現中！！！まだ幽玄持ってない方は是非とも声をかけてあげてくださいね！！セッションはどなたとでもしてくれるそうです！！がんばれ伝道師･:*+.\(( °ω° ))/.:+【坂田】 pic.twitter.com/ey6QEKIjRR
— アルゴ (@algo_game) June 19, 2014

"Yuugen no Ran transmitting!! Just reach out and let's play 2-player!!"

First Full Combo of Donkama 2000

Normally, a Full Combo of a song in Taiko isn't met with overwhelming fanfare. But the song in question is the first song in years to be so difficult that no single player could Full Combo it on its first day out: Donkama 2000! And today, on June 19th, 2014, seventeen days after Donkama was released, a player from Gunma Prefecture finally did it, with a score of 1.12 million points. Congrats to him! Hopefully more players will grasp this hugely challenging song in the days to come!

What of the other boss song, Yuugen no Ran? Just like Donkama, no single player was able to FC it on its first day; and limited distribution was not a huge factor as the attendees of the tournament finals were all super skilled players themselves. Let's see how long that takes.

Thanks to crystalsuicune for finding the shot!

Namco Taiko Blog (19 June 2014) - Taiko no Tatsujin Kimidori Version

Previously revealed in occasion of the Finals even for last year's Taiko arcade tournament, Taiko no Tatsujin Kimidori Version, the next main firmware build after Momoiro, will be available in the next month. But as usual, not every feature from Momoiro Version will be available into the newest update.

Today's blog entry acts as a mini sum-up on this particular topic.

Taiko 3DS2: Limited Outfit and Friendly Monster from 7-11's SevenSpot

More collab news! By bringing your 3DS (with Taiko 3DS2 of course) to one of 15,000 7-11 convenience stores that has the SevenSpot corner, you can download exclusive content when accessing the Nintendo Zone.

The first phase gives out a 7-11 branded outfit for Don-chan, available from July 1 09:00~July 15 08:59.



Right after the conclusion of Phase 1 is Phase 2, giving out the friendly monster Seven Cat for use in Story Mode. A recolor of Nekomata Saburou, this alt has the special skill of recovering all team members when attacking. Would be useful when your health is low! Get him before July 31 08:59!



Technically you could have hanged out at one such store on July 15 around nine, and you can get both in one go. Have fun!

Famitsu's review scores for Taiko 3DS 2

As the game is being released next week, Famitsu has given its scores for the incoming Taiko 3DS game. The historical Japanese videogame magazine brand's four reviewers have evaluated the game pretty high this time, even higher than the previous 3DS title!

Don and Katsu's Space/Time Adventure got a 33/40 (single scores 8/9/8/8), topping the ratings of the previous portable game (8/8/8/7) AND even the big brother on Wii U (9/8/7/8). It looks like the game's Story mode really pushed onwards the final verdict for the Famitsu reviewers!

Source

Donder Matsuri: Momoiro Battle

Also announced on Saturday is the newest online tournament Donder Matsuri: Momoiro Battle (ドンだー祭り モモイロの陣). Here are the details now that it is actually underway!

3DS2 Official Site Updates Again! Cameo Characters, Story Mode and New Songs

Only ten days are left before the release date, yet its official website gets updated once again. Aside from the updated TV Commercial video above, there's more to be known!

Song of the Week! 15 June 2014

After the latest arcade tournament's conclusion, the events that will be definitely remembered the most by Taiko fans are the identity revel of one of the most appreciated Taiko song composers and his latest composition for Taiko games, which has been teased several times in the past years.

Now, since my very first contribution to this blog has happened thanks to one of Zeami's song series, I decided to take a day off from the feature, so that I can make a deeper feature about the composer himself and the secrets lying behind his identity and his latest song. Off we go!

First Video of Yuugen no Ran

...not really, because the first ever video would have been Yosuga's exhibition play on stage yesterday.

Now being July 15, those who were at the finals can now play the very long-awaited Yuugen no Ran themselves on Momoiro ver.! And duly out are capture videos of the chart, below being one of them (not played).

At a total of 1262 notes, Yuugen no Ran stands as the second most note-filled Oni chart, just under Shimedore 2000. The total notecounts in all four charts (3334), though, beat Shimedore's 3291.

At peak, a 95-note long 16th stream in 300BPM stands in your way. Not as dense as Ryougen no Mai's 24th in 208BPM, but the length would easily prove very draining. Also in average you will have to be churning an overall 10.50 hit per second to be passing this, towering over previous leaders like Ura Rotter Tarmination and Ura Yawaraka Sensha.

Taiko no Tatsujin: Kimidori Version

All the rumors that Momoiro would be replaced in July are true; as mentioned in the previous post, the new version is called Kimidori. This post is just made to show the title screen of the new arcade firmware.

It's all green and stuff!

Outside of Japan, donders are also guessing when they will be getting this version as well. Fingers crossed it will be sooner than later!

Donder! Nippon-ichi Ketteisen Finals Quick Takeaways - Kimidori, Yuugen no Ran and Zeami

Before we can come up with anything detailed and insightful, here are some abridged takeaways to light up the hype! Thanks to the Taiko Team for keeping their Twitter feed updated along the way too!

Index
Initial match-up schedule
Ending match-up - Champion: Yosuga of Kyushu
July 2014 update confirmed to be Kimidori ver.
Yosuga's exhibition first play of Yuugen no Ran and passing
The elusive Zeami on stage, is Tatsuya Shimizu
Next song on Taiko under Tatsh

Donder! Taiwan-ichi Ketteisen 2014 - Rules and Proceedings Announced

Well, what d'you know? The Taiwan Tournament IS going to be called Donder! Taiwan-ichi Ketteisen 2014. Earlier Sume released a series of presentation slides to explain the rules and proceedings of the tournament, so let's take a look!

See the slides as complete Facebook album
Sume Official Facebook Page

Taiko Plus - the Dawn of the Ura modes!

The conclusion of the latest Taiko arcade tournament is right behind the corner! But first, here's something that will surely keep some Taiko Plus players's thumbs busy for a while!

O Sole Mio Lyrics

Composer: Eduardo di Capua
Lyrics: Giovanni Capurro
Arrangement: Jesahm (自営山)
Vocal: Udzuka Yasuo (兎束康雄)

Compiled with reference to the song's Wikipedia entry.

Namco Taiko Blog (12 June 2014): June 6th Stream Recap and Rewards

We did a (somewhat) comprehensive recap of the events that happened in the June 6th Nicovideo stream, together with a list of the rewards, and Taiko Team just reiterates it in today's blog entry.

Here's the promised Twitter icon, using Don-chan's new Snail costume for June 2014.

And here's the smartphone wallpaper, featuring the long-awaited Taiko Tournament 2013.

Then, a recap of the interviews with the remaining finalists of the tournament was shown, with these players:

• Ezomori (えぞもり) from Tohoku Area B
• Bii (びー) from Hokkaido
• Nayuku (なゆく) from Saitama
• Soro (そろ) from Chiba
• Marshal of the Demon King Allied Forces (大魔王連合軍元帥) from Tokyo Area B (and the award for best name goes to...)
• Rinne (りんね) from Toukai Area A
• Yukihiro? (ゆきひろ？) from Toukai Area B
• Himenyan (ひめにゃん) from Kansai Area A
• Kuroino! (くろいの！) from Kansai Area B (many Youtube videos of this guy. He's always the fully-black Don-chan)
• Yosuka (よすが) from Kyushu Area B
• Mikyuno (ミキュロ) from Okinawa

As promised, the new Namco Original song made by Zeami, Yuugen no Ran (幽玄ノ乱), will be distributed to all Banapass holders attending the tournament live, and is hoped that it will spread throughout Japan via the shared-play mechanic previously done with Joubutsu 2000.

The livestream for the tournament finals will be on June 14th, 2014, 1pm Japan time, using Nicovideo. No more typhoons to delay the tournament any further, fingers crossed!

Here's the link to the stream. Don't miss it!

Link to original post

First video of Taiko 3DS 2's Demo Version

From today, Japanese Nintendo 3DS users can try out the new portable Taiko game with the download of a demo version! Here is a gameplay video of all the stuff being featured.

Just like for the first Taiko 3DS game's demo, this one already features one of the full release's many secret songs! Sampling Masters AYA's Lightning Passion will make its return on console games as one of the first boss fight tunes of the game's story mode.

EDIT: Clearer lineout from Nicovideo. Thanks to crystalsuicune for finding it!

Twitter Snippets (June 10 2014) - Better Late than Never

News about two Namco Originals on the Momoiro arcades today. Again if you are not following the official @taiko_team feed on Twitter, you are missing out.

First, overseas Donders must have feel a bit left out not seeing STAGE 0.ac11 on a promotional appearance, after the livestream challenge last week (even after a whole day like last time's PaPaPa Love). Fret not, you are not forgotten! It is on a different week (June 14~22), that's all.

【アジア版告知】こんにちは！太鼓チームのタケモトです。告知のみで失礼いたします。 先日のニコ生の10万コメント達成プレゼントの「STAGE 0.ac11」ですが、アジア版でも今週末の6/14(土)から6/22(日)まで、期間限定で解放されます！ 挑戦してみるドーン！
— 太鼓チーム@6/14全国大会決勝戦！ (@taiko_team) June 10, 2014

Speaking of late appearances, Etou also confirmed with a commentor that Yuugen no Ran, the long-dreaded new Zeami song, will be available punctually on June 15 if you got it from attending the Finals just as promised (if you discount the 8-month rain check).

@yagiccho_taiko こんにちは！東京も蒸し暑かったりしますね＞＜っと、幽玄ノ乱ですが、6/15からプレイ可能、であっています！
— 太鼓チーム@6/14全国大会決勝戦！ (@taiko_team) June 10, 2014

Twitter Snippets (June 9 2014) - Finals Live

Excited for the National Tournaments Finals this Saturday? Us too! Let the fact that the whole event can be viewed live on Nicovideo comfort you! The link is in the tweet below, freshly written by Etou today.

【ニコ生(2014/06/14 13:00開始)】「太鼓の達人 ドンだー！日本一決定戦2013」生中継だドン！ #taiko765 http://t.co/58b5Etx8cX 決勝大会ニコ生します！＆ページ開設してます！タイムシフトありませんので、当日ぜひご覧ください！
— 太鼓チーム@6/14全国大会決勝戦！ (@taiko_team) June 9, 2014

However, the very useful NicoLive Timeshift function does not work with this session, so it's then or never! (Sans possible future excerpts released officially, like in 2011)

Cooking with Taiko Team (6/6/2014)

(screenshots and stream coverage courtesy of tetsutaro, crystalsuicune and Lokamp!)

As promised in the previous stream, if enough comments were gathered Etou would present his kitchen, or at least show off his extreme cooking skills. That's exactly what he did, but before that, this stream also has its own set of stretch goals for comments. Let's see them!

Contents of stream
-Stretch goals
-Etou's Kitchen
-Donkama 2000 discussion
-Taiko 3DS 2 discussion
-Tourney 2013 finalist interview part 2
-Another few seconds of Yuugen no Ran

Song of the Week! 7 June 2014

From the Taiko point of view, yesterday was the day of the CreoFuga songs, granting the first console ports for each of the contest winners. Today's song in the spotlight is one of those!

Donder! Taiwan-ichi Ketteisen 2014?

...and nope, we just coined that name to mess around a bit. What's true though is that Sume, Taiko Momoiro's exclusive agent in Taiwan, is going to host a Taiwan-wide Taiko tournament this summer, on the HD Taiko arcade!

Exciting as it can already be, Sume leaks that this Momoiro-inspired Banapassport design would be a gift in this tournament, delivered right from Namco Japan!

Stay tuned to Sume's Facebook page for more news on this tournament in the future! We here will also be keeping on the radar for those who can't read Chinese.

Link to Sume's announcements: 1 of 2 / 2 of 2

Taiko no Tatsujin Plus / Tori Houdai / Taiko 3DS 2 - Donder! Japan Playoff cross-over!

Today's Taiko Team stream session just ended, but a few hours before its beginning, a new announcement has been made about the console-unrelated Taiko portable games, which also has made its way later in the streaming in a series of paper-printed images like the one above.

If some of the names shown above don't ring any bell, ... here is what's about: a huge shipment of CreoFuga-spawn Taiko creations!

Twitter Snippets (June 5 2014) - PaPaPa Love in Rewards Shop

Speaking of the comment challenge in tomorrow's livestream, the early bird unlock from last time, PaPaPa Love, has just officially entered the Momoiro song list as a Rewards Shop purchase. Etou released this piece of information on Twitter subsequent to a commentor asking.

明日のニコ生で10万コメ達成で先行解禁のステゼロの一般登場時期は未定です。まずは明日一緒に盛り上がって先行解禁目指しましょう！また、5/9のニコ生で10万コメ達成して先行解禁された「PaPaPa Love」は、現在ドンだーひろばのごほうびショップにてポイント交換でゲットできます！
— 太鼓チーム@6/14全国大会決勝戦！ (@taiko_team) June 5, 2014

Can we expect Stage 0 ac.11 also before the next big update this July? We'll have to see.

Namco Taiko Blog (June 5 2014) - It's Tomorrow! June 6 Livestream: More Details

Another livestream is upon us! No more than 30 hours as of the writing of this, Taiko Team will host another Nicovideo-exclusive livstream show. It's high time we do an overall review on tomorrow's expected topics!

Date and time: June 6 (tomorrow!) 19:30
Link: http://live.nicovideo.jp/watch/lv180923709

[Breaking] Twitter Snippets (June 4 2014) - Ask Linda AI-CUE! Now Accepting Questions

A quick note that on Twitter, Etou is now accepting questions for 2000 Series composer Linda AI-CUE to be used in this week's livestream. Reply to the tweet linked below now! Submission ends later today.

Link to tweet

Link to livestream (starts 19:30, June 6 2014)

Donkama 2000 Day One Facts and Figures

Hope everyone has a thrilling time looking out for news of the newest 2000 song! Below are some more bits about Donkama 2000 after a first day!

First video of Donkama 2000

Warning: watching the above video will leave you in awe and terror.

The 19th 2000 series song, Donkama 2000 was released as June's Don Challenge song (and July for the Asian region machines!), and it is made up of pure madness, being arguably the 3rd 2000 song to employ extreme gimmicks in its Oni chart (the first two being Hataraku 2000 and Suuhaa 2000).

Almost EVERY SINGLE NOTE in the Oni chart has a different scrolling speed, and while it actually is not that difficult aside from the dense Don streams, the major hurdle to overcome in Donkama 2000 is the complete lack of readability. Yet another chart which I'm sure will divide players into two: those who think it is a terribly designed chart and those who think it is a sadistic masterpiece.

The title is based on the 1963 rhythm machine DONCA MATIC released by electronic instrument company Korg.

A more detailed guide will be up at the 2000 series page when we get more information. Look forward to it!

EDIT: Replaced with clearer capture vid and much better audio. Still pretty sure not a single person has passed the Oni chart yet.

Ninjinnin Lyrics

Composer, Arrangement, Lyrics: Toyonaga GontaP (豊永ごんたP)
Adjustment: YumehikariP (夢光P)
Vocal: GUMI