Taiko no Tatsujin (Mainland China 4th-generation) Taster Event, a Second-hand Recap

太鼓达人玩家先行体验会圆满成功！对我来说也是太鼓好友见面会，活动结束后直奔机场，特种兵老朱前往下一站！（昨天发的第一张照片不清晰，今天再补发一下） pic.twitter.com/PbjLD9hvty

— 游戏人朱云杰 (@gamer_zyj) July 5, 2023

It has been a wild week when it comes to the 4th-generation Taiko no Tatsujin arcade (Nijiiro ver.) going to regions unknown:

• June 28-30: Guangzhou Wahlap Tech showcasing the upcoming mainland-China port at Licensing Expo China 2023 in Guangzhou (photo recap on WeChat official account) 
• July 1-4: Bandai Namco Amusement US placing one of the US location test cabinets at Anime Expo 2023 in Los Angeles, which even voice actresses of the Love Live! series played
• July 5: Guangzhou taster event for the mainland China port as we previously reported, featuring members of the Taiko Team all the way from Japan

Aside from the above tweet by Wahlap executive Zhu Yunjie, it is understandable that not much info about the event would be available outside of China-focused platforms. We hence turn to Chinese social media Weibo to find several enthusiastic Donders from mainland China posting photos and reactions after the event (example 1, 2), as well as an especially-detailed textual recap by user CRT (parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5). This lets us piece out a general idea of the proceedings while discovering juicy exclusive scoop across the whole Taiko no Tatsujin series.

The rundown of the event reported was:

1. Q&A session with Taiko Team members
2. Lunch at Wahlap's in-campus canteen
3. Hands-on experience with mainland China cabinet prototypes
4. Group discussion with Taiko Team members
5. Donders show off their skills with random tracks
6. Gift exchange between Taiko Team and Donders, and signing session
7. Dinner at an off-campus restaurant, where Donders and Taiko Team members get to talk more

According to the photos and textual recap, the current prototype of the mainland China port has these points worth noting:

• Generally plays the same as the Japan/international version, including the 120fps screen
• Most text uses a different font style (not the ones in the traditional Chinese and English versions) except for some numbers and untranslated parts
• Don-chan and Kat-chan speak Mandarin/Putonghua. Taiko Team revealed that multiple voice actors were cast and they finally settled on one that resembles the Japanese voice the closest)
• Title localization is still a mess like international Nijiiro ver. (not all titles are translated into Chinese; some are translated/romanized into English even if it's fully kanji, and some are just kept untouched as the original Japanese)
• Mainland China cabinets do not use IC cards; as how we speculated before, Donders will use the cabinet's code reader to scan a QR code generated by the WeChat official account to log in. Donders report that it takes longer to load the profile and scanning may be finicky
• The prototype cabinet has licensed tracks up to 2022/09/07 (Kuraberarekko and Just Awake), but this cannot imply anything about the status of the song list at the official launch
• New track: 愛你 (Love You) by Cyndi Wong (1/4/4/6, 192 notes on Oni)

CRT also tried their best to write out the answers from the Taiko Team in the Q&A session and the many interactions that happened on the day. We will try our best to translate the ones that should interest Donders at large, after the jump.

(As a cultural note: please note that answers like "we will consider" and "we will try our best" may not necessarily imply an affirmative answer in a Japanese context.)

But wait, that's not all: while not officially confirmed by Wahlap, there is a new rumor on Weibo that the mainland China port will be exhibited at GTI Asia China Expo 2023 between 2023/09/11-13. The rumor states that actual cabinets in mass production (instead of a prototype) will be exhibited, and features press conference, surprise guest and official merch.

★   ★   ★

Q: What do you think about the reason Japanese Donders are so strong, and even young kids attain Tatsujin rank on Ranking Dojo?

Etou: As the general difficulty range widens with new peaks, the general skill level range also widens as Donders try every way to get stronger. Young kids can get strong probably because they are not bound by concepts of "impossibly hard" and just push through towards the top.

Q: Who charted for Asia-exclusive tracks in AC11 Asia/AC12 Asia?

After checking the data from his laptop, Etou confirms he charted for 獨家快樂, 雙節棍, 王老先生有塊地 and a few more.

Q: Does Senkou Valkyria belong in the God Collection?

Etou did not give an answer because it was added after the removal of the God Collection folder. However, the Team is still open to Donders' opinions about the collection (including Chinese mythology).

Q: Will the mainland China version get outfits in the Japanese version?

Etou: In general, outfits available in the Japanese version should also be obtainable in the mainland China version. While it might not be possible to make all of them available, they will try their best to do so.

Q: What skill level are Taiko Team members at?

Etou: I'm at 5th Dan rank, while there are members in the Team that have attained Tatsujin rank.

Q: Will the mainland China version get exclusive Chinese songs? Will the song list be caught up with the Japanese/international version?

Etou: There will be Chinese songs added, but they are likely not exclusive to the mainland China version. The Team will work towards catching up on the song list as soon as possible.

Q: Any interesting incidents from the development studio?

Etou: Once I was working overtime with no one else in the office and most lights but mine are turned off. I was about to doze off, suddenly felt a gentle tap on my shoulder and snaps wide awake, but found no one else around so I went back to work.

Q: Will there be new 2000 Series tracks?

Etou: Linda AI-CUE is working on some ideas.

Q: With it being over 10 years since AC12 Asia, how is the Team planning to attract players to return?

Etou: We'll try out best to ship out cabinets =across the nation.

Q: The lyrics function (available in Wii and Wii U titles) makes the game more attractive to watch, which helps bring in onlookers to play.

Etou: Thank you for the suggestion. We will consider it.

Q: What is the sales volume for the international versions, and is there a sales target for the mainland China version?

Etou: No comment, but (again) we'll try out best to ship out cabinets to across the nation.

Q: Any plans to open a "Mainichi Omatsuri da-don" location in mainland China?

Etou: Thank you for the suggestion. We will consider it. It will likely depend on audience interest.

Q: Scanning the (dynamic) QR code to log in is slightly finicky. Using a static QR code should be able to save on loading times, and allows Donders to print out (e.g. on cards) themselves.

Etou: Thank you for the suggestion. We will analyze the technical feasibility.

Wahlap staff: Dynamic QR code is used to protect player privacy, and to prevent accounts being stolen and cheating by proxy play.

Q: Title localization is a mess; some translations do more harm than keeping it as-is.

Etou: Translations for licensed track titles are mandated by IP holders, so not much can be done there. Translations for original track titles tend to be more conservative to avoid infringing on the commercial rights of other entities. We will raise the issue with headquarters as we return.

Q: What if Donders pitch in to provide a master list of translations for the Team to reference in future updates?

Etou: Thank you for the suggestion. Please feel free to raise further feedback through the WeChat official account.

After-event discussions reveal that the Taiko Team have never held similar meet-and-greet events in other locales, which may imply that Taiko Team was not aware of the many complaints about the title localization.

Q: Any consideration on collaborating with outside notecharter and/or allowing community notechart submissions?

Etou: This is theoretically unfeasible.

Q: Will the Team consider further upgrading the hardware? The current gameplay sometimes lags or drops frames which might be caused by hardware power.

Etou: The hardware power should be enough at this moment, but we will continue to optimize the game.

Q: Aside from music game players, will the Team consider attracting players of other video games (e.g. Genshin Impact, Legend of Zelda, Final Fantasy) to Taiko? Taiko has slowed down a lot in adding video game tie-in tracks.

Etou: Thank you for the suggestion. We will consider it.

Q: It is kinda set that gameplay data of mainland China version accounts through the WeChat official account cannot be synced with Donder Hiroba in the Japanese/international version. But would the Team consider periodically importing worldwide ranking data for mainland China Donders to compare themselves? 

Etou: We did not expect how eager mainland China Donders wish to compete with Donders around the world. Thank you for the suggestion. We will consider it.

Q: Does the mainland China version have a nickname (like "Nijiiro ver." and "Asia ver.") or numbering (as in 1st- and 2nd-gen).

Etou: The name is just "Taiko no Tatsujin" (no nicknames or suffixes) as we want this version to be the first to mainland China masses.

Q: Any plans to help navigate the massive (over 1000 in Japan) song list instead of just hitting the rim one by one?

Etou: Similar concerns were also raised by Japanese Donders. The Team is considering options on how to implement it.

Q: Any plans for new Kikyoku Series tracks? The last entry (Chouren ~Obsession~) is nearly 10 years old.

Etou: We are aware of the calls for tracks including the Kikyoku Series. We welcome further feedback for consideration.

Etou further mentioned in after-event discussions that he will discuss this with Masubuchi when they return.

Q: Any plans for more events by the Taiko Team in mainland China?

Morikawa: We are planning another meet-and-greet between the Taiko Team and Donders in mainland China in September. No info on whether this is related to the GTI Asia China Expo 2023 rumor above or not.

Q: Please talk more about Joubutsu 2000? It has such a special title format, and it was said that it was meant as the final 2000 Series track but more entries still came after it.

Etou: Joubutsu 2000 and Shimedley 2000 were created at around the same time. At the beginning of conception, Shimedley 2000 was created to be the end of the 2000 Series, while Joubutsu 2000 was not even fixed to feel like part of the 2000 Series at all. Linda AI-CUE ended up making Joubutsu 2000 to be the scary self it is now with "ending the 2000 Series" in mind. Despite the initial intention to end it, Linda AI-CUE still has overflowing inspiration for the 2000 Series, so he continued to create more entries. This also explains how Mata Saitama 2000 means "Saitama 2000 again".

Q: Do you watch Taiko YouTubers?

Etou: (after much deliberation and quietly) Sometimes.

Q: What is "1stpai"?

Etou: No no no. I don't know! (waves hand vigorously)

Q: What criteria are considered when designing Ranking Dojo to balance difficulty?

Etou: This is also asked by Japanese Donders. In general, the decision is made with the feedback from Donders in mind, like a lot of the questions/suggestions raised today.

Q: Why does Tenth Dan in particular have by-track goals on the number of Goods (but both higher and lower trials don't)?

Etou: Tenth Dan is set sort of as an "exit test" to gauge Donders' true skill level. Each track in Tenth Dan focuses on a different skill that is set to see if a Donder has the all-rounded proficiency to proceed on Kurouto onwards.

Q: What is the Taiko Team's take on "roll handling" (ロール処理, dealing with long note streams with drum rolling techniques)?

Etou: Unless they cause trouble for operators and other players (like causing damage to the equipment), we generally are not opposed to alternative techniques.

Q: Is Linn Qinli (林欽立, a.k.a. MC Linn) still in Bandai Namco?

Etou: He is now working in mobile game development. As a staff member with seniority in the company, his replies to whatever the other party says in phone calls are always "OK sure". This hints at an easter egg in the Taiko no Tatsujin 13 official site BGM.

Q: Is there occasions where the Team has to compromise when charting (e.g. scrapping harder notechart ideas)?

Etou: The intended main audience is also put into consideration when creating notecharts. For example, Anime tracks usually don't get very difficult notecharts as they are played by more people, while Namco Original tracks are free to gain harder notecharts to cater to core players.