Despite all the (sometimes questionable) gaming hype around the yearly, American Electronic Entertainment Expo, the flow of fresh Taiko news from Japan not only runs uninterrupted, but in double portions as well!
Last Friday we had the first of June's scheduled Taiko Team livestreams, which bundles very exotic guests for the introduction of both series-affiliated songs and newborne arcade rhythm games alike.
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Before we start with the feature, it's quite appropriate to have a short disclaimer about Synchronica.
At this very moment, we have no plans of any sorts for a 'Syncronica Time' or any kind of subspace on this blog about the game; the information you'll find about the arcade is being put here just for offering a complete overview of the streaming event. However, as for what happened in many other rhythm game franchises in the past, we may return talking about it when Taiko no Tatsujin collaborations, songs or anything else Taiko-related will pop up on Synchronica in the future (and/or vice-versa!).
Now that we settled things down, let's begin.
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As heavily advertised weeks before the event, the Taiko Team has been joined by the head chiefs behind the creation (and song-selection) of Synchronica, which took the first hour of the broadcast to talk about the incoming arcade. So far, the team counts 3 members, lead by producer Kimizu (at the center).
Having cleared out the presentation formalities, the three begin explaining how to play Synchronica by both telling the rules and showing some live gameplay action as well.
Basically, players have to tap specific markers in rhythm with the song on a Hi-resolution touch screen in order to rack up a high-enough combo streak to clear the song. In the game, note-tapping ways include both simple touches, sliding and angled swipes, with each song being played either alone or co-operating with another player for the common goal. Sadly, no footage from the Synchro Team playing on this stream is available (featuring a 2P play of Natsu Matsuri and a 1P play of Classic song "Grandfather's Clock" 's remix), but you can see this off-screen gameplay video from the first location test in order to get the gist of how the game is played.
Some of the game's online features being announced during the stream include a wide network of Internet-related services, in the same fashion of the current Taiko no Tatsujin arcade line! An official website, a Twitter account and a Banapassport-compatible Synchronica portal for progress and high-score tracking (much like the Donder Hiroba) are ready to welcome all the new players to the game when they are outside the arcade rooms.
Once again, the release date for the game has been set for June 18th and remembered for all of the stream's viewers. Coming on July is also a lot of 10 new songs being released for the game in 5 different weeks, 2 for each of the genres shown below.
After a quarter-hour break from the 1-hour stream mark, both the Syncro and Taiko teams appear to welcome actresses Hinata Kashiwagi (柏木ひなた) and Kiyoshitama Taketomi (竹富聖花) from the upcoming, novel-based movie Noushou Sakuretsu Girl. Composer rerulili (れるりり) of the eponymous song has been eager to join the fun as well!
For this time's guest segment, the obligatory interview has been followed by a couple of challenges from Etou and Kimizu, asking the girls to tackle the song Noushou Sakuretsu Girl on their own games by randomly picking the mode after a random card draw. Luckily for them, they managed to pick the easiest mode settings for all the three challenges, with two individual Kantan plays on Taiko and a Co-op Synchronica mission for 100 Combos, all of which have been successfully cleared.
The stream also had something to challenge rerulili as well, but since making him play a song which he personally created might sound like a child's play, the Taiko team goes on an alternative, home-made route...
Chacaron Macaron nadoneyydadon, Chacaron Macaron nadoneyydadon...
After eating the tasty treats and a trailer for the Noushou Sakuretsu Girl movie, the three guests leave the studio for the stream's Taiko-centric section. However, for those who are curious there's some video footage of the guest block for everyone to enjoy!
After a second break, the usual Taiko Team members pop up, quickly joined by the blonde-haired Linda AI-Cue, for some 2000 series talk.
But first, some presents for the in-house guest! Another home-made sweet and a 2000-Yen lotion were gifted to the Namco Sounds composer, receiving in return a nice vertical banner.
Once the formalities are cleared up, the so-waited announcement for the new 2000 song has come to town! unlike with the presentation of Donkama a few stream sessions before, Norudon 2000 comes with its own title card complete with artist data, featuring as singers the very same Linda AI-Cue and another BNSI member that goes under the nick of DJ Cyber...something. Sadly the last letter here is quite blurred...
The reveal was quickly followed by a quick poll, asking the streamers if they wanted to hear half of the song in advance or the whole track. And since videos about the whole Norudon 2000 are available on Youtube, the final result of the poll should have been clear enough!
Below is the newly-made 2000 song being heard during the stream, complete with the Taiko Team's hilarious interpretative dancing.
A quite lenghty interview following the song tells us more of its origins and random trivia, such as the song being inspired by public transportation (hence the title, translatable as "Ride Don 2000") and the Funkot influxes. We'll be going in further detail once the song will be officially out!
The Linda AI-Cue interview is followed recent portable Taiko games programmer Sasaoka in order to spill the beans about the latest Nintendo and Sony portable news.
First is the outgoing giant from the Nintendo 3DS library, with the last batch of DLC songs for Don and Katsu's Space/Time Adventure. As noted by the picture below, TRUTH is in return with brand new notecharts, together with Kirame Kirari's new Oni mode and the console debut of Jibun REST@RT. Thanks for everythin1
Meanwhile, the Taiko Team is already making the countdown to Taiko V Version's launch day, as well as making crying-related puns about its release date.
Three main announcements have been made about the game, the first of which regarding the DLC Song Poll. Over 16,000 suggestions have been made to the team for new DLC, and still more are coming through the official Twitter page, but the final results are not ready to be revealed yet.
Main announcement no.2 was a reminder for the pre-order DLC tracks, with the first one being the already-revealed Tutti! for the Anime genre. We also came to know that the other two pre-order tracks are from the Vocaloid and Game Music genres, and that they will be revealed in that order in the following weeks.
Last but not least, members from the Namco Sounds team are going to help Don-Chan (and the players) for the Donder Quest mode! The first of these personalities being revealed is Linda AI-Cue.
After a visual reminder for checking V Version's website next Thursday for updates, Sasaoka steps back in order to let Etou and Daifuku to come back with some other portable device-related news. After V Version, Taiko Plus and Tori Houdai will get some extra goodies from the Nippon Elekitel Rengo collaboration by the end of this month. Get ready for some in-game Lottery pulls!
For the stream's last stretch, the Synchronica team comes back for the mini-contest linked to a secret word, whose clues have been spread throughout the run. Once the signal was given, the stream spectators had a chance to win some of Etou's vacation souvenirs by typing in the 3-letter secret word (which was 'Sekai', as pictured here). The prizes consist of three photos, a cleaning cloth and a photo stand, all of which will be given as prizes to the winners, which will be informed on a later date.
That wraps up this two-sided livestream. See you later this month, for what it's shaping up to be an even better broadcast for Taiko no Tatsujin fans!
