Starting from a user request, here are a couple of songs that have been playable in the series since the 4th Taiko no Tatsujin arcade release! See you after the jump.
Dodododo-Donderful! (ドドドドドンだフル！)| Version |  |  |  |  / |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taiko 4 | x5 (329) | x6 (329) | ||
| Taiko PS2 2 | x4 (238) | x6 (329) | x6 (329) | |
| Taiko 12.5, 13, Taiko PSP DX | x3 (131) | x4 (169) | x5 (238) | x6 (329) |
Taiko 4, 12.5, 13, Taiko PS2 2, Taiko PSP DX, CD Red
198-201.56
Tongue-Twister Rock -> Namco Original
hayaStraight from the first arcade generation, we can find an original rock song that is fueled by Japanese tongue twisters! Composed by Yuri Misumi (みすみゆり) and sung by recurring contributor Kazuyuki Oda (小田一行), Dodododo-Donderful! inherits some elements from old-school Taiko gaming for a song that oozes of nostalgia, starring lyric bits from the previously-released theme songs Taiko Love! (the 'Taiko tatakou' lines) and Saturday Taiko Fever, right after the 2nd chorus. The song's ID also points at the tongue-twisting nature of the track, as haya is intended to be an abbreviation of Hayakuchi (早口, lit. 'Quick Mouth'), which is also included in the temporary genre placement of the song during the pre-Taiko 7 era (早口ロック, Hayakuchi Rock).
With its Oni mode being untouched throughout the song's many ports, this peculiar Namco Original suffered of a lack of a complete chart set before coming back for Taiko 12 Zoryoban as one of the arcade title's unlockable track. While not shining on the difficulty side that much (except for the very last handswitching-oriented note portion), the song's most remarkable traits lie on its high average BPM speed and its repeating guitar chorus, featuring nearly the same combination of single notes and multi-hit marker to seal the deal.
Maka Fushigi Adventure! (魔訶不思議アドベンチャー!)--- Old ---
| Version | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | x4 (147) | x3 (247) | x4 (326) | x7 (347) |
Taiko 4 135 none ???--- New ---
| Version | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | x3 (97) | x5 (172) | x6 (281) | x7 (418) |
Taiko Switch 135 none ???Taiko games often tend to have their own exclusive playable tunes that have retain such status for the longest time. It comes as a surprise, then, that one of these tracks happens to be the first opening theme to one of the most known Anime series all over the world! Maka Fushigi Adventure (lit. 'Magic Wonder Adventure'), in fact, happens to be the very first opening theme of the Dragon Ball (ドラゴンボール) animated series.
The original manga series was made by mangaka and game artist Akira Toriyama (鳥山明) as a result of the popularity gathered by the twin one-off manga story Dragon Boy (騎竜少年) which, much like for Dragon Ball, was also a shonen pubblication with kung-fu fighting. The series's original run went on from December 1984 to May 1995 for a total of over 500 chapters grouped in 42 tanbokon, telling the adventures of the adventurous Son Goku from his childhood onward, with the recurring background motif (for both allies and villains throughout the series) being the search of the seven titular Dragon Balls, which are able to summon a wish-granting dragon when gathered together.
Steadily being developed as the weeks went by, the story was originally molded around the 16th century Chinese novel Journey to the West, up until the development of other-wordly space elements and framing as the series went on to narrate Son Goku's adulthood stories. The original Anime transpositions by Toei Animation reflected this change of tone as well, by dividing the original manga's run into two separated series: Dragon Ball for the first 16 tanbokon's chapters and Dragon Ball Z for the remaining ones. While the manga legacy alone has set the Dragon Ball name into the valhalla of Japanese comics production being one of the most sold series with over 150 million copies sold overall, the many distribution licenses of the animated series (and sequels) across the world are often regarded worldwide as the trailblazers of Japanese animation's popularity in the West during the past millennium's last few decades.
Composed and sung by Hiroki Takahashi (高橋洋樹), the very first theme song of the Dragon Ball series's animated legacy was released as a single on March 1st, 1986. Long after the manga run's discontinuation, the same artist went on to make the so-titled '2005ver.' cover, which was specifically made in order to be featured in bemani's pop'n music series from the 13th arcade installment to the 18th one (link) as an HD retort to the 8-bit cover by Shinichi Ishihara (石原慎一) that was previously made for pop'n music Animelo (pop'n music アニメロ), one of the portable titles of the series for Game Boy Color (link).
As anticipated, the Taiko cover of Maka Fushigi Adventure didn't have such luck, as this has been a Gen 1-only song for quite a long time, sticking to its only arcade release up until a lucky revival by the power of modern-day DLC service magic. Despite the many pause gaps between sections, however, its Donderful mode dangerously lingers to the 7* Oni standard of the most modern games, coupling cluster-packed beat stanzas with handswitch-friendly sections towards the end of this wonder-filled adventure.
The song's lucky revival on the Nintendo Switch title, while not enhancing the source music like for other licenses in the past, has featured brand new notecharts for all modes, with Oni mode now sporting medium-sized note clusters with an odd note at its begginning (or sometimes, its end instead) while also bridging repeating patterns with note couples and single hits, espectially during each Go-Go Time portion.
