Taiko 3DS 2 tribute month is still going strong! This week, we are going to take a look at a couple of songs which had their console debut in the latest Nintendo portable Taiko game.
Eccentric w (エキセントリックｗ) GingahoumenP feat. ZOLA PROJECT| Version |  |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | x3 (194) | x4 (282) | x6 (481) | x8 (692) |
Taiko 0 M, Taiko 3DS 2
172
none
zolextAfter the quite shy attempts of featuring male Vocaloid unit songs back in the Sorairo days, the next major arcade firmware has seen the debut of the then-newborne ZOLA PROJECT from the Vocaloid3 generation, thanks to a contest-winning song by Gingahoumen-P@Takashi Jinno (銀河方面P＠神野貴志) from StudioPeppermint. As for the other Vocaloid songs on the second 3DS Taiko videogame, no mention of the Vocaloid voices being used appeares next to the composer in the song's subtitle, unlike many other Taiko games.
Speaking of the unit, the ZOLA PROJECT was originally released on June 2013 as a promo-only piece of software, in honor of the Vocaloid software brand's 10th anniversary; the later outburst of popularity made it become one of the regular products in a later date. The word ZOLA in the title is actually an acronym for "Zenithal Operated Liaison Aggregation". The virtual unit is formed by three members known as YUU, KYO and WIL, who were also invited to a Taiko Team livestream a year after the ZOLA PROJECT's debut (link), in occasion to their second song's coming on Taiko arcades.
As mentioned before, Gingahoumen-P's Eccentric w managed to become playable on Taiko games thanks to a ZOLA PROJECT launch contest (link), whose supporting sponsors (Taiko no Tatsujin very much included) had the possibility to choose a certain number of winners. Eccentric w managed the only winner of the Taiko prize, as well as netting juicy awards from three other sponsors as well in Lawson, LIVE DAM and Amuse (link). Lyricized by Boto (暴徒), the song delves into the mind of an unknown eccentric guy as he tackles a good variety of everyday issues like trying read his loved one's interests in order to try to begin a love relationship, gaming/manga otaku stuff and dealing with his health issues throughout the year.
Notecharter Kawagen Collagen (カワーゲン・コラーゲン) has made the notecharts for Eccentric w, with its Oni mode being the third drumroll-less Vocaloid challenge overall after Children Record and Kohi no Aji To. Save for a quite intricate cluster section after the first Go-Go Time segment, the whole song is charted in an old-school nod fashion to pre-Taiko 0 Oni modes of the same star range, featuring single notes and small clusters all throughout the song.
Mahou no Kissaten (魔法の喫茶店)| Version | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | x3 (164) | x4 (227) | x5 (457) | x8 (708) |
Taiko 0 M, Taiko 3DS 2, Taiko + 168 none mhcafeConsole-debuting on Taiko 3DS 2 is also another song from the Momoiro Version firmware build, which even managed to be featured for the game's demo version. Mahou no Kissaten (lit. 'Coffee Shop of Magic') is the last contribution to Taiko games from songwriter Ishibashi 'mirawi' Wataru (石橋渡), being released as a Don Challenge posthumous song. Sung by Kaori Aihara (愛原圭織), the song narrates about the existence of a particular coffee shop that is used by students as a meeting place after school to stay together and learn some of its magic secrets, which Kaori herself seems very eager of wanting to learn, according to the lyrics!
Difficulty-wise, Mahou no Kissaten's Oni mode is similar to Eccentric w's in many expects, though if the slightly lower BPM value is being compensated by a barrage of long clusters towards the song's end.
