First, let's have a look at the songs being added to every Kimidori Version model across Japan, starting with the new addition for the Anime genre. Coming from Aikatsu, Du-Du-Wa DO IT!! (2/3/7/7, Papa Mama support on Kantan) is one of the rare addition to the genre mainly featuring 1/12 note patterns, mixed in between with the more regular 1/16 beat division. 358 notes on Oni!
Coming next are the two Game Music tracks that will also appear in the incoming new Taiko Wii U videogame: the second Dragon Ball Heroes mission theme song (2/3/3/6, Papa Mama support on Kantan) and Hikaru Yami (3/5/5/8). However, while the Oni mode for Evil Dragon Mission series' theme song plays like expected for the 6-star ballpark, the latter arguably cheats its higher star rating quite a bit... Max Combo counters for the two songs are respectively 365 and 386.
Don't forget that Kessen!! from Puzzle & Dragons Z is now in Taiko Kimidori as well! If console Taiko games aren't yourthing, now it's the perfect time to try it on the arcade.
Now it's time for Yamatai★Night Party (3/5/7/9) and IOSYS Aki no Nikushokusai 2014 (3/6/7/9), the first two Namco Originals by artists coming from the doujin circle IOSYS. Both the songs have their Oni modes rated 9*, but the latter definitely likes to show off how hard modern 9-starred Oni notecharts can be! The two songs have respectively 777 and 848 notes.
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This ends the part about the new songs for all arcades, as the next ones are currently exclusive to a certain arcade operator association... Yep, you guessed it: it's time for the Tenkaichi Otogesai songs!
All the three songs coming from different arcade franchises to Taiko have close-to maximum star ratings for each of the four modes, with the common factor of having a 9* Oni and... *drum-roll* a 10* Ura Oni each! Some Max combo number/wordplay has been spotted as well, but why are you still reading this line? Have a look at the songs for yourself!
Coming from maimai as its first original boss song, Garakuta Doll Play (4/6/8/9/10) has become the first song on Taiko games by t+pazolite. Its high base BPM and note clusters is a serious threat alone for both modes, but some nice side features in the shape of multiple short Go-Go Time stanzas and some scrolling changes contribute to give the song more charm, outside from the difficulty spike. Max Combo counters are 750 for Oni and 715 (read: Na-i-co, a pun between Namco and maimai) for the Ura Oni.
Trivia: The Ura Oni, with 257 large notes out of 715 in total or 35.94%, breaks the record of the most large notes by proportion in a non-gimmick notechart (i.e. other than Oodain).
Garakuta Doll Play also features a Sou-uchi chart in Ura Oni. The notecount is 526/516, and for most parts it cut very clearly between the song's multiple tracks, and hence breaking up some of the hardest parts. If you feel stuck at parts like small katsu among large dons, try conquering it together with a friend!
From Groove Coaster we have Got more raves?, which also is the first boss song for the rhythm game franchise it originated from! E.G.G.'s track on Taiko is also another hi-BPM song, more focused on 1/12 and 1/24 clusters instead. Expect to see this song in our Taito series page soon!
Last but not least, here's DJ YOSHITAKA's contribution for the Tenkaichi Otogesai tourney! FLOWER comes to Taiko in two different notechart difficult gimmick variation, with regular Oni's many short clusters and the Ura Oni's very frequent cluster signature changes. Max combo is 721 for regular Oni and 873 (read as 'Ba-na-mi', pun between the familiar Ban-namco and Konami) for the Ura variant.
More trivia: Although stated to be 173 BPM in the AOU Games Day site, Taiko has the song rendered to a whoppingly doubled 346 BPM (see spazzing Don-chan and co.), speculated to fit in the multitude of 32nd notes in spite of technical limitations. This means it now has the highest basic BPM in all of Taiko history, surpassing Souryuu no Ran's 320. Man this record-breaking collab is breaking records everywhere.
