| Game | Genre |
|
|
|
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AC7 PS2 5 |
 |
★2 (67) |
★2 (102) |
★1 (137) |
★4 (160) |
- |
100 (50 only on Oni)
sonata (Winter Sonata)...so. Let's talk.
For the longest time, talk on this franchise's upcoming titles and project has been more of a "word-of-mouth" affair among the still-thriving general game center audience, but with the jump of the "second generation" of arcade Taiko games (that is to say, the Namco-System-Board-246-running arcades from 7 to 14), word on the franchise from their makers started to become heard at a rather strange interval pace: nothing for most of the year (minus arcade unlock codes/mobile game updates), but EVERYTHING and the kitchen sink happening in a few select weeks, often times dropping reveal bombshell after reveal bombshell under the same 7-days time span. Having joined the TT editors board late into the 2nd-gen tenure, I can vouch for this being real, which is why I'm arguing the franchise as it is finds itself in a rather similar position on the news-scouting spectrum...
Multi-platform versions for Donderful/Rhythm Festival. End of service for RHYTHM CONNECT. The latest Taiko Music Pass and DLC/removal plans for Donderful/Rhythm Version. The Taiko franchise joining a cross-music-game audio contest as its final partner. All of these have been revealed in this ending week... and we STILL have to pen on the blog about the latest Weekend Warrior in the First Video Portal and mainland China's latest Nijiiro developments from the last 2 days! Indeed, after the third generation being a more "constant news-dropout" affair, it feels like we're inside the Taiko 7-14 tenure all over again, despite additional digital content releases for pre-existing Taiko games and the returning livestream sessions line starring Etou and Kimizu. Such a tonal whiplash on the volume of new Taiko content reveals is really making me want to slow down a bit... hence the choice for today's song. On the beats-per-minute side, meet the ongoing slowest constant-speed tune in Taiko history to date!
Composed by O Suk Joon and Yoo Hae-Joon (ユ・ヘジュン), Hajike Kara Ima Made (lit. 'From the Beginning Until Now') is the opening theme to the 20-episodes Korean drama series Winter Sonata, originally aired as Gyeouryeon-ga (겨울연가, lit. 'Winter Love Song') in 2002 and later aired in Japan between the next two years. In the rural city of Chuncheon, Joon-sang meets and befriends the shy Yoo-jin at high school, eventually opening to her as the only person he could love due to the rough domestic upbringing after the news of his father's death and constant arguing with her mother. However, he has been brainwashed by his attention-seeking mother after being the victim of a life-endangering car accident, resulting in him losing all his memories prior to said accident and living a new life in the United States as Lee Min-hyung, with her mother telling to school and teachers that Joon-sang died in that accident. Years go by and Lee Min-hyung becomes the owner of an architecture firm, coming back to work in Korea on a design project that was awarded to the same Yoo-jin from high-school, with the stage set to explore on whether the two can claim their Winter-bloomed love of theirs once more.
The series worldwide was often credited as one of the heralds of the so-dubbed "second Korean Wave", predating other popular sensations like PSY's Gangnam Style and the Netflix-released show Squid Game, among many. In Japan, it also warranted the release of two PS2 Pachinko games, a the DSi-enhanced Fuyu no Sonata DS and a Japan/Korea-broadcasted Anime transposition in 2009. The same opening theme Hajike Kara Ima Made was covered in Japanese by Takagin Yashiki (やしきたかじん) and chinese Zhang Xinzhe (張信哲), although Taiko gaming got its drumstick-shaped hands onto the original one starring Min Kwang-non (민관홍), more commonly known by his Ryu stage name.
Nowadays, we're used to have all sorts of scrolling speed customization options before playing a song, down to the point of being able to fine-tune it at x0,1 intervals. Imagine, however, finding yourself playing this song in the mid-2000s, only being available in the final arcade and console games before the implementation of Baizoku/Sanbai/Yonbai (x2-x3-x4 speed settings), combined with the fact of its really low note count leading to a harsher-than-usual Soul Gauge clear criteria... rough, isn't it? To add salt to injury, the base 50 BPM value is only applied to Oni mode, whereas KFM flows at base 100 BPM instead. With no way to tinker around with the flowing speed display, no wonder why people back then were arguing about the song being as hard to clear as the time's top-dogs like Koibumi 2000!
