It's safe to assume how every artist who managed to snag a victory in one of the many Taiko original song contests to be treated as 'victors on equal footing' with the same cash prize/song inclusion treatment everyone gets...
..but then again, this may be if you'd be missing out on a couple of recent winners who got something more than just the rulebook-appointed award!
ニジイロバトン Ponchi♪ feat.はぁち × Donders
| Game | Genre |
|
|
|
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AC Nijiiro AC Green (Asia) |
 |
★3 (129) |
★5 (251) |
★6 (421) |
★8 (713) |
- |
| [2P] AC Nijiiro AC Green (Asia) |
|
★3 (129) |
★5 (251) |
★6 (421) |
★8 (713) |
- |
187.6
???With the ongoing arcade version being titled 'Nijiiro Version', some might snicker at how this song managed to earn a spot in 2020's Faith Creation contest winners chariot just by virtue of title-baiting, but the closer you look at the song and the more layered it gets to its substance!
Nijiiro Baton's main artists are a couple of NamOri-tested veterans of recent memory: song composer and MisoilePunch♪ member Ponchi♪ and singer Haxchi, a duo we also get to hear in a couple of tunes both preceeding and succeeding this one's release: Connect Colors and the also-contest-winner Unlimited Games. What's more intestesting, however, is the roster of guest singers the duo has summoned for the occasional chorus backing, collectively credited as "Donders". It's actually a quintet of people, with varying strong links to YouTube Taiko gaming as a whole!
- Goniwa (ごには; Twitter), a Taiko player currently affiliated with the UUUM video network;
- Sorogami (そろがみ; Twitter), a top Taiko player whose YT channel is mostly dedicated to live arcade Taiko performances;
- Amechi (アメチ; Twitter), self-professed otaku and bearer of the AmechiGames channel;
- Paru～～n (はる～～ん; Twitter); a drummer with an impressive Taiko-related Guinness World Record title under his belt;
- Yosuga (よすが; Twitter); the Clasher of Kyushu himself, with an ongoing streak of two-times Taiko no Tatsujin World Championship title bearer.
Charting-wise, Nijiiro Baton is a pure 1/16 chart like many with a barrage of clusters/single note alternations to boot, but curated numberplay is ever to be found, in line with such a Donder-tied song! The base BPM in of itself is a clean 187.6 (the BanNam goroawase), while a partial flawless play will lead donders to precisely a 500-combo streak right before the slower pick-up portion at Stanza 74. Not to mention there's a minor note stanza swap in three separated instances for 2-player gameplay means for all modes, always leading to the same, respective Max Combo end results!
Space-Time Emergency
Garin
| Game | Genre |
|
|
|
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AC Nijiiro |
|
★3 (???) |
★5 (???) |
★7 (???) |
★9 (558) |
- |
150 ???That's right- one of the upcoming tracks from the latest contest has already gotten quite the extra treatment to it! Although this is of a... shall we say, radically sillier nature, let's preface it with a little talk about its composer: saxophonist Atsushi Koga (古賀敦史, Twitter) from Tokyo. Mostly going online by the art name of Garin, this fellow already had a sizeable share of live events, together with really recent album contribution to indie labels, including LCSM Records and the rhythm-gaming-affine Diverse Direct. Garin's presence can also be felt via the SoundCloud profile and the recently-launched skeb page, for more original/arranged works to be shared with the globe!
Now, when it comes to the post-Gen3 Taiko song recruitment contests, we're used to see one of its judges penning a paragraph or two as a means of both congraturale the winning artist/s while explaining what aspects of its/their craft were the most memorable ones and winning-place-worthy. However, for Space-Time Emergency this apparently wasn't enough to convey how the skillful implementation of multiple tempo signatures came into play in there, so much so that a humorous "side-story" of sorts was penned by judge Masubuchi alongside his own judgement, whose English translation will be integrally reporting under these lines just for the occasion.
[Captain! There's a red-and-blue note-shaped asteroid belt ahead!]
I don't know if it is [intentional], but as the title suggests, it expresses a sense of urgency. It was something that can be felt in the composition.
Especially in the intro, the stepped-up-and-down steps of the chords in the intro are expressed as if they were zigzag, so you can understand the song title as soon as you hear it. It is also a point that caught my tongue.
[For a well-trained sailor, an obstacle of this magnitude is like a circus device (sparkle SFX).]
...or at least, that's what I'd like to say. (Masubuchi who is good at receiving musical notes on his face)
At the start of February '23, Space-Time Emergency finally made its playable debuts, so we can grace blog-reading futurenauts with a few words on its Oni chart. It's the easiest comparison ever this time around, as the compound cluster energy oozing through its stanzas and the scrolling-speed rampage make it easier to see it as the middle step between former Namco Originals Akuukan Yuuei ac12.5 and No Gravity... Quite fitting too, considering all three have their own space-related links to boot!
