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Saturday, January 29, 2022

Song of the Week! 29 January 2022

   
 
While yesterday's 'First Video' post was about tracks that were already covered by us the day before, have an actual brand-new Namco Original getting released today!

Friday, January 28, 2022

"First Video": The Drum Master's Launch Newcomers

 
We're dusting off the Dr.Evil air quotes on this one as we already posted the newly-launched game's dedicated song list page, in which the videos from the two tunes above were already appearing! While, yes, this is all the newcomers we've gotten with the game's launch (with the rotation shop cycling across many other returning Taiko songs on a daily basis), The Drum Master still got some pieces to call its own.

After a 2021 famished of new songs from the Game Music genre, here are a couple of them debuting at the same time, and spawning from really recent Bandai Namco games on top of that! Oni star rating and 50-counter-differeng Max Combos aside, both songs play it straight with 1/16 charting not that dissimilar from each other in means of speed and cluster mixtures, with some 1/12 oddball in between.


Title
Tales of Arise Battle Song Medley
テイルズ オブ アライズ 戦闘曲メドレー
★4★5★6★7
(680)
-
Incompatible Thoughts
相容れぬ念い/「SCARLET NEXUS」より
★4★5★6★8
(630)
-
 

Thursday, January 27, 2022

Taiko no Tatsujin The Drum Master! song list


Taiko no Tatsujin The Drum Master! makes a first in many aspects: it is the first Taiko title for the Xbox family of consoles (Series X, Series S and One) and Windows PC, the first console Taiko title to use 4th-generation mechanics introduced in Nijiiro ver. arcade firmware (rainbow crown, scoring, performance options), and the first full-price console title to NOT have a month-long preview period drip-feeding Donders with the song list (only 8 days between announcement and release).

Although missing signature side modes and a specially-composed theme song, The Drum Master focuses on local and online multiplayer proven successful with Nintendo Switch Version, while bringing back full-featured customization options with the addition of fancy nameplates.

Wednesday, January 26, 2022

[Xbox/PC] - The Drum Master's Last Pre-release Trailer

 
Mere hours before the Japanese Midnight, here we are with an unlisted (for now) YT trailer for the impending The Drum Master, showcasing a little bit more of the starting song list alongside some visual key points:
  • ACN/Switch visual layouts with new custom 'X-hit Combo' markers
  • Online matchmaking looks the same as the one from NSwitch, minus the slightly-different font

Kinda feels weird to be this close to a brand new Taiko release while still knowing so little about it, for a change...

New Initial Track List Reveals

Title
Natsu Matsuri / Jitterin' Jin
夏祭り / ジッタリン・ジン

★4
★4
★6
★7
★10
CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA Dragon Ball Z
  「ドラゴンボールZ」より
★3 ★4 ★5 ★6
Inferno Fire Force
インフェルノ/「炎炎ノ消防隊」より
★3 ★5 ★5 ★8
Sugar Song to Bitter Step Kekkai Sensen
シュガーソングとビターステップ/「血界戦線」より
★3 ★4 ★5 ★8
GO!!! Naruto Shippuden
  「NARUTO -ナルト-」より
★4* ★4* ★4* ★8*
We Are! One Piece
ウィーアー!/「ワンピース」より
★3 ★4 ★5 ★6
only my railgun A Certain Scientific Railgun
   「とある科学の超電磁砲」より
★3 ★5 ★6 ★7
Paradisus-Paradoxum 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 ★8
Tell Your World Original Song: livetune feat. Hatsune Miku
  原曲:livetune feat.初音ミク
★3 ★2 ★5 ★6
Bad Apple!! feat. nomico Touhou Project Arrange - Alstroemeria Records
  東方Projectアレンジ Alstroemeria Records
★3 ★5 ★6 ★8
Carmen Prelude Georges Bizet
カルメン 組曲一番終曲
/ビゼー
★3 ★5 ★5★7
Tales of Arise Battle Song Medley
テイルズ オブ アライズ 戦闘曲メドレー
★4 ★? ★? ★?
MAGICAL SOUND SHOWER OutRun
  「アウトラン」より
★4 ★6 ★7 ★9

Ouka Ranman
桜花爛漫
★4 ★6 ★7 ★8

Key: red = series debut;  blue = console debut
Difficulty ratings with * are from past Generation 1 or 2 games so may subject to change

Outside of the tracks above, the trailer also uses TOKIMEKI♡Destroyer!! (TOKIMEKI♡ですとろいやー!!) as background music, but whether it is actually playable is not supported by footage for now.

Tuesday, January 25, 2022

Twitter Snippets (January 24th, 2022) - 2000s, Meet The 2000s


To further solidify how the first Nintendo Switch game is -for all intents and purposes- dead, a tweet from the mobile-attuned Taiko handle makes us aware how last month's Taiko de Time Travel will only make visit to STH's song-subscription pool, starting from yesterday.

Gakkyoku Tori Houdai Adds

Title
2022/01/24
Taiko no 2000 Taiko de Time Travel B.C.E / LindaAI-CUE
たいこの2000/太鼓 de タイムトラベル紀元前 / LindaAI-CUE
★5 ★7 ★8 ★10
Key: red = series debutgreen = GTH debut



Sunday, January 23, 2022

Taiko no Tatsujin Namco Original Soundtrack (DJ Fua NamOri DJ Mix Series)


Fua (フア) of the influencer pair OmikoSisters (オミコシスターズ) from Taiko no Tatsujin Anime Version (太鼓の達人 アニメば~じょん!) is known to take DJing as a side hobby. Her non-stop DJ mixes of Namco Original tracks, with videos made using Bandai Namco Labs' interactive virtual performance system BanaDIVE™AX, are occasionally uploaded to the Taiko no Tatsujin Official YouTube Channel as a side feature to the show.

The original tracks used in these are also made into digital collections, available for purchase or streaming on various music streaming services.

The Sorry State of Taiko no Tatsujin Nintendo Switch Version/Drum 'n' Fun in 2022

While a new major console Taiko no Tatsujin title is on the horizon, we should also wrap up the developments (or lack thereof) since the dawn of 2022 in the previous major console title - Taiko no Tatsujin Nintendo Switch Version/Drum 'n' Fun.

Online Ranked Match Revamp
Introduced in December 2019, Online Ranked Match (オンラインランクマッチ) on NS1 was the first real-time distanced multiplayer mode in Taiko no Tatsujin (all titles before this at best has local multiplayer; PS4's Taiko Ranked Match uses ghost replays and is not real-time).

As a recap, 10 tracks are shortlisted from the whole game each week to be used in the mode, with over 70% from the default list but DLC tracks are possible (but very minuscule chance if neither players own them). Starting from February 2020, Reward Missions (ごほうびミッション) are added to let you earn tracks and cosmetics through playing matches. 

However, these two features were not to last in 2022. Rewards Missions were announced to be ending after December 2021. Tracks previously obtained from this mode are of course still playable, but there is no mention of alternative ways to newly obtain them as of right now. If you want to know the 23 tracks that you might have missed, check out our NS1 Unlock List.

Also, in a version update release on 2022/01/12, the "Weekly Battle Tracks" format is also removed from the game. Instead, the mode will now select any track that either player owns for the match. Here are some key detailed findings in conjunction with the ban list in eSports Tournament mode that is implicated from reports (which is likely similar to Private Match):
  • Tracks owned by both players can be picked even if it is banned in eSports Tournament mode
  • Tracks owned by only one of the players can be picked only if it is NOT banned in eSports Tournament mode
  • the 5-minute beast Hypnosis Mic -Division Battle Anthem- can be picked by the same rules above

Whatever Happened to DLCs
We have no idea as well. As of 2022/01/23, there has not been any announcement on new DLC items after the batch in December 2021.

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Saturday, January 22, 2022

Song of the Week! 22 January 2022

   
 
Two Namco Originals today with two things in common: their debut on the same console game and their latest revival by a web-anime-featured DJ!

Thursday, January 20, 2022

Namco Taiko Blog (January 20th, 2021) - A Random Strawberry Update and the Year's First Livestream


We divert our gaze from the freshly-revealed Taiko title for one day in order to digress on the whereabouts of Nijiiro Version's next content update, one of the topics in today's blog entry that is coming out next week, on January 26th.

Wednesday, January 19, 2022

Taiko no Tatsujin: The Drum Master (Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Windows PC)


With all the previous trademark scavenger hunts we have done, this announcement is pretty much inevitable. It's time again to hype up for a brand new console release coming in... eight days (2022/01/27)?

Aside from the obvious inclusion of rainbow crowns for Donderful Combos (all Good hits), this will be the first console Taiko no Tatsujin title to adopt the 4th-generation scoring system (for comparison, it is nigh impossible to get over 40,000 in MEGALOVANIA Kantan within 40 combos in NS1's 3rd-gen scoring, let alone 200,000). A smaller addition is the time-progression gauge to show you how long is left to the track, only previously seen in NS1's eSports Tournament mode.

On the structure of the game, the game includes modes for local and online multiplayer (both casual and ranked) according to the English official promo. There is no mention of any side modes in any official capacity, so this title will be a very pure Taiko drumming experience, to put it nicely.

Accompanying the main rhythm gameplay is the myriad player customization options, including the familiar MyDon dress-up (minus face makeup), titles and the brand new nameplate. These customization parts and hidden tracks can be bought in the in-game shop with a gold coin currency, just as the leaked achievement list foretold. (no mention of "out-of-game shops" i.e. DLCs now)

But what makes or breaks a Taiko no Tatsujin game the most is probably the track list, and what has been revealed at this stage... um... consists of "popular tracks and staple choices" for lack of a better word...

Revealed Track List

Title
I Want You Back ★3
★3
★5
★8

Blue Bird
ブルーバード
★3 ★4 ★6 ★6
Yoru ni Kakeru
夜に駆ける
/YOASOBI
★1 ★2 ★4 ★8
Homura
★1 ★2 ★1 ★4
A Cruel Angel's Thesis Neon Genesis Evangelion
残酷な天使のテーゼ/「新世紀エヴァンゲリオン」より
★4 ★4 ★6★7
★8
CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA Dragon Ball Z
  「ドラゴンボールZ」より
★2 ★3 ★4 ★6
Itsumo Nando Demo Spirited Away
いつも何度でも/「千と千尋の神隠し」より
★2 ★1 ★2 ★1
Kimi o Nosete Castle in the Sky
君をのせて/「天空の城ラピュタ」より
★2 ★3 ★4 ★6
MEGALOVANIA
  「UNDERTALE」より
★4 ★5 ★7 ★9
Key: red = series debutblue = console debut

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