Taiko no Tatsujin Original Soundtrack - Ringo-ame

Released almost 4 years since the last publicly-available commercial Taiko album, the Taiko no Tatsujin Original Soundtrack Ringo-ame (太鼓の達人 オリジナルサウンドトラック りんごあめ) is the first of an 8-album soundtrack plan by independent distributor Clarice Disc, the same distributor behind 2014's two mini-album releases.

According to the official description of the album, the 1-disc Ringo-ame soundtrack is choke-full of 'peppy and vivid vocal tracks' from female performers, most of which having made their series debut on either the 3DS or Wii U Taiko titles.

Sonority Scouts - Hakurei Shrine's Musical Troopers / 2018 Edition

...yeah yeah, there's nothing Bandai Namco-related for this year's main Hakurei Shrine Reitasai convention, but nevertheless other major music game series are coming back for some more Touhou action! Let's see what's in storm this time around.

Song of the Week! 28 April 2018

Time for another future feature for us! (...as well as the time for me to recycle the 'Tooth's out, pain's out' mantra...)

Twitter Snippets: Game Week Campaign for the Golden Week Purchases

『太鼓の達人 セッションでドドンがドン！』はPS4® 追加アイテムキャンペーンに参加中！
期間中、応募券を取得してキャンペーン参加タイトルの追加アイテムを合計5,000円以上購入すると、
もれなく後日500円分のPS Storeチケットをプレゼント！
詳細はこちら → https://t.co/ZOM89qRVjS

— 太鼓の達人 (@taiko_team) April 27, 2018

The Golden Week holidays are approaching fast in Japan, and with that Sony is coining the same-initial "Game Week" moniker to hold a bunch of promotions on the PlayStation Store towards the Japanese audience ending May 9 2018 in for the holiday spirit (?). And PS4's Taiko no Tatsujin Drum Session are on the receptacle of that!

Before all, not limited to Taiko no Tatsujin, all buyers can get a once-per-person 10% discount on your whole shopping cart (except select items like CERO Z-rated games, pre-orders, non-game items and PlayStation Plus membership). Just use the promotional coupon code on the campaign main page at checkout.

Drum Session is also part of the PS4 Additional Item Campaign (PS4追加アイテムキャンペーン), where when you purchase 5000+ yen worth of additional items and DLCs during the campaign, you can receive 500 yen in terms of PlayStation Store Ticket credit at a later date. That is conveniently covered by both Donder Pack season pass, eh?

PlayStation Store Game Week Campaign main page

Finally, not related to the promotions, but we missed to tell you yesterday that Infinite Rebellion is also now separately purchasable outside of the Donder Pack Vol. 1-6 set at 162 yen (tax incl.) or equivalent prices in other currencies for all Asian regions. We now rectify it here, so yeah.

Taiko no Tatsujin Blue Ver. (International) Song List

The 10th firmware of the post-numbering arcade Taiko generation, Blue Version made it to non-Japanese arcades roughly a week after the Japanese launch, making its debut with a generous slew of song licenses from both the discontinued Yellow Version's pool and JP Blue Version's own launch lineup.

With a good chunk of the Donder Hiroba-related functionalities still out of reach for the greater Asia players, this Blue Version variant is also expected to host the upcoming Battle mode from the JP arcades.

First Video: Heavenly Visitor

 Heavenly Visitor (3/3/3/6; 341 notes on Oni mode)
The second of the iDOLiSH7 tracks to be ported to Blue Version sports an Oni mode whose patterns tend to follow more the song's vocals, with a mostly mono-color cluster mixture for everyone to enjoy.

PS4-1 Update: Donder Pack Vol. 9-12 Unveiled

The new PS4-1 DLC season pass (and the standalone Donder Pack Vol. 7) are out today! But if Taiko Drum Monster as the bonus track and the slashed price still leave you on the fence, here are 20 more reasons to tip you over to one side or another.

Donder Pack Vol. 9: June 28 2018 (500 yen+tax)
crossing field
　　　「ソードアート・オンライン」より Sword Art Online

弩蚊怒夏 Dokadoka

天照 Amaterasu Console debut
　　　Tatsh a.k.a 世阿弥 Zeami
喫茶レイン Kissa Rain
夏竜 ～Karyu～

Donder Pack Vol. 10: July 26 2018 (500 yen+tax)
キルミーのベイベー！ Kill Me no Baby!
　　　「キルミーベイベー」より Kill Me Baby
サーフサイド・サティ Surfside Satie
Freeway 3234 NEW!

Ignis Danse
　　　Yuji Masubuchi / 「太鼓の達人」より Taiko no Tatsujin
 太鼓侍 Taiko Samurai

Donder Pack Vol. 11: August 23 2018 (500 yen+tax)
コネクト Connect
　　　「魔法少女まどか☆マギカ」より Puella Magi Madoka Magica

愛と浄罪の森 Ai to Jouzai no Mori NEW?

 White Rose Insanity
秋竜 ～Shiuryu～
 東京特許キョ許可局局長!! Tokyo Tokkyo-kyo Kyokakyoku Kyokuchou!!

Donder Pack Vol. 12: September 27 2018 (500 yen+tax)
Don't say "lazy" NEW!
Doom Noiz
　　　「ギャラガレギオンズ」より Galaga Legions
Purple Rose Fusion
燎原ノ舞 Ryougen no Mai
冬竜 ～Toryu～

...hold on, go back. Why is Ai to Jouzai no Mori the obviously new track not marked as "Taiko no Tatsujin First Appearance!" (太鼓の達人 初登場!) on the PS4-1 main site? Is this going to mean that that song is going to appear somewhere else by August 23 2018? The plot thickens for the future... coughBattleModecoughAmitiecough

Sekai wa Itsudemo Mystery Lyrics

Composition: Torine (トリ音)
Lyrics: Sasaoka (ササオカ)
Vocal: Honoka Inoue (井上ほの花)

Song of the Week! 21 April 2018

It's usually a jolly ol' time for us when we get to talk about other music game series in our song features on this blog.

That, however, isn't entirely the case for this instance, as you're about to find out...

[NSwitch] Taiko Switch Version's First Website Update

Today marks the very first website update for the next home console Taiko game! All the details are listed after the jump.

First Video: Blue Ver. Game Version V1.05 Songs

Here we are, with the new songs of the day!

Twitter Snippets (16 April 2017) - !!!HARDCORE no Kokoroe Time!!!

【アルバム情報⑦】
バンダイナムコ"太鼓の達人"より
HARDCOREノ心得 t+pazolite（@tpazolite）Remix収録！#myosuke5th #太鼓の達人 https://t.co/auZ3QuPpm3 pic.twitter.com/nLtv7yYbMX

— Myosuke (@Myosuke) 16 aprile 2018

The Taiko-related album news don't stop with City Connection/Clarice's 8-soundtracks project, as DJ Myosuke has topped last month's HARDCORE no Kokoroe long version announcement (link) with the reveal of a brand-new remix of the same track, by the hands of t+pazolite. Both the long and remix version of the artist's debut Namco Original will appear in his 5th album, coming out on April 29th.

Mirroring the general-music-gaming mood from the past announcement of the same album, Groove Coaster's MAD FREAKS is also getting a remixed version by the nicknamed 'The Wishmaster' (link).

Namco Taiko Blog (16 April 2018) - Taiko Blue Version's First Update

Three days after our jointed reportage of the iDOLISH7 collab/4Games feature post, we get an official notice on the Taiko no Tatsujin blog detailing what the next update is holding in the most anonymous and PR-corporative bland way as possible...

After the jump is a brief recap of the content spotlighted, included the first tweaks on Blue Version's Ranking Dojo mode.

Twitter Snippets (April 13 2018): Switch away from the Wada Brothers for the Switch Version (Addendum: 2018/04/15)

pic.twitter.com/uuoD9bxMjo

— Infinity-excellent R (@sasasa_Z) April 13, 2018

Thanks to simple1 from the chatbox for finding this tweet!

Magazine coverage for Taiko no Tatsujin Nintendo Switch Version is found, and here is a preliminary shot from it!

While the shot is too limited in quality to make out any actual song names, we can make out the gist for the new mechanics of Performing Character (演奏キャラクター). Before you play a song, you have the choice of alternate characters with special Performance Skills (演奏スキル) that tweaks the gameplay in various ways. With that you can make your drumming performance easier for you. Isn't that basically the modifier mechanics though...?

For now, the characters confirmed from the shot are:

• Don-chan
• Kat-chan
• Calcutta=Dondi
• Yomogimaru
• Bachio Sensei (with the skill confirmed to be automatically differentiating Dons and Kats, i.e. Donko Mode in PSP2 or partly Support Lv.2 from PS4)
• Wada Inu
• Wada John
• Chouchin Unagi

Addendum (2018/04/14): Additional textual reports from wikihouse, the magazine above should be the next issue of CoroCoro Comic, and from which also confirms more songs:
 R.Y.U.S.E.I.
 RPG
 前前前世 Zen Zen Zense
 ともに Tomo ni
 アローラ！！ Alola!!
Addendum (2018/04/15): More songs confirmed by wikihouse commentors via the same CoroCoro Comics appearance:
拝啓ドッペルゲンガー Haikei Doppelganger

PS Vita1 Update - Stopping the Layabout Life in Your DLC: Termination of Popular Song Pack 12

WHY IS THIS WEEK OF TAIKO NEWS NOT OVER YET!!??

In an previously-unannounced move, the Popular Song Pack 12 (人気曲パック12) DLC for Taiko no Tatsujin V Version has ended its sale on the PlayStation Store front.

Evidently it is because of the Himouto! Umaru-chan opening theme, because the other songs in this pack are still individually sold at the taxed price of 162 yen price each. This is quite unlike the last time one song killed the continuation of a whole DLC pack (3DS2 Popular Songs Pack 4 likely with Kessen!!), but the new total price totals higher than the original pack price (540 yen tax incl.). Still, they will be here had you not bought it before.

In case you forget, here's the lineup of the pack again:


Popular Song Pack 12 (pack sale ended; other songs 162 yen each tax incl.)
かくしん的☆めたまるふぉ～ぜっ！ Kakushinteki☆Metamarupho~se!
自力本願レボリューション Jiriki Hongan Revolution
　　　「暗殺教室」より Assassination Classroom
悲しき蒼穹を翔ける Kanashiki Soukyuu o Kakeru
　　　「ぐるみん」より Gurumin
深緋の心臓 -SCARLET HEART- Kokihi no Shinzou -SCARLET HEART-
　　　東方Project×NAMCO SOUNDS Touhou Project x NAMCO SOUNDS
　　　kyo feat.あさな(IOSYS) kyo feat. Asana (IOSYS)
春竜 ～Haryu～

Song of the Week! 14 April 2018

In occasion of the really, REALLY rare occurrence of new Taiko no Tatsujin official soundtracks coming out, we have a double Namco Original feature from the next album for you. They also come from the same Taiko game!

IDOLiSH7 x Taiko no Tatsujin Collab Dated for Take Off (Addendum 2018/04/13)

Looks like Taiko no Tatsujin is finally picking back up the steam, eh? The teaser that landed since December 2017 finally received the resolution, as the IDOLiSH7 x Taiko no Tatsujin collaboration is finally dated to begin starting April 18 2018.
The collaborative efforts will roll out in weekly installments, first adding the custom dancers to the existing i7 song of WiSH VOYAGE and then adding new tunes (along with unique custom dancers of the signature idol groups) after that:

IDOLiSH7 x Taiko no Tatsujin Collaboration
WiSH VOYAGE (custom dancers added April 18)
　　　「アイドリッシュセブン」より IDOLiSH7
Heavenly Visitor NEW! (+custom dancers, April 25) (+Ura)
　　　「アイドリッシュセブン」より IDOLiSH7
NO DOUBT NEW! (+custom dancers, May 2)
　　　「アイドリッシュセブン」より IDOLiSH7

   

On Issho ni Waiwai Ensou, the Lucky Notes gimmick returns with company pet Kinako (きなこ) and pudding mascot King Purin (王様プリン), and special custom messages from the idols at the end.



Tying back to the IDOLiSH7 franchise, if nation-wide Donders collectively achieves 7777 plays on each of the collab songs on Blue ver., special in-game items will be up for grabs in the IDOLiSH7 mobile game.

Collab page on Taiko no Tatsujin Blue ver. main site

Addendum (2018/04/13): We have come to know that more songs are also to be added to Blue ver. on April 18, thanks to press releases relayed by outlets like 4Gamer. Thanks to Deadwantsha from the chatbox for letting us know!
ルパンレンジャーVSパトレンジャー Lupinranger VS Patranger NEW!
We can!! HuGっと！プリキュア We can!! HuGtto! PreCure NEW!
Jump Up, Super Star! Short Version NEW!
　　　「スーパーマリオ オデッセイ」より Super Mario Odyssey