[SITE] - June 2016's Housekeeping Plans

Six months have come by, meaning that a new round of blog maintenance is upon us! Together with us trying to keep up to date most of the Taiko Time blog's still active corners, we're also working on some new elements to be added or integrated within this coming month's end:

• As you may have noticed, we're experimenting a new way to forward you to our latest three "First Video" posts with a small text box placed right below the quick links to the Song of the Week archive. This feature is still in a rudimentary state, but feel free to tell what yo're thinking about this (or our other blog features for that matter!) though one of your contact methods.
• Speaking of features, we're almost ready to have some special articles as well for these coming weeks' end, such as some user-suggested Sympho-Neighbours topics and another Feature article. A feature that may or may not become the topic for one of our future Song Series Showcases...
• Together with this mystery trope, we're also putting our heads together for new Game Music-related Series Showcases! Together with June 2016's expected updates, we're planning to have dedicated pages for the God Eater, Klonoa and Synchronica songs.
• Our 2nd Lyrics Feature Request Poll is nearing its half, but we're always open for user suggestions for our next round! We already got Atashi Ikasama Koi wa Ikasama and Dokidoki Don-chan Sawagi as our first early requests, but for the 3rd LFRP round we're still open for a maximum of 6 more requests.
• Finally, we think that it's about time for us to start working on our next Jumbo Brand Corner, which will take us all to the wonders of Gensokyo! We'll begin preparing the pages for the Touhou Project Corner in this coming month, sorting the related arrangement songs by game release and order of debut in Taiko gaming.

Once again, we're always open for any kind of suggestions from our readers, so feel free to reach us out with the side Chatbox//Facebook/Twitter/other contacts we've provided if you want to!

With that settled, it's time to work on those projects. See you there!

-Lokamp

New Taiko x P&D Cross Collab Updates

Following up last weekend's reveal, Famitsu's website has recently updated the bigger picture of this collaboration frame on the Taiko side. Together with the (still unknown) P&D X songs coming to Dokodon! Mystery Dungeon, Walking Through The Towers will make a rampant return as free DLC.

All the collaboration content will be available for free from the P&D X games' release (July 28th) to the end of August, after which month the content will be converted as paid DLC.

Source: [Famitsu.com]

[RANDOM] - Dragon Spirit Medley in Groove Coaster

One of Taiko no Tatsujin's first Game Music-related medleys, the Dragon Spirit Medley is about to cross boundaries with Taito's Groove Coaster series, thanks to the arcade's next online tournament. 

Going under the title of Super Shooting Game Festival (which ironically is coming after yet another shooting-based game series tourney, mind you), this event will start in 2 days with brand new song inclusions from different developers' shooting games, with Masubutchi Yuuji's medley of Shinji Hosoe's Dragon Spirit original score being one of the brand new outsiders entries for the tournament.

Source (GC update that adds them)
Source (Super Shooting Game Festival)
And GC confirming it is the same as the Taiko one

Taiko 3DS 3 x Puzzle & Dragons Cross Collaboration!

If the multiplayer-oriented songs appearing on White Version and the most recent Taiko Plus/STH score attack event haven't satisfied all of your Puzzle & Dragons collaboration needs, here's yet another course for everyone in the incoming Taiko title for Nintendo 3DS!

Feature: Score Fixing

Score fixing (点数調整 tensuu chousei or スコア調整 score chousei) is when you play a song in Taiko no Tatsujin and make the ending score something nice-looking, be it a round number (most often 1,000,000), repeated digits (say 777,770), or something with a goroawase connection (765,000 and 876,000 are in theme with the series, for example). While it is not necessary, some score fixing feats also assumes the requirement of a Donderful Combo (getting all 良s) and clearing all notes as normally as possible except yellow drumrolls.

Song of the Week! 28 May 2016

For May 2016's Ura Feature, here's a little something directly from Taiko Team leader Etou's favorite Anime series!

Taiko Plus/STH: Touhou Invasion is Complete

Promotional Image Source

Remember when we say that Touhou Project arrangement picks are quickly invading every current console (Vita, 3DS, Wii U), and then all the people who consider iOS and Android legitimate console platforms got mad at us for excluding those two?

Well okay, that never happened, but now we can safely not have that happened at all, when Touhou picks are also coming to Gakkyoku Tori Houdai on both platforms!

Gakkyoku Tori Houdai Adds: May 26
 ナイト・オブ・ナイツ Night of Knights
　　　東方Projectアレンジ ビートまりお Touhou Project Arrange / Beat Mario
 ネクロファンタジア ～ Arr.Demetori Necrofantasia ~ Arr. Demetori
　　　東方Projectアレンジ Demetori Touhou Project Arrange / Demetori

And what's that? The invasion is still ongoing with a total of 3 consecutive months of more Touhou songs for GTH? Sign (insert whoever likes Touhou songs) up!

3DS3 Update: More Story Mode and Song List Updates

...okay, this one isn't about an actual website update for the soon-to-be-released new Taiko game, but the content that follows might eventually join the official page in the coming weeks. Now sit back for 4Gamer.net's latest updates about the game!

Namco Taiko Blog (26 May 2016) - Taiko Team's May Livestream Recap

Popping up as expected, this week's Taiko Team blog entry is a handy recap of what happened during last Thursday's livestream, with pictures of the new Taiko 3DS videogame's slides and a preview clip from June '16 DonChare debut song Yomi no Izanami. Head to the original blog entry for a preview clip of the 5th God Collection song!

Link to original post

V Version Update: Popular Song Pack 14: Curtain Call

Before we start, here is a small Japanese lesson: フィナーレ (finaare) means "finale". And now you are set to know about the new seven-song-but-still-original-price pack, coming June 2.

First Video - CreoFuga 2015's Last Warriors

Today we finally wrap up the third cycle of CreoFuga's Taiko contest winners, as the final quinted from the 2015 event have joined White Version's song list with today's update.

Reach us after the jump for the full display on the latest Namco Originals!

[RANDOM] - Princess Soprano Now in NA/EU P&D Servers

As Game Version 9.0.3 of GungHo's mobile game Puzzle & Dragons came out in both North America and Europe, the latest Taiko no Tatsujin character in the game has now being made available on the western servers! No troublesome name changes have been made for the English localization.

Tune in about an hour for some actual Taiko news!

Taiko Plus/STH - Anime/Game Recommended Pack and Im@s Free Delivery Revival

As of last Friday, the Taiko Plus app was greeted with a couple of new features! the first of those is the Apple-exclusive Anime Game Recommended Pack (アニメゲームおすすめぱっく), delivering another quintet of songs that originally made their debut in the game with the Gakkyoku Tori Houdai mode:

• OLA!!
• crossing field
• Feed A
• IOSYS Aki no Nikushoku Matsuri 2014
• Tales of the Abyss

In addition to this pack, the Idolm@ster song Thank You! will return to both game versions as a free song until June 3rd. The song has also been added to the Gakkyoku Tori Houdai mode with its custom dancers, so if you want to play it again now you have a (semi-permanent) place to enjoy it outside from arcades.

---------------------------

As an appendix to this Taiko Plus-related post, we also report that the Puzzle & Dragons score attack has ended with over 36 million points, thus granting all its promotional contents in the near future. And hey at least it's a more reliable method to get a Light Kali without wasting hundreds of magic stones

Across Japan (May 23 2016): Asians Get Finals! White ver. (Asia) Version Update (V4.01)

Same day as the version update in Japan (May 25) is a version update in Asia, adding the same songs! Look out for "G/V 4.01" on the title screen to make sure you can get the new songs before you even slot in the coins.

New Songs: May 25
 Netemo Netemo ☆Shoji☆ feat. Honoka♡Erika Same day as Japan
 Hiyoko Fantasy Tsuyomi Same day as Japan
 Reitouko CJ ~Amen Taiko Brothers~ DJKurara Same day as Japan
 Asagao BTB Same day as Japan
 Gloria K.Key Same day as Japan

New Songs: June 1
 Sports Digestdon ~Fill in The Sky~

Link to original post

Nightmare Before Tokkun-mas (19/05/16)

Another Taiko Team livestream has come and gone, bringing a new (and welcomed!) load of Taiko-related content to share with their viewers, regardless of the audience being casual spectators from the Internet or fine Taiko gaming connoisseurs.

For those of you that weren't up to see the original broadcast, we're always here to fill in the gap with bright visuals and corny jokes!

WCS2016 Update: Repechage, Open Category and Finals Demystified

We're still in the progress of coming up with the livestream recap, but let's cover the World Championship 2016 parts that was announced, which was swiftly put into the official WCS2016 website the next day. We have information on the after-area-match antics and the final showdown.

Ohayou! Taiko Summer Lyrics

Composition: Yuri Misumi (みすみゆり)
Vocal: Yakayoshi Tanimoto (谷本貴義)

Song of the Week! 21 May 2016

Once again, we have a Vocaloid/GM pair for our Saturday appointment, both of which will be available in the upcoming 3DS Taiko videogame.

3DS3 Update: Pickups from May 19 Livestream and May 20 Website Update

What today's website update adds is basically what we saw yesterday on the stream, so here's a dedicated post before our usual livestream recap just to say that no, we did not miss stuff this time.

Across Japan (May 18 2016): Murasaki ver. Ranking Dojo Results and Statistics

 

Rather late considering Red ver. is already coming its way, here are the results for the Murasaki ver. Ranking Dojo in the Asian regions. Unlike Japa, there are no successful attempts of Choujin (two fails) and no attempts at all for Tatsujin (because only unlocked after Choujin). The highest rank attained in the Asian regions is Gold Meijin, with Hong Kong's ~?!~, Taiwan's Gari!? and South Korea's Sesang. For a full list of high rankers (from 7-dan onwards), check the original post. We only embedded the Kurouto/Meijin page above as a taster.

As always in Ranking Dojo statistics, you can also find the pie chart of highest rank obtained and the percentage bar chart of the clearing tallies for each individual rank also in the original post.

With about a month left in Japan and possibly a bit longer in Asia, there is still some time to make a mark in the next installment of these statistics by training for the next rank in the White ver. Ranking Dojo. Go to an arcade room near you for that soon!

 

Quick Takeaways: May 19 Livestream

This post might be removed when the full coverage is ready. Meanwhile, feel free to contribute screenshots and information to help out!

3DS3 Dokodon! Mystery Adventure

• Full PV exclusive viewing
• New guest characters: Kirby and King Dedede (members) / Phoenix Wright (member) / Cocotama (member) / Goro-sensei (Taiko Magic)
• Song list additions: Gunslinger Cinderella / Yamatai Night Party / Yami no Mahou Shoujo / Mahoujin -Summon Delta- / Sou'ryuu no Ran Console debut
• Early Purchase Bonus 3rd Song: Sekai Fushigi Hakken! Opening Theme NEW!
• DLC Namco Original Pack 1: Densetsu no Matsuri / Yuugen no Ran / Shikou no Ran / Fuunshishi / Tabaneito Harunaba feat. Chihiro Ishiguro NEW!
• Super Early Purchase Bonus: Namco Original Pack 1 available for free within one week of launch (until June 23)
• Shop-exclusive Bonus: Namcot Medley from Lawson, and story mode alt battle members from other outlets

AC0 Taiko no Tatsujin White ver./Red ver.

• June at White ver.: DonChare unlock Yomi no Izanami NEW! / Vacation Parasol (body) / Vacation Sunglasses (head)
• Tokkun Mode go through and live play
• Red ver. key visual reveal:
  

World Championship 2016

• Rules and song choices of online brackets and finals announced (we'll do the full coverage when the website updates, coming today)
• Live audience and potential NicoNico livestream of finals

Miscellaneous

• 5th generation Taiko Sister Anne (now in training) introduced
• Audio Deka episode, special Audio de Ka! PV version
  

Namco Taiko Blog (May 19 2016): Raining Champ! Wii U3 May DLC

News coming just before the livestream hype, the next wave of DLC for the still-current home console Taiko no Tatsujin game is coming next Thursday (May 26)!

Wii U3 DLC Songs: May 26 (free)

• Robinson
•  Kill Me no Baby! Kill Me Baby
• Kero⑨destiny Touhou Project Arrange / Silver Forest (+ dancers) Console debut
• Charlie Dash!
• mint tears

Wii U3 DLC Outfits: May 26 (50 yen each, tax incl.)

• Helmet (head)
• Cycling Wear (body)
• Sun Visor (head)
• Tennis Wear (body)
• Bronze (pattern)
• Silver (pattern)

Link to original post

Namco Taiko Blog (May 16 2016): Train for the Championship! White ver. Version Update (V9.10)

Surprise blog update for a new firmware version on the White ver. coming May 25! You probably have guessed what it is, but feel the excitement anyway!

Postcards from Reitaisai 2016: That Collab Song and other textual reports

博麗神社例大祭コラボユニット曲を
ZUNさんに命名して頂きました！

【仙酌絶唱のファンタジア】https://t.co/Kz4CX3MMxo

— 博麗神社社務所 (@HakureijinjyaS) May 8, 2016

Yeah we're not having that budget or enthusiasm to actually go to either of the double event of NicoNico Chokaigi and Reitaisai 2016, but here are some textual reports from around the net:

• The Reitaisai Collab Unit Song is officially titled 仙酌絶唱のファンタジア Senshaku Zesshou no Fantasia, as named by ZUN himself. The tweet above was live at the point of announcement in the related livestream.
• Which is rated 3/5/5/9 with 700 notes on Oni.
• Help me ERINNNNNN Cranky Remix is 4/5/7/9 with 681 notes on Oni.
• Both notecharts are charted by Etou, as from a Chokaigi livestream.

Song of the Week! 14 May 2016

We continue the celebration of the very punny names of Taiko and Tatsujin from the key visual of World Championship 2016. After the pick mildly relating to tigers last month, we see another pick that is as mildly relating to dragons today.

Namco Taiko Blog (12 May 2016) - May '16 Livestream, the Details

As promised, today we're getting the clearer picture of the next Taiko Team livestream's schedule. Right after the Test Portion and the actual livestream's beginning, here's the list of topics that will be touched in the broadcast, in order of appearance:

• Taiko 3DS 3 News Corner - Hear something new for the next console title from the Team, for the first time outside of websites/magazines!
• Tokkun Mode Corner - Have another glimpse of the arcade games' new incoming mode, including actually using a build of it! All suggestions for new features/tweaks are welcome.
• Taiko World Championships 2016 Finals - Feast your eyes on how the latest arcade tourney concludes with news about the two Donder Hiroba online tournament brackets and the finals on June 26 (elementary-and-under) and July 17 (middle-school-and-up). If we are lucky (or the Team is feeling like playing the hype game), perhaps a glimpse of whatever aftermath that shakes the scenario? (which is obviously  Red Version, of course)
• White Version News Corner -  Round up the broadcast with some up-to-date news about the latest arcade housing! (but seriously go play Red Version coming to an arcade near you)

... (not-so-much) Subliminal messages from our news report aside, we also come to know that this livestream won't have a comments challenge, unlike many in recent memory. Keep an eye on the Team's Twitter for the broadcast's Nicovideo link!

Link to original post

Across Japan (May 10~11 2016): Silently Stellar: May Facebook Tournament

And the Asian version division (if there is one) is also back from the Golden Week break! As promised here are the songs for May's Facebook Tournament and April's Tournament results announced. For this month, play against each other with:

• Oni: Silent Jealousy Ura (★10)
• Muzukashii: Akeboshi Rocket Touhou Project Arrange / Kishida Kyoudan and The Akeboshi Rockets (★6)

Link to original post (May song choice)
Link to original post (April results)

Funiculi Funicula Lyrics

Composer: Luigi Denza
Lyrics: Peppino Turco
Arrangement: Yuri Misumi (みすみゆり)
Vocal: Akira Yukawa (湯川晃)

Compiled with reference to the song's Wikipedia entry.

Twitter Snippets (9 May 2016) - May's Taiko Team Livestream

【告知】5/19(木)太鼓チーム公式生放送の実施が決定！18時～テスト放送、18時半～本放送予定です！放送内容や詳細は、画像の方をチェック♪みんなで盛り上がるドン！ pic.twitter.com/A0fJ5EwHbP

— 太鼓チーム (@taiko_team) 9 maggio 2016

The Team is back from their Golden Week break, and apparently it was quite the energizing break for them! Rather than waiting for the next Thursday with a blog update, we already have the announcement (in tweet form) of their next big livestream session.

From the picture attached to the tweet, we can already tell that the event will be focusing on the Tokkun Mode implementation on Taiko arcade gaming and the World Championships 2016's final stretch, with the last batches of CreoFuga winners currently scheduled for an (undetermined) release date during this very month. There will be something else to talk about, but our guess is that we'll have to wait a little bit longer for the rest.

This Nicovideo livestream session will go live on May 19th, from 6.30 to 9 pm (Japan time). As usual, an half-hour of time will be taken right before the broadcast's official beginning to let early streamers interact with the Taiko Team.

Sympho-Neighbours - When Two Worlds Collide / Pop Culture Version

Collaboration events are not a brand new concept for the currently-active rhythm game franchises in Japan, with the Taiko series' main focus being put on popular media phenomenons of many kinds along its years of activity.

While the outsider series prize more the interactions with other rhythm games (especially if coming by the same creators/parent companies), there still are a few other interesting efforts to link its players to a non-sectorial portion of public but rather on popular culture in Japan.

Here are some of the most curious events that have tied in rhythm gaming with other kinds of media!

Song of the Week! 7 May 2016

For today's feature, here's yet another song who made its Taiko debut through a Taiko no Tatsujin game for Playstation Vita!

First Video: Clover♣Kakumation

 Clover♣Kakumation (クローバー♣かくめーしょん) (3/3/6/8; 498 notes on Oni)

...boy, this week sure has been a quiet one on the news front, hasn't it? Put your worries to rest, though, as we've still gotten some brand-new content for Taiko gaming today with the latest V Version DLC pack.

Sansha Sanyo's Anime OP fares well into the 8* Oni ballpark with a notechart that consistently pulls more tricks than last month's Umaru-chan Taiko debut, counting more dense cluster sections and gradual scrolling speed-ups like a few other prized Anime songs on Taiko before it.

When Life Gives You Ditched Flights: Wii U3 Buddy Attack Mode

Brought to you by tetsu's Golden Week 2016 Poll.

What happens if you were catching a flight to Hawaii with your family on last call, and an unfortunate banana peel throws you uncontrollably rolling way off course and missing the flight all alone? Well, for Kat-chan he took a whole Wii U game's "story mode" protagonist for himself, trying to befriend the little critters (and no so little ones too) in a nearby street.

Big quotation marks around "story mode" because the only story bits are the opening sequence above, and an ending-plus-credits roll that comes at the very end.

Sonority Scouts - Hakurei Shrine's Musical Troopers / 2016 Edition

With the yearly Niconico Chokaigi event coming and leaving once again, the very next public outing rhythm game fans are looking forward to is this Sunday's yearly Hakurei Shrine Reitasai, chugging in the same limited content that whas also featured at Chokaigi while also crankinking things up to 11 for selected franchises!

We've already seen what Taiko gaming has in storm for the event, as well as the Uta-Matsuri's collaboration song coming to multiple music game franchises at the same time... but what about the more in-house efforts of the non-Taiko parties? Strap yourselves in, 'cause we're in for a doozy!