Namco Taiko Blog (30 June 2016) - Red Version Launch Details, the Donder's Cut

Say, remember that article from Famitsu of last Monday? Of course you do, since it was our first official news source for the incoming Taiko no Tatsujin firmware update!

It's also the topic of June 2016's last Taiko Team blog entry, adding slightly more content to talk about for the purposes of this very blog entry.

3DS3 Update: QR Codes Abound! Early in Release ver. (Addendum June 30)

We here at Taiko Time have starting working on the Unlock List and Story Mode Data (Songs Used and Quest Summary / Battle Members and Skills) posts! And while that happened, more QR codes for 3DS3 are let on the loose:

• Penguin Parent-child (ペンギンおやこ) (Long Distance Type)
  from 3DS3 Main Site's QR Code section
• Royal Guard (ロイヤルガード) (Defense Type)
  from CoroCoro Comics, June 15 issue
• Volcano (ボルケーノ) (Magic Type)
  from CoroCoro Ichiban!, June 21 issue

Other QR codes like the shop-exclusive bonuses are still out for you to find, so get playing!

Bump for Addendum, 2016/06/30:
When you guys tipped us off the new new QR codes I just directly go check that and forgot the rest of the website also adding tidbits, including:

• More character profile including Heracles, Makemake, Chaska, Susanoo and Yeti
• StreetPass and Multiplayer introduction
• That Namco Original Special Pack is still limited free, until July 31 this time

Across Japan (June 28 2016): Yomi no Izanami for Asia

A reminder that the next Facebook tournament schedule is July 9~17 (song announcement July 6, results July 20), so Asian ver. people are not getting Red ver. on the same day. Figures.

In the meantime, let the stunning traditional-Japanese duet lamenting the Shinto goddess of the underworld from Yomi no Izanami fill your hearts, starting July 1.

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AC0R Update: Release Date and News Songs Alert on Code Red (UPDATE)

Image source

Today we have the crucial details for Red ver.: the actual release date being July 14! Also check out what songs will be coming with the new firmware in a press release by Namco!

[SITE] - June '16 Housekeeping : The Aftermath

One of the two yearly-designated moments for us to go back and fix/update the most relevant pages is about to come to an end, while also bringing up some modifies we didn't address fully/at all in our past housekeeping announcement. Without further ado, here's what has been actually achieved by us, nearing the end of June:

-) All Arcade and Console pages and their relative sub-sections and side pages (such as Unlocks, Titles, Demo Versions and so on) have been properly updated with all the bits of news currently available on the Web.

As of now, we're still unable to bring you a Taiko V Version Boss Fights page; due to the lack of video coverage for everything aside the final/extra boss battles, we have our hands tied up. Rest assured we're up to make that page if the other boss battles are properly documented in video form!

-) All of the Song Series Showcase pages now have their own SongID label for each song! We're up to do the same for the older Song of the Week features in the coming months.

Be sure to stop by the Taito and General Medleys pages for the latest new entries from the newcomer third 3DS Taiko title! (and our past SotW feature about Ghosts 'n Goblins while you're at it)

-) Now that the Monster Hunter series in Taiko gaming bears more than just a collection of medleys, its Showcase page is now renamed to just 'Monster Hunter', with the Pokemon one pending to the same change if/when a non-medley Game Music song from the series is featured on Taiko. This small tweak is allowing us to talk about Monster Hunter Cross's Traveluna, so check out the page for the new feature!

-) All of our promised newcoming content is ready to be posted! We'll have a gradual release of the future Showcases and other kinds of Feature posts on July, with the first pages for the Touhou Project Jumbo Brand Corner appearing near this week's end.

-) Last but not least, by popular demand we're already updating the 2000 Song Series Showcase with all the currently-known bits of trivia about Mada Saitama 2000! When a more definitive lyrics/morse code reporting will appear on the Internet, we'll update the entry (and let you know about, of course!) in a 'more definitive' version.

Keep on drummin'!

-Lokamp

Feature: God Collection and the Shinto Culture Behind Them, Part 1

 

Key visuals of Taiko no Tatsujin White ver. take the imagery of the Japanese creation myth, and with that comes a multi-artist song collection named the God Collection (ゴッドコレクション), drawing references from parts of Japan's prehistory and the Shinto culture's over eight million gods and deities (kami).

Let's get a very brief overview for the figures and concepts referenced in the four songs that are currently released under the name. If you want to know more, we would recommend you to go do your own research, which would be more fun anyway.

Taiko Plus/STH - Touhou Invasion, Part 2

Picture related but not current, of course

Following the song pack news of last week is the continuation of the Touhou Project campaign to add popular Gensokyo-fueled arrangements on the mobile Taiko games.

Since yesterday, the Gakkyoku Tori Houdai on both the Apple and Google Play Taiko apps are including Scream out! -Tatsujin Edit.- and Grip & Break down !! -Tatsujin Edit.-, making their own console debut with their Ura Oni as well.

Taiko no Tatsujin 3DS3 Unlock List

**Incomplete as of now. Do tell us if you have more information!**
Unlockable contents in Taiko no Tatsujin: Dokodon! Mystery Adventure 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.

*Note:  Oni difficulty and all modifiers are available by default.

Contents: Stamp Album Unlock | Taiko Point Unlock | Ranks | Story Mode Costumes
Key:  Anime  Classic  J-Pop  Game Music  Variety  Vocaloid  Namco Original  Ura

Song of the Week! 25 June 2016

I promise you this week's feature has more genuine reasons to happen today than personal random mind links!

After all, there have been a lot of hints recently: new Game Music tune with red/blue versions, the livestream livestream featuring Red Taiko and Blue Synchronica motifs, the Tenkaichi Otogesai's next iteration being officially confirmed, ...

Taiko no Tatsujin 3DS3 Story Mode Data: Songs Used and Quest Summary

**Incomplete as of now. Do tell us if you have more information!**

Contents: Trial | Prologue | Ch. 1 | Ch. 2 | Ch. 3 | Ch. 4 | Ch. 5 | Ch. 6 | Ch. 7 | Epilogue
Key: Anime Children/Folk Classic J-Pop Game Music Variety Vocaloid Namco Original

Taiko no Tatsujin 3DS3 Story Mode Data: Battle Members and Skills

**Incomplete as of now. Do tell us if you have more information!**

Twitter Snippets (24 June 2016) - 3rd Tenkaichi Otogesai Website Update + Early Details

音ゲーファンの皆様お待たせしました！

「第3回天下一音ゲ祭」今年も開催！
公式サイトも仮オープンいたしました！（ロゴ変えただけですけど・・・）https://t.co/nA5sen6Kyf
詳細はエライ人の許可がでたら少しずつ、公開していきます！

#天下一音ゲ祭

— AOU 天下一音ゲ祭 (公式) (@AOU_Tenkatui) 23 giugno 2016

Not that far away from the previously-spread AOU PDF newsletter, the Tenkaichi Otogesai Twitter account has come back in activity for a social network-powered official announcement! Starting for the less-exciting stuff, the tourney series' website already had their homepage's graphics updated to the new event's visual theme.

第3回天下一音ゲ祭情報！
今年は、第2回では出来なかった「アレ」が帰ってきます！
第1回とは少々カタチが異なりますが、ユーザーの皆さんの待望の「アレ」が復活しますので、お楽しみに！

#天下一音ゲ祭

— AOU 天下一音ゲ祭 (公式) (@AOU_Tenkatui) 23 giugno 2016

Shortly after that, we also have a teaser concerning a certain "Thing" that will come back from the very first edition! It also was an user-requested suggestion, so the interest might grow bigger on this mystery topic.

第3回天下一音ゲ祭情報
今年の決勝大会は、前年同様「JAEPO2017」で開催する予定です。
JAEPO2017ですが、今年は「闘会議2017」と併催という事で

闘会議　✕　天下一音ゲ祭

コラボ企画も進行中！
#天下一音ゲ祭 https://t.co/6rIu8xHb5W

— AOU 天下一音ゲ祭 (公式) (@AOU_Tenkatui) 24 giugno 2016

Finally, the AOU Twitter mirrors a recently-posted Famitsu article about this tournament's Finals, which will be held during next year's JAEPO.

Taiko no Tatsujin 15th Anniversary Bonanza in Hong Kong!

The 15th Anniversary celebrations do not limit to Japan and the games, as it has apparently reached Hong Kong and in very tangible forms! Now aren't you glad we have a staff member from Hong Kong, eh?

Taiko no Tatsujin 15th Anniversary Parade
When: June 24 13:00~
Where: Causeway Bay area (starting wtc more, World Trade Centre)

When: June 25 14:00~
Where: Tsim Sha Tsui MTR Exit A1 (starting near Kowloon Park)

When: July 1 14:00~
Where: Mongkok Sai Yeung Choi Street Pedestrian Zone (starting near CTMA Centre)

East Point City x Taiko no Tatsujin Olympics
When: July 9 through August 31
Where: East Point City, Tseung Kwan O, Hong Kong
What:

• 7 attractions
• multiple photo spots
• bouncy ball pit (requires mall spending)
• actual Taiko no Tatsujin games
• special store featuring 20+ merchandise (Fridays through Sundays only)

Source (now News)
Source (U Lifestyle)

Tenkaichi Otogesai 3 (Addendum 2016/06/23)

(Thanks to crystal for the heads-up!)

Ready for another giant rhythm arcade game crossover? Yup, we weren't either but it's happening! From an official-looking PDF floating around are initial details of a third Tenkaichi Otogesai.

Namco Taiko Blog (June 23 2016): Double the Updates Double the Streams: July 13 Taiko/Synchronica Livestream

We already knew of an upcoming livestream featuring WCS2016 and AC0R version change content. But what we didn't know is that Synchronica is joining in the fun with their own large-scale version update!

Taiko Team Official Livestream #14 (feat. Synchronica)
When: July 13 2016 18:00~ (test) / 19:00~ (actual) / 21:00~ (Synchronica)
URL: http://live.nicovideo.jp/watch/lv265918769
Who: Etou, Takemoto, Daifuku, Anne... and more!? / KimizuP, Inoue, Daifuku (Synchronica)

Taiko 3DS 3 First Week Sales and Famitsu Scores

Media Create figures for the week ending June 19th, 2014.

Please remember that these sales figures only refer to the physical copies of the games.

01./00. [3DS] Taiko no Tatsujin: Dokodon! Mystery Adventure (Bandai Namco Games) {2016.06.16} (¥4.800) - 32.369 / NEW
02./01. [3DS] Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice # (Capcom) {2016.06.09} (¥5.800) - 25.288 / 222.119 (-87%)
03./02. [PSV] Dragon Quest Heroes II: The Twin Kings and Prophecy's End (Square Enix) {2016.05.27} (¥6.800) - 13.175 / 193.339 (-36%)
04./00. [PSV] Hakuoki: Shinkai - Hana no Shou # (Idea Factory) {2016.06.16} (¥6.300) - 10.526 / NEW
05./05. [3DS] Kirby: Planet Robobot (Nintendo) {2016.04.28} (¥4.700) - 9.766 / 321.860 (-16%) 06./03. [PS4] Dragon Quest Heroes II: The Twin Kings and Prophecy's End (Square Enix) {2016.05.27} (¥7.800) - 8.673 / 253.845 (-48%)
07./04. [PS4] Overwatch (Square Enix) {2016.05.24} (¥7.800) - 8.484 / 97.136 (-32%)
08./06. [PS3] Dragon Quest Heroes II: The Twin Kings and Prophecy's End (Square Enix) {2016.05.27} (¥6.800) - 6.167 / 109.311 (-38%)
09./08. [PSV] Minecraft: PlayStation Vita Edition (Sony Computer Entertainment) {2015.03.19} (¥2.400) - 6.006 / 798.870 (+2%)
10./10. [WIU] Splatoon # (Nintendo) {2015.05.28} (¥5.700) - 5.486 / 1.388.585 (+5%)

Ladies and gentlemen, we're witnessing quite the milestone for a Taiko no Tatsujin console release's launch, as -for the first time ever registered in sales reports history- one of the many chapters of Bandai Namco's ever-lasting rhythm game franchise manages to be the king of the hill for its launch week, trumping other recent releases in other well-established series like Dragon Quest and the latest Phoenix Wright title!

It's not all fun and games, however, as this is also the franchise's weakest physical copy debut in recent portable gaming memory (excluding the twin Idolm@ster Must Songs games). Being roughly short of 20.000 units from the previous 3DS titles' launch (counting 55.950 and 53.095 physical units sold respectively), it's also outmatched by the similarly-wide launch window for Taiko V Version, with sold 46.101 copies in the first few days. But who knows- maybe this game will turn out to be as an underground big seller, like many other titles before it!

To round up this post, we also report that the Famitsu reviewers have awarded the game an 8/8/8/8 review score, scoring exactly one point more than the past 3DS games.

Source (3DS 3 Review Scores)

Game Music Showcase: Synchronica

Launched in 2015, Synchronica (シンクロニカ) is Bandai Namco's second arcade rhythm game, getting released on the trail of popularity of the ever-lasting Taiko no Tatsujin series. In the game, markers of different kinds will appear on the touch screen, and it's up to the player to activate them by touching the screen, flicking it in certain points and dragging markers to their end. All Synchronica arcades have their online functionalities revoked on September 30th, 2019, effectively marking the end of the series.

Synchronica songs' arrival in Taiko no Tatsujin has mainly happened due to special collaboration and events, most of which involving Bandai Namco's two series sharing songs with each other and, during Synchronica's post-termination times, as yearly inclusions coinciding with the release anniversary of its first arcade firmware. The majority of the Synchronica songs coming to Taiko gaming are composed/arranged by Taku Inoue (井上拓), a former Bandai Namco musician in activity since the early years of the 2010s.

Site Announcement: The Great Big Taiko Time Title Fix Feud

This is official: the Taiko Team crew is having a full-on feud about some of the song title fixes! Well not really, we just have some diverging opinions (which is very normal and a beneficial part of this endeavor). With this housekeeping season let's settle them once and for all, why don't we?

But first let's go through some of the less opposed changes:

 フレンジャー Furenja → Frienger
Referring to Wikipedia and the CD jacket, the word is mashing up "friend" and "ranger" (as in the Sentai kind).

 クローバー♣かくめーしょん Clover Nuclear Automation → Clover Kakumation
Just why, Google translate? We have actually already went and changed all of them like two days within launch, but if you just came from Wayback Machine or a Google cached copy from before we completed that, welcome and rest assured we have followed the Sansha Sanyo official CD's romanization on this.

 まおぅ Maou → Maow
Spoiler alert for the 2-minute song: it is about a cat going all predatory to some caged canary or something. Plus not to confuse with our favourite floating-hand, voice-stealing clown, we switch to a translation that resembles actual cat-sound onomatopoeia (meow).

 龍馬伝 Ryuumaden → Ryoumaden
As provided in its SotW feature, the drama is literally a story about Ryouma Sakamoto, so his name goes there. In general the given name 龍馬 is only read as Ryouma and almost never Ryuuma anyway.

 ひよっこファンタジー Hiyoko Fantasy → Hiyokko Fantasy
Basically our mistake, but there is an undeniable sokuon there. Even though that doesn't really affect the meaning ("hiyo(k)ko" meaning "chick/fledgling")

★　　　★　　　★

And the following are the song title conflicts that we need your input. To do so please leave your choice and reason in the comments below (or anywhere else you reach us). Please note that we are not purely taking a majority rule here (we could have made a poll then), we actually look at the reasoning too.

 カゲロウデイズ Kagerou Days/Daze

While "Kagerou Days" amassed almost 700K Google hits and "Kagerou Daze" only has half of that, the Kagerou Daze Official Visual Fanbook as a primary source had it written right on the front cover, as well as the subtitles of the song ("eye-dazing story") and novel ("in a daze"), not to mention Wikipedia appears to have reached a long-standing consensus (including Chinese ver., 眩亂 means "daze").

 ドン・エンガスの笛吹き Don Engasu/Dun Aonghasa no Fue Fuki

If you have not read the SotW feature you should go read it through, but Dun Aonghasa is an actual location in Ireland. Let us know if we should unify this and its sequels (Lisdoonvarna no Tasogare and Kathiawar no Cutlass) that also use the same place-no-noun format, in whether to use the actual place name.

Namco Taiko Blog (June 21 2016) - From White To Red: White ver. Version Update (V10.04)

Surprise Namco Taiko Blog! As we are already more than aware of Red ver., the current White ver. needs this final version update to make way for the new. On June 30, these inter-version matters will come including:

• Closing White ver. Ranking Dojo and Taiko School
• Disabling high scores on song select screen until Red ver.
• Cabinet rankings to be wiped clean onwards to Red ver., or frozen if staying at White ver. after Red ver. release
• Other preparatory works

(what do you mean I just copied this from the last version change)

Again no DonChare will be arranged for July, as always with the rush of logistics across versions.

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Taiko Plus: Anime/Game Recommended Pack 2

Yes, even when Android Plus STH do not have full-on song packs, iOS Taiko no Tatsujin Plus is still selling new ones.

Anime/Game Recommended Pack 2 (iOS only, 600 yen)
 シュガーソングとビターステップ Sugar Song to Bitter Step
　　　「血界戦線」より Blood Blockade Battlefront
 コネクト Connect
　　　「魔法少女まどか☆マギカ」より Puella Magi Madoka Magica
 Daydream café
　　　「ご注文はうさぎですか？」より Is the Order a Rabbit?
 迅風丸 Jinpuumaru (+Ura)
 テイルズ オブ ゼスティリア メドレー Tales of Zestiria Medley

Kurukuru Kurokkuru Lyrics

Artist: bermei.inazawa
Vocal: Chie Fukami (深水チエ)

Song of the Week! 18 June 2016

Sometimes, the theme that dictates our weekly song features is selected by unconscious mind links that make them sound really random in comparison to our standard themes...

This is one of those weeks. Let me explain...

Taiko 3DS3 Update Post

Criuse the world for mystery spots! ...oh we're just looking for 3DS3 news here so we don't really need to go that far.

Last update: Jun 16 | No of updates: 18 | No. of songs: 72+16 | 3DS3 Song List
Key: Red = series debut; Blue = console debut

Namco Taiko Blog (June 16 2016): Summer Scorch! Wii U3 June DLC

Apparently talking about 3DS3 on the day it comes out is too mainstream, so instead Daifuku brings us the next Wii U3 DLC scoop.

Wii U3 DLC Songs: June 23 (free)
 366日 366 Nichi
 君の知らない物語 Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari
　　　「化物語」より Bakemonogatari
 夜明けまであと3秒 Yoake Made Ato 3-byou Console debut
　　　「シンクロニカ」より Synchronica
 夏竜～Karyu～ (+Ura Console debut)
⎰ 旋風ノ舞【天】 Senpuu no Mai [Heaven]
⎱ 旋風ノ舞【地】 Senpuu no Mai [Earth]
　　　(available as one set)
 Black Rose Apostle (+Ura)

Wii U3 DLC Outfits: June 23 (50 yen each, tax incl.)

• Beetle Head (head)
• Beetle Body (body)
• Straw Hat (head)
• Summer Break (body)
• Pot (head)
• Pearl (pattern)
• Gold (pattern)

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