Tuesday, March 31, 2026

Chirping Crumbles (March 31st/April 1st, 2026) - The Eventful Day's Double-Header



April Fools Day is approaching fast once more, and for once it seems that Bandai Namco is having a double serving of Taiko-related shenanigans on their own turf! Starting from tomorrow, the Initial D-based mobile racing game Drift Spirits is allowing the Wada brothers to race head-on-toe with the other vehicular competition, all on their own!

If racing as Don and Katsu feels too unrealistic for your high-octane skirmishes on wheels, however, let it be known that Taiko-themed decals will also be available ingame for the Hiace Van Super GL TRH200V, styled after the Taiko 0 generation's starting color motif.



As for the more 'traditional' drumming antics go, however, it was teased how the upcoming April 1st, 2765 will also mark the return of a lost feature from the Gen3 days: the Don Challenge (or 'DonChare', ドンチャレ for short), a returning feature which once asked Banapassport owners to clear a set number of trials within a month's end in order to unlock a brand-new original song from that month onward.

How will this kind of DonChare roll out? All we have to do is wait a few hours for Japanese game centers to open up their lids and see what this is gonna be about...

Update (2026/04/01): Now we DO know all about this year's April Fools event; see you after the jump to learn about it. 


 
Now that we're on April Fools proper, the cat's out of the bag! Every Banapassport-geared Nijiiro version player (except Mainland China ones) can tackle the "Challenge! DonChare 2026" (挑戦！ドンチャレ2026) and its set of trials that is profiled with the tweet above these lines. Like for the years where the feature was implemented on a monthly basis, a new song is unlocked by clearing 8 out of the 10 trials listed above, with a special title unlock for players clearing all 10 of these:
  • Clear  Hello! Don-Chan [(also unlocks the 'Wada-Don (和田どん) hitsound'];
  • Clear  Kikyoku;
  • Clear  Hibike! Taiko no Tatsujin;
  • Full Combo  TENSEI -Kiyoshi ga Matsu Tsuwamono- (only Muzukashii/Oni/Ura Oni allowed);
  • Full Combo  Yuugen no Ran;
  • Clear  Dokidoki Mune Kyun Omatsuri Time with a score of 765.000 points or greater;
  • Clear  Joubutsu 2000 with a score of 876.000 points or greater;
  • Clear  Segaitten with the Detarame (Random) modifier turned on;
  • Clear both  Yell Ex Makina and  Dark Ex Makina in the same credit play;
  • Clear both  !!!Chaos Time!!! and  †††Chaos Time the DARK††† in the same credit play.
The QR code attached to the tweet above will unlock a special folder with all the DonChare 2026 songs inside for a quicker ingame browsing; bare in mind that Hibike! Taiko no Tatsujin is still an unlockable tune at this point in time, so if you don't see it there, you have to buy it (for 20 Kat medals) at the Medals Shop.



The DonChare trials image already gives it away, but for this year we're back to altering songs from the '2000' series songs! What we have for this year is  Saitama 2001, which is basically the same as the original song we all know and love, only with an additional audio track spliced in! Unlockable titles are also available for the first play/clear/Full Combo/Donderful Combo Oni performances. Saitama 2001 is scheduled to be publicly available as an unlockable at a later date, after the month long event's end.

The notechart set is the exact same as the original on all modes, with the noteable exception of Oni mode that adds a few forced forked-path lane changes and a hidden morse code message, available with a careful drumroll hit management. Go ahead, see it for yourself!

One last thing to note is the time-exclusive unlockable title for players who will clear all 10 DonChare trials, !noD-aD lavinraC ianoN (！んーどだるばにーかいなーの). As some may have guessed this is nothing but Saitama 2000/2001's first line, but backwards!
Posted by Lokamp at 9:35 PM
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