*checks calendar* Yup, we should be on point if we keep this up. Onwards, readers, with our Yellow ver. prelude of "Road to Song Genres", part three! So what are we whipping up for the next two versions in line: Kimidori and Murasaki?
Shouten Theme (笑点のテーマ)| Version |  |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | x3 (94) | x4 (138) | x3 (203) | x4 (265) |
Taiko 7
155
none
???Speaking of the Variety genre, a recent development to the "true-Variety" genre are comedy skit-inspired tracks, including Attakai'n Dakara~♪, Lassen Gorelai and Honnouji no Hen. While they are all nice picks for this occasion, I am turning back down Taiko history to find some of the earliest references to comedy.
Shouten is a comedy-focused variety television show in Japan. Inspired by the rakugo (落語) style of comedic verbal entertainment, the show will have the stars come up with witty and funny responses to the host's questions, with points marked by the zabuton floor cushions gathered. The series has been on air since 1966 with over 1500 episodes, marking over 50 years of Japanese television history. This theme to the show was composed by songwriter Hachidai Nakamura (中村八大) used before the bulk of the episodes.
The majority of the notechart is only notes on 8th separation, and the occasional single-color triple clusters. The ★4 rating was largely suitable in the inaugural cabinet version for the second generation, and likely would have held well even to this day.
Diver Treasure Gaust: Gaust Diver| Version | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | x3 (111) | x5 (190) | x6 (370) | x9 (622) |
Taiko 0 W, Taiko 3DS 3 136 none ???There is an awfully slim amount of information about Treasure Gaust as a multimedia franchise, but the namesake concept of "Gaust" is a portmanteau of "gauss" (unit of magnetic field) and "ghost", hence meaning "magnetically powered ghosts". The franchise was said to be actively maintained by Bandai for the years of 2005-2008.
The original toys have you catch in these Gausts with your gadget, first locating one using the magnetically-enabled Gaust Position System (compass), and then reel them in like fishing with the reel on the device. After that you can train and battle with your new Gaust friend, somewhat resembling the Digimon toys if that helps you imagine. Surprisingly an English official site with tacky Flash elements still exists from god knows how long back.
During the height (?) of the lifetime, Namco was commissioned to produce a two-version video game for the Nintendo DS, titled Treasure Gaust: Gaust Diver Crimson Red/Deep Blue. Again while detailed synopsis is not well known around, but basically they merge the Gaust-catching mechanics into an overarching story line and have you save the world by battling with your befriended Gausts.
Kawagen Collagen, who is but now well known among Taiko no Tatsujin circles, used to be in the team responsible for the Treasure Gaust games, and Diver as the ending theme was under his writing. The vocals were provided by then-Namco office clerk employee Kako Kurose (黒瀬佳子) within the 2-3 days Kawagen working on the song. The song was well received by fellow team members and made it to the final product. Almost a decade later, Kawagen picked the song back up for whatever reason, and polished it with new arrangements and extended lyrics for a Taiko no Tatsujin inclusion. The Taiko Team has also dedicated a whole official Namco Taiko Blog post chronicling Kawagen's thought process starting from way back when.
Like HOT LIMIT we covered last week, the main complexity comes from the beginning rapping parts, featuring long streams following the rapidly spoken lyrics, and then it drops to ★8-grade patterns (mostly 5-hits and hanging off-beats) til the end. Unlike HOT LIMIT though, those parts are much longer and cover at least 30% of the spirit required for a full gauge. Not running well with the long streams can leave you one or two notches shy of clearing.
