Here's a quick Namco Original feature to start off the new year right!
junction| Version |  |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | x4 (134) | x5 (186) | x6 (283) | x9 (604) |
Taiko 0.5, Taiko PSP DX, Taiko Wii U 2, Taiko +
135
none
sqr2The Codename Katsu-Don arcade firmware's initial trend for the now-defunct Don Challenge feature was to add new Namco Originals as monthly unlocks for Banapassport players, with a certain tendency to spotlight sequels to Namco Original hits from the past times. Being an ideal sequel song to the jazz-a-holic Sports Digesdon, junction is decisively part of this former trait!
The composer of this Namco Original piece, as a result, is the same one of the aforementioned Sports Digesdon: Junichi Nakatsuru (中鶴潤一), sound director of the Soul games and music contributor to Namco's racing and Ace Combat titles. The song made its debut on November 2012 as the 4th Don Challenge-debuting song, spanning some semi-contemporary console ports shortly after. In a later-released Taiko Team blog entry, it was revealed that junction was originally going to have a different name, written in Japanese lettering as to follow Sport Digesdon's own title: 'Extreme Fusion' (どフュージョン, with the 'ど' in Don-chan's name). When the score was settled on the actually-definitive name, Extreme Fusion ended up becoming the time-limited title part that could be unlocked by clearing 10 monthly challenges in the same month of junction's debut.
With the KFM modes showing off a modest amount of notes, notecharter Kan (カーン) adopted a very intuitive music notation rule for the charting process of junction's Oni mode: a series of irregular note clusters that would follow the main instrumental accompaniment of the song like a shadow, beat per beat. As a result, we have a far shorter Oni challenge than Sports Digesdon's that features a barrage of note formations to hit at a more-than-approachable speed.
