[ACN] Nippon Columbia Taiko Contest's Submission Closure

 

Today marks the end of the latest Taiko contest's song submission phase, for tunes to be premiered in the upcoming arcade tournament that will span across 2021's latter end and 2022's beginning. 

 

Normally, we'd have chronicled its journey throughout a small primer of song submissions every Friday as per entry olist update day for the contest, but this one in particular has been... not as entry-filled as the previous one, to be quite honest. Up to Thursday two weeks ago, only one song page was available for everyone to listen to, and the day after just one more page was added! With last Friday being the last one occurring during the submission phase, two more pages have been added for us to talk about and (of course!) for everyone to listen to; we don't know if more song previews are yet to come, but this might as well be the very last update batch...

Enough with the introductory talk though- some notheworthy names among the contestants have been appearing among the contestants as well! We'll be pinpointing somne of them right under these lines:

• Zesei Meppo (是生滅法) by Reiji Sakurai (桜井零士) and Kuroa*, the latter currently being the indie vocalist with the highest amount of parcitipation among SOUND VOLTEX BOOTH contests, with many a song starring his voice being featured in bemani games in general. The former is quite the name as well, considering his old links as a former inhouse bamani musician mainly for pop'n music songs!
  
• Unlimited Games (アンリミテッドゲームズ) by Ponchi♪ and Haxchi, the same couple who secured a four-hands victory in the Faith Creation contest with Nijiiro Baton. Will they be able to perform a consecutive hat trick like many contest-famed artists before them?
  
• Iza, Mairimasu! (いざ、参ります！), by U-ske and Itsuki Nazume (棗いつき). Strong of both arcade and mobile cameos, the composer already made the Taiko rounds with the Namco Original Youthful Coaster, maging a comeback with the aid of the same vocalist backing him up for select SOUND VOLTEX songs in the past (Comet⇒Skater; Planeta Journey).
• SSS.U.N. by Se-U-Ra, another winner from the previous Taiko song contest as the maker of the Nijiiro Year 1 Dojo Ranking main trial juggernaut Hakanaki wa Gensho ni Mau. Similar to other returning winners coming back with the song style that lead them to victory, the artist is opting for a full-instrumental piece once more... but will it be enough to melt the competition away?
• I Need You Now by RiraN, a prolific BMS composer who already put himself into the Taiko fore during the last contest with the track The Darkness, ... but with no avail. Is such a negative streak going to be halted?

[PsVita] - The PlayStation Store's Confirmed Closure

 

After a few days of waiting, last week's rumored closure of digital shop outlets for some of Sony's consoles has been integrally confirmed with an official remark on the official website, with the Vita-pertaining share also being reported under this lines being a Taiko-related topic with both V Version and the Idolm@ster Must Songs games.

Starting from August 27th, the PlayStation Vita's digital store will be closed for good and no other purchases can be ever performed. However, all the users' pre-existing digital content libraries across all regions will still be available to re-download for the time being, meaning that any buyers of the three games' digital version and V Version's DLC packs alike can still redownload all the owned content to their systems through each user's Download List catalog.

In short, if you're planning to complete your digital collection on Sony's last handheld effort, time is running out...

Source: Official PlayStation Website

Song of the Week! 27 March 2021

 

With the latest Nijiiro update, the Game Music and Variety genres are getting split once again into separate entities on arcade grounds. As you're going to find out today, however, some of the affected tracks might still be counted as 'honorary members' of sorts for both genres the same!

[NS1] Online Ranking Match: March 2021 Info

Thanks to Nedmara, ArceusGreen and Twinrose from the Taiko no Tatsujin Discord for the info!

March 2021 Reward Missions
Weekly Battle Songs: 02/26~03/04 | 03/05~11 | 03/12~18 | 03/19~25 | 03/26~04/01

First Video: Nijiiro Version V12.22's New Songs

 

The Asia-unifying Banapassport update for the ongoing arcade line is live at last, and with it is also the latest song batch! Among these we also have this lucky licensed renewal from the 1st arcade generation, which can bolster both a new cover version since the one adopted for its previous foray and a renewed notechart set whose Oni mode arrangement puts the trickiest bits to the end rather than the beginning, which was the very case for Sore na Daiji's Donderful chart.

The HQ recordings of the newcoming songs lie after the jump, as usual!

	Title
	Shukumei Official HIGE DANdism 宿命／Official髭男dism	★2	★2	★5	★7 (287)
	Sore ga Daiji それが大事	★3▲	★4▲	★6▲	★7▼ (471)
	Realize Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World 　　「Re:ゼロから始める異世界生活」より	★3	★5	★6	★7 (380)
	Teo Omoi feat. Hatsune Miku テオ／Omoi feat.初音ミク	★2	★5	★6	★8 (762)
	Theme of Naoki Hanzawa ~Main Title~ 　　TBS Sunday Theatre Naoki Hanzawa テーマ・オブ・半沢直樹 ～Main Title～ 　　TBS系日曜劇場「半沢直樹」より	★1	★2	★2	★8 (370)
	AmaterasuJK Takahiro Akuta feat. Sachiko あまてらすJK／Takahiro Akuta feat. さちこ	★4	★4	★5	★8 (702)
	Aka to Shiro Bara no Majo 赤と白薔薇の魔女／Dokuwaki	★5	★7	★8	★10 (1111)
	Kabukimono, Makari-tooru! Kabotya 傾奇者、罷り通る！／かぼちゃ	★2	★4	★6	★8 (694)
	LECIEL GLISSANDO Yomii 　　よみぃ	★5	★6	★7	★10 (757)

Twitter Snippets (March 23 2021): Duality of Donder, or What Happens if One Banapassport Has Two Profiles

アジア版太鼓の達人はニジイロに更新、ようやくドンだーひろば使えるのは嬉しいけど、一つのバナパスに記録されたセーブデータは一つしか残されない。これまでの記憶を片方無くすのは悲しすぎる。 pic.twitter.com/wUG6BbvILL

— 和田うらら (@woolala95) March 23, 2021

We are now in the same week as the big version update to Taiko no Tatsujin (March 2020/Nijiiro ver.) on March 25. In case you did not check out the original post or our coverage, one of the major functional updates is the unification of the Japanese and Asian versions of the game, letting Japanese and greater-Asian Donders finally interact through Worldwide Rankings and more.

Here lies the question of the day: Given the severely cut content of the Asian version, it is not uncommon for greater-Asian Donders to travel abroad to Japan to experience the more complete version. Since the two versions are technically separate games, they would have made two Donder profiles on the same Banapassport card. What will happen to either should the unification comes?

Our Taiwanese acquaintance Woolala has contacted the customer support of Bandai Namco Amusement to get that answer for us, as shown in the above tweet.

The key determining factor is the number of credits played that each profile has amassed: only the profile with more credits played will be kept. If both profiles has the same number of plays, the situation will then be determined by the latest play date/time: the profile that is played more recently will be kept. It appears that Bandai Namco is NOT going to merge the two profiles in any situation.

While the decision makes sense for Donders who just casually played the Japanese version a few times, it lands much bigger impact to those who religiously travel to Japan to play the Japanese version, with a not-small proportion of past records lost.

[RUMOR] - V Version's Impending DLC Curtain Call

 

One digital-gaming-oriented voice has made the rounds of the Web since yesterday, with anonymous insiders spreading claims on select digital stores closing down for Sony's family of consoles in 2021. Seeing how one of the still-DLC-standing titles -Taiko no Tatsujin V Version- is hosted in one of those systems, we're echoing the rumor here as well, while looking forward to further development of the situation as days go by.

The anonymous source contacting the news website TheGamer.com claims how the PlayStation Vita's digital store is closing down on August 27th this year, with the official announcement from Sony-related press expected to come by the end of this month; it's now just a waiting-game matter to see how much truth lies inside this claim.

Source: TheGamer

Song of the Week! 20 March 2021

For one returning Namco Original artist having a contest-winning track inclusion after a commissioned series debut... have another who had his "character development" in the series on the opposide side of the spectrum!

First Video: YOAKE

 

	Title
	YOAKE 　　Capchii feat. Uzumaki	★4	★7	★8	★10 (965)	-

Namco Original Tenkyuu no Ritsu's composer closes off the Faith Creation winners' foray among the Weekend Warriors debutants, as we've just heard how the remaining tracks will join the next seasonal Rewards Shop rotation instead.

 

This male-lead rock piece a-la Fly away definitely packs in quite a punch in comparison to the latter, with sudden 4-note 1/24 clusters and end-section longer clusters ready to rain on rookies' Full Comboi parade.

Full Combo Title: "DAYBREAKER"

Twitter Snippets (March 19 2021): Daybreak for Faith in Creation - Nijiiro ver. Weekend Warrior for March 20

【お知らせ】
2021/3/20（土）から、太鼓の達人 ニジイロVer.(2020年3月Ver.)でナムコオリジナル「ＹＯＡＫＥ　/　Ｃａｐｃｈｉｉ ｆｅａｔ． Ｕｚｕｍａｋｉ」
が遊べるドーン♪おたのしみに!https://t.co/mQHRpwgHSO#taiko765

— 【公式】太鼓の達人 ゲームセンター版 (@taiko_team) March 19, 2021

With our "weekend-warrior" addition tomorrow (contest submission) and the March 25 update, all the winners from the 2020 Faith Creation contest have been accounted for in Taiko no Tatsujin (March 2020/Nijiiro ver.). Our "List of Tracks from Taiko no Tatsujin Music Recruitment Contests" is still online in case you have forgotten the eighteen tracks spawned from this contest.

March 2020/Nijiiro ver. New Track: March 13 2021

	Title
	YOAKE 　　Capchii feat. Uzumaki	★?	★?	★?	★?

Key: red = series debut; blue = arcade debut

Namco Taiko Blog (March 18 2021): The World Is All (Twenty Twenty-)one! Nijiiro ver. March 25 Update

One year into the fourth generation of arcade Taiko no Tatsujin, it's time for a major update to tie up loose ends and open up brand new opportunities. The March 25 update is going to do just that, opening a whole new world to arcade Donders.

[ACN] Nippon Columbia Taiko Contest: Song Previews Now Live!

 

The heated arcade championship's song-making contest has about two more weeks to welcome song submission and just like with the previous one, these are starting to be gradually published on the contest's website for everyone to see! Click here to jump to the contest's website and see which are the first ones to get the preview treatment since yesterday, although keep in mind that the titles you might see for those are automatically-translated and you might want to head to the page's Japanese version in order to unveil their proper naming.

As with the past contest, we're spotlighting a small taste of the offered primer, although there's not that much up for grabs with just a page's worth of song entries...

• Odoruka Odoranaika? (オドルカ・オドラナイカ?), by CiCaDa. While this artist's name doesn't ring familiar to any ongoing music gaming series to date, let it be known that the artist has joined each of the publicly-known-participants Taiko contests thus far, with no avail. Could this be the one to end such an unlucky streak?
• Hilarious Seeker by Kagetora. (影虎。), one creator that, on the other hand, already managed to strike rhythm gaming gold with bemani's SOUND VOLTEX series, time and time again (DEEP PSYCHEDELIC STRIKER and No Way, among his contest-winning pieces).
  

Song of the Week! 13 March 2021

A little over a month later, here we are again- penning the lapse and bounds of a Taiko-spread song that's going to leave the series for good, across all current official releases. Do you remember which one is it, this time?

First Video: Hiyoko Kanteishi-san

	Title
	Hiyoko Kanteishi-san Rish feat. Choko ひよこ鑑定士さん／立秋 feat.ちょこ	★4	★6	★8	★10 (852)

Apparently, chick sexing is an actual job within the poultry industry? While the vocalist is busy distinguishing male chicks (オス osu) and female chicks (メス mesu), you have sort through the barrage of 16th and 24th notes, in frequent even clusters and long mixed streams, under an ever-changing BPM and scroll speed.

Full Combo Title: "Mister Note Sorter" (音符鑑定士さん)

Twitter Snippets (March 12 2021): Why Does It Have To Be Chicks!? Nijiiro ver. Weekend Warrior for March 13

【お知らせ】
2021/3/13（土）から、太鼓の達人 ニジイロVer.(2020年3月Ver.)でナムコオリジナル「ひよこ鑑定士さん　/　立秋 ｆｅａｔ．ちょこ」
が遊べるドーン♪おたのしみに!https://t.co/dsacEJmYgz#taiko765

— 【公式】太鼓の達人 ゲームセンター版 (@taiko_team) March 12, 2021

Continuing with the weekly rush to push out all the Faith Creation contest winners, this Saturday we have a duo that has already dipped their toes in the Taiko no Tatsujin series twice in the past. Listen to their contest submission here.

That leaves us with five winning songs left to make an official appearance, the list of which (as well as past contests) can be found in our "List of Tracks from Taiko no Tatsujin Music Recruitment Contests".

March 2020/Nijiiro ver. New Track: March 13 2021

	Title
	Hiyoko Kanteishi-san Rish feat. Choko ひよこ鑑定士さん／立秋 feat.ちょこ	★?	★?	★?	★?

Key: red = series debut; blue = arcade debut

First Video: Pocket Kara Kyun Desu! and Kaikai Kitan

Two new songs using the original recording enters the Taiko no Tatsujin series this week.

	Title
	Pocket Kara Kyun Desu! Hirame ポケットからきゅんです！／ひらめ	★2	★2	★3	★7 (259)
	Kaikai Kitan TV Anime Jujutsu Kaisen 1st Cour Opening Theme 廻廻奇譚／TVアニメ『呪術廻戦』第1クールオープニングテーマ	★4	★5	★6	★8 (482)