Today on Song of the Week, we're trying (not really) to unravel one of Namco/Bandai Namco's greatest mysteries since its inception... which is to say,
Why did it take so long for them to make a theme song for their most-known videogame series???
Kumo Made Todoke! Taiko no Tatsujin Portable 2 Theme Song
くもまでとどけ！ /「太鼓の達人 ぽ～たぶる2」テーマソング
110
pspopn (PSP Opening)
Opening Movie
When you think about it on an active-company standpoint, it's still pretty wild to nover Bandai Namco as the owner of one of the oldest gaming IPs to being kept in activity with many different projects to this day, isn't it?
Pac-Man can count dozens of titles on its tally with many a side project across the years, but it's equally surprising to say how much time has passed from its home developing company to gain a theme song of his own (I mean in videogame form, as on the animated side he's had his game since the 80ies)! Equally baffling is how the Taiko no Tatsujin series has been quite shy of showing off the musical Pac-lineage across the years up until very recently with the advent of the Switch games, as beforehand it was either Ridge Racer song remixes or original mixing in parts of the original arcade games' music in something else. To further drive this point home, don't forget how the first Taiko-attuned musical tribute to Namco's yellow mascot... was actually part of a past portable game, as its theme song of all things!
Kumo Made Todoke! (lit. "Reach the Clouds!") is one of many Taiko OPs to be performed by Don-Chan VA Miki Narahashi (ならはしみき), this time around for a song that has been entirely composed and lyricized by Ogami Masako (大上昌子), with track down duties done by Hiroshi Osako (大迫浩). With the first of the Playstation Portable Taiko games 'recycling' Nijiiro Yumeiro Taikoiro as its theme song, Portable 2 is actually the first of the PSP games to get an unique theme to it, hence the generic hint to a 'PSP Opening' on its ID without 2s of sorts. Before it would get another console port, Kumo Made Todoke had to wait the greater half of 14 years since Portable 2's release, with the drop of a 20th-series-anniversary celebrative DLC pack for the first Switch game with all sorts of Taiko game OPs from the past, while also getting the same treatment of becoming available as part of the succeeding Switch entry's Taiko Music Pass subscription plan.
Matsumoto (マツモト) of many a Portable Deluxe/V Version-debuting charts fame was also the one behind this PSP opening theme's modes, all bouncing around the same jumping-rhythms approach. Some keen listening is required down the chorus's latter half, as the first Pac-Man arcade's iconic "Intermission theme" can be heard alongside Don-Chan's last singing lines for this tune!
We are PAC-MAN!
PAC-MAN Official Theme Song
138
pacmte (PAC-MAN Theme)
Years go by, with many a gaming project starring the yellow muncher himself but no "character-tailored" songs to it (outside of anniversary means, of course!). That is, until May of the last year with a seemingly-random upload on the official PAC-MAN YT channel: a duly-dubbed, bona fide official theme song, at long last! From its video description alone, we can tell how the song was made with the idea of a piece that could be enjoyed all around the world thanks to the many nods to the franchise's history intertwined to the sense of community that is brought with a shared topic at hand... in other words, WE are PAC-MAN!
The song was composed by BNSI alumni Yano Yoshito (矢野義人), with Katamari/Idolm@ster-affine inhouse artist Kazuhito Udetsu (宇出津和仁) lending him a hand for its lyrics body, being brought to live in vocal form by Kaho Kidoguchi (木戸口歌穂), a musical acts live performer as well as one of two leader singers from the 8-Bit Big Band. Despite the PAC-MAN franchise being born sometime in July 1980, the digital release has happened two months prior in May, as the 'opening act' to the Pac-Man series' 42nd anniversary which was culminated worldwide with the release of Pac-Man World Re-Pac, a remake to the eponymous PSX game originally released for the 20th anniversary that would evetually come up, right on cue! ... one month after the actual anniversary month, in 2022 (the hell?). For that reason, said remake was also the first videogame housing the Pac-Man theme song, as part of its credits sequence!
Two months later, the song was already heading to Taiko Music Pass enjoyers all around the world, as a playable Pac-history moment with no anniversary/Ridge Racers strings attached to it! It also plays somewhat similar to another disco-based Taiko OP from ancient times in Saturday Taiko Fever, only with a slightly-faster pace and no overly-complex single clusters on sight.
Why did it take so long for them to make a theme song for their most-known videogame series???
Kumo Made Todoke! Taiko no Tatsujin Portable 2 Theme Song
くもまでとどけ！ /「太鼓の達人 ぽ～たぶる2」テーマソング
| Game | Genre |
|
|
|
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSP 2 |
 |
★4 (92) |
★6 (129) |
★7 (248) |
★8 (375) |
- |
| NS1 NS2 (MP) |
 |
★3 (92) |
★5 (139) |
★7 (248) |
★8 (375) |
- |
110 pspopn (PSP Opening)Opening Movie
When you think about it on an active-company standpoint, it's still pretty wild to nover Bandai Namco as the owner of one of the oldest gaming IPs to being kept in activity with many different projects to this day, isn't it?
Pac-Man can count dozens of titles on its tally with many a side project across the years, but it's equally surprising to say how much time has passed from its home developing company to gain a theme song of his own (I mean in videogame form, as on the animated side he's had his game since the 80ies)! Equally baffling is how the Taiko no Tatsujin series has been quite shy of showing off the musical Pac-lineage across the years up until very recently with the advent of the Switch games, as beforehand it was either Ridge Racer song remixes or original mixing in parts of the original arcade games' music in something else. To further drive this point home, don't forget how the first Taiko-attuned musical tribute to Namco's yellow mascot... was actually part of a past portable game, as its theme song of all things!
Kumo Made Todoke! (lit. "Reach the Clouds!") is one of many Taiko OPs to be performed by Don-Chan VA Miki Narahashi (ならはしみき), this time around for a song that has been entirely composed and lyricized by Ogami Masako (大上昌子), with track down duties done by Hiroshi Osako (大迫浩). With the first of the Playstation Portable Taiko games 'recycling' Nijiiro Yumeiro Taikoiro as its theme song, Portable 2 is actually the first of the PSP games to get an unique theme to it, hence the generic hint to a 'PSP Opening' on its ID without 2s of sorts. Before it would get another console port, Kumo Made Todoke had to wait the greater half of 14 years since Portable 2's release, with the drop of a 20th-series-anniversary celebrative DLC pack for the first Switch game with all sorts of Taiko game OPs from the past, while also getting the same treatment of becoming available as part of the succeeding Switch entry's Taiko Music Pass subscription plan.
Matsumoto (マツモト) of many a Portable Deluxe/V Version-debuting charts fame was also the one behind this PSP opening theme's modes, all bouncing around the same jumping-rhythms approach. Some keen listening is required down the chorus's latter half, as the first Pac-Man arcade's iconic "Intermission theme" can be heard alongside Don-Chan's last singing lines for this tune!
We are PAC-MAN!
PAC-MAN Official Theme Song
| Game | Genre |
|
|
|
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NS2 (MP) |
 |
★3 (92) |
★5 (139) |
★6 (270) |
★7 (432) |
- |
138 pacmte (PAC-MAN Theme)Years go by, with many a gaming project starring the yellow muncher himself but no "character-tailored" songs to it (outside of anniversary means, of course!). That is, until May of the last year with a seemingly-random upload on the official PAC-MAN YT channel: a duly-dubbed, bona fide official theme song, at long last! From its video description alone, we can tell how the song was made with the idea of a piece that could be enjoyed all around the world thanks to the many nods to the franchise's history intertwined to the sense of community that is brought with a shared topic at hand... in other words, WE are PAC-MAN!
The song was composed by BNSI alumni Yano Yoshito (矢野義人), with Katamari/Idolm@ster-affine inhouse artist Kazuhito Udetsu (宇出津和仁) lending him a hand for its lyrics body, being brought to live in vocal form by Kaho Kidoguchi (木戸口歌穂), a musical acts live performer as well as one of two leader singers from the 8-Bit Big Band. Despite the PAC-MAN franchise being born sometime in July 1980, the digital release has happened two months prior in May, as the 'opening act' to the Pac-Man series' 42nd anniversary which was culminated worldwide with the release of Pac-Man World Re-Pac, a remake to the eponymous PSX game originally released for the 20th anniversary that would evetually come up, right on cue! ... one month after the actual anniversary month, in 2022 (the hell?). For that reason, said remake was also the first videogame housing the Pac-Man theme song, as part of its credits sequence!
Two months later, the song was already heading to Taiko Music Pass enjoyers all around the world, as a playable Pac-history moment with no anniversary/Ridge Racers strings attached to it! It also plays somewhat similar to another disco-based Taiko OP from ancient times in Saturday Taiko Fever, only with a slightly-faster pace and no overly-complex single clusters on sight.
