Namco Taiko Blog (30 November 2017) - Blog/Twitter Updates Schedule Change

We end this November on a low note, with the latest official blog entry foreshadowing a lower new-post ratio from now on, due to an internal change of social media management. In today's notice, in fact, we're being told that there's not going to be a weekly blog update guarantee from now on: as opposed to before where Thursdays are the usual new-post day, the Taiko Team blog will now be updated only when the staff is ready to share the latest news. The same goes for the Twitter handle, which will be only active if there's going to be a new notice to be shared.

If the posting schedule is going to change again in the future, there's going to be another official blog entry to address later changes.

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Twitter Snippets (29 November 2017) - New iDOLM@STER SideM Song for Taiko Arcades

ゲームセンター版太鼓の達人に「Reason!!」が収録。 pic.twitter.com/sIJ5cieZmb

— アイマスDB (@imas_DB) 29 novembre 2017

Thanks to Bankslammer from the Taiko no Tatsujin Discord group for the find!

With the main Taiko Twitter feed being dormant, new cross-over-y song inclusion notices are properly chronicled elsewhere on the Internet, with the latest find involving the SideM spin-off of the iDOLM@STER series.

As a result of livestream-fueled notices, it has been made public that another song from the male-oriented series is going to appear to Taiko arcades soon: Reason!!, from the recently-debuting SideM Anime series. Its release date, however, is still unknown...

UPDATE (30 November 2017) - This song inclusion has also been addressed by the Taiko Team as well (link)! We also come to know that the Twitter handle's name has been changed into a 'Taiko no Tatsujin' label...

Taiko no Tatsujin Blue Version (AC0B)

Source

We've been treated with 8/9-long life cycles for modern Taiko arcade firmwares thus far, but it seems that Yellow Version is going to be lasting a little longer than the former firmware releases, as a sneak peek into the one arcade vendor we've been checking for a while is telling us today!

Indeed, it appears that the next color in modern Taiko gaming's firmware canvas is coming out next year during March, this time around being labeled as the Blue Version. There's nothing else noteworthy to mention besides the obvious, so we're back playing the waiting game...

Song of the Week! 25 November 2017

Once again, I landed on our Discord group looking for song suggestions to be featured for this Saturday, with the early replies generally asking from something spicy in the Classic genre...

...it hardly gets spicier than today's featured track, trust me!

Namco Taiko Blog (24 November 2017) - Playstation 4's End-of-November Content Delivery

With yesterday being a national holiday in Japan, the weekly blog entry has come one day later to inform Taiko fans about the next Taiko-themed content's coming for PlayStation 4's users.

Across Japan (November 22 2017): The Follow-suit Removal, December 2017 edition

By this time all of us should have expected that song removals in Japan will be mirrored in greater Asia in due course because of license expiry and whatnot. Here is the confirming piece for the latest of those removals on December 6 2017, for instance. If you forget where else you could have found these songs after the removal, we have copy-pasted the list below the jump again for your reference.

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Twitter Snippets (November 21 2017) - IDOLiSH7 Collab Drumming Up Heated Support

アイドリッシュセブンと太鼓の達人のコラボ緊急続報★
コラボを盛り上げてくれる「太鼓の達人応援団」のシルエットが公開！！
さらに！今後、ある条件を満たすとあのグループからも…！？
次回の情報公開は…12月上旬ごろお楽しみに♪#taiko765 #アイナナ pic.twitter.com/W0v4Njnnvi

— 太鼓チーム (@taiko_team) November 21, 2017

Surprise additional scope for the Taiko no Tatsujin x IDOLiSH7 Collaboration!

Participating idols from the game are forming a Taiko no Tatsujin Cheering Squad (太鼓の達人応援団) (NB.: no relation to a certain pink game) being ambassadors for the collaboration. See the teaser silhouettes from the tweet above. Plus, if Donders clear the upcoming IDOLiSH7 song on arcade Taiko no Tatsujin for a designated number of times, the cheering squad will be graced with the addition of a certain idol from that certain group!

Further news to be expected in early December, so stay tuned.

Twitter Snippets (17-20 November 2017) - INSPION 2017's Autumn Auditions Grand Winner (+ Extra)

【Best Vocal部門】
入賞https://t.co/Y3bTgEPEsj
セクシーだ・・・と声に審査員もうっとり。歌唱力も良し！ 1分21秒の歌詞は何て言ってるんだ！と話題になりました（笑）受賞おめでとうございます！

— INSPION (@INSPION_IZENE) 17 novembre 2017

The INSPION enrollment audition session of which we already talked about last month (link) has finally come to an end! As the Taiko Team Twitter account has retweeted the most relevant announcements this morning, up here we can see the announcement for the winner of the Vocals section: the Youtube user nagisa .f under the artist name ORI-Hime (ORI姫).

As announced in the past, our winner will be featured in official Taiko games in the future, as the female vocalist who landed the 1st place in the Best Vocals category is going to take part in new recording endeavors with both INSPION and NAMCO SOUNDS musicians. Below these lines, you can also have a look at the winners/honorable mentions for the INSPION contest's two categories:

Best Vocal - Excellence Award
Best Vocal - Honorable Mentions
Best Creativity - Excellence Awards

Ike, Mekadon! Lyrics

Composition: Kimitaka Matsumae (松前公高)
Lyrics: Hideki Kimura (キムラヒデキ)
Vocals: Susumu Matsumoto (松本進)

Song of the Week! 18 November 2017

Back for another 'blast from the past' feature, this time around starring the Taiko origins of quite the oddball shoot-em-up song trilogy...

Twitter Snippets (17 November 2017) - New Taiko x Osomatsu-san Collaboration Teaser

おそ松さんと太鼓の達人のコラボ「ドン松さんコラボ」のイメージが発表！
太鼓の達人のどんちゃんが、6つ子に!?
さらに、このきせかえがプライズ景品にも！？
コラボ実施が、待ちきれないドーン！#おそ松さん#taiko765 pic.twitter.com/VB96UZmikf

— 太鼓チーム (@taiko_team) 17 novembre 2017

This post's title says it best, and so does the attached picture! As a primer to the future collaboration event with the Osomatsu-san series, here's a sample of the promotional goodies that will be available with it: custom Kigurumi parts, to match your looks to any of the Matsuno siblings.

Namco Taiko Blog (16 November 2017) - Taiko PS4's First Licensed DLC Content

The week-long period of radio silence from the Taiko Team has been brought to an end with today's blog entry, starring the first DLC songs that are going to be muted for PS4 livestream means are coming from the license-heavy song genres.

Taiko Plus/STH - November '17 GTH Additions

New songs are coming for the Android/i-devices Taiko Plus app, all headed to the Gakkyoku Tori Houdai mode. At this point it's just as surprising as us catching notice of mobile-related news days/weeks/months later!

Gakkyoku Tori Houdai Adds: November 8
 Soup
 Kagerou (カゲロウ)
 Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari (君の知らない物語)
 Saika
 Negai wa Esperanto (願いはエスペラント)
 Kimi no Planet (君のプラネット)

Song of the Week! 11 November 2017

November 11th in China is known as the "Singles' Day", made to celebrate those single individuals that are proud to be classed in said social status.

With that in mind, here's a single from China in our spotlight... with 'single' stated as referring to a commercially-released song, of course!

Twitter Snippets (8 November 2017) - ???Long Version Time???

【お告知】
この前のグルコス4周年でも告知しましたが、4thアルバムに

🙌☺️🙌QLWAのロング版収録決定です！！🙌☺️🙌

続報はしばしお待ちを～～～～ pic.twitter.com/aj5GyQbzi2

— とぱぞらい@C93 金東A-86a (@tpazolite) 8 novembre 2017

In a similar way to how the long version of Shiny Kung-fu Revival has been (subsequently) revealed 2 years ago (link), it appears that t+pazolite's future albums are going to have some more of his rhythm game music magic on them!

The picture concerning his next solo album, scheduled to a Winter 2017 release, has quite the tell that Taiko-rooted tracks might show up once again, with a track marked as !!!?????!!! slated for a formal reveal on November 20th. This, of course, points out to the coming of a certain song, but will it be the regular cut or a longer version? And will some of his other songs on Bandai Namco grounds make their appearance as well?!?

First Video: Groovy Duel

 Groovy Duel (3/5/7/10; 655 notes on Oni)
Today's Yellow Version update has come, and so is the Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt collaboration song. Tacked with a 10-star rating, this Oni feels like the lesser cousin of No Gravity with its low note count and multiple rhythm changes, although being shaped to be a more easy-to-clear task than many other modern 10-star-rating tracks before it. Expect an update to our former SotW feature about the song coming soon!

Here are some other notices concerning the arcade update that deserve a brief mention:

• Oodain's Oni mode has been demoted to an 8-star rating, while its Futsuu mode is now rated as a 7*;
• The blurred-out songs of the Challenge! 1400 Drumrolls!! Dojo Ranking Gaiden trial from last week's preview picture turned out to be respectively Honey Heartbeat ~10 Stars Mix~ and Necrofantasia ~Arr. Demetori;
• General Asia's Yellow Version arcades have also been updated today with Oodain and the three new Dojo Ranking Gaiden courses. Groovy Duel, however, is not included and no song deletion notices have been issued as of now (Source).

Twitter Snippets (6 November 2017) - Taiko no Tatsujin x IDOLiSH7 Collaboration

【お知らせ】2018年、アイドリッシュセブンと太鼓の達人のコラボが決定だドーン！
アイナナの人気楽曲を収録予定！さらに、アイナナメンバーたちが踊り子になって登場！？
続報は…12月ごろ、お楽しみに♪#taiko765 #アイナナ pic.twitter.com/IpBmJhaT1Q

— 太鼓チーム (@taiko_team) 6 novembre 2017

The year's not over yet, but the Taiko collaboration announcements are already branching out to the next year! The first of those to be announced is an event that will tie the series with the rhythm game/visual novel IDOLiSH7 mobile game, with the tweet teaser already mentioning the future venture of new songs and custom dancers for those.

While, again, the event is rolling out in 2018, expect to hear more about this campaign next month.

Sotsu Omeshiki Lyrics

Composer: Yoshinori Kawamoto (川元義徳)
Vocals: unmo

Japanese lyrics sourced from official YouTube preview dated February 15 2016

Feature: Hiding the Staff, a Sympho-Neighbours Story

While yes, we are fully aware of our nature on this corner of the Internet of being a Taiko no Tatsujin-oriented news blog, we've been subjected to a particular episode earlier this week that is gradually turning out to be one of the many jigsaw pieces in a particular frame, picturing quite the worry-some scenario for Bemani series fans and music game players in general.

With this situation coming out fresh on many fronts and (almost) nothing but a sea of undocumented/unverifiable facts surrounding the problems of artist mentions' disappearance, this blend between our usual Taiko-centric trivia sources and the Sympho-Neighbours family of features is here to have a look at how is the stage being set for this peculiar situation. Take this as a 'starting point' look for the events that are unfolding during these very days, as we won't make of this a step-by-step episodic series to follow up...

For the user-input piece of media you're about to see, we'd like to thank the people contributing to the "Konami/Bemani and Artist conflicts." forum board on rhythm game website Zenius -i- vanisher, as well as Twitter users @p6p, @MILI216, @acTroopers and the plurk thread that gave us the picture on the top of this page, among others.

Song of the Week! 4 November 2017

It's been a while since our last Namco Original feature... so, here you are!

Title Fix: Hand-delivered by YMY Herself

Our latest Title Fix has the creator herself clarifying her intentions in setting the title. That is like the best authority we could have, right?

Subsequent to the latest Namco Taiko Blog from which one of the addition was a complete YMY-only challenge in Ranking Dojo Gaiden,YMY herself (@yyyamamo) has retweeted the announcement tweet, while adding a bit of lore of her creation:

そういえば「ザストゥールの魔導書」の「ザストゥール」の語源について話したことがなかったで話してみようかなと。元々はクトゥルフ神話に出てくる「ハスター（Hastur）」からですがどこかの解説に「Xastur」とも記載しているのを見て、「ザストゥール」と発音を変えたのが名の由来です。

— 山本由貴子/やまもまや (@yyyamamo) November 2, 2017

"Speaking of, since we haven't talked of the etymology for ザストゥール from ザストゥールの魔導書 so here are a few words. The origin can be found from Hastur from Cthulhu Mythos, which from a certain source it is also denoted as "Xastur" and changing into such pronunciation."

With respect to her reveal, we will also change our denotation accordingly:
ザストゥールの魔導書 Zastohl no Madousho → Xastur no Madousho

Namco Taiko Blog (November 2 2017): Trading in the Old for the New - Yellow ver. Version 8.xx Update

Kinda peculiar that we still hasn't see any note about a subsequent color-version when it's so close to the previous July-March-December schedule... whatever, new version update!

Sonority Scouts - The 4th Otogesai's Remaining Phase 2 Tracks (+ CHUNITHM)

While yes, it's disappointing to have another no-song-sharing phase for the latest iteration of the Tenkaichi Otogesai tournament, we have some other new songs to talk about nevertheless! Up here we can see Tatsh's Xevel, while after the jump are placed all the remaining newcomers.

First Video: Taiko Drum Monster

 Taiko Drum Monster (3/5/7/10; 850 notes on Oni)
With a title that winks to the infamous US-first console Taiko release, the 4th Otogesai's song addition from the Taiko side checks in with a speedy Oni challenge that implements both aggressive scrolling speed pressure a-la Tabaneito and frequent within its cluster sections. Not to mention that it's one of the few tracks for the series to feature swing-ish rhythms, no less!

Alas, however, we are also served with one disheartening reality for the cross-over tourney's Phase 2, as it appears that each participating music game family has received today their proprietary song(s) and theirs alone...

Taiko PS4 First Week Sales

Media Create figures for the week ending October 29th, 2017.

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

01./00. [NSW] Super Mario Odyssey # (Nintendo) {2017.10.27} (¥5.980) - 462.038 / NEW
02./00. [PS4] Ark: Survival Evolved (Spike Chunsoft) {2017.10.26} (¥6.800) - 70.177 / NEW
03./00. [3DS] Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux # (Atlus) {2017.10.26} (¥6.480) - 60.848 / NEW
04./00. [PS4] Assassin's Creed: Origins (Ubisoft) {2017.10.27} (¥8.400) - 49.419 / NEW
05./00. [PS4] Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum Session! # (Bandai Namco Games) {2017.10.26} (¥6.100) - 28.245 / NEW 
06./07. [NSW] Splatoon 2 # (Nintendo) {2017.07.21} (¥5.980) - 22.445 / 1.271.451 (+36%)
07./01. [PS4] Gran Turismo Sport # (Sony Interactive Entertainment) {2017.10.19} (¥6.900) - 17.670 / 167.956 (-88%)
08./00. [3DS] Idol Time PriPara: Yume All-Star Live! # (Takara Tomy) {2017.10.26} (¥5.500) - 14.885 / NEW
09./08. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Nintendo) {2017.04.28} (¥5.980) - 13.936 / 772.533 (+25%)
10./03. [PS4] The Evil Within 2 (Bethesda Softworks) {2017.10.19} (¥7.980) - 12.624 / 55.565 (-71%)
11./04. [PS4] Itadaki Street: Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy 30th Anniversary (Square Enix) {2017.10.19} (¥7.800) - 9.570 / 51.662 (-77%)
12./02. [PS4] Kyoei Toshi (Bandai Namco Games) {2017.10.19} (¥8.200) - 8.117 / 57.052 (-83%)
13./10. [NSW] The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild # (Nintendo) {2017.03.03} (¥6.980) - 6.307 / 622.690 (+16%)
14./00. [3DS] 12-Sai. Torokeru Puzzle Futari no Harmony (Happinet) {2017.10.26} (¥5.480) - 6.195 / NEW
15./09. [PS4] Middle-earth: Shadow of War (Warner Entertainment Japan) {2017.10.12} (¥7.800) - 5.869 / 34.095 (-27%)
16./11. [NSW] Pokken Tournament DX (Pokemon Co.) {2017.09.22} (¥5.980) - 4.588 / 106.947 (-12%)
17./06. [PSV] Itadaki Street: Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy 30th Anniversary (Square Enix) {2017.10.19} (¥5.980) - 4.210 / 22.994 (-78%)
18./18. [3DS] Animal Crossing: New Leaf - Welcome amiibo (Nintendo) {2016.11.23} (¥2.700) - 3.815 / 260.228 (+39%)
19./00. [3DS] Rune Factory 4 [Best Collection] # (Marvelous) {2017.10.26} (¥2.980) - 3.567 / NEW
20./12. [3DS] Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions (Nintendo) {2017.10.05} (¥4.980) - 3.480 / 46.575 (-32%)

Roughly a week has gone since the latest big console Taiko game's coming, which means for us that it's time for a sneak peek at how has the launch window period been for the first home console game in Sony fields after years.

There's no surprise to state how the Japanese audience loves their portable Taiko gaming the most, but Session de Dodon ga Don's chart debut has quite the low early-adopter ratio, despite the targeted system's huge user base. Moving a little bit more than 28.000 copies, Taiko's PS4 debut is barely lower than some of the former PS2 console entries, making it to a 5th place for its debut in a week that has also seen a number of big names coming to Japan as well. As for Session de Dodon ga Don's Famitsu ratings, we've been left empty-handed for once...

In case some of you are asking if/how we will integrate newer sales figures into last year's sales figures-centric Feature post, we're still thinking about something to address those altogether in a later instance...

Source (Media Creates, mirrored by Resetera)