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combat"},{"term":"anime"},{"term":"arumi"},{"term":"arumi-chan"},{"term":"banapass"},{"term":"banapassport"},{"term":"beethoven"},{"term":"butou"},{"term":"chain chronicle"},{"term":"changelog"},{"term":"chata"},{"term":"chopin"},{"term":"classic medley"},{"term":"combo"},{"term":"critical velocity"},{"term":"dancer"},{"term":"de"},{"term":"donderful"},{"term":"dragon"},{"term":"drumvent"},{"term":"forum"},{"term":"genpei toma den"},{"term":"guinness"},{"term":"ipad"},{"term":"katamari"},{"term":"manga"},{"term":"mika"},{"term":"mod"},{"term":"monster hunter"},{"term":"muscle march"},{"term":"network"},{"term":"nintendo medley"},{"term":"no ran"},{"term":"omikoshi battle"},{"term":"pazudora"},{"term":"poll"},{"term":"promotional"},{"term":"ranbu"},{"term":"ravel"},{"term":"rider"},{"term":"ridge racer"},{"term":"rock-omatopoeia"},{"term":"rotter_tarmination"},{"term":"seafood"},{"term":"soul calibur"},{"term":"spoilers"},{"term":"story mode"},{"term":"symphonic"},{"term":"taiko 4"},{"term":"taiko 6"},{"term":"taiko 7"},{"term":"taiko 8"},{"term":"taiko 9"},{"term":"taiko plus"},{"term":"taiko sounds"},{"term":"taito"},{"term":"tales"},{"term":"tekken"},{"term":"tourney0"},{"term":"toy"},{"term":"tutorial"},{"term":"wadaiko"},{"term":"warlord"},{"term":"ymy rpg"},{"term":"yonbai"},{"term":"zero"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Taiko Time"},"subtitle":{"type":"html","$t":"Bringing Taiko no Tatsujin to the world!"},"link":[{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/taikotime.blogspot.com\/feeds\/posts\/default"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/-\/feature?alt=json-in-script"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"https:\/\/taikotime.blogspot.com\/search\/label\/feature"},{"rel":"hub","href":"http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/"},{"rel":"next","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/-\/feature\/-\/feature?alt=json-in-script\u0026start-index=26\u0026max-results=25"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Nintendo 5-Star"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/00378622809042133428"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"32","height":"29","src":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_q54rb31Kf8A\/SqpQHwyZlmI\/AAAAAAAAAAM\/n0_hPxNZuLM\/S220\/n5slogo.png"}}],"generator":{"version":"7.00","uri":"http://www.blogger.com","$t":"Blogger"},"openSearch$totalResults":{"$t":"45"},"openSearch$startIndex":{"$t":"1"},"openSearch$itemsPerPage":{"$t":"25"},"entry":[{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-760759784775244167.post-1642291673140144664"},"published":{"$t":"2023-01-01T15:14:00.002+00:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2023-01-01T15:14:42.129+00:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"feature"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Feature: 2022 - The Year in Hindsight"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/a\/AVvXsEjcTwFhu56ZSg47OR6_q3HwYI2ws4LHJLSzWF6Ec822CeBg5iWkV3JbOon0sWauMnN2UEjSyWSQWv1iHDQc2CUph-cUUl-wN-43uR3lU0F32_lYwnFKyj5KcX-gGdNpwSeh2aj42jRoTbhXBzImzR9amJ3C50AdHt5a_Cj1FkdmNsvyldAgVO8UV3Grcg\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg alt=\"\" data-original-height=\"1000\" data-original-width=\"1600\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/a\/AVvXsEjcTwFhu56ZSg47OR6_q3HwYI2ws4LHJLSzWF6Ec822CeBg5iWkV3JbOon0sWauMnN2UEjSyWSQWv1iHDQc2CUph-cUUl-wN-43uR3lU0F32_lYwnFKyj5KcX-gGdNpwSeh2aj42jRoTbhXBzImzR9amJ3C50AdHt5a_Cj1FkdmNsvyldAgVO8UV3Grcg\" width=\"320\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003EHere we are again, the day to trash another set of calendars across your home in order to welcome a new one... while thinking backl on what we've just witnessed! The latest Year of the Tiger is about draw back its figurative claws, but what sorts of markings have they left for Taiko no Tatsujin as a series in 2022? Well, that's where I step in with our returning recap feature series, complete with some personal impressions along the way.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E Here's the story thus far...\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ca name='more'\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E1st Trimester\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/a\/AVvXsEj4966ItmtIoYR8ENvbsd6YtL4aB-J_wBdXM9M3KO1lfRFBAg0th52lSy_2dUMX4aWRqvUrbFzZ3EALsNt41WYWB2GoiuWBhuX8hKYEG82R4zh5fLRdf0kycNTFmotkCn09fXM4AGokZBgkEJLK1P8haG9-4mhpTvLFoOtMzSnjRwSnueHYsXds5ZugWg=s510\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg alt=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/a\/AVvXsEhzKEYmp49OHrUTCWL7ZELoTEQlST-u6eKyfePO44LCMYvrDThS8-4ivPBSlO21baC-5R39AgmpoTOoyp-BsKwliC1wo_ZGQyCkAP_UCwwnGD9KetCRH4x6MFBNDWvdKocDC1-ljt9NI5XsyMS5wJ1jxLQ7KUXpOI2oB1um2zkvM1SzvU3VqCLqdPha=s1920\" class=\"shrinkToFit\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/a\/AVvXsEhzKEYmp49OHrUTCWL7ZELoTEQlST-u6eKyfePO44LCMYvrDThS8-4ivPBSlO21baC-5R39AgmpoTOoyp-BsKwliC1wo_ZGQyCkAP_UCwwnGD9KetCRH4x6MFBNDWvdKocDC1-ljt9NI5XsyMS5wJ1jxLQ7KUXpOI2oB1um2zkvM1SzvU3VqCLqdPha=w400-h225\" width=\"400\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003EFrom January to March, we've witnessed the release\/continuation\/ending of many a project coming from 2021's final months, as well as reveals\/hints of greater things to come from the newborne 2022. For the former camp stands tall The Drum Master, the first Taiko game commercially available on both home consoles and personal computers! The Taiko de Time Travel project also had its final couple tunes released in there, with the online multiplayer-focused services of Nintendo Switch's Drum 'n' Fun winding down a gear at the same time.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003EWe've also seen many an interesting first in the coming of more Virtual Youtube songs since Kizuna AI, a proper collaboration with prolific Vocaloid composer DECO*27 \u003Cspan style=\"font-size: x-small;\"\u003E(which seemed to be the ONLY one supplying new Vocaloid songs this year, for quite a while)\u003C\/span\u003E and Taiko's also-Anniversary-brought animated YT venues going strong all throughout, between the 'main' Anime shorts and the side spinoffs with some of its characters (ia. the Omiko Sisters). Not to mention the juicier Taiko game reveal that would come to fruition a few months away...\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003ELok-approved:\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003EThe Joys of Katsusoft Dondows\u003C\/b\u003E - In quite the monumental move after last year's Apple device jump, The Drum Master has been the first time the series has jumped into personal computer gaming in a proper way! Considering how this has also been a milestone move for other long-standing music game series to consider in the recent past (DJMAX, Groove Coaster and the subscription-based bemani ports), this has been a release more iimportant for the precendent it set to reach an even-bigger audience, outside the traditional gaming systems or smartphone apps. A broader audience that could experiwence the latest arcade scoring system outside of the ongoing Nijiiro line, too!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003ELok-abominables:\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003EThe Handling of Katsusoft Dondows... 3.0\u003C\/b\u003E - On the other hand, however, it's disappointing to also point out how such a momentous release was conducted the way it was... which is to say, on the sudden kind of way. Well yes, sure, it's a digital-only game like last year's Pop Tap Beat, but having your big xBox\/PC cross-platform project revealed as short as 8 days since launch is a bit underwhelming, considering how barebones on the gameplay features side it turned out to be, with just regular play modes and online matchmaking. Not to mention its actual tracklist, playing it the safest of safes...\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EPaging Pop Tap Beat a little bit more, it ended up having more console\/series song debuts than TDM on its launch day, which is saying something for a release which to this day -current DLCs included- can only boast a small handful of console firsts, on a release that is mostly stuck in the Taiko music past like the first couple of Taiko PSP games before it. It doesn't help that another Taiko game from 2022 packed in such a big trove of content inside it from the getgo, leading to the impression that this was more of a \"complementary\" release of sorts than something that can stand up on its on among contemporary Taiko entries. Will this be like NS1's Year 1 DLC situation, all over again?\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E2nd Trimester\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/a\/AVvXsEj4966ItmtIoYR8ENvbsd6YtL4aB-J_wBdXM9M3KO1lfRFBAg0th52lSy_2dUMX4aWRqvUrbFzZ3EALsNt41WYWB2GoiuWBhuX8hKYEG82R4zh5fLRdf0kycNTFmotkCn09fXM4AGokZBgkEJLK1P8haG9-4mhpTvLFoOtMzSnjRwSnueHYsXds5ZugWg=s510\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"1500\" data-original-width=\"925\" height=\"320\" src=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEjAGsbMH-3iqV1yYHmdW8uYYw3khqKY5hS-mrucOK97xeqK1IumuMJjP3Rvzrpx_LfiZ6cU_A3a9PtFkae0MpirsnRm8w-lqp2CCABxO7cCw2NaylQOXVXzstOlAEQvdnkwZjEbGNIOshkHBJOaieEk-KovYjA3LRsLgEXUKhLZqwwDoVIHQwA3eMk2sw\/s320\/Donderful.jpg\" width=\"197\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ci\u003EOf course\u003C\/i\u003E, the talk of the Spring window was all around the fabled Donderful\/Rhythm Festival, another of the trademark-filled games from 2021 alongside the aforementioned The Drum Master and heading to Nintendo Switch systems later this Fall. Being the first game with a complementary song pass subscription service, it's effectively the one title to boast the current highest launch day song tall at briefly over 500 different tunes to choose from!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003EUnfortunately for everything else, however, this has also been the slowest time of the year for a Taiko fan, as nothing really -that- eventful can be chronicled outside, barring Nijiiro Version arcades entering their third operational period, a certain well-awaited contest return and quite the quirky aspect in the modern Taiko landscape I'm discussing in the next paragraph...\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003ELok-approved:\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003ESuper Zero Sudden\u003C\/b\u003E - It has been a habit all throughout the year, but might as well address it here- for the lack of a better term, the Taiko Team has been trying to surprise players with many a day-later-debut surprises from more than a song-debuting angle and I more than applaud them for that. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EEven the usual \"Weekend Warriors\" slot had their mix-up moments like the sudden Dance Monkey cover, sure, but even more outlandish things like console-headed covers from old\/new times and even a foreign music game boss song coming under 24 hours of notice sure has been something to an effective wake-up call. And while we're at it, remember when we got arguably the hardest Ura Oni chart ever released this year, out of the blue... \u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003Eas a joke\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E?!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003EThird time Is the Debuting Composer's Charm\u003C\/b\u003E - The other big thing happening these past few months is the second Taiko no Tatsujin music-making contest from Columbia Makes, third overall in the Nijiiro generation. The one thing me (and seemingly the rest of the TT staff, too!) are in agreement with people online was the newly-added debuting songmaker clause to be put in there, in order to ensure in some way that new faces have a place as prominent as any other eventual winner returning to seek another Namco Original to his\/hers name. More to the point when the newcomers' craft was appreciated to the point that 10 out of the eleven winners were made by Taiko-debuting artsts!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003ELok-abominables:\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003ERoutinary Background Maintenance\u003C\/b\u003E - Thing is, again, that this was the sleepiest period to snack on Taiko news as well, seeing how the road to Donderful\/Rhythm Festival's release only got two major bulk of 'official reveals' preceeding its launch with little to nothing else for the other orizons on arcade\/mobile Taiko gaming, outside from the expected monthly updates for each system. Granted, it must be hard to branch out a franchise in multiple directions at the same time, but a more regular stream of content in a semi-consistent fashion might help keeping interests up for what things to come, against the 'BIG-news days, slow news weeks' approach of extremes that we got preceeding NS2's launch.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EThe silver lining, at least, is that all other active Taiko products have received their usual support, which is surely a good thing! \u003Cspan style=\"font-size: x-small;\"\u003E(now, again, if only TDM's support wasn't as underwhelming...)\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E3rd Trimester\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Cimg alt=\"https:\/\/cdn.discordapp.com\/attachments\/194465239708729352\/1013969124982001834\/lalaport_17_s.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.discordapp.com\/attachments\/194465239708729352\/1013969124982001834\/lalaport_17_s.jpg\" \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIt's finally happened- our blog has become as old as your average fatherclock can count by itself! Twelve years in and we as a fanbase are just as alive as our rhythm gaming series of choice, and it's not something than everybody can say it's true for both fronts at the same time! To end up such a milestone with a rather-successful console game launch at this point is just the icing on the cake!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003EOther miscellaneous projects have also wrapped Taiko gaming in by their pinkie outside of the TV Variety venues going on for years, including the opening of a de-facto Taiko no Tatsujin amusement center in Osaka's Lalaport Sakai shopping mall pertaining the series' history and collaborations with returning 'licensed partners' with the vtuber-oriented Hololive talent agency and the long-running One Piece series. Even semi-regular livestream news deliveries with Taiko Team leader Etou and the arcade branch's Kimuzu have started to become a semi-recurring thing, once again!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003ELok-approved:\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003EKumo-Fun for Everyone\u003C\/b\u003E - For one console game's release that failed to impress, we have another one that has done an effective 180 on that kind of mood! Not only the highly-anticipated Nintendo Switch 2nd proprietary release was met with plenty of features from modern Taiko games alongside the huge slew of both returning and console-newcomer goodies brought in by the currently-growing Taiko Music Pass, but it was also a focus of Bandai Namco to try getting as much people as involved for it!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EWorldwide Nintendo Direct reveals were not enough, as each version was met with its own regional flavor of media-shared ADs that were both shared with other regional areas' promos and personalized for some's interests! For the overseas versions, for example, it was nice of them to go to such lengths as to open English-focused Taiko no Tatsujin Twitter channels to share the news, and even to hire English-specific Vtubers to catch the pulse of the younhger modern audience to such a long-standing legacy, much like the JP\/EN-tailored licensed debuts from Pop Tap Beat were. Perhaps there may be \u003Ci\u003Esomething more\u003C\/i\u003E to these choice cameos, but who knows...\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003EEver-growing Omiko-CityTube\u003C\/b\u003E - It's already been a year ever since the official complementary Taiko no Tatsujin channel and between the animated clips, the TikTok-alike YT Shorts and the Omiko Sisters side content, it really shows how the people at the helm of the series widely welcomes the feedback from players of all ages in many a way, well onto 2022 and going beyond!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003ELok-abominables:\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003EOshiri Switchiri Mushi\u003C\/b\u003E - Obscure blast-from-the-past title reference alone, one sad recurring element in console Taiko releases is the hefty trove of bugs and glitches, something that not only the freshly-released Switch game suffers from, but that is arguably affected by it the hardest. Be it for the less-than-masterful usage of its programming engine away from proprietary ones or not, launch Dokodon\/Rhythm Festival has suffered through menu navigation\/afterplay-softlock online glitches of sorts and even really nasty instances of performance issues, with the game \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/__cainan\/status\/1574770586257166342?s=46\u0026amp;t=aesJK3hhHrKJuEbUmCtTBg\" target=\"_blank\"\u003Eprogressively dropping frames-per-second values\u003C\/a\u003E as the performance goes on or until the track is reset, something that several players have found themselves in even after a few hours of gameplay at seemingly random times (and yes, even in online ranked matches, sometimes!)\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EGranted, modern Taiko games already have a history of the devs seeking to patch out software failures such as this one in the past, but some serious ironing has to be done for some of these issues, lest one's interest in one of the biggest Taiko releases in recent memory fades out...\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003EFading-out DLC waves\u003C\/b\u003E - An admittedly minor pet-peeve of mine on the same game is instead on the \"old-styled\" pack DLC plan for the latest Nintendo Switch Adventure, which consists of six packs for Anime\/Vocaloid songs from the Season Pass and... as of today, \u003Ci\u003Enothing else\u003C\/i\u003E of the sorts. Granted, I'm cool with the idea of giving customers the option to buy separately single songs or lots of it from the Music Pass as a way to keep your favorites even without an active subscription, but it looks like the path is being discarded right away with no other one appearing afterwards.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EWe already know how the progressive death of digital store fronts means that select songs will effectively become unavailable one day for any future player to try them out in legit ways, and the same speech can be extended to the Music Pass deal, and to greater exdends. As long as you got a system with a game and its DLCs installed on its memory, you can always pick up and play the content that time forgot; however, when the future comes and the Music Pass offer is effectively booted out from the game, it would mean a huge hassle for the console\/overall debuts appearing in there, especially for the licensed picks (which is most likely the reason of music covers making the bulk of the licensed Pass songs, as opposed as the original scores). Storing DLCs for content not reprinted anywhere else is far more valuable for preservation means, which is why I hope some of the exclusives in there could be considered again for the DLC treatment, not just for the launch picks.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E4th Trimester\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/a\/AVvXsEj4966ItmtIoYR8ENvbsd6YtL4aB-J_wBdXM9M3KO1lfRFBAg0th52lSy_2dUMX4aWRqvUrbFzZ3EALsNt41WYWB2GoiuWBhuX8hKYEG82R4zh5fLRdf0kycNTFmotkCn09fXM4AGokZBgkEJLK1P8haG9-4mhpTvLFoOtMzSnjRwSnueHYsXds5ZugWg=s510\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"989\" data-original-width=\"1200\" height=\"264\" src=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEjthKX0L41KQ6iHSGgu0L0_qnLuWq6EExW7rdJ7WtiPtE955OCYJS6989Me_HRrVTt1GHL2kLRteUD_NcnN6ZdgZh8efsx1az2GCkTNZfNIQhPGL3vU8-uRvkNrLnGE5sWADFOkQ_LwHsrNPU0rtaY6xaDKJ5qObcW1dVvgY74bQfpvmNlOkW6lEOllWg\/s320\/Fi2ijkLVsAUS5JY.jpg\" width=\"320\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003EIt's another slow end-year for Taiko gaming in 2022, being raised up once again by the finalized Ranking Dojo grounds of the preceeding September and keeping up the spirits with new slews of interesting Gaiden trials for arcade players to bode with.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EGliding away to the year to come, we've also met welcomed returning trends, from the still-sustained content supply for all active mobile\/console titles and the Touhou Project series returning to just one song release per year \u003Cspan style=\"font-size: x-small;\"\u003E(having more than a playable arrange per year was has been good until it lasted, it seems...)\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003ELok-approved:\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003EEnergizing Dojo Surprises\u003C\/b\u003E - Back to the much-praised 'surprise factor' among Taiko releases, I found nice to keep on the spirit with brand-new content being released for Gaiden trials, not just the main Ranking Dojo trial body. You'll never know what kinds of throwoffs you might find on these themed challenges each and every year, now ranging even to extra difficulties to the Classic genre's most ported Classic song!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003EDeck The Drumming Halls\u003C\/b\u003E - It was also really nice to see how the positive reception to last year's traditional December blog activities has transitioned well onto this year's Advent Calendar format revision, seeing how we gathered a similar amount of requests by the end of it! My sincere thanks for those barging in for some festive fun.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003ELok-abominables:\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003EThe Middling Place of Taikaloids\u003C\/b\u003E -\u0026nbsp;Get ready for something I've never done... you set? Okay, I'm about to pen about something lacking on the Taiko song genre that I traditionally hate, with something \u003Cspan style=\"font-size: x-small;\"\u003E\u003Cstrike\u003E(which is not removing it altogether)\u003C\/strike\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E that might better Taiko off overall.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EUnlike something like the Game Music genre getting really little traction in 2021 (a somehow-alleviated position in 2022), playable Vocaloid songs for Taiko have always been supplied in a way or another, although the transmission channel usually tend to be the exact same ones, every year. Unless it's not a DECO*27 tune, a #C.O.M.P.A.S.S. song or a yearly-anniversary Mirai Komachi tune from Bandai Namco, there is little to no space for songs bounding from other sources, even counting more popular Hall of Legend entries! A nice direction for Bandai Namco to cultivate the genre is to diversify the kinds of sources from which Vocaloid songs come from, otherwise chances are the genre will be finding itself in the very sorry state that are similar song-making trends, from the rock-styled original Classic arrangements to -again- Touhou songs. You gave the family of songs \u003Ci\u003Eits own \u003C\/i\u003Ededicated ingame genre, after all- treat it a little bit better, okay?\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003EThe Lokamp-Not-Getting-Stuff-Done Extravaganza \u003C\/b\u003E- It's also that time of the year where Ipublicly come to terms (again) of how life comes at me fast and makes me unable to work on blog-related content on a timely manner, by delaying several maintenance tasks and more than often not overlabbing ongoing news on the blog with the news feeds sent via our Twitter account. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ERest assured, it's all content and reworkings that ARE going to be delivered (including that one Taiko-game-reviewing project I spoke about some months back), but for the second year in a row it's been pressuriong how real-life hurdles prevented me to work on blog stuff as much as I wanted and for that I'm truly sorry with you all. You know things get busy when even this very Feature article's publishing had to be pushed back of 1 day to its public release!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003EIt's quite rare to see a 12-months cycle where console gaming held the Taiko lion-er, \u003Ci\u003Etiger\u003C\/i\u003E's share, but that is precisely what we can label the just-ended 2022 with, all the while the evergreen smartphone\/arcade scenes getting supported the same. As years go by, we're getting in a scenario where to spread the Taiko joys is to evenly supply all active fronts with content and little about what may come next and yeah, while disheartening to be dry on the news cycle, the interest into the series as a living phenomena that welcomes interactions from its followers is up and accounted for as ever, not only to equally supply every platform category but also every area in the world.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EWe've just hopped into 2023, but its story has just begun...\u003Cbr \/\u003E"},"link":[{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/1642291673140144664"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/1642291673140144664"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"https:\/\/taikotime.blogspot.com\/2023\/01\/feature-2022-year-in-hindsight.html","title":"Feature: 2022 - The Year in Hindsight"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Lokamp"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/09771263455247854182"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"32","height":"32","src":"\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-cnA7EdnRilo\/YUWmJNdKpbI\/AAAAAAAAABA\/fYe0tqr78K4_g4YcfvdOUSqJZLf18WSlACK4BGAYYCw\/s220\/13159c4537223a1474a15266b0adb0a4.png"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/a\/AVvXsEjcTwFhu56ZSg47OR6_q3HwYI2ws4LHJLSzWF6Ec822CeBg5iWkV3JbOon0sWauMnN2UEjSyWSQWv1iHDQc2CUph-cUUl-wN-43uR3lU0F32_lYwnFKyj5KcX-gGdNpwSeh2aj42jRoTbhXBzImzR9amJ3C50AdHt5a_Cj1FkdmNsvyldAgVO8UV3Grcg=s72-c","height":"72","width":"72"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-760759784775244167.post-3793148659608244446"},"published":{"$t":"2021-12-31T19:17:00.004+00:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2022-01-28T22:06:37.623+00:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"feature"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Feature: 2021 - The Year in Hindsight"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003E\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003Cimg height=\"236\" src=\"http:\/\/gonintendo.com\/system\/file_uploads\/uploads\/000\/017\/467\/medium\/taiko-drum-master.jpg\" width=\"400\" \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003EHere we are- another year, another yearly final day's worth of Taiko memories! The soon-ending second Year of the Cow of the 21st Century has left behind quite the hefty trail of drumming memories to pick up once more, grouped up in a trimester-based recap format to gawk at. Have some impressions of mine of what has transpired as well, while we're at it!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIt all started about 364 days ago from now...\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ca name='more'\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E1st Trimester\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/a\/AVvXsEj4966ItmtIoYR8ENvbsd6YtL4aB-J_wBdXM9M3KO1lfRFBAg0th52lSy_2dUMX4aWRqvUrbFzZ3EALsNt41WYWB2GoiuWBhuX8hKYEG82R4zh5fLRdf0kycNTFmotkCn09fXM4AGokZBgkEJLK1P8haG9-4mhpTvLFoOtMzSnjRwSnueHYsXds5ZugWg=s510\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"287\" data-original-width=\"510\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/a\/AVvXsEj4966ItmtIoYR8ENvbsd6YtL4aB-J_wBdXM9M3KO1lfRFBAg0th52lSy_2dUMX4aWRqvUrbFzZ3EALsNt41WYWB2GoiuWBhuX8hKYEG82R4zh5fLRdf0kycNTFmotkCn09fXM4AGokZBgkEJLK1P8haG9-4mhpTvLFoOtMzSnjRwSnueHYsXds5ZugWg=w400-h225\" width=\"400\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003EThe year is 2021, quite the momentous one for the Taiko no Tatsujin franchise as a whole because of it being its 20th year since inception, paving the way to a number of events that are also branching out into 2022's very beginning! And so, besides the usual \"slow-news\" jazz from January and early February we're used for a while, we got a full livestream from the Taiko Team on YouTube, showcasing an incredible amount of ways to convey which directions are we going to take, hand-to-hand with series fans' expectations for the yearly milestone after the 10th anniversary content and appreciation for Taiko in general.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003EIt's also been... quite an active yearly start, in comparison to the norm! Alongside Drum 'n' Fun and the subscription-based iOS\/Android game getting monthly updates, Nijiiro Version had constant song batch updates and another Den'onbu collaboration on top of almost three consecutive months of Saturday Weekend Warrior additions, in order to house the leftover song contest winners from 2019's Faith Creation-hosted competition. Not to mention the additional contents revealed via the 20th Anniversary livestream!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003ELok-approved:\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003EBroadcast Ourselves, Da-Don\u003C\/b\u003E - Piling on top of last year's efforts from the Taiko Team to keep fans engaged under the pressure of the ongoing \u003Ci\u003Eviral sensation\u003C\/i\u003E, It's heartwarming to see Etou and pals back on stage with Taiko-themed livestreams, now easier than ever to catch even by foreigners due to them being hosted on YouTube with an easier access to reruns. Even after almost four years of livestreaming absence and the format changes, you can tell how passionate some of the Taiko frontmen still are, 20 years strong into the series' existence!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003EThe Taiko no Tatsujin 20th Anniversary Big Plans\u003C\/b\u003E - While we might be far away from 2011's old \"\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-fQwptZpBi-o\/TafvajeqvoI\/AAAAAAAAACw\/Ef_A0vxXnUU\/s400\/taiko10.png\" target=\"_blank\"\u003ETen Taiko Surprises\u003C\/a\u003E\" to be revealed across the anniversary year and all the physical goods it brought by, it's still amazing to see how far and wide the scope of audience was touched with many a different project, from original song-making projects of all kinds to a new arcade tournament, console tie-in releases and a few popular artists\/TikTok campaigns sprinkled in, among other things. Enjoy Taiko games isn't merely about skill mastery, and such a variety of content tied into the anniversary better helped conveying this message!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003ELok-abominables:\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003EHands-Free Drumming\u003C\/b\u003E - It's understandable how to keep pre-existing titles alive via DLC extensions is a cheaper way for a videogame developer to keep its fans engaged (and moreso for a music game getting a bigger song library!), but here we sit at the end of such a big anniversary year and no official voice about upcoming Taiko no Tatsujin videogames to get a hold of that is not a digital-only affair has been heard. Sure, we've got some spicy gossip by 2021's tail end and right about at the start of the next trimester we got quite the sudden Taiko game release, but would it kill to have new physical Taiko games for the household in a while? As history taught us, eventually all the digital-sustained titles come to a halt someday, and future players who would want to try as many Taiko songs outside the arcade floor might be out of luck for DLC-linked tracks...\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETaiko Times a' Chaingin\u003C\/b\u003E - It's something we're dragging behind, but more and more often we got post scheduling released kind of messed up, especially on my part due to job-related constraints. Overlooked news post, First Video recaps going days (or a full week!) later than intended and even some of the side features' release getting delayed, on top of the slowed-down page maintenance in general... We're trying as usual to be on the news but again, my apologies for the alarming ratio it got on my part for this ending year.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E2nd Trimester\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/a\/AVvXsEj4966ItmtIoYR8ENvbsd6YtL4aB-J_wBdXM9M3KO1lfRFBAg0th52lSy_2dUMX4aWRqvUrbFzZ3EALsNt41WYWB2GoiuWBhuX8hKYEG82R4zh5fLRdf0kycNTFmotkCn09fXM4AGokZBgkEJLK1P8haG9-4mhpTvLFoOtMzSnjRwSnueHYsXds5ZugWg=s510\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg alt=\"\" border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"551\" data-original-width=\"937\" src=\"https:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-sT9A1bGSnKE\/YGqiDQj6UcI\/AAAAAAAAB_Y\/rHLis96Ovtgv4ZzcTH1T3M-HHctKD_ygQCLcBGAsYHQ\/s400\/Screenshot%2B2021-04-05%2B133653.png\" width=\"400\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003ENijiiro Version's second operational year lies on the wings of the 20th Anniversary's operations, from the Namco Original circle of songs branded under the 'Taiko de Time Travel' theming mantle to \u003Cstrike\u003Earguably the series' most original April Fools to date\u003C\/strike\u003E its still-constant stream of updates, with the Nintendo Switch version catching up with the more fresh arcade-debut releases with a few days of delay from the 120 FPS game center brother.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003EThis was also the big time where the preliminary details about a brand new Taiko no Tatsujin World Championship arcade tournament is going to be held this soon from the previous round, coupled with an equally-surprising return of an original song-making contest, this soon from the previous one. Not to mention we got the series' very first shadow-dropped title ever, picture above these very lines!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003ELok-approved:\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003EShorter Gap for Greater Competitions\u003C\/b\u003E - Breaking the mold of the long waits between major tourneys and music-making bout iterations, 2021 has seen the announcement of events that (on franchise records) would usually take longer to stage between iterations. Really, this was quite the surprise for me- I've penned about the subject matter (partially) during last year's recap feature! \u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003EShared-Grounds Time Traveling\u003C\/b\u003E - The songs getting introduced aside, two are the elements I'm enjoying the most about the latest of the \"Bandai Namco-labeled\" song series in Taiko history: all of them get to go in all the currently-active games in a short span of time and the coming of each is paired with a hefty trove of trivia from the Taiko Team's official blog in form of interviews with both the involved artists and the songs' charters. As someone who talks about songs and their origins around year once per week on average, I really appreciated such a helping hand!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003ELok-abominables:\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003EAn Out-Goer's \"Morbid\" Competition\u003C\/b\u003E - Alas, it was 2021 and COVID-19 is still a thing, so things had to be worked around a bit once again. On the Taiko spectrum, this meant the delay of the World Championship tourney well into next year, despite the Team's best effort of keeping everyone up to date with its structure via livestreams further down the line. The silver-lining of the tied-in Faith Creation contest going out with no hurdles and its winners getting released as Weekend Warriors is still there, sure, but it's kinda hard the same...\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003EYet Another Shop Closure Scare\u003C\/b\u003E - This was also the time where a few Taiko games, as well as the entirety of the Ps Vita digitally-purchasable content, was going to be axed at some point... and while the crisis was averted (for now), it brings more to the point of an expanded-library Taiko game's life when its additional support can no longer be obtained or redeemed anymore. Is it going to be easier or not for newer Taiko fans to enjoy exclusive content that is gated behind DLCs, once these are inevitably going out of the picture?\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E3rd Trimester\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/a\/AVvXsEj4966ItmtIoYR8ENvbsd6YtL4aB-J_wBdXM9M3KO1lfRFBAg0th52lSy_2dUMX4aWRqvUrbFzZ3EALsNt41WYWB2GoiuWBhuX8hKYEG82R4zh5fLRdf0kycNTFmotkCn09fXM4AGokZBgkEJLK1P8haG9-4mhpTvLFoOtMzSnjRwSnueHYsXds5ZugWg=s510\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"169\" data-original-width=\"398\" src=\"https:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-CwkZYnlxeLo\/YQu3ye8yeLI\/AAAAAAAACGw\/Hxt38djTAdo4TfbjZXqIBBV6QszdH3KqgCLcBGAsYHQ\/s16000\/taikotime11th.png\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003EIt's that time of the year where we check the calendar and we find out how old have we been running this shtick with you all! Father Time's clock appears to be ticking at a whopping 11 years since aquabluu\/pikaby's \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/taikotime.blogspot.com\/2010\/07\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003Every first blog post\u003C\/a\u003E by now, and for that we're thankful as always for those of you sticking with us, for any amount of time.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003EAnd by going through a similar motif, 'sticking by' their guns apparently was the Taiko Team's agenda for this trimester, going by the same currently-active-titles supporting style we've seen for two years. Highlights this time around include an i☆Ris collaboration, Taiko acting like a lifesaver for the defunct Synchronica music game's songs yet again, the announcement of a new tourney-approved MyBachi Taiko drumstick line and -get this- \u003Ci\u003Emore than a Touhou Project arrange release per year\u003C\/i\u003E. I mean, crazy stuff, right!?\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003ELok-approved:\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003EThe Comedian\u003C\/b\u003E - It was also around that time the 20th Anniversary ambassador Soshina started to appear in original Taiko media all of a sudden, both with his original songs and his peculiar charting approach for the Oni modes touched by him, in conjunction with his AI Battle Performance counterparts. I'm kinda... neutral about this guy while being okay with his songs in general, but the reason he's up here is because of some of the more heated reactions I've seen sparked by the guy over our Discord server for random chat silliness. Really, it's part of why this paragraph is titled 'The Comedian' insead of his name!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003ELok-abominables:\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003E\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/b\u003E - Yup, not a bit of title as it's just... nothing. Of course not the kind of 'nothing' of a news-worthy nature rather than actually nothing to talk about. The unfolding of the Taiko projects and background updates aside, we have little on our plate when it comes to talking about what to expect from 2022 and beyond on a news side. I mean, personal-posting-issues aside, the number of our posts here doesn't lie: little aside from what we got ahead of us was up to cover. Sure, I get it, COVID year Mark-II, yeah, but still- given how this was the leading tempo going into 2021, it's quite perplexing to imagine where we can up with from these, considering the big-year anniversary we're in and all that jazz...\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E4th Trimester\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/a\/AVvXsEj4966ItmtIoYR8ENvbsd6YtL4aB-J_wBdXM9M3KO1lfRFBAg0th52lSy_2dUMX4aWRqvUrbFzZ3EALsNt41WYWB2GoiuWBhuX8hKYEG82R4zh5fLRdf0kycNTFmotkCn09fXM4AGokZBgkEJLK1P8haG9-4mhpTvLFoOtMzSnjRwSnueHYsXds5ZugWg=s510\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"1024\" data-original-width=\"1280\" height=\"256\" src=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/a\/AVvXsEjJ9bpVmqBfUMhcbQvJ30pvq4xkQcAPq13RZ2e_vUstOglN0lw5YE9YYt6HCdVazoA2cO5KhubdNsBBv9cyXEEpey2pPzmbn22pwcgpUngJBL6I3euiycS93oVKKoIUu7HxkO0ETPVYLre-l0OeQ7HcYSiM27so31l61VCLcVHsMq7gn5kw0ejLPhtkgw=s320\" width=\"320\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003EWe've had our jolly grand time in the last three months with matters of a \"more-of-the-same\" kind of affair, while also feasting our eyes upon what look up to be titles for future Taiko games, heading to either Microsoft's systems, PC gaming or both!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003EOn the official side, however, it's more or less the same pizzaz we've seen thus far, enriched now with more of the 2nd wave of Faith Creation winners making their playable Saturday debut as time goes on.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003ELok-approved:\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003ELeaked Drumming Germination\u003C\/b\u003E - What makes me happy the most about the end-year leaks per-se is that they're tentatively pointing out to platforms with a broader reach than what your average device-linked Taiko game can sprout in... more specifically, a Taiko title officially playable on PC. We've had traces of that with this year's Pop Tap Beat being available for Mac devices, but such a jump could further extend the series' reach on a global scale... not just outside of Japan!\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETai-gle All The Way\u003C\/b\u003E - Time constraints aside, I loved bringing back the returning Wish List side feature of December under a slightly-different guise... but never would I have expected to get quite the jump on requests this time around! Be it to those whose requests got featured or not, I thank you the same for your input as I'll try to come up with something to make everyone happy!... \u003Cspan style=\"font-size: xx-small;\"\u003E\u003Ci\u003Eand my typing hands...\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003ELok-abominables:\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003EMission Complete for Drum 'n' Fun\u003C\/b\u003E - \u003Cspan style=\"font-size: x-small;\"\u003E\u003Cstrike\u003ELast time I'm going on this point here, I swear\u003C\/strike\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E As the Japanese Midnight for the New Year has stopped by, Nintendo Switch Version\/Drum 'n' Fun players may have noticed how the turn of a new month hasn't generated a new set of missions for the Online Ranking mode, possibly a sign of how little time is left for the 2018 videogame release. Still praiseworthy is the gigantic amount of songs it got over the years, now even topping the final tally of Session de Dodon ga Don!\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003EThe Disappearance of Game Music\u003C\/b\u003E - For how many songs between licensed and original tunes the Taiko no Tatsujin franchise has welcomed this ending year, there's no denying one song genre is dangerously walking the way of the Classic genre... When we exclude the Touhou Project arrangements \u003Cspan style=\"font-size: xx-small;\"\u003E(still more than one for another year, holy shit)\u003C\/span\u003E and the Den'onbu collaboration songs which got moved to the Variety genre once the genre splitting has happened once more, the Game Music genre only got a grand total of 3 new songs overall, less than a hand's worth of counting for another year straight.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EForget the usual pipe-dream of rhythm game collaboration tracks most general music game fans hold dear- not even Namco's gaming lineage gets to be prepped up in Taiko nowadays, a trend to supplement a diversification in the series' overall song carnet... but don't take my word for it: take a gander at how many videogame track requests got with our silly '12 Days of Taikomas' feature alone! Surely not representative of the Taiko fanbase as a whole, but playable Game Music tracks from foreign series has become quite a staple of Taiko gaming across the years...\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"color: white;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/cdn.discordapp.com\/attachments\/573522481445339140\/919362034896863242\/taikono2000.mp4\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"color: white;\"\u003EOh My God I Can't End A Day Without Listening to Taiko No 2000 At Least Twice A Day Somebody Please Help Me I'm About To Return To Monke I CAN'T STO-\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\u003Cp\u003E------------------------------------------------------- \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOnce again, that's a wrap! While -in spite of illustrious anniversary grounds- this ending year has mostly seen the series' development in a \"Passive Mode\" of sorts, the will of the people behind it sharing the fun with everyone was heard loud and clear, with a constant support of songs for each of the 3 main legs in the ongoing Taiko no Tatsujin marathon! No one knows how far we're going to run in the end, but it's reassuring we're not doing alone; the same goes with our writer\/reader relationship too!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EThanks for taking part on this journey with us! We'll see you how loud 2022's roar is going to be...\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E"},"link":[{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/3793148659608244446"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/3793148659608244446"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"https:\/\/taikotime.blogspot.com\/2021\/12\/feature-2021-year-in-hindsight_31.html","title":"Feature: 2021 - The Year in Hindsight"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Lokamp"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/09771263455247854182"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"32","height":"32","src":"\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-cnA7EdnRilo\/YUWmJNdKpbI\/AAAAAAAAABA\/fYe0tqr78K4_g4YcfvdOUSqJZLf18WSlACK4BGAYYCw\/s220\/13159c4537223a1474a15266b0adb0a4.png"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/a\/AVvXsEj4966ItmtIoYR8ENvbsd6YtL4aB-J_wBdXM9M3KO1lfRFBAg0th52lSy_2dUMX4aWRqvUrbFzZ3EALsNt41WYWB2GoiuWBhuX8hKYEG82R4zh5fLRdf0kycNTFmotkCn09fXM4AGokZBgkEJLK1P8haG9-4mhpTvLFoOtMzSnjRwSnueHYsXds5ZugWg=s72-w400-h225-c","height":"72","width":"72"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-760759784775244167.post-478780836825497416"},"published":{"$t":"2020-12-31T08:00:00.013+00:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2021-12-27T14:01:20.827+00:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"feature"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Feature: 2020 - The Year in Hindsight"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003E\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003Cimg height=\"236\" src=\"http:\/\/gonintendo.com\/system\/file_uploads\/uploads\/000\/017\/467\/medium\/taiko-drum-master.jpg\" width=\"400\" \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003EYou've seen thie header picture before and you've checked the calendar: \u003Ci\u003Ethe time is now\u003C\/i\u003E. 2020 is set to become a thing of the past, while another year is already donning its pants up; as per tradition, in today's feature we're taking a glance of what the ending year had in storm for the Taiko no Tatsujin series, divided in trimesters and topped with the general impressions of our \u003Cspan style=\"font-size: xx-small;\"\u003E\u003Cstrike\u003EI hope I'm not making a typo on my own nickname again\u003C\/strike\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E Lokamp.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003ELet's see what led us to this very day, shall we?\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ca name='more'\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E1st Trimester\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Cimg alt=\"\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4115\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/taiko-ch.net\/urgybrhm3ukw\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/662263c6c2df6d44b12c24259e593411.jpg\" width=\"400\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003EThe early-year jazz has been more quiet than usual for the Taiko no Tatsujin franchise: no collaborations of sorts or other special events leading up to the next big release, only with the console front's DLC offerings kindling the drumming flame up to the next arcade debut... and WHAT a debut, it was!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003ECanning out any official subtitle for the third time in franchise history, the nick-named Nijiiro Version beats with a different (computing) heart than the one of the not-numbered arcade outings that preceeded it in the past 8-or-so years, while retaining a mixture of familiar looks, a greater gameplay customization window, returning features (across the year) and Nintendo Switch-inspired menu layouts. Not even \u003Ci\u003Ethat\u003C\/i\u003E one big elephant in the room was enough to rain on Nijiiro's launch parade!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003ELok-approved:\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETaiko no Tatsujin's 4th Generation Debut\u003C\/b\u003E - The few taglines for Nijiiro Version you've just read above this paragraph are merely enough to point at the scope of arcade gaming improvement for the series brought with this release over 2020's course! Between the major hardware improvements and all the subsequent updates surrounding this one model, it was nice to see how enjoyable songs and features from different times have all their refined modern outlet to toy around with, while not suffering at the same time of the dreaded numbered-Taikos song removals of the former arcade generations.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003EOngoing Home Console Titles' Continued Support\u003C\/b\u003E - It's been bothersome once more to close another year without brand new Taiko console games announcements, but at the very least the ones that still have yet to run out of their course have mantained the same pace as in 2019. The subscription-based Taiko + has gotten so many frequent updates to warrant its own Twitter page by 2020's end and the Nintendo Switch Version\/Drum 'n' Fun has had yet another year-long bounty where song DLCs were not the only eye-candy additional contents, between monthly online unlocking rotations and new modes!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003ELok-abominables:\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003ESeven-colored Layers of Bugs\u003C\/b\u003E - Nijiiro Version sure brought quite the sizable amount of content, but with that also came a number of major issues that needed an ironing more often than with past online-update-enhanced arcades. We've had player misimputs due to the 'True 120 FPS' hardware engine transition, song\/feature deletions due to other assorted bugs and even grind-based unlockable contents available to everyone with unintended shortcuts! At least fixes were not late to come...\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003EThe End of Taiko PS4's Journey\u003C\/b\u003E - After more than two years of continued online support between Donder Packs and Score Attack events, the difficulty juggernaut that is Session the Dodon ga Don has drew its last (content) breath as the next-gen arcade herald took off. With its features set, quick loading times and veteran-player-tailored tracklist, this still is a very solid entry on its own as much as it is with the superb extra toppings it got over time, which makes it sad the same seeing as its ride has ended.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E2nd Trimester\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Cimg alt=\"\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4652\" height=\"180\" src=\"https:\/\/taiko-ch.net\/urgybrhm3ukw\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/e9b8b8dc6c8b05f6a55d07984e2cabdb.png\" width=\"320\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003EReal-life incumbencies have forced a drastic slow-down to every major workplace section, with the entertainment one on which anything gaming-related is built upon being no exception. What was a surprise, however, is seeing how much a normally-lax franchise as this one still had its metaphorical hands full of things to doo and fans to please, even on the just-renewed arcade front!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003ESupporting your usual stride of licensing collaboration deals (including returning #C.O.M.P.A.S.S. collaborative efforts), the first months of the pandemic-plagued time period has seen the heat of a fourth official song-making contest, alongside some side activities to keep everyone happy from the safety of their homes.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003ELok-approved:\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003EAnti-Pandemic Support\u003C\/b\u003E - It \u003Ci\u003Ereally\u003C\/i\u003E begs underlining this point on my personal side: unironically the great worldwide thread that physically divided people has brought Taiko fans closer by the series' rights-holding company, with a number of social media-shared side activities that even bystanders could take their part on and put aside the epidemic's worries for a while. From publicly-available song contest music clips to a multi-parter poll for future song inclusions in the series to Taiko-themed backgrounds to use for online video meeting with friends, there truly was something for people of all ages!\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003EThe Latest Taiko Song Contest Was Great!\u003C\/b\u003E - It always feels like an eternity the amount of time that occurs between an official song-making contest's end and the next one's arrival, but that wait's payoff rarely fails to rake in with interests! The inaugural Faith Creation-endorsed Taiko contest was no exception to this rule, managing to lure out composing talents of many different curricular backgrounds.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003ELok-abominables:\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cul style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003E...but the Latest Taiko Contest's Outcome Was Not!\u003C\/b\u003E - On the other hand, however, when the winners got announced, said results may cast individually-tuned shades of disappointment. It's usually because of something in the likes of \"Waaaah, my faves didn't make in!\" for many, but for me specifically I felt this iteration's results the apex of the winner-picking bias I and other blog staffers have grunted about even concerning some of the previous winning picks as well.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EPicture this: in the past few years, the Taiko no Tatsujin series has become more and more open to all sorts of music genres for the Namco Original department and select Be-Music Source picks from the Variety genre, something that over time results in plenty of people drawn into Taiko contest with the mindset of picking up instruments\/musical genres that have had a brief 'playable resurgence' of sorts. Keeping that in mind, may I ask \u003Ci\u003Ewhy\u003C\/i\u003E a lot -if not the majority- of the latest winners are mellow-vocals pop songs, \u003Ci\u003Eagain\u003C\/i\u003E? I get it, not every track in its own song genre grounds makes it to become a quality work on its own, but the pitiful amount of tracks from uncommon-in-Taiko genres (like techno or -core works) that even made it to Bronze or Silver-medal honorable mentions really makes me less confident by the day how narrow the musical genre diversification for the Original song department may be, signed by well-known artist names or not. And hell, if we \u003Ci\u003Edo\u003C\/i\u003E include those...\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E...\u003Ci\u003EWHY THE HELL\u003C\/i\u003E are we perpetrating the exact same returning composing names to snag a victory seat on these Taiko contests again and again?!? This is not a big deal if, say, Bandai Namco ran user-made song contests more often than the current norm is a-la SOUND VOLTEX, but they -have- to understand that for some of us it's already miserable to wait about the same time as a new Olympic Games edition for a new Taiko song contest, so imagine what it means to wait this much and then to be spotting as some of the victors the exact same folks from the past editions... and for some of them being an ongoing case of \u003Ci\u003ECONSECUTIVE winnings\u003C\/i\u003E, mind you!? It was nice seeing someone like BlackY who got a round of redemption after two failed Taiko song contests in the past and there also were a few past champions who didn't make the cut in this edition, but do we \u003Ci\u003Ereeeeeally\u003C\/i\u003E need for, say, M-O-T-U and Yomii to take winning seats every time, instead of some unheard-of name? Can't Bandai Namco just comission them Originals at this point instead, if they're so confident in their composing skills to crown them winners so many times in a row? After all, this was a course of action that already went in motion towards many other names. Also, why are we g\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: x-small;\"\u003Eetting so soon yet another Capchii and CHUBAY original, and WHY do w\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: xx-small;\"\u003Ee have to suffer yet again of \u003Cstrike\u003Esome freshly-molded Risshu feat. Choco shi-\u003C\/strike\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: small;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: small;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003ECOVID-19\u003C\/b\u003E - No flowery introductions for this one, you probably know by now what it is and what has meant for the whole planet's usual business. As discussed before, here on the Taiko side of things it was properly managed in the means of franchise news\/media continuity, but there's no denying this has been a hurdle to halt many a project from their usual pace... at least we got it good- some other music series in 2020 has been so ungodly uneventful on the arcade rooms to even rival the numbered-Taiko times where one-two cheat code tops were all the new songs you're gonna get that year if there was no home\/portable console release to back it up. \u003Cspan style=\"font-size: xx-small;\"\u003E\u003Cstrike\u003E(and it you want any specific names from me, know that it rhymes with the phrase 'Move Poster')\u003C\/strike\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\n\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E3rd Trimester\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"241\" data-original-width=\"616\" height=\"156\" src=\"https:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-Of7bzITWTe8\/XwsweQcQveI\/AAAAAAAABtA\/xY_gA3JJSOwZMbs1IEyRm5ymHJI0e5rzgCLcBGAsYHQ\/w400-h156\/taikotime10thlong.png\" width=\"400\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nHo. Ly. Shit.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003ETen years together.\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003EI myself would be surprised by us staffers' collective stamina sustaining this blog by default, but what amazes me the most is having such a recurring reading base going so strong, even after all this time! We once again thank you for your continued involvment, as much as apparently the franchise holders themselves have hold in store for their non-Japanese under this precise timing window.\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EFor starters, the big console news of the year -that is to say, the Taiko no Tatsujin Dokodon RPG\/Rhythmic Adventure Pack for Nintendo Switch- was delivered starting from this Summer's end, something that once again would grace donders from all over the world! Not only that, general Asia Taiko fans were also met with the reassuring news of current-gen Taiko gaming coming continent-wide on Spring next year... with a functioning Donder Hioroba, at long last! Then there was the ongoing content delivery, the 'popular artist ports' on the arcade, the extra eSports-flavored mode for Drum'n'Fun, that one collaboration, ...\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003ELok-approved:\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003ENew Music Game Collab at Last (and the precedent it might set)\u003C\/b\u003E - Ever since the Tenkaichi Otogesai tourney line has ran its course, this music game franchise being the shy sheep it has been on the collaborative spectrum never truly had a meaty interaction with other music game colleagues, up until the sudden announcement of the 2nd Deemo collaboration round, with more songs for both parties than just a single exchange. While many would argue such a generous song exchange would have been nicer if that \u003Ci\u003Ewas\u003C\/i\u003E the 1st collab's content to begin with, it's reassuring to see something that general music game fans are sure to get a better kick at, while being in the usual sea of licensed campaigns with IPs that cater to a broader public the most. I strongly hope this isn't the last time we see some series-on-series tag team matchup!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003EEver-growing Western Donder Involvment\u003C\/b\u003E - It already was incredible last year to witness the official console return of this franchise in English-speaking soil (and debuting in Europe, too!), so you can imagine how glad we got to see such efforts to keep non-Asian players on the round with the home-distributed games being sustained in both DLCs and re-release of formerly-Asian-exclusive previous entries of the series, even with all the MIA additional contents from the originals. For cryin' out loud, the latter even got announced for the first time as part of a Nintendo Direct broadcast, worldwide!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003ELok-abominables:\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\n...uuuuh, I got nothing this time. Background issues aside, it's all smooth sailing. Go Taiko!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E4th Trimester\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Cimg alt=\"パスワード設定\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/switch.taiko-ch.net\/images\/mode\/privatematch\/img_password_02.png\" width=\"400\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n2020's ending was just as fruitful for the Nintendo Switch Taiko line as it was during last year at the same time, with the elder release for the system finally getting a dedicated online private matchmaking free from the ranked matchmaking's weekly song pool shackles, together with the worldwide launch of the twin (yet side-feature-less) Nintendo 3DS title ports. In more languages than your usual Japanese (and Korean), too!\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003EIt has also been the prime time for Nijiiro Version to demonstrate how sharp its difficulty-spike claws truly are, completing the release of its Ranking Dojo courses -among the returning 3rd-gen arcade features- and harkening multiple times back in time when a top-starred Ura Oni's debut could stand tall the \"naturally-brutal\" songs towering the progression charts with a lone and fearsome Oni trial.\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003ELok-approved:\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cul style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003EDrumming Up the Fun (and Variety)\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- One of the ongoing modern Taiko game's weaknesses that plagued the package in my eyes was its song list and early DLC support that was more catering to the 'best hits' aficionados, not necessarily by hanging on the most popular licenses but by offering song repeat after song repeat that would make this game hard to recomment to those who already got any of the last few years' Taiko games of the past generations (or even the PS4 one!).\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EOne year of DLC tracks later and the situation is slightly improved by hanging on licensed song packs' theme variety and the Original-focused ones offering at least one series debut\/\"older-age return\" to quell the tracklist overlap issue that Drum 'n' Fan always suffered with. No wonder how the game managed to move 1 million copies worldwide in 2020!\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003EYearly Seasonal Guests' Comeback\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- Kind of weird to talk about this, but in a way it feels nice to have some side-campaigns for the popular-media crowd to get bits of Taiko magic coming back approximately at the same time of the year for quite a while at this point, seeing how Taiko's Autumn season has been prime time for A3! and Touhou Project-related campaigns, just like August's arcade days have hosted a round of weekly new popular (Game\u0026amp;)Variety releases.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrike\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: xx-small;\"\u003ENow if only the Taiko people would add\u0026nbsp;\u003Ci\u003Emore\u003C\/i\u003E\u0026nbsp;than a single new Touhou song arrange per year once again, that'd be lovely...\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/strike\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003ELok-abominables:\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cul style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003EGlitchmical Adventure Launch\u003C\/b\u003E - The release of the twin Dokodon RPG Pack games was unfortunately met with a number of issues of varying nature that really didn't get that big of a word-of-mouth push, a rather unfortunate happenstance considering the good will of the series' Western revival atmosphere, from the Tatacon drum controllers not compatible with a great deal of the respective Story modes to technical problems that severely constrains the touchscreen-based control inputs.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ELuckily, it looks like someone at Bandai Namco caught wind of the situation and a patch is currently in the works, so hopefully this problem will be a done-and-done ordeal well into 2021!\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003EThe Blog's Clerical Error Moments\u003C\/b\u003E - On top of our real life committments that have slowed down our usual post rate downpour after every passing year, every now and then we also get the same platform on which we write on behaving odd in a number of ways! I especially liked an episode which occurred in this very month, where I finished the latest update to Nijiro Version's song list page only to discover the day after that it became completely blank with no way to revert a previous state of the page with the platform's native tools. Don't worry though- updates on the page will roll back (hopefully) in a timely manner.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIn short, a toast for Blogger! The cause of, and solution to, (nearly) all Taiko Time's problems!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n--------------------------------------------------------\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThis was the course of the dual-couple-digits year in a nutshell. This time around, the closing-words pararaph from myself about it won't be as wordy as the last few years, mostly because some of the more 'chronic' issues the series has suffered of as of late still lurk around on different weighting from each other (over-relying on game longevity via DLCs instead of new games, meeting fan expectations from outside Japan and so on). On the other hand, however... I'm relieved of how this year has turned out for Taiko in general. I really was!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003EIt's kinda bad to state this, but the huge worldwide constraints that have been put by the ongoing viral pandemic made me worried about the possibility of getting even less Taiko-related content in general, even considering how this arcade-born franchise still has its lion's share on the arcade rooms and their latest offerings, especially on the year of a new hardware generation! Luckily we got a good content diversification between platforms that have kept involvment on a constant rate (\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: x-small;\"\u003E...still close to last years' snail's pace but hey, a constant is still a constant!\u003C\/span\u003E), alongside a few surprises to keep a positive look at how much more can be told about Taiko no Tatsujin gaming for years to come. 2021 in of itself might be an eventful one just on the basis of it marking the franchise's 20th anniversary, so maybe there's something BIG on the horizon.\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003EIn the meantime, once again, we deeply thank you for your patronage with us in all this time, be it one-time visitors, falling-out readers or assiduous followers. See you on the other side!\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E"},"link":[{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/478780836825497416"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/478780836825497416"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"https:\/\/taikotime.blogspot.com\/2020\/12\/feature-2020-year-in-hindsight.html","title":"Feature: 2020 - The Year in Hindsight"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Nintendo 5-Star"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/00378622809042133428"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"32","height":"29","src":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_q54rb31Kf8A\/SqpQHwyZlmI\/AAAAAAAAAAM\/n0_hPxNZuLM\/S220\/n5slogo.png"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"https:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-Of7bzITWTe8\/XwsweQcQveI\/AAAAAAAABtA\/xY_gA3JJSOwZMbs1IEyRm5ymHJI0e5rzgCLcBGAsYHQ\/s72-w400-h156-c\/taikotime10thlong.png","height":"72","width":"72"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-760759784775244167.post-153098259413545464"},"published":{"$t":"2019-12-31T04:00:00.001+00:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2020-12-28T21:46:14.829+00:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"feature"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Feature: 2019 - The Year in Hindsight"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg height=\"236\" src=\"http:\/\/gonintendo.com\/system\/file_uploads\/uploads\/000\/017\/467\/medium\/taiko-drum-master.jpg\" width=\"400\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nIt's the last day of the year, which means it's the prime time to have our usual talk on how the Taiko no Tatsujin franchise has fared in the latest 365-ish-days venue! Once again, we'll be picking up the end-2018 Feature format and review the biggest steps into 3-months intervals, with Lokamp chiming in for his personal ups and down on the series' whereabouts.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nBruise up your shoes, as it's time for a memory-lane stroll once more...\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ca name='more'\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E1st Trimester\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/taiko-ch.net\/urgybrhm3ukw\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/72181a1e447edae3888339c62798c527.jpg\" width=\"400\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nUsually the most dormant portion of a year for franchise enthusiast, 2019's January-to-March travel pretty much fared up to follow such norm, with its gradual news spreading towards the latest addition to the arcade firmware versions family (Green Version) and barely any other 'major' series information updates worth of note in-between.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nDespite no new particular spins being given to the latest of the current Taiko line's versions, however, its launch was still built upon the ending of yet another Tenkaichi Otogesai tourney\u0026nbsp;\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: xx-small;\"\u003E(... more on that later...)\u003C\/span\u003E and even had some collaboration plans with #C.O.M.P.A.S.S. and the Idolm@ster series' latest spinoff, ready to kick off since its Day 1! To round things off, both home console Taiko releases received their steady wealth of additional content to enjoy, all throughout the year.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003ELok-approved:\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cul\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETaiko no Tatsujin Green Version\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- This is a firmware that hasn't played all of its cards from the get-go, but that still doesn't disappoint in the gradual newcomer songs department! With plenty of licensed hits and a healthy streak of pluri-artists original score, it followed up the Blue Version year quite nicely.\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003EModern Home Console Taikos' 2019 DLC Support\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- In a year that has been dire of any official new game announcements for the non-arcade goers, the fact that both the PS4 and the Nintendo Switch Taiko games were supplied with monthly loads of content that, before weighting in their relative qualities to each's own tastes, have been more than a reassuring sign of not leaving console players behind, whether they're from Japan or any other area of the world.\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003ELok-abominables:\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cul\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003ENew rounds of Staff Layouts\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- Bandai Namco has seen several staffers departures, with the most active layoff period being the start of the year. Taiko Team mascot Anne, alongside some game music composers of decades-old date (Kanako Kakino and Hiroshi Okubo) have left in a mere 3-months span, with more departures to come (some of a different nature, no less) to follow up half-away the year 2019.\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003EFREEDOM DiVE has become playable in official Taiko games\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- ... Just read through \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/taikotime.blogspot.com\/2018\/12\/song-of-week-22-december-2018.html\"\u003Ethis\u003C\/a\u003E and \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/taikotime.blogspot.com\/2010\/08\/out-of-shadows-freedom-dive-back-into.html\"\u003Ethis\u003C\/a\u003E, I'm beyond bloody caring at this point.\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E2nd Trimester\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg alt=\"ドンカツファイト\" height=\"223\" src=\"https:\/\/switch.taiko-ch.net\/images\/mode\/donkatsu\/img_mv.jpg\" width=\"400\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nTaiko gaming's Spring season of 2019 has been more eager on putting some focus on its latest home console foray, as the Nintendo Switch game's DLC content has started to get more timely-differenciated additional features between both free and paid stuff, with the introduction of new playable modes (starting with the up-pictured Donkatsu Fight local multiplayer mode) and more skilled-players-oriented content picking up the pace from the latter end of this month trilogy.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nLuckily, the other gaming fronts in the Taiko scene were not completely dormant either; the PS4 players getting their usual high-end treatment between Donder Packs and license-oriented picks, all the while the newborne Green Version kept lit its torch with renewed interest into licensed picks of many fronts (most notably Vocaloid, BMS and V-tuber-related), rounded up with teases of its signature Banapassport mode, coming a few months later...\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003ELok-approved:\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cul\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003ESurprise Saturday Newcomers\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- While this is definitely an inherited feature from the past arcade firmware days, it sure is nice to see how this tradition has lived on with the next year, not only for that new songs from that one-or-two artists that music game-affine people may already become galvanized about hearing more from, but also for an already-mentioned new outlook on popular BMS-spawn picks, be it for a new difficulty bump or some meme magic on display. \u003Cspan style=\"color: white;\"\u003E(Or to just piss me off with overrated FREEDOM DiVE shit again)\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ESometimes, I wonder if our long-running Song of the Week feature series falling on a Saturday is (partly) to thank for these surprise additions all falling into a specific day of the week... Let alone, \u003Ci\u003Ethat\u003C\/i\u003E very same day...\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003ELok-abominable:\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cul\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003ESynchronica's Series Shutdown\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- From time to time, the Taiko no Tatsujin series has had more than one affair with Bandai Namco's other music game experience for the arcade goer, so it's a tad sad -even as bystanders- to be made aware of its indefinite closure in advance, right at the Autumn season's doors. Still, here's to the people who more closely followed it...\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003ELok... Uuuuh...\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cul\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003EOut-of-Japan Content Synchronication\/Communication Gap\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- ..This is a topic that for this very year is.. kinda odd to talk about for me as a whole: I can't class it as a total disaster to frown upon, but I can't file it as a resounding success either.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EWe sure are aware for years on how Taiko cabinets between the JP models and the General-Asia ones are separated by months-wide gaps (which, to give credit where credit it's due, have been getting shorter every now and then) and we've seen the struggle to catch up as quick as possible, but on the Western console games talk, the communication from their main channels has been sparse all throughout the year and DLC releases have been either right on date with JP (especially on PS4) or delayed beyond belief for whatever reason. EU\/US players of the Nintendo Switch game, for example, will see months later a simultaneous release of an additional mode with the JP version, but on the same page they also had to wait four more months in comparison to Japan to even see traces of the Donkatsu Fight mode!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EI can surely see the effort on making up-to-date content for everyone while getting everyone on the news about it in a more timely manner, but it's apparent how in some areas they've been lacking still, be it for select time-framed elements or for still-ongoing events...\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E3rd Trimester\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg height=\"173\" src=\"https:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-DbgGSzP3Mh0\/XUbdRjlfHsI\/AAAAAAAABc8\/X8snbPqprhgHo41D0aDDxWtveRjf3StEwCLcBGAs\/s320\/tt9thani.png\" width=\"320\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nHow time flies, we made it to 9 years of blog activity! The Green Version side of the isle took this frame to finalize its feature set with the release of its signature mode -the AI Battle Performance- and its version-linked set of main Ranking Dojo trials, with brand new Gaiden courses coming our during the year's end. Between lazy eggs and licensed songs getting a same-day-release (or something close to that) between arcade and console gaming, you can rest assured that the series' licensing game is still as strong as ever.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003ELok-approved:\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cul\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003EPS4's (continuing) Stellar DLC Journey\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- It really \u003Ci\u003Ebears\u003C\/i\u003E repeating on my part: for seasoned fans of the series, it's good to be a PS4 owner, two years on. Even if some kind of \"time bomb\" for the game's DLC delivery has been set with the PS5 release far on the horizon, the same kind of quality treatment from Year 1 has been succesfully carried over with monthly song lots that guarantee both hard picks and console\/series overall first. Let's not forget that even the latest '2000' song made its debut on Session de Dodon ga Don under this trimester, folks!\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETraces of a New Taiko Generation\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- Under these months we've also fetched some preliminary intel about Green Version's succeeding firmware and judging by the heavy hardware updates required for this transition, we might be right behind the corners of a new arcade generation! Just trying to imagine what new dazzling technical improvements and other kinds of features is enough to lift up hopes for the game center rooms gaming to come!...\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E...just please... Don't bleach 90% of current arcades' song list a-la Taiko 2-14 transitions and day-1 Taikos of the current arcade line... pretty please..?\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003ELok-abominables:\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cul\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003ENo New Console Taikos in Sight\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- Yeah, I still keep the continued support of the PS4 and NSwitch games in high regards, but coming through a year without \u003Ci\u003Eany\u003C\/i\u003E concrete hints of new Taiko console games to enjoy is kinda worrying... Aside from the occasional signature modes newer console Taikos spruce up, each physical release comes with its unique song list blend that, the day its related system has its online-related shops\/functionalities gone and are no longer playable on the arcades, won't disappear for good and will still be playable through official means, with no emulators of sorts. Keeping games alive with DLCs for years sure is nice and spiffy, but the content preservation match will surely be lost by going on for a lot of time by just pumping up the same releases, when the related online stores will shut down.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EAnd sure, during this trimester we spotted a new trademark being placed for what we can speculate being for a new European Taiko game release, but we still got nothing else concrete on our hands, to this day...\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003EThe End of the Tenkaichi Otogesai Tournament Series\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- What we concretely got, on the other hand, was the news on the definitive closure of the Tenkaichi Otogesai tournament line, one that was eagerly looked forward to by a number of fans from multiple music gaming series for the prospect of an hot-boiled competition on top of new juicy song reveals and, almost an alien concept to the Taiko series beforehand, music gaming song transplants from other non-proprietary series.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EFor those who can still rock out their arcade skills in Japan, we have reported about new competitions for both arcade and console players as single-series affair, but the crossed-over nature that was the glue linking together Tenkaichi Otogesai fans is not to be found on the more modern competitive offerings. And for us Taiko fans, that just puts on a huge question mark on when (or even, \u003Ci\u003Eif\u003C\/i\u003E) will we have again more playable, crossed-over content from the other active music gaming giants at Konami's, Sega's, Taito's, ...\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E4th Trimester\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg alt=\"https:\/\/switch.taiko-ch.net\/images\/top\/news\/tmb_rank_match.jpg\" height=\"224\" src=\"https:\/\/switch.taiko-ch.net\/images\/top\/news\/tmb_rank_match.jpg\" width=\"320\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nStealing the thumbnail war for 2019's last months is a Switch-related story once again, as players of all regional version were greeted with the series' very first online multiplayer competitive mode in franchise history! Green Version, on the other hand, is waving the year goodbye with renewed support to its Rewards Shop\/surprise song release antics with a topping of returning collaborations, from shooty-shooty girls indie bliss to a male idol ensemble that was teased way back in Summer.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003ELok-approved:\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cul\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003EOnline Matchmaking Bliss\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- Taiko no Tatsujin has had its first foray into the online multiplayer scene, and it's a relieving one at that! Sure, it's not an already-perfect package due to the lack of features (eg.: no Friends-only matches, only up to two players, can't play DLC songs unless both players own them) and the fact of being locked down to a set of weekly song selection are a bit of a downer, but we can already say this system works fine, something that not every videogame with online elements can truly claim at their first shot.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EPlus, we console-only players get to experience one of the true-and-hard battle marks of an arcade multiplayer match in an official home Taiko game: knowing how much I suck on the accuracy department... but knowing that \u003Ci\u003Elive\u003C\/i\u003E, as you play with strangers that are leagues better than you! HAR-Ha\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: x-small;\"\u003Er-har, I cr\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: xx-small;\"\u003Eack myself up...\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETaiko Time's Wish List Spotlight\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- A side project I cooked up for most of December's Song of the Week features, I had a bit of fun in talking about out-of-Taiko songs that both staffers and our readers would be eager to see them officially playable in the series! No matter how plausible or far-fetched our spotlighted requests have come and gone, it was a nice change of pace to talk about even more other topics on the Internet.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EAnd aye, who knows if the staffers are up for another round next year! In the eventuality that possibility ever comes to fruition, you might be eager on pondering about an eventual 'wish list' request of yours... that's right, even you who are reading these very lines!\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003ELok-abominables:\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cul\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003EUntimely Updates, from the Team and from Us\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- In a double-whammy, here's a nice reminder on us being unreliable on timely updates coverage, just as much as the Bandai Namco-delegated people have been on their news updates for non-Japanese releases.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ESure, it hasn't been nice scouting every now and then in the off-chance some content gets ported to the Western version on a timely manner, but our own IRL committments have often left the same-period news coverage over here to be... a little shoddy at times. Hell, I myself forgot to frequently update some freshly-released content alongside the blog's sections and the Ace Combat showcase has been orphan of the Roca Roja feature for the longest time! Once again, for our faults on these and more, we humbly apologise to you, folks.\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n--------------------------------------------------------\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAnd there you have it, 2019 in Taiko gaming! This time around, there's no need for some weird comparison analogies to state a comment on the series' overall progression as of late: it's simply... well... just... floating around.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nOn the arcade grounds, sure, business is ran as usual content-wise, despite some of the more egregious departures that damper its potential on the newcoming-songs spectrum, but little to no room for new series projects talk has been laid about, aside from their many event-limited venues and collaboratiove talk. Mainly, this refers to no new console games on site, leaving just the hints of the next firmware enough of an interest fuel for fans to keep being engaged with the series. I mean sure, both the most recent console games have got their share of love, no doubt about it; however, it's kinda undeniable at this point to state how the series as a whole is sitting on life support, right now. Especially if you're not an arcade goer, only the DLC train will keep you up and running into the mood for some modern druming; once it'll be over, you'd be asking \"Well then, what's next?\", but what happens when you got nothing as an answer to that question? Would that mean that the series, as a whole... might be approaching the end of the road, with this being the tentative year where you can see the end of its tracks from a great distance?\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nI myself don't know the answer to these questions and more, always rounded around the duration of any given tradition or product over time. Nothing's bound to last forever, and relatively news-less years like 2019 has been for Taiko gaming might further strengthen such worries on our subject on hand. Hope, however, still shines through, with the few gold nuggets we got this year alone as well as the series managing to surpass the 10-million combined milestone of console games sold overall! And who knows, what little we know about this upcoming arcade model's revamped parts might be looked at in the future as the first spark of \"that one arcade\" which started a series reinassance period with plenty of exciting things to talk about, for years to come!... as we stand right now, however, we're pretty much left in the dark, dealing with the daily breadcrumbs that are being spread in a less-frequent manner about official Taiko media, with nothing but speculations of what may come next.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThe wait will rage on... but alongside the way, we renew our hopes in being able to take you out on this journey side by side, reporting on what the incoming year 2020 has in store for its fans, of all ages and nations. See you on the other side, and happy new year!\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n"},"link":[{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/153098259413545464"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/153098259413545464"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"https:\/\/taikotime.blogspot.com\/2019\/12\/feature-2019-year-in-hindsight.html","title":"Feature: 2019 - The Year in Hindsight"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Nintendo 5-Star"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/00378622809042133428"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"32","height":"29","src":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_q54rb31Kf8A\/SqpQHwyZlmI\/AAAAAAAAAAM\/n0_hPxNZuLM\/S220\/n5slogo.png"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"https:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-DbgGSzP3Mh0\/XUbdRjlfHsI\/AAAAAAAABc8\/X8snbPqprhgHo41D0aDDxWtveRjf3StEwCLcBGAs\/s72-c\/tt9thani.png","height":"72","width":"72"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-760759784775244167.post-949286699000951014"},"published":{"$t":"2018-12-31T01:00:00.000+00:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2018-12-31T01:00:04.407+00:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"feature"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Feature: 2018 - The Year in Hindsight"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg src=\"http:\/\/gonintendo.com\/system\/file_uploads\/uploads\/000\/017\/467\/medium\/taiko-drum-master.jpg\" height=\"236\" width=\"400\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nWe've made it through another year, which for the Taiko franchise as a whole has meant quite a lot through a collection of different scenario-changing situation. For that reason, our yearly recap post for this year will be structured in a slightly different way from our former standard.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThe ever-increasing number of periods of the year filled with (mostly) minor collaboration events, combined with something that has happened earlier in the year that has made us harder to display imagery from the official blog, has led us to switch to make our recap action more compact, covering three-months periods of time in a single section rather than having one for each month like usual. To make up for this feature-slimmering action, each trimester recap will be followed by Lokamp's personal selection of Taiko-related highlights, covering both the positive and negative extremes of his own preference.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nIt's time to take you back...\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ca name='more'\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E1st Trimester\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg alt=\"\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-2275\" src=\"http:\/\/taiko-ch.net\/urgybrhm3ukw\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/12ce9696a225b1c5bd5351a84be3ec16.png\" height=\"225\" width=\"400\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nWe've been used by now to have the first months of a year as an 'expectations altar' for future Taiko games to come, be it on arcade or console grounds. For 2018's case, both sides got something to wait in anticipation for, as Yellow Version's firmware successor was been teased since January, spanning all across its March release! We've also heard of yet another gaming platform to receive playable Taiko games on, but that's a story we'll talk about in a little while...\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nTiding the wait were a succession of different events leaning to the arcade side, be it for the finals of 2017's Tenkaichi Otogesai or the usual Anime-tied mini campaign jazz (iDOLISH7, Ososmatsu-san, Pop Team Epic). The PS4 Taiko release's DLC catalog also gave out no signs of calling it quits whatsoever, stretching all throughout the year and far into the soon-to-begin 2019!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003ELok-approved:\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cul\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETaiko no Tatsujin Blue Version\u003C\/b\u003E - While nearing the end of its days, Blue Version sure has been a worthy successor of the arcade mileage, due to its returning features as well as the overall new additions it got throughout the year!\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003ESession de Dodon ga Don's 2018 DLC Support\u003C\/b\u003E - Supplying at least 5 new songs per month with both returns and series\/console firsts as paid DLCs, the PS4 frontrunner game proved itself to gather positive attentions all across the ending year, thanks to what currently is one of the best collective DLC song catalogs for the series to date.\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003ELok-abominables:\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cul\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETaiko Portable 1 and 2's DLC Content Termination\u003C\/b\u003E - 2018 has also meant a lot of official Taiko-related corners on the Internet to be shut down for good, starting with the removal of the the free DLC songs for the first two PSP games, formerly available on their respective websites as freebies for everyone. I hope you got a copy of those in time, if you have these games...\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETaiko Plus (for i-devices)' Song Pack Removal\u003C\/b\u003E - Half-away through March we have also lost the option to purchase song packs for the iOS version of the Taiko Plus app, with a lot of tracking getting the permanent boot and the subscription-based Gakkyoku Tori Houdai mode becoming the only way to play new songs (outside of collaboration events). While those who purchased the desired DLC packs before the deletion can still play their picks on their original devices, the scenario is way more grim for all the other players.\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E2nd Trimester\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"800\" data-original-width=\"800\" height=\"320\" src=\"https:\/\/s.pacn.ws\/1500\/v9\/taiko-no-tatsujin-nintendo-switch-version-chinese-subs-562859.1.jpg?p8v2j3\" width=\"320\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nWith Blue Version being available since March, the future-content Taiko talk was almost-entirely monopolized by news coverage surrounding the first Taiko no Tatsujin game for Nintendo Switch, acting as the year's big console debut for the franchise. Between magazine scoops and faux video rumors, we sure had our hands full of game coverage to scout for!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nBefore its July-slated launch, however, there have been other events of relevance for the series to talk about, including the iDOLISH7 arcade collab's full realization, the PS4 Taiko game's introduction of online scoring events and selected Anime song DLC deletion from the catalog of the Ps Vita's V Version additional content pool. Not to mention that the production of official Taiko no Tatsujin soundtracks has come back, at long last!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003ELok-approved:\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cul\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003EThe TnT 8-fold Soundtrack Collection\u003C\/b\u003E - Thanks to CLARICE DISC\/City Connection's collaborative effort with Bandai Namco, this closing year has seen the release of eight Taiko-related soundtrack albums, collecting over 200 original tracks from the last 5+ years of the series' many entries. Longer versions for selected songs are not missing, either!\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003EThe TT April Fools Rant\u003C\/b\u003E - I've had a ton of fun trying to come up with random silliness for the fated jokers' day, with this year's April 1st Song of the Week and its... shall we say, content of a \"something completely different\" nature. With the day being over, that piece has been banished on some corner of this blog, but who knows if I can come up with something similar in the future! \u003Cstrike\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: xx-small;\"\u003E(...or, I don't know, maybe two Saturdays ago)\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/strike\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003EDeadwantsha\u003C\/b\u003E - This user from the TnT Discord group has helped us with the timely discovery of Taiko-related news since last Spring's end and all throughout the rest of the year. As usual, we do give credit to the kind people who aid our news-oriented action, but we wanted to double-up our thanks here on this yearly recap due to the relevant number of contributions. We owe you one, mate!\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003ELok-abominables:\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cul\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cb\u003EGeneral-Asia AC Player Base Neglection\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003E\u0026nbsp;- Since the final Facebook scoring tournament of March 2018, the General-Asia arcade playerbase has been left ignored on the arcade-update side for quite a while, only now being in a slightly more meek mood. Starting from Spring and stretching until last Autumn, the update delay gaps between the JP version have been wider and wider, giving new songs up to 4 months later than the homeland Blue Version cabs. Giving credit where credit it's due,\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003ENumber 11 (11号) of the Taiko Team has been posting some lines of reassurance for the update side onto the official JP blog as of the last few months, but that doesn't ease the annoyance of such scenarios, either!\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003ENews Pad-Out\u003C\/b\u003E - We've been used to face periods of time with little to no content from the official Taiko feeds to come by, but coming after 2017's Taiko Team low participation degree, we've been hitting new peaks of filler-content posting, with the April\/June window being one of the biggest ones. I almost feel bad for that\u0026nbsp;Number 11 intern, which is pretty much the only appointed staffer from the Team to ever come up on the official blog...\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETT Blog Housecleaning Delays\u003C\/b\u003E - We've been also hitting quite a slump on the blog-updating action for older pages, due to real-life commitments that have held hostage the collective free time of us who are posting on the blog. This is highly noticeable in our June Housekeeping plans still not being fully panned out by us in all the pinpointed areas, and for that I would like to apologize to you on that regard. Hopefully we'll be more efficient, next year...\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E3rd Trimester\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"215\" data-original-width=\"368\" height=\"186\" src=\"https:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-o5c_WVbT8G4\/WwQ2T1o_sgI\/AAAAAAAABUg\/WKBCeqry_yA6vfkjcQHxuoAYz9MnzSCJACLcBGAs\/s320\/taikotime8thanni.png\" width=\"320\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nIntertwining our blog's 8th anniversary shenanigans, the July-September trimester has been one of the most polarizing cycles of time for Bandai Namco's music series, both for its lows as well as its high peaks. The higly-anticipated Nintendo Switch Taiko debut has happened for the greater Asian countries, but what made us as writers for an English-oriented Taiko news blog gloat to no end was the announcement of new official Taiko games localization projects to the West, the first ones since the PS2 release of the West-oriented Taiko Drum Master!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nLocalization hype aside, the franchise also has its share of side projects to pursuit in its home lands, including the first collaborative links with the Youtube-related UUUM network and the returning Tenkaichi Otogesai tournament's latest iteration. Not to mention the DLC-suggestion poll that Session de Dodon ga Don players had the opportunity to take part into!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003ELok-approved:\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cul\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETaiko Localizations, at Long Last\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- As a writer of a blog about a Japan-rooted music game series, seeing further localization projects of Taiko no Tatsujin games aimed at the audience we've written content for so much time fills my chest with pride and joy for the coming of more widespread ways to let a broader audience try out the series. This is especially good not only for the almost 1-by-1 porting action of both the PS4 and the NSwitch titles, but also for the fact that Europe has not been left behind, for once!!\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETaiko Switch's Starting Songlist\u003C\/b\u003E - While not being oriented on more challenging picks like the PS4 game, I can appreciate the fact that the Day1 song lot for the latest Nintendo Taiko game shows a different kind of variety in its starting picks, between returning\/newcomer tracks and a Game Music genre selection I happen to enjoy more, by comparison!\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003ELok-abominables:\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cul\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003EThe Former Taiko Development Blog's Sudden Closure\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- Perhaps the lowest point for me closing this year on the Taiko front, as well as the main reason of this very feature series' structure change. With no word of warning, a huge portion of the Taiko no Tatsujin series' history has been bleached for good from the Internet, leaving us with less 'origin-story' pieces to write about as well as a LOT of dead links for our earliest Taiko blog-related posts.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EEight+ years of Taiko no Tatsujin history. All down the drain...\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETaiko Team Staffers' Multiple Graduations\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- As if getting less and less feedback from the people behind the Taiko games for each passing year wasn't enough, 2018's latter half has seen several people leaving Bandai Namco-related business altogether, with composer Taku Inoue and programmer Takemoto leaving during the 3rd trimester. Under the same page also falls the former-gen Taiko sister Daifuku from the livestream session, who left towards this year's end instead.\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E4th Trimester\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg alt=\"Taiko no Tatsujin: Session de Dodon ga Don! PlayStation 4 Front Cover\" border=\"0\" height=\"320\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mobygames.com\/images\/covers\/l\/438320-taiko-no-tatsujin-session-de-dodon-ga-don-playstation-4-front-cover.png\" width=\"320\" \/\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003Cimg height=\"320\" src=\"https:\/\/d8mkdcmng3.imgix.net\/835b\/pc-and-video-games-games-switch-taiko-no-tatsujin-drum-n-fun-nintendo.jpg?bg=0FFF\u0026amp;fit=fill\u0026amp;h=600\u0026amp;q=100\u0026amp;w=600\u0026amp;s=675c7ac7a73ae1ac572540f2ca961aa1\" style=\"user-select: none;\" width=\"320\" \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n2018's final months have seen the eagerly-awaited localization of the PS4 and Nintendo Switch Taiko games, together with the usual charade of events on the arcade front and additional song deliveries 5to all the currently-running console games as either DLCs or Gakkyoku Tori Houdai picks. Not to mention that we already know the next arcade firmware's name!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nOn the event side, the returning Tenkaichi Otogesai has brought back the enjoyable formula of a new proprietary song and three foreign-music-game ports (straight from 2017's edition of the tourney), while different platforms have been influenced by events that tied in different IPs, including DC (Ninja Batman), the aforemintioned UUUM and Team Shanghai Alice with the Touhou Project series.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003ELok-approved:\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cul\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003EHi-Difficulty Newcomers Swarm for Blue Ver.\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- Starting from August's rock-styled additions for the Variety genre, the Taiko series has been getting quite a lot of top-difficulty picks from a wide number of different artists between stand-alone additions and the current Dojo Ranking's final core courses. As we're headed towards a brand new year, I'd say more of that, please!\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003ELocalized Taikos' Western Involvment\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- Albeit not as complete as the original Asian versions are shaped to be, it's really nice to see that both Drum Session and Drum 'n' Fun are trying to supply the same degree of care on the extra content department! This especially factors in when the latest JP DLC pack releases are mirrored to the West on a seemingly-timely manner, alongside the online scoring events for the PS4 game.\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"color: white;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003EDiscord's Padoru no Tatsujin Xmas Makeover\u003C\/b\u003E - \u003Cstrike\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: xx-small;\"\u003EIt was amazing and you know it. UMU\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/strike\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003ELok-abominables:\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cul\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETaiko Switch\/Drum 'n' Fun's Lackluster 2018 DLC Offerings\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- Especially when games with more effort put into their respective DLC catalogues are still going strong, it has been downright embarassing to witness the lower quality for additional song packs on the latest Nintendo Taiko title. Lots of returning console song repeats, little to no hi-difficulty contenders to be found and pricier-than-usual 3-songs pack that, again, mostly have songs that were already ported on console Taikos before? Give me a break...\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003EHard-to-Track West Updates for the Localized Taikos\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- Not having a centralized way to get informed in a timely manner on any updates concerning both Drum Session and Drum 'n' Fun means scouting weeks and weeks of Twitter posts from the Bandai Namco accounts alone. Sure, this has to be expected but having an easier way to check out updates (like in-game notices or something) might really improve things up for Westeners everywhere!\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003EFREEDOM DiVE will become playable in official Taiko games\u003C\/b\u003E - ...\u003Ci\u003Ewhy\u003C\/i\u003E.\u003Cbr \/\u003EWhy, why, why, why, why, why why why why why whywhywhywhywhyWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWH-\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\n--------------------------------------------------------\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nTo better describe what this closing year has been for Taiko gaming as a whole, I'm afraid that I'll have to resort on some of my personal nerd culture in order to better deliver a point home... try to stay up with me on this, ok?\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAmong many other elements, TYPE-MOON's \u003Ci\u003EFate\u003C\/i\u003E franchise has a quite wide range of characters from human history and folklore as a distinguishable trait, appearing in the universe as 'servants' of mages and having their traits classified a-la \u003Ci\u003EDungeons and Dragons\u003C\/i\u003E by classes and individual stats ranking, usually ranging from E to EX. In some cases, however, such a ranking process for individual stats can't be done for certain servants, due to their own accounted past from their history\/fictional source material that was the base for their creations. One of such characters is Edmond Dantes, based on the eponymous character from Dumas' \u003Ci\u003ECount of Monte Cristo\u003C\/i\u003E novel, whose Luck stat is labeled as a question mark ('?'), considering how the literary character in his life has reached both the lowest of living conditions as well as the best-possible outcomes for his own schemes.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThat can.. pretty much describe Taiko gaming in 2018! This was indeed the \"Luck ?\" year, built up after a few years of not-particularly shining years on the fan feedback front from the official development team people which doubles up in occasions to further expand the fanbase like never before, while also being home of some of the most regrettable courses of action in franchise history. It's really hard to tell how the Taiko series as a whole will go on after such a puzzlinmg 12-month cycle, but rest assured that we'll still be on its tail to see with you what other kinds of surprises are brewing from behing the scenes...\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nUntil then, I hope you've all had a dazzling 2018 in general. Take care!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n"},"link":[{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/949286699000951014"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/949286699000951014"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"https:\/\/taikotime.blogspot.com\/2018\/12\/feature-2018-year-in-hindsight.html","title":"Feature: 2018 - The Year in Hindsight"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Nintendo 5-Star"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/00378622809042133428"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"32","height":"29","src":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_q54rb31Kf8A\/SqpQHwyZlmI\/AAAAAAAAAAM\/n0_hPxNZuLM\/S220\/n5slogo.png"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"https:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-o5c_WVbT8G4\/WwQ2T1o_sgI\/AAAAAAAABUg\/WKBCeqry_yA6vfkjcQHxuoAYz9MnzSCJACLcBGAs\/s72-c\/taikotime8thanni.png","height":"72","width":"72"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-760759784775244167.post-3118681330540520375"},"published":{"$t":"2018-12-09T17:06:00.001+00:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2018-12-09T17:37:36.091+00:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"feature"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Feature: Super Namco Bros. Special\/Ultimate!"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/media.begeek.fr\/2018\/06\/Super-Smash-Bros-Ultimate-Switch-E3-2018.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"449\" data-original-width=\"800\" height=\"223\" src=\"https:\/\/media.begeek.fr\/2018\/06\/Super-Smash-Bros-Ultimate-Switch-E3-2018.jpg\" width=\"400\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThis closing week has seen the release of the latest entry in Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. fighting game series. Just like with the former 3DS and Wii U entries, Bandai Namco has heavily contributed in the creation of this installment, resulting in some of its artists making new remixes\/arrangements for the featured music game franchises!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nFollowing up the work we've done for the 3DS and Wii U games' launch back then, what's inside this post is a selection of the Taiko-renowned artists's newcoming contributions for the freshly-launched Nintendo Switch entry, alongside some hats-off to other music gaming-related composers we found along the way. As the 3DS\/Wii U arranges are also available once more, after the jump we'll supply you links to our formerly-released blog posts about the respective games' Namco share.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nIt goes without saying, but SPOILER ALERT! Some of the music featured here is coming from either boss battles or other late-content tracks from the World of Light adventure mode. Can't say we didn't warn ya~\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ca name='more'\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/taikotime.blogspot.com\/2014\/09\/super-namco-bros-3ds-edition.html\"\u003ESuper Namco Bros. (3DS)\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/taikotime.blogspot.com\/2014\/12\/super-namco-bros-wii-u-edition.html\"\u003ESuper Namco Bros. (Wii U)\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ciframe allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/By4KkzQwe-Y?list=PL6akIKaXBeU0er6sn6QdRViLhRZIE59HP\" width=\"560\"\u003E\u003C\/iframe\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThe NAMCO SOUNDS artists' newcoming contribution for this game mostly comes out in form of arrangements of Super Smas Bros. Ultimate\/Special's main theme, being used in different portions of the game.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nUp here to start the dance, we have the take of Junichi Nakatsuru (Sports Digesdon; junction) on it, being used as the newcoming track for the returning Battlefield stage.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ciframe allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AOIguul1-lE?list=PL6akIKaXBeU0er6sn6QdRViLhRZIE59HP\" width=\"560\"\u003E\u003C\/iframe\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ciframe allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/eSuV-tQ708k?list=PL6akIKaXBeU0er6sn6QdRViLhRZIE59HP\" width=\"560\"\u003E\u003C\/iframe\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nTaiko\/iDOLM@STER recurring artist Sato Takafumi, on the other hand, arranged the main theme for the Training mode\/stage and the Bonus level for the game's Classic Mode.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ciframe allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/MTFsUNwSg-A?list=PL6akIKaXBeU0er6sn6QdRViLhRZIE59HP\" width=\"560\"\u003E\u003C\/iframe\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ciframe allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/eX0RryDtyog?list=PL6akIKaXBeU0er6sn6QdRViLhRZIE59HP\" width=\"560\"\u003E\u003C\/iframe\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ciframe allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/iOT0TfbJOiA?list=PL6akIKaXBeU0er6sn6QdRViLhRZIE59HP\" width=\"560\"\u003E\u003C\/iframe\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAlways on Classic mode grounds, the Defeat BGM was supplied by theremin player Torine, who also made a couple of tracks for the World of Light adventure mode's earlier stretch.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ciframe allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/pzXCb1SlpO4?list=PL6akIKaXBeU0er6sn6QdRViLhRZIE59HP\" width=\"560\"\u003E\u003C\/iframe\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ciframe allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_ppciUSKJkQ?list=PL6akIKaXBeU0er6sn6QdRViLhRZIE59HP\" width=\"560\"\u003E\u003C\/iframe\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nComing to Taiko with the port of the Xevious arrangement Phoenix, Yoshinori Hirai was also tasked to remold the main theme for a couple of World of Light-related istances: the Collection BGM for the newly-introduced Spirit mechanic and a Dark Realm BGM.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ciframe allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-0NIv11tkao?list=PL6akIKaXBeU0er6sn6QdRViLhRZIE59HP\" width=\"560\"\u003E\u003C\/iframe\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ciframe allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/kPnlakiZx1M?list=PL6akIKaXBeU0er6sn6QdRViLhRZIE59HP\" width=\"560\"\u003E\u003C\/iframe\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nStrong of its Taiko ties with the Angel Dream songs (among others!), Keiichi \"B.K.O\" Okabe from MONAKA was tasked to arrange two songs from different games of the past: Mega Man 2's Flash Man stage and Super Mario Bros. 2's Ground Theme.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ciframe allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tqs-AcX5L4I?list=PL6akIKaXBeU0er6sn6QdRViLhRZIE59HP\" width=\"560\"\u003E\u003C\/iframe\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ciframe allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2mdsoNa8AqI?list=PL6akIKaXBeU0er6sn6QdRViLhRZIE59HP\" width=\"560\"\u003E\u003C\/iframe\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ciframe allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ouS6XhpiLWY?list=PL6akIKaXBeU0er6sn6QdRViLhRZIE59HP\" width=\"560\"\u003E\u003C\/iframe\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ciframe allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/x73OVsFVNnw?list=PL6akIKaXBeU0er6sn6QdRViLhRZIE59HP\" width=\"560\"\u003E\u003C\/iframe\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ciframe allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/FZNwy-0EIY8?list=PL6akIKaXBeU0er6sn6QdRViLhRZIE59HP\" width=\"560\"\u003E\u003C\/iframe\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nRidge Racer-related composer Rio Hamamoto has already had quite the huge song share for the previous two Smash Bros. games, and its role has been shrunk a little bit for the latest iteration, comprending both main theme arranges and original music for the World of Light mode's final battle tracks.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ciframe allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JiMzx7B6WVg?list=PL6akIKaXBeU0er6sn6QdRViLhRZIE59HP\" width=\"560\"\u003E\u003C\/iframe\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nIn with the Taiko composers ensemble since the very beginning, Yano Yoshito has also contributed with yet another take of the main theme, this time around aimed for the Mob Smash sub-mode.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ciframe allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2Zt-Kwkpiqs?list=PL6akIKaXBeU0er6sn6QdRViLhRZIE59HP\" width=\"560\"\u003E\u003C\/iframe\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ciframe allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/c3OAD90IQJ0?list=PL6akIKaXBeU0er6sn6QdRViLhRZIE59HP\" width=\"560\"\u003E\u003C\/iframe\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ciframe allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/c92tl-ZzLRw?list=PL6akIKaXBeU0er6sn6QdRViLhRZIE59HP\" width=\"560\"\u003E\u003C\/iframe\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nLast but not least, Linda AI-CUE is back to supply some more boss themes to core Smash Bros. characters, and it hardly comes less recognized than the floating gloves that stand as the player's final hurdle in Classic mode runs since the first game.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nBe it a showdown against Master Hand, his wilder counterpart Crazy Hand (from SSB Melee) or both, you can be sure that Linda AI-CUE is behind the background music for all three istances.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ciframe allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/zZHtF_KXB-w?list=PL6akIKaXBeU0er6sn6QdRViLhRZIE59HP\" width=\"560\"\u003E\u003C\/iframe\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAs for our former 3DS\/Wii U mini-features about Namco musicians in Smash Bros., let's talk about some other people that have also some ties to music gaming, starting from Puzzle \u0026amp; Dragons composer Kenji Ito. For Ultimate\/Special, the man was tasked to create a Castlevania track arrangement, which can be heard right above these lines!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ciframe allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VmMUxR-4rCQ?list=PL6akIKaXBeU0er6sn6QdRViLhRZIE59HP\" width=\"560\"\u003E\u003C\/iframe\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nStrong of his iconic songs from DAYTONA USA as well as a Ridge Racer song remix (\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ZJRA4sIh83w\"\u003Ethat got ported to Taiko gaming, too!\u003C\/a\u003E), Takenobu Mitsuyoshi is back with another music game rendition with vocals, mergins iconic music pieces from the F-ZERO franchise's titles.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ciframe allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1KtiMIeXt0c?list=PL6akIKaXBeU0er6sn6QdRViLhRZIE59HP\" width=\"560\"\u003E\u003C\/iframe\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ciframe allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/cT7BeTiwE7Y\" width=\"560\"\u003E\u003C\/iframe\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ciframe allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Z4namYqbBnA\" width=\"560\"\u003E\u003C\/iframe\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nTo end with a bang, here's a quite distinguishable trio of song arrangements, all coming from Taito's ZUNTATA sound unit!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nSplatoon's Spattack!, the Staff Roll theme from Kirby's Dream Land and Mega Man 2's Dr. Wily Stage 2 BGM have all been arranged by Taito-affiliated composers whose works can also be appreciated in the Groove Coaster music game series. In order of mentioning, their respective arrangers are Shohei Tsuchiya, MASAKI (aka Mori Masaki, the current GC series sound director) and Yu Shimoda, ZUNTATA's latest member."},"link":[{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/3118681330540520375"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/3118681330540520375"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"https:\/\/taikotime.blogspot.com\/2018\/12\/feature-super-namco-bros-specialultimate.html","title":"Feature: Super Namco Bros. Special\/Ultimate!"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Nintendo 5-Star"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/00378622809042133428"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"32","height":"29","src":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_q54rb31Kf8A\/SqpQHwyZlmI\/AAAAAAAAAAM\/n0_hPxNZuLM\/S220\/n5slogo.png"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"https:\/\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/By4KkzQwe-Y\/default.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-760759784775244167.post-66602165675534669"},"published":{"$t":"2018-08-20T00:00:00.000+01:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2018-08-20T00:00:00.691+01:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"feature"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Feature: Combo Scoring Visualized"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: x-small;\"\u003EWe are returning to the basics\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: x-small;\"\u003E\u0026nbsp;with Feature posts like this,\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: x-small;\"\u003E\u0026nbsp;for our newer audience hailing from the glorious return of Taiko no Tatsujin to the western circles. If you want us to go deeper on certain aspects that we took the knowledge for granted, let us know!\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-So9j9eVSF1M\/W3DjwCiLfTI\/AAAAAAAABXQ\/wGiKjFsFJdAHGq1UC3rEyn0mmdd4ebeBwCLcBGAs\/s1600\/comboscore.png\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"218\" data-original-width=\"483\" height=\"179\" src=\"https:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-So9j9eVSF1M\/W3DjwCiLfTI\/AAAAAAAABXQ\/wGiKjFsFJdAHGq1UC3rEyn0mmdd4ebeBwCLcBGAs\/s400\/comboscore.png\" width=\"400\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nRecently there is a surgence of social media posts in which newer players question \u003Cb\u003E\"why does the other player have a higher score, when I have a better Good\/OK\/Bad ratio and drumroll counts\"\u003C\/b\u003E, especially with PS4 Session de Dodon ga Don\/Drum Session where ranked battles are a signature mode.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nTo me who has been with Taiko no Tatsujin for over 8 years, the concept of \u003Cb\u003ECombo Scoring\u003C\/b\u003E may be the obvious answer, but not to a lot of the said new players. While you can definitely read up on our \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/taikotime.blogspot.com\/2010\/08\/beginners-guide-to-taiko-no-tatsujin.html\"\u003EBeginners Guide\u003C\/a\u003E (in desperate need for update, even though) for the information, what better way is there to visualize the concepts with the power of graphs? \u003Ci\u003EMATHS!\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ca name='more'\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"color: #0b5394;\"\u003ECombo Scoring, a Recap\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThis \"Combo Scoring\" system basically boils down to\u0026nbsp;\u003Cb\u003Ethe higher you can maintain a combo, the more points you can get\u003C\/b\u003E. In the 2nd generation the score-per-note increases once every 10 combo up til 100 combo, while in the 3rd generation (AC0 and 3DS1 onwards) it increases only 4 times at 10, 30, 50 and 100 combo but at varying rates (1x, 2x, 4x and 8x the increment respectively). Because of how score-per-note\u0026nbsp;used to work like arithmetic sequences, Donders has since used actual maths terms \u003Cb\u003E\"first term\"\u003C\/b\u003E (初項) and \u003Cb\u003E\"common difference\"\u003C\/b\u003E (公差) to refer to the characteristics of the scoring scheme. It has been found that in most recent scoring schemes first terms and common differences have been controlled to be in an approximate 4:1 ratio.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nLet take \u003Cb\u003EDensetsu no Matsuri\u003C\/b\u003E (伝説の祭り) for an example:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cul\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003EIn \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=nB4Ug54iJtw\" target=\"_blank\"\u003EWii4\u003C\/a\u003E (2nd gen.), the score-per-note starts from 370 and then increases to 450, 530, 610 and so on, up to 1170 points (=370+80×10) per note after 100 combo. The first term is 370 and the common difference is 80.\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003EIn \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=W82rRmNVoTo\" target=\"_blank\"\u003EAC0\u003C\/a\u003E (3rd gen.), the score-per-note starts from 380 and then increases to 470 (=380+90×1) after 10 combo, 560 (=380+90×2) after 30 combo, 740 (=380+90×4) after 50 combo and up to 1100 (=380+90×8) after 100 combo. The first term is 380 and the common difference is 90.\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\nYou might have noticed that all scores in Taiko no Tatsujin are multiples of ten, but in the 3rd gen. there can exist common differences with odd units digit, in which case they will be rounded down to the last 10. \u003Cb\u003EVERTeX\u003C\/b\u003E, for example, has the scores-per-note of 430\/530\/640\/860\/1290 in \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=7xfMkkdtGSk\" target=\"_blank\"\u003EAC0\u003C\/a\u003E, and the common difference is worked out to be 108.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nIf you don't want to have Combo Scoring and want the score to focus more on overall accuracy (like in tournament settings), consider switching to the \u003Cb\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/taikotime.blogspot.com\/2010\/10\/shinta-mode.html\"\u003EShin-uchi (Mode)\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E which gives a flat rate in score-per-note regardless of combo and also removes certain bonuses. See our separate article for more details.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"color: #0b5394;\"\u003EThe Visualization\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nHaving laid the basics out again, let's use graphs to better showcase the essence. For now we'll just focus on the Combo Scoring and neglect all other drumroll notes and bonuses like Large Notes or Go-go Time.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nFor illustration, let us plot all the results of each note (minus bonuses) as strips of width 1, so that the area of each strip is the points you get for that note:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-h4hGNCxAhmk\/W3OiBHTW9AI\/AAAAAAAABXo\/0LkEAa-gIC4wASYRSNad5c38z3_SChQDACLcBGAs\/s1600\/comboscore0.png\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"486\" data-original-width=\"907\" height=\"213\" src=\"https:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-h4hGNCxAhmk\/W3OiBHTW9AI\/AAAAAAAABXo\/0LkEAa-gIC4wASYRSNad5c38z3_SChQDACLcBGAs\/s400\/comboscore0.png\" width=\"400\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nSpanning that across the whole song and you should get a graph whose area under the curve is the total score you get from normal notes (again, minus bonuses) like this: \u003Ci\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: x-small;\"\u003E(the steps before 100 combo is smoothed out for easier discussions later)\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-jDfowbdd2XQ\/W3OeklfbY3I\/AAAAAAAABXc\/4y914IHPw4o03xKksVwgIo9zh9KMaNDHwCLcBGAs\/s1600\/comboscore1.png\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"334\" data-original-width=\"1293\" height=\"163\" src=\"https:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-jDfowbdd2XQ\/W3OeklfbY3I\/AAAAAAAABXc\/4y914IHPw4o03xKksVwgIo9zh9KMaNDHwCLcBGAs\/s640\/comboscore1.png\" width=\"640\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"color: #0b5394;\"\u003EBack to the Question\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nWith that visualization schema in place, we can now answer the question that started off the post - A main reason why better Good\/OK\/Bad ratios and drumroll counts sometimes still yield less score is \u003Cb\u003Ethe location of those OKs and Bads\u003C\/b\u003E.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nUnder combo scoring schemes, every Bad you get will break the combo and reset the score-per-note rates to the initial value. That removes quite a big chunk from the total score you get, as you can see from the graph:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-2iYH9LXLkvU\/W3TzoYrPHnI\/AAAAAAAABX0\/0cwr0YqsxMAAlETh_DJ98kKUjXaqt836ACLcBGAs\/s1600\/comboscore2.png\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"334\" data-original-width=\"1293\" height=\"164\" src=\"https:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-2iYH9LXLkvU\/W3TzoYrPHnI\/AAAAAAAABX0\/0cwr0YqsxMAAlETh_DJ98kKUjXaqt836ACLcBGAs\/s640\/comboscore2.png\" width=\"640\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nImagine then if you would, that you missed 3 notes in 3 separate places, and someone else missed 10 notes at one place (say, they just gave up on that one deathstream). The 3 separate \"chunks\" you lost can still be greater than the one bigger \"chunk\" they lost, leaving you with a lower total score:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-sV8ZQhILTLQ\/W3T14MANwyI\/AAAAAAAABYE\/c5kMqJ3rRCUSFjq9NvVJh8iJyQ7cZf0qgCLcBGAs\/s1600\/comboscore3.png\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"673\" data-original-width=\"1293\" height=\"332\" src=\"https:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-sV8ZQhILTLQ\/W3T14MANwyI\/AAAAAAAABYE\/c5kMqJ3rRCUSFjq9NvVJh8iJyQ7cZf0qgCLcBGAs\/s640\/comboscore3.png\" width=\"640\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThis \"chunk theory\" also opens up explanations for other questions that you might (or might not) have. Say if you have to miss one note no matter what and (for some reason) you can control where it happens, try to put it as early or as late into the song as possible to minimize the \"chunk\" lost. Tell us how this representation helped you in your Taiko life, and we might try to help you make the graphs to prove it.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nOf course, other reasons also exists that will affect your score, like whether you have your OKs\/Bads in or out of Go-go Time (flames on the marker, giving 20% more points overall), and whether your drumroll hits go to finishing your balloons and Kusudama\/Kozuchi notes (which give additional points)."},"link":[{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/66602165675534669"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/66602165675534669"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"https:\/\/taikotime.blogspot.com\/2018\/08\/feature-combo-scoring-visualized.html","title":"Feature: Combo Scoring Visualized"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"nigelliusnitrox"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/13948454407347219729"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"32","height":"32","src":"\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-oW40pbUS7lM\/Xi8JVux7fuI\/AAAAAAAABgg\/pGQNFtLgnJ4MD5EXk7FibIrMVAHtY3GBgCK4BGAYYCw\/s220\/niHA97ZK.jpg%2Bsmall.jpg"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"https:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-So9j9eVSF1M\/W3DjwCiLfTI\/AAAAAAAABXQ\/wGiKjFsFJdAHGq1UC3rEyn0mmdd4ebeBwCLcBGAs\/s72-c\/comboscore.png","height":"72","width":"72"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-760759784775244167.post-8371234191421899797"},"published":{"$t":"2018-03-11T11:09:00.001+00:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2018-03-11T11:09:06.819+00:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"feature"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Feature: Taiko Sales Figures Comeback - The Digital Share"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg src=\"http:\/\/gonintendo.com\/system\/file_uploads\/uploads\/000\/017\/467\/medium\/taiko-drum-master.jpg\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThis is a sequel feature to our first overall look at the \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/taikotime.blogspot.com\/2016\/09\/feature-general-sales-figures-in-taiko.html\"\u003Egeneral sales figures in Taiko no Tatsujin games\u003C\/a\u003E, where we took a look at the accountable physical software sales from every Taiko no Tatsujin title that has been made, up to the Ps Vita trilogy.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nOne big hindrance to our former researching efforts was the incapability to supply a consistent look at the overall sales of the more recent games in the series, as digital downloads have become a sizable feature for modern Taiko gaming and many sales figures usually don't incorporate the digital sales with the physical versions. As the interest for digital sales data has increased in the past few years and more platforms over the Internet have risen up to account the newborne share of the gaming market, we've come back to update the overall figure sales of the more recent Taiko titles, starting with the first games with accounted digital versions (the 3DS trilogy) and ending up with the PS4 Taiko addition as an overall newcomer to our research.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nTogether with the sources credited by us on our first sales research feature, we want to give a shoutout to the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/sites.google.com\/site\/gamedatalibrary\/\"\u003EGame Data Library\u003C\/a\u003E, a website which has gathered both digital and physical sales data for the Japanese market's videogame sales, with the digital figures being based on\u0026nbsp;Famitsu's Digital Top 30 and the PlayStation Store Estimates.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ca name='more'\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nDISCLAIMER: As the digital sales figures aren't recorded for games that don't manage to become top-sellers on the Famitsu charts, the digital section for all games will also report the period of time without any data updates from the most recent data reveal to this post's original publishing data, \u003Cb\u003EMarch 11th\u003C\/b\u003E.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nIt's also important to remember that our source \u003Cu\u003Eonly deals with the Japanese videogame sales\u003C\/u\u003E, so we're left with nothing once again for the alternate-language versions of many of the Taiko titles being listed below.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: x-large;\"\u003ENintendo 3DS Games\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/ec2.images-amazon.com\/images\/I\/61LQjuVp7KL._SL500_AA300_.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg alt=\"Taiko no Tatsujin Chibi Dragon to Fushigi na Orb boxart\" border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/ec2.images-amazon.com\/images\/I\/61LQjuVp7KL._SL500_AA300_.jpg\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETaiko no Tatsujin\u0026nbsp;Chibi Dragon to Fushigi na Orb\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003EPhysical\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFirst Week sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- 63.388\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ELTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;- 590.132\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003EDigital\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003ESales Figures Unknown\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EGlobal LTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- ~590.132\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETaiko no Tatsujin\u0026nbsp;Don to Katsu no Jikuu Daibouken\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003EPhysical\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFirst Week sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- 62.247\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ELTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;- 275.543\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003EDigital\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ELTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- 9.256\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EMonths Without Data\u003C\/b\u003E: 3\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EGlobal LTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- 284.799\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETaiko no Tatsujin Dokodon! Mystery Adventure\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003EPhysical\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFirst Week sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- 35.465\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ELTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;- 149.630\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003EDigital\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ELTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- 2.742\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EMonths Without Data\u003C\/b\u003E: 5\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EGlobal LTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- 152.372\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nStarting with the 3DS Taiko games, we can see how the sales of the three games have been slightly increased over time from our first look, with the lifetime sales for Dokodon! Mystery Adventure being doubled overall. Be it for the novelty factor of the digital purchase function or the second 3DS game's long-lasting impact,\u0026nbsp;Don to Katsu no Jikuu Daibouken is the biggest seller of the trio on the digital front, nearing the 10.000 purchases.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAs for the first title, its digital version never made it to the top sports of any of the Japanese market's publicly-released digital charts, so we don't know the kind of impact it had for that game, as well for other similar cases we're going to discuss later on.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: x-large;\"\u003ENintendo Wii U Games\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg src=\"http:\/\/s.pacn.ws\/640\/ic\/taiko-no-tatsujin-wii-u-version-bundle-set-with-taiko-bachi-330407.2.jpg?nnj2ui\" height=\"320\" width=\"320\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETaiko no Tatsujin\u0026nbsp;Wii U Version\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003EPhysical\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFirst Week sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- 17.518\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ELTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;- 179.818\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003EDigital\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ELTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- 1.479\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EMonths Without Data\u003C\/b\u003E: 1\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EGlobal LTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- 181.287\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETaiko no Tatsujin\u0026nbsp;Tokumori\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003EPhysical\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFirst Week sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- 11.769\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ELTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;- 78.291\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003EDigital\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ELTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- 493\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EMonths Without Data\u003C\/b\u003E: 11\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EGlobal LTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- 78.785\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETaiko no Tatsujin\u0026nbsp;Atsumete★Tomodachi Daisakusen\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003EPhysical\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFirst Week sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- 11.989\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ELTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;- 45.166\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003EDigital\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003ESales Figures Unknown\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EGlobal LTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- ~45.166\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nWith the Wii U titles, we've spotted the biggest data discrepancy with the sources that we've consulted for the preparation of the former sales feature, as the lifetime overall sales for both Tokumori and\u0026nbsp;Atsumete★Tomodachi Daisakusen appear to be lower than the values detected as part of our first findings.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nIt doesn't help the release period of these two titles either: being November-launched games, the Wii U games' release date had to compete with other Christmas contenders, resulting into very little sales data overall for the digital side. Once again, being on arguable the least-selling console of its time, didn't help, either...\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: x-large;\"\u003EPlayStation Vita Games\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg src=\"http:\/\/gematsu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Taiko-Vita-JP-Box-Art_04-16-15.jpg\" height=\"320\" width=\"251\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETaiko no Tatsujin\u0026nbsp;V Version\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003EPhysical\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFirst Week sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- 46.101\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ELTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;- 102.758\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003EDigital\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ELTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- 9.814\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EMonths Without Data\u003C\/b\u003E: 4\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EGlobal LTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- 112.572\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003EThe iDOLM@STER Must Songs Red Album \/ Blue Album\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003EPhysical\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFirst Week sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- 23.349\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ELTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;- 24.453\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003EDigital\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ELTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- 2.665\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EMonths Without Data\u003C\/b\u003E: 0\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EGlobal LTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- 27.118\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAs V Version didn't make it to the physical top charts since our first overview, the situation hasn't been changed that much since then, with its accounted digital share becoming the highest yet accounted for a Taiko no Tatsujin game. Once again, we also had data conflicts for the figures of the two Idolm@ster games combines, with the overall LTD data resulting lower to the Game Data Library than our first recovered value from other sources.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: x-large;\"\u003EPlayStation 4 Games\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg src=\"https:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-c3tPCsW1pdk\/WaFwbDy274I\/AAAAAAAAD1U\/s5B98mxjZY8ygrk6Y6V0LJLswdWzbsqDQCLcBGAs\/s320\/ps4-taiko.jpg\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETaiko no Tatsujin\u0026nbsp;Session de Dodon ga Don\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003EPhysical\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFirst Week sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- 28.245\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ELTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;- 59.824\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003EDigital\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ELTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E - 6.795\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EMonths Without Data\u003C\/b\u003E: 1\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EGlobal LTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E - 66.619\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nLast in line is the the PS4 Taiko debut game, which has already managed to outsell the final Wii U title in roughly 5 months! It's also the home console game with the highest digital share to date."},"link":[{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/8371234191421899797"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/8371234191421899797"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"https:\/\/taikotime.blogspot.com\/2018\/03\/feature-taiko-sales-figures-comeback.html","title":"Feature: Taiko Sales Figures Comeback - The Digital Share"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Nintendo 5-Star"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/00378622809042133428"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"32","height":"29","src":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_q54rb31Kf8A\/SqpQHwyZlmI\/AAAAAAAAAAM\/n0_hPxNZuLM\/S220\/n5slogo.png"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"https:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-c3tPCsW1pdk\/WaFwbDy274I\/AAAAAAAAD1U\/s5B98mxjZY8ygrk6Y6V0LJLswdWzbsqDQCLcBGAs\/s72-c\/ps4-taiko.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-760759784775244167.post-1179321172402813864"},"published":{"$t":"2017-12-31T00:14:00.000+00:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2017-12-31T00:14:59.428+00:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"feature"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Feature: 2017 - The Year in Hindsight"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg src=\"http:\/\/8-4.jp\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/BandaiNamco.jpg\" height=\"400\" style=\"user-select: none;\" width=\"281\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAnother year has come to an end, leading us to the usual tradition of looking back what the Taiko no Tatsujin franchise has granted to its fans in its latest 12 months of activity. The year 2017 has been one of those really eventful ones for the series in recent memory (\u003Ci\u003Efor better or worse\u003C\/i\u003E), so join our last chronicle-based efforts of English-spread news casting about the franchise!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAs usual, see you after the jump.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ca name='more'\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EJanuary 2017\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThe year's beginning has always been dormant on the side of new content's delivery, as it's usually a time to set up teasers of greater and fun stuff to come. 2017's January was no exception, between hints to Red Version's arcade firmware successor and the latest Taiko x Idolm@ster Cinderella Girls event, which started at the end of the month.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThis has also been a nice time to be a console Taiko player due to the promise of a new title's release to the incoming Nintendo Switch system, still set to the fabled TBA-Land release date. On retrospect, it made me chuckle to take a look back at that last line from \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/taikotime.blogspot.com\/2017\/01\/taiko-no-tatsujin-now-decisively-coming.html\"\u003Ethat announcement post of ours about said topic\u003C\/a\u003E... \u003Ci\u003Eboy, if we've been wrong on that last guess!\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFebruary 2017\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg alt=\"写真※太鼓チームの1日\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1051 alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/taiko-ch.net\/urgybrhm3ukw\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/14063630395ccb0ca362a1adaf26052a.jpg\" height=\"300\" width=\"400\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nBefore that, however, we've had another month with something to enjoy for both sides of the Taiko-playing coin, from the additional contents to the then-active console release to the aforementioned Im@s CG arcade event's month-long run and many teases to the release of Yellow Version, the currently-active firmware.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nTrue to our December '16 blog housekeeping plans, we've deepened the ranks of the artist features for the Behind the Drums section, with the year's first 3 months being the most busy period of time for fulfilling that course of action.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EMarch 2017\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg src=\"http:\/\/taiko-ch.net\/urgybrhm3ukw\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/41ca849ce3e83cd239ab80cf32d3e618.jpg\" height=\"225\" style=\"background-image: linear-gradient(45deg, rgb(238, 238, 238) 25%, transparent 25%, transparent 75%, rgb(238, 238, 238) 75%, rgb(238, 238, 238) 100%), linear-gradient(45deg, rgb(238, 238, 238) 25%, white 25%, white 75%, rgb(238, 238, 238) 75%, rgb(238, 238, 238) 100%); background-position: 0px 0px, 10px 10px; background-size: 20px 20px; user-select: none;\" width=\"400\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nLast March can be decisively remembered as an arcade-centric one, with the release of Red Version's firmware successor stealing the show for most of the month. While its running time is coming to an end in the next months, Yellow Version is surely going to be remembered for a number of reasons among the former HD firmware releases, including the revamped Don\/Katsu Medal unlock shop and, of course, the longest list of song removals among all the current-gen arcade versions.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nIt's also worth mentioning that the Taiko Team has begun to post partial\/full cuts of the latest songs for the series on the Bandai Namco Youtube channel; all during the same month which has seen what has currently been the last Taiko Team livestream to date...\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EApril 2017\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg alt=\"http:\/\/taiko-ch.net\/urgybrhm3ukw\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/ca99f17721a3df09536ad05f8f4124d2.jpg\" src=\"http:\/\/taiko-ch.net\/urgybrhm3ukw\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/ca99f17721a3df09536ad05f8f4124d2.jpg\" height=\"320\" width=\"320\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nSimilar to the last January, this month has saw marginal updates of sorts for both arcade and console fronts, with the only difference being that the first location-limited events of the year have started to roll around for the arcade side with the yearly Reitasai and an IOSYS-related, cross-music-games anniversary celebration.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nWith more features from our side and Yellow Version coming out in General Asia arcades\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrike\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: xx-small;\"\u003E(not to mention the cheese-tastic Butanpunch times we've had)\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/strike\u003E, there has definitely been a little something for everyone!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EMay 2017\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-iEp5Oc92G_A\/WQX8z-SMxzI\/AAAAAAAABDY\/uAdVkjywNB0vxnQglFgRNao1xtVno7buACLcB\/s1600\/43d7cd86.jpg\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" height=\"320\" src=\"https:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-iEp5Oc92G_A\/WQX8z-SMxzI\/AAAAAAAABDY\/uAdVkjywNB0vxnQglFgRNao1xtVno7buACLcB\/s320\/43d7cd86.jpg\" width=\"240\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E \u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nWhile the month of May doesn't exactly have a positive record about either Taiko lore or this blog in general, we can safely state about the more-than-usual dreary mood that enveloped the pre-Summer month in 2017. The third 3DS game's DLC run was ended, Yellow Version had its 2nd (out of 3!) round of song removals and one of the biggest mass video removals of Taiko-related recordings has been accounted, with a good chunk of these coming from \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/taikotime.blogspot.com\/2017\/05\/site-farewell-to-fellow-donder.html\"\u003Equite the regrettable loss in the popular playerbase scene...\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThe combination of these events happening with a number of other factors have contributed into our temporary blog time relocation, in order to address video link fixes in our most active pages while still keeping up with a decent new-post ratio to go along with the other minor happenings of the month.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EJune 2017\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg alt=\"\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1655\" src=\"http:\/\/taiko-ch.net\/urgybrhm3ukw\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/fb395a86ee4395920b5faf6ccccdab28.jpg\" height=\"224\" width=\"400\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nA collaboration with the unit GLAY and the early Taiko x Touhou Project merchandise plans aside, June's prime topic of interest was the early reveal(s) of what has become the first home consle Taiko game for the current generation of home consoles! Despite the quickfire Switch nods, the PlayStation 4 was revealed to be the home of the next big console entry, which was then released four months later.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nTwo more points of interest have to be highlighted about the past June as well: us getting our digital space into a Taiko-focused Discord server (\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/discord.me\/taiko\"\u003Ejoin the fun, we won't bite!\u003C\/a\u003E) and the Taiko Team putting out one of the shortest blog entries ever produced in our records... hence, again, the choice of the header picture above these lines.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EJuly 2017\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg alt=\"\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1747\" src=\"http:\/\/taiko-ch.net\/urgybrhm3ukw\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/65fe37afc5bccaba12e59512d16d008e.png\" height=\"225\" width=\"400\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nBetween announcements and actual runs, the Taiko franchise's July '17 has been mostly dictated by a number of collaborations with many of the still-running titles of the series with such actors like invading grannies, Japanese Youtuber networks, gacha game male idols and many more.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThe highlight of those ties is the ones with the emerging sound-making company INSPION, with which Bandai Namco is actively collaborating for new Namco Originals and other song ports.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EAugust 2017\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-DTHByVvyU0I\/WX9HyaO7WLI\/AAAAAAAABGw\/nSqiAIuxwN8vY-2TjmfyxZfc4gs2WeeVACPcBGAYYCw\/s1600\/tt7a.png\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"200\" data-original-width=\"400\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-DTHByVvyU0I\/WX9HyaO7WLI\/AAAAAAAABGw\/nSqiAIuxwN8vY-2TjmfyxZfc4gs2WeeVACPcBGAYYCw\/s400\/tt7a.png\" width=\"400\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nWhile the Taiko PS4 news flow still lurking from the backlines, we managed to hit our 7th year of Taiko blog activity! Once again, it's our duty to remind that it's all due to our loving readers' support that this project has went this far, so thanks for sticking by regardless of your blog visit frequency.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nArcade-wise, this August has been relevant for the introduction of the Issho no Waiwai Ensou multiplayer mode, which focuses more on clearing songs with a soul gauge in common with the other player.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ESeptember 2017\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg alt=\"\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1862\" src=\"http:\/\/taiko-ch.net\/urgybrhm3ukw\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/93dc1c1783b4f8b2053de0f7c2162e01.png\" height=\"173\" width=\"400\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAs another collaboration-based time gap for the closing year, this has been the 2nd September in a row that saw the coming of a public Touhou Project event for the arcade scene, which was rounded up with Taiko-rooted songs appearing in other games as part of external events, from Deemo to Groove Coaster.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nFor the console side, more and more scoops about the incoming Taiko PS4 game came and went between gaming magazines\/websites and public events, while the undying Taiko Plus app saw the loss of a couple of in-game side modes\/features.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EOctober 2017\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg alt=\"\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1665\" src=\"http:\/\/taiko-ch.net\/urgybrhm3ukw\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/bb7d8ff161222761e060493dfdaa025b.jpg\" height=\"225\" width=\"400\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nFrom a long 'more of the same' news-related period down to Taiko gaming's most busy month of the year! Session de Dodon ga Don, the much anticipated PS4 Taiko game has come for the joy of all region-free lovers with its multi-language support, no unlockable songs and a preemptively-illustrated DLC plan that is bound to grant the game more meat to its song list for at least six months since its launch.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThere has also been a lot to talk about the arcade side as well, with the popular A3! idol gacha game collaboration and the Tenkaichi Otogesai tournament starting again for its 4th edition. \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/imgur.com\/f87mawa\"\u003EEven blog posts plagiarism showed up once again!\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ENovember 2017\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/pbs.twimg.com\/media\/DOzmHDzVwAAeCy2.jpg\" style=\"background-image: linear-gradient(45deg, rgb(238, 238, 238) 25%, transparent 25%, transparent 75%, rgb(238, 238, 238) 75%, rgb(238, 238, 238) 100%), linear-gradient(45deg, rgb(238, 238, 238) 25%, white 25%, white 75%, rgb(238, 238, 238) 75%, rgb(238, 238, 238) 100%); background-position: 0px 0px, 10px 10px; background-size: 20px 20px; user-select: none;\" width=\"400\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n...at the risk of sounding repetitive, YES- this month's news bulk was setting up more future collaborations with popular brands in the coming year, from more idol-related shenanigans to the \u003Cstrike\u003ENobita Nobi lookalike army\u003C\/strike\u003EOsomatsu-San series. Not to mention that the next arcade firmware color already lurks around some corners of the Internet...\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThe 4th Tenkaichi Otogesai song delivery for its tournament was also finalized, bringing 5 tracks to each of the main participants and thus fitting itself in a \"quality chart\" between the iconic 1st edition and the \u003Ci\u003Ereally stingy\u003C\/i\u003E offerings of the 2nd and 3rd runs of the cross-over tournament series.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EDecember 2017\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg src=\"http:\/\/taiko-ch.net\/urgybrhm3ukw\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/7f727148aea119a16dfe8da81139ee5c.png\" height=\"311\" width=\"320\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nWhile this ending December hasn't been that much relevant on the news side, the Taiko-related social inner-workings that have happened in the past few weeks can be easily considered as the crystallization of the Taiko games' evolving social interaction with the Taiko fan community as a whole... for the better or worse.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nStarting off with the end-November's announcement of a less frequent Twitter\/official blog update schedule, the overseas movement from not-JP Taiko players demanding for the Banapassport\/Donder Hiroba services that Japan has since Taiko 0's inception was answered with a (supposedly) lack of attention, coupled with the Taiko Team members not signing blog entries as themselves but rather by using the Taiko franchise's mascots.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nBut hey, at least now \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/OaZhWYK.png\"\u003Ethe Taiko no Tatsujin Twitter account has been verified!\u003C\/a\u003E That sure has to amount to something, right? ...\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n------------------------------------------\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n...\u003Ci\u003Eyeah\u003C\/i\u003E, I'd be lying to you guys if I didn't address the overall Taiko gaming current in 2017 as anything but short of disappointment, as least when compared to some of the previous years under our watch.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nBesides the key moments that brought to either the arcade or console scene more than one new song at the same time (Taiko 0 Yellow\/Taiko PS4 releases; seasonal Rewards Shop changes; more generous events like the returning Tenkaichi Otogesai), the remaining periods of time have been slumping into a news drought, with promises of future collaboration that wouldn't start earlier than 3-6 months from their reveal. November\/December's media presence retraction only added to the bad taste in the collective mouth, though it doesn't look something \"out-of-character\" for what concerns how the series is being handled on the PR side since the very beginning.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nStill, we got new major releases to tinker around with, each geared with tons of new features and tracks. Plus,we've got some eggs in our \"future-y stuff\" basket to gawk at in the future, eventually the origin of greater things to come for both the arcade (Taiko Blue Version) and the console side (that Taiko Switch title that has been teased since last January)\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAs we step into another 12-month cycle, let's hope that it's going to be a good one!"},"link":[{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/1179321172402813864"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/1179321172402813864"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"https:\/\/taikotime.blogspot.com\/2017\/12\/feature-2017-year-in-hindsight.html","title":"Feature: 2017 - The Year in Hindsight"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Nintendo 5-Star"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/00378622809042133428"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"32","height":"29","src":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_q54rb31Kf8A\/SqpQHwyZlmI\/AAAAAAAAAAM\/n0_hPxNZuLM\/S220\/n5slogo.png"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"https:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-iEp5Oc92G_A\/WQX8z-SMxzI\/AAAAAAAABDY\/uAdVkjywNB0vxnQglFgRNao1xtVno7buACLcB\/s72-c\/43d7cd86.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-760759784775244167.post-3016060304662224565"},"published":{"$t":"2017-11-05T13:28:00.000+00:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2017-11-05T13:39:24.106+00:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"feature"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"sympho-neighbours"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Feature: Hiding the Staff, a Sympho-Neighbours Story"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg height=\"396\" src=\"https:\/\/images.plurk.com\/7oZekCw0owQTskFEAYt5.png\" style=\"background-image: linear-gradient(45deg, rgb(238, 238, 238) 25%, transparent 25%, transparent 75%, rgb(238, 238, 238) 75%, rgb(238, 238, 238) 100%), linear-gradient(45deg, rgb(238, 238, 238) 25%, white 25%, white 75%, rgb(238, 238, 238) 75%, rgb(238, 238, 238) 100%); background-position: 0px 0px, 10px 10px; background-size: 20px 20px; user-select: none;\" width=\"400\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nWhile yes, we are fully aware of our nature on this corner of the Internet of being a Taiko no Tatsujin-oriented news blog, we've been subjected to a particular episode earlier this week that is gradually turning out to be one of the many jigsaw pieces in a particular frame, picturing quite the worry-some scenario for Bemani series fans and music game players in general.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nWith this situation coming out fresh on many fronts and (almost) nothing but a sea of undocumented\/unverifiable facts surrounding the problems of artist mentions' disappearance, this blend between our usual Taiko-centric trivia sources and the Sympho-Neighbours family of features is here to have a look at how is the stage being set for this peculiar situation. Take this as a 'starting point' look for the events that are unfolding during these very days, as we won't make of this a step-by-step episodic series to follow up...\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003EFor the user-input piece of media you're about to see, we'd like to thank the people contributing to the \"\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/zenius-i-vanisher.com\/v5.2\/thread?threadid=9686\"\u003EKonami\/Bemani and Artist conflicts.\u003C\/a\u003E\" forum board on rhythm game website Zenius -i- vanisher, as well as Twitter users @p6p, @MILI216, @acTroopers and the plurk thread that gave us the picture on the top of this page, among others.\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ca name='more'\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nFor starters, let's address the actual issue that is being discussed on this feature. In short, the identities\/aliases of the in-house Bemani artists for all the most recently-made tracks are being progressively removed from all their newest creations' \"artist mention\" areas, with a generic 'BEMANI Sound Team' label being displayed instead. This phenomenon has been occurring in many of Bemani's music game series in the last few weeks, with more than one factor pointing the most dedicated fans of those series to worry for the future of Konami's music game branch.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nLongtime Taiko fans are pretty much used at this point to see a vast majority of Namco Original songs being uncredited in the games' song list, a syndrome that has affected the series since the very beginning that is still kicking strong to this day (to an extent); for that reason, this situation would not seem that much troublesome from \"our side\" of the music game fanbase. This, however, is quite the opposite case when considering the history of Bemani games, well versed since its inception into crediting each and every artist that composes original music for one of its many series of both past and present times.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThis aspect acquires another layer of relevance when this emerging story is being compared to another heated debacle that has involved Konami as a whole in recent times, with the credit removal and successive firing of videogame creator (and one-time vice-president of Konami) Hideo Kojima. Many debates and horror stories have been shared on the Internet about the 'A Hideo Kojima Game' line removal from the later trailers\/box art of \u003Ci\u003EMetal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain\u003C\/i\u003E, but while we're not here to seek out the whole truth for any of these scenarios (as, sadly, rock-hard evidence for most of behind-the-scenes conversations\/happenings between the staff working at Konami is still really close to zero), it's interesting to share one of the many rumors that were floating by during these times:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ciframe allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/iMK-kajdgMA\" width=\"560\"\u003E\u003C\/iframe\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003Eskip at\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/i\u003E~\u003Ci\u003E1:40\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nMany anonymous sources, such as the ones that have been involved in the making of the video above were starting to claim that, as a result of the company's apparent shift to different gaming markets, many game-developing team were being merged into macro-groups that all worked together for a multiple amount of projects at the same time. According to the video above's inquired sources, for example, the team behind the \u003Ci\u003EDanceDanceRevolution\u003C\/i\u003E games have been supposedly merged with all the other audio teams of the music game branches, as part of a plan that sees the unification of all the individual teams working for a specific game\/series into a super unit that would work on all series at the same time.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAs also the creator of the video above stresses out in the same clip, \u003Cb\u003Ethe report sources\u003C\/b\u003E (as well as many others like these on the Internet) \u003Cb\u003Eabout both the Konami-related cases\u003C\/b\u003E \u003Cb\u003Ehave to be considered as mere speculation talk\u003C\/b\u003E at this point, due to the lack of accountability that anonymous sources suffer of. When future events, however, chime back to the time-proven partial and end results, the worries for certain outcomes may start up to rise up again from the grave...\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nFast-forward to a few weeks ago, the BEMANI Fan Site has started to undergo a number of different changes that altered its core content in a number of ways that have cast some concern for the return of the MGS-like credits-out scenario. First of all, the entire Artists section of the site, formerly including short bios for all the current in-house Bemani artists, has been emptied as of July of this year, only leaving there the profile of the Konami-enrolled professional Bemani games player Dolce. For some references about those changes, we have a couple of archived web links with the help of the WayBackMachine website: \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20170313104056\/http:\/\/p.eagate.573.jp\/game\/bemani\/fansite\/p\/artist\/index.html\"\u003ELink 1\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;(dated March '17) shows the Artists section before said changes, while \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20170711134122\/http:\/\/p.eagate.573.jp\/game\/bemani\/fansite\/p\/artist\/index.html\"\u003ELink 2\u003C\/a\u003E (dated July '17) displays the currently-ongoing situation. All the former page version's sub-pages for the individual artists' bios have been removed from the website as well.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nFollowing up that incident, future Top 10 song roll videos that were included in the most recent Bemani-hosted livestreams have started to feature songs whose imprinted artist credit mentions were removed. This time around, the comparison for 4 of those tracks have been documented by one user over Twitter:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"it\"\u003E\n\u003Cdiv dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"ja\"\u003E\nBe生のランキングみてて違和感を感じたところが分かった。\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nこれ、Chaos Q以外のコナミオリジナル曲、アーティスト名消えてない？\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n曲名の下にもなんでかアーティスト名ないし。\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nモノリスなんてあってもなくても気が付けないぜよ…ってACE FOR ACESは露骨すぎない？ \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/QG4nLWuaNQ\"\u003Epic.twitter.com\/QG4nLWuaNQ\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n— PROP\/p6p (@p6p) \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/p6p\/status\/920621022855827456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\"\u003E18 ottobre 2017\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003Cscript async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\"\u003E\u003C\/script\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAct 3 of this increasingly-troublesome story is the one we've witnessed this very week, with the artist credit for in-house contributors being replaced with the 'BEMANI Sound Team' label. For the SOUND VOLTEX track of the 4th Tenkaichi Otogesai, the song GERBERA in its original song listing on the Otogesai website had its creator, the nicknamed TAG, referenced in the Artist section, only to be redacted from the page a few hours later. Once again, for a quick comparison we forward you to the Plurk-shared screenshot that opened up this feature with the one below, snapped a few hours later.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg height=\"640\" src=\"https:\/\/pbs.twimg.com\/media\/DNcu7KoVwAAF5Mj?format=jpg\" style=\"background-image: linear-gradient(45deg, rgb(238, 238, 238) 25%, transparent 25%, transparent 75%, rgb(238, 238, 238) 75%, rgb(238, 238, 238) 100%), linear-gradient(45deg, rgb(238, 238, 238) 25%, white 25%, white 75%, rgb(238, 238, 238) 75%, rgb(238, 238, 238) 100%); background-position: 0px 0px, 10px 10px; background-size: 20px 20px;\" width=\"358\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\nThis event has not been limited to the Tenkaichi-spawn song either, as other freshly-updated arcade series are starting to crank out the BEMANI Sound Team tune for some of the other new releases. The tweets below, for example, have documented how a couple of the newest songs made for the \u003Ci\u003Epop'n music\u003C\/i\u003E series had their artist mentions made more generic-looking...\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"it\"\u003E\n\u003Cdiv dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"ja\"\u003E\nあー、やっぱりそういう方針なのね… \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/popn?src=hash\u0026amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\"\u003E#popn\u003C\/a\u003E \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/IxG0i9qdte\"\u003Epic.twitter.com\/IxG0i9qdte\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n— MILI(みり＠みりんづけP) (@MILI216) \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MILI216\/status\/925895286379053057?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\"\u003E2 novembre 2017\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003Cscript async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\"\u003E\u003C\/script\u003E\n\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"it\"\u003E\n\u003Cdiv dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"ja\"\u003E\n多分、右寺先生 \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/popn?src=hash\u0026amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\"\u003E#popn\u003C\/a\u003E \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/lxV5T6Ac2Y\"\u003Epic.twitter.com\/lxV5T6Ac2Y\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n— MILI(みり＠みりんづけP) (@MILI216) \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MILI216\/status\/925906472055091200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\"\u003E2 novembre 2017\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003Cscript async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\"\u003E\u003C\/script\u003E\n\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAs of now, to figure out what is actually behind the scenes to ignite such changes is anyone's guess, but opinionated pieces and allegedly-recovered witnessing that address the situation have been circulating for a while. One of the most shared quotes comes from the nick-named AIJ, reporting one of the end products of a dialogue between several people working inside and around Konami and the bemani division:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003E\"Things are a total mess right now. A few months ago there was a conflict over the artists wanting control over their own works while Konami wants total control since the content was made for Konami. Internal strife and conflict as the company divided into even more subdivisions, the CEO is rapidly losing his mind (anyone that has dealt with Kagemasa\u003C\/i\u003E [the current Konami CEO] \u003Ci\u003Ein recent times says he's different, and not in a good way), and the usual fun. It feels like the exec are using the company lawyers against their own staff right now.\"\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nWhile, again, reports like this one can't be accounted as factual evidence due to their weak accountability, the circulation of such voices around the Web is certainly proof per se that the fears of the Bemani division steadily being torn apart and put to an end have become alive once again. It doesn't help either that from the public relation-related side of Konami, the answer that was given to the Bemani Fan Site followers has been as generic as a PR can be. Below is one of official statements that was sent as an answer to the Fan Site's changes, cropped out and embed in tweet form; the following English translation has been provided by Ziv forum user Pie-kun.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"it\"\u003E\n\u003Cdiv dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"ja\"\u003E\nBEMANIFanSiteのアーティストプロフィールの事公式に問い合わせてみたらこれ絶対何かあったじゃん…うぅ \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/q92Tm2qDoC\"\u003Epic.twitter.com\/q92Tm2qDoC\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n— アクト (@acTroopers) \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/acTroopers\/status\/920852246115393537?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\"\u003E19 ottobre 2017\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003Cscript async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\"\u003E\u003C\/script\u003E\n\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003E\"Thank you for always supporting BEMANI. Regarding your concern about the BEMANI fan site that you wrote us about, we are currently not publishing artist pages because of circumstances at the company. Please forgive us that we are not able to give you more detailed information.\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003EThank you for sharing your valuable opinion about our contents with us, we will share your feedback with the company. Thank you for your continued support of BEMANI.\"\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n...so there you have it; much like the MGS situation, here we have an equal to the music game scenario of Konami where hints of disaster are appearing on a quite alarming rate while what's actually going on in the background is still a mystery to (almost) everyone. As devoted music game fans, we truly hope that the whole accolade will have a happy epilogue..."},"link":[{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/3016060304662224565"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/3016060304662224565"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"https:\/\/taikotime.blogspot.com\/2017\/11\/feature-hiding-staff-sympho-neighbours.html","title":"Feature: Hiding the Staff, a Sympho-Neighbours Story"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Nintendo 5-Star"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/00378622809042133428"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"32","height":"29","src":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_q54rb31Kf8A\/SqpQHwyZlmI\/AAAAAAAAAAM\/n0_hPxNZuLM\/S220\/n5slogo.png"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"https:\/\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/iMK-kajdgMA\/default.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-760759784775244167.post-659184667814892502"},"published":{"$t":"2017-08-20T07:04:00.001+01:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2017-08-20T07:04:37.781+01:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"feature"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"god collection"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Feature: God Collection and the Shinto Culture Behind Them, Part 3"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg src=\"http:\/\/taikoblog.namco-ch.net\/blog\/blog_151105_03.jpg\" height=\"179\" width=\"320\" \/\u003E\u003Cimg src=\"http:\/\/taikoblog.namco-ch.net\/blog\/blog_160226_13.jpg\" height=\"179\" width=\"320\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nBuilding up from our previous \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/taikotime.blogspot.com\/2016\/06\/feature-god-collection-and-shinto.html\"\u003Etwo\u003C\/a\u003E-\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/taikotime.blogspot.com\/2016\/08\/feature-god-collection-and-shinto.html\"\u003Eparter\u003C\/a\u003E feature, we take a look back to Shinto Culture as it's being told by the continuation of the Namco Original-based God Collection series.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAs this peculiar song trope is branching out to Western religions, we might or might not be having a look at those outlets, too!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ca name='more'\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"color: #0b5394;\"\u003E8OROCHI\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nREDALiCE's Namco Original debut has been marked by a number-punny song whose title refers to the\u0026nbsp;\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Yamata_no_Orochi\"\u003EYamata no Orochi\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E (八岐の大蛇), a savage and legendary Japanese dragon with eight heads and eight tails. In ancient Shinto myths, it's often described as a red-eyed creature with firs and cypresses growing on its back.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThe mythological creature is tied in with one of the many tales surrounding the sea deity \u003Cb\u003E\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Susanoo-no-Mikoto\"\u003ESusanoo-no-Mikoto\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E (須佐之男), during his exile years on Earth. Upon reaching the Izumo Province's Hi River, the banished deity encountered two weeping Kunitsukami (國神, 'Earthly Deities'), saddened by the Yamata no Orochi's cruel impositions, forcing the couple to give one of their 8 daughters in sacrifice every 7 years. Susanoo met the two Kunitsukami shortly before their preparations to offer their last daughter,\u0026nbsp;\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Kushinadahime\"\u003EKushinada-hime\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E (櫛名田比売), and offered to go in her place to slay the vicious beast. After turning Kushinada into a comb, Susanoo disguised himself as a girl, offering an eight-fold sake liquor to make it drunk; once the Orochi was asleep, the deity cut off all of its heads and tails, breaking his sword in the process while retrieving a far powerful one from the Orochi's last tail: the \u003Cb\u003EKusanagi-no-Tsurugi\u003C\/b\u003E, of which we also talked about in Part 1 of this multi-parter series. For those who want to experience the myth \"first-hand\", this Susanoo tale has also become the plot for one of the Story mode chapters in the third Taiko 3DS game, Dokodon Mystery Adventure!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n8OROCHI's Donder Hiroba unlockable titles also hide some nods to the classic myth, with the regular-Oni FC title \u003Cb\u003E10TSUKANOTSURUGI\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;being a direct reference to\u0026nbsp;\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Totsuka-no-Tsurugi\"\u003ETotsuka-no-Tsurugi\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E (十拳剣, \"Sword of Lenght of Ten Fists\"), the generic name being given to any sword that is as long as ten fists. The Ura Oni FC title, on the other hand, mentions the\u0026nbsp;\u003Cb\u003EAma-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi\u003C\/b\u003E (天叢雲剣, \"Sword of the Gathering Clouds of Heaven\"), which happens to be one of the many names of the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi sword.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"color: #0b5394;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003E激運！七福ハッピークルー Geki-un! Shichifuku Happy Crew\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nIOSYS's latest song in this series is themed around the \u003Cb\u003E\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Seven_Lucky_Gods\"\u003EShichifukujin\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E (七福神), the collective grouping of seven different figures from oriental religion creeds. Known in Western countries as the Seven Lucky Gods, their influence gradually grew up in history as luck bearers, due to both their different religious background and their deputed patronage to different professions and activities. All the seven lucky gods are mentioned in the song:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cul\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ebisu_(mythology)\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003EEbisu\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E (恵比寿), a god of prosperity and wealth in business. The only one of the Shichifukujin to be entirely rooted in Japanese lore, this Shinto-based figure is seen as the patron of fishermen.\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Daikokuten\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003EDaikokuten\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E (大黒天), a deity originated as a syncretic conflation of the Buddhist death deity Mahākāla with the Shinto deity Ōkuninushi. A god of commerce and prosperity as well as former demon slayer, he's often seen as the patron of cooks, farmers and bankers.\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Vai%C5%9Brava%E1%B9%87a\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003EBishamonten\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E (毘沙門天), mostly known for the Buddhism creed as\u0026nbsp;Vaiśravaṇa, one of the Four Heavenly Kings. He's the patron of fighters and as such, it's often regarded to as the god of fortune in war and battles.\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Benzaiten\"\u003EBenzaiten\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E (弁才天 or 弁財天), a goddess taken from the Hindu creed as the equal to the goddess of knowledge Saraswati. Known by many different name writings in Japanese culture, she's regarded as the patron of a number of performers such as artists, dancers and geishas.\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Fukurokuju\"\u003EFukurokuju\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E (福禄寿), a Chinese god who is popularly believed to have lived as an hermit during the Song dynasty. Often regarded as the reincarnation of\u0026nbsp;Taoist god Hsuan-wu, he's a\u0026nbsp;god of wisdom, luck, longevity, wealth and happiness, as well as the only Shichifukujin figure being credited to be able to resurrect the dead.\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Jur%C5%8Djin\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003EJurōjin\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E (寿老人), a god of\u0026nbsp;of the elderly and longevity in Japanese Buddhist mythology. Often reputed to be the incarnation of the southern pole star, his figure is also based on the one of a real person who lived in ancient times, resting under peach trees and enjoying rice and wine the most.\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Budai\"\u003EHotei\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E (布袋), a Zen Buddhist priest whose deity regards were extended to the Japanese culture since the Edo era. The god of popularity, he's often reputed to be the\u0026nbsp;guardian of the children, as well as the patron of diviners and barmen.\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"color: #0b5394;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003E月読命 Tsukuyomi\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nContinuing from the lineage issued with Amaterasu, Zeami's second God Collection song is about the second of the so-called \u003Cb\u003EThree Noble Children\u003C\/b\u003E (三貴子) of Izanagi-no-Mikoto and Izanami-no-Mikoto, with the other two being the aforementioned Amaterasu and Susanoo.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThe second-born of the three siblings, \u003Cb\u003E\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto\"\u003ETsukuyomi-no-Mikoto\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E (月読命) is the Japanese moon deity, born from Izanagi's act of washing his right eye as part of his purification ritual we previously talked about in our previous features. Upon climbing a celestial ladder to Takama-ga-hara, he married her sister and sun goddess Amaterasu, who was deeply angered by her broom after a dining session that ended up with Tsukuyomi's killing of the food goddess\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Uke_Mochi\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003EUke Mochi\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E (保食神), being offended by the gross methods used by the deity to prepare one of her godly-taste dishes for the couple. Upon hearing of the brutal act, Amaterasu moved to the exact opposite extreme of the sky to Tsukuyomi's, giving motion to the day-and-night cycle and the reason of one never co-existing with the other at the same time.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"color: #0b5394;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003EVICTORIA\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nDiverging from the Japanese-inspired titles and themes of the former songs, Cranky and pico's NO debut track is titled after the eponymous \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Victoria_(mythology)\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003EVictoria\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, the personification of victory in ancient Roman religion and often associated to the war Roman goddess \u003Cb\u003E\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Bellona_(goddess)\"\u003EBellona\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E.\u0026nbsp;Daughter of Pallas and Styx and often regarded as the sister of Zelus, Kratos, and Bia, Victoria is often seen as the Roman equal to the Greek victory-personification goddess \u003Cb\u003E\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nike_(mythology)\"\u003ENike\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E, but while the Hellenic figure was mostly known as a godly performer in many athletic games (including chariot races), Victoria was a symbol of victory over death and determined who would be successful during war.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThe closest figure we can link to Victoria's roles in Oriental mythology is the Hindu goddess of vengeance and victory \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Katyayini\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003EKatyayini\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E."},"link":[{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/659184667814892502"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/659184667814892502"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"https:\/\/taikotime.blogspot.com\/2017\/08\/feature-god-collection-and-shinto.html","title":"Feature: God Collection and the Shinto Culture Behind Them, Part 3"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Nintendo 5-Star"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/00378622809042133428"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"32","height":"29","src":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_q54rb31Kf8A\/SqpQHwyZlmI\/AAAAAAAAAAM\/n0_hPxNZuLM\/S220\/n5slogo.png"}}]},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-760759784775244167.post-2607959839511099618"},"published":{"$t":"2017-05-09T00:00:00.000+01:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2017-05-09T00:00:03.184+01:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"feature"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Feature: The Wear and Tear for Taiko no Tatsujin"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-iEp5Oc92G_A\/WQX8z-SMxzI\/AAAAAAAABDY\/uAdVkjywNB0vxnQglFgRNao1xtVno7buACLcB\/s1600\/43d7cd86.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" height=\"320\" src=\"https:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-iEp5Oc92G_A\/WQX8z-SMxzI\/AAAAAAAABDY\/uAdVkjywNB0vxnQglFgRNao1xtVno7buACLcB\/s320\/43d7cd86.jpg\" width=\"240\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: x-small;\"\u003EPlease, just don't.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: x-small;\"\u003ESource: Twitter (original tweet deleted, mirrored from \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/blog.livedoor.jp\/aokichanyon444\/archives\/55403556.html\" target=\"_blank\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E)\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThat Taiko no Tatsujin as a franchise stood in the gaming market (mostly in Japan) for over 15 years is evident that Don-chan can take some serious wear and tear through time. But when the game ask you to literally hit on a drum, the physical equipment can and eventually will suffer from deterioration even when everyone takes very good care of it. Worse is that not everyone will necessarily be as nice to the drum as possible, especially towards an arcade cabinet drum.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nWe have previously talked about \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/taikotime.blogspot.com\/2011\/05\/feature-arcade-stick-vandalism.html\" target=\"_blank\"\u003Ehow much of a bad shape the cabinet-included drumsticks can be\u003C\/a\u003E. In continuation to that, here is an overview of what the drums might do when one is out of maintenance.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ca name='more'\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EUnresponsiveness\u003C\/b\u003E (無反応 \u003Ci\u003Emuhan'nou\u003C\/i\u003E)\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nExactly as it says on the tin, the drum just not recognize your hits at all. A likely explanation is that prolonged impact has rendered the force sensors desensitivized or just straight-up destroyed.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EAccidental Firing\u003C\/b\u003E (暴発 \u003Ci\u003Ebouhatsu\u003C\/i\u003E)\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThis means when you hit the rim, the game recognize that as a don hit, or vice versa, hence messing up your more intense streams you execute by motor memory. Dislocated internal parts may be a root cause.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EMultiplexing\u003C\/b\u003E (多重 \u003Ci\u003Etajuu\u003C\/i\u003E)\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nOne actual hit on the drum registering as multiple hits in the game (even when recoil is well-upheld) is also an abnormality for physical Taiko no Tatsujin drums. While you might think this is a good thing because \"yay free hits\", it really isn't as it can cost a few unnecessary Goods and Misses due to early hitting.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ETorn Drumskin\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThis is in fact the least severe condition among the list, because the drumskin acts only as cosmetic appearance and a first-line of cushioning. Still, having torn drumskin often implies that other symptoms is also already present deeper down.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n★　　　★　　　★ \u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAgain while the physical equipment will eventually come down with deterioration, it doesn't mean Donders do not have to mind of their gameplay to prolong that fate. While a great deal goes back to \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/taikotime.blogspot.hk\/2013\/02\/feature-arcade-ethics.html\" target=\"_blank\"\u003Earcade (especially Taiko no Tatsujin) ethics\u003C\/a\u003E we have previously talked about, here we highlight some the more direct causes of severe drum damage: \u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ECrasher\u003C\/b\u003E (クラッシャー)\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThis term of course means people whose actions are basically destroying the drums, intentionally or out of not understanding the game alike. Usual crashing behavior includes indiscriminately hitting at random places (like the sides which doesn't register any input) and\/or using unnecessary amount of force (more forceful hits don't get you more points as long as you are over the recognized threshold). That also goes to frustrated players that blow off steam onto the drums. Remember: \u003Cspan style=\"color: red;\"\u003E\"Taiko is a \u003Cb\u003Emusic game\u003C\/b\u003E, not a game of hit the drum as hard as you can.\"\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EBlank Hitting\u003C\/b\u003E (空打ち \u003Ci\u003Ekara-uchi\u003C\/i\u003E)\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nHitting when you did not put in credits just takes up the cabinet's service life away from actually paying players. And doing this \u003Ci\u003Ewhile\u003C\/i\u003E another player is playing is just plain rude.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nNot that blank hitting does not have any more-legitimate use (e.g. practice upcoming patterns before a song starts, or supportive arrangement play by filling in spaces), but if you can try to limit the additional damage to the equipment.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EDouble-hand\u003C\/b\u003E (両手 \u003Ci\u003Eryoute\u003C\/i\u003E) vs \u003Cb\u003ESingle-hand\u003C\/b\u003E (片手 \u003Ci\u003Ekatate\u003C\/i\u003E)\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nTo clear up the misunderstanding, arcade Taiko no Tatsujin \u003Cspan style=\"color: red;\"\u003Edoes \u003Cb\u003Enot\u003C\/b\u003E need you to hit both sides of the drum\u003C\/span\u003E to get the double points for a 特良 hit, so long as your hit is forceful enough to exceed the (slightly higher than normal) threshold. Only console Taiko no Tatsujin games need you to double-hand hit large notes because button set-ups or tatacons do not have those force-sensing capabilities.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nUnless your hits are so weak they never give you the bonus, you shouldn't be double-hand hitting your large notes. Not only does it save the drum from unnecessary hits and damage, it also saves your stamina for the rest of the song\/credit.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nIn video evidence, look at this clip of an expert player on Yami no Mahou Shoujo, clearing all the large notes at with only one-sided hits:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ciframe allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"238\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/z-Ph2-GsOVw?start=135\u0026amp;end=165\" width=\"420\"\u003E\u003C\/iframe\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n★　　　★　　　★ \u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EDrum Condition Wikis\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nWith the rise of collaborative content-building internet places like wikis, communities of Donders can band together to provide up-to-date drum condition (i.e. how bad it is) with shop location lists. Ask your local Donder communities for an existing list of shops in your area and respective drum condition. If there isn't one for your neck of the woods, consider starting one!"},"link":[{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/2607959839511099618"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/2607959839511099618"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"https:\/\/taikotime.blogspot.com\/2017\/05\/feature-wear-and-tear-for-taiko-no.html","title":"Feature: The Wear and Tear for Taiko no Tatsujin"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"nigelliusnitrox"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/13948454407347219729"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"32","height":"32","src":"\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-oW40pbUS7lM\/Xi8JVux7fuI\/AAAAAAAABgg\/pGQNFtLgnJ4MD5EXk7FibIrMVAHtY3GBgCK4BGAYYCw\/s220\/niHA97ZK.jpg%2Bsmall.jpg"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"https:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-iEp5Oc92G_A\/WQX8z-SMxzI\/AAAAAAAABDY\/uAdVkjywNB0vxnQglFgRNao1xtVno7buACLcB\/s72-c\/43d7cd86.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-760759784775244167.post-713959606503501117"},"published":{"$t":"2016-12-31T10:47:00.003+00:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2016-12-31T10:47:41.043+00:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"feature"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Feature: 2016 - The Year in Hindsight"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/taiko.namco-ch.net\/taiko\/taikai\/201602\/images\/gasha\/img_03.jpg\" height=\"144\" width=\"640\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nComing to the end of yet another year, it's crucial for anything in life to look back at what has come in order to be set on to take what's next; that is still very true to the Taiko no Tatsujin series progression for us, so here we are again with another recap post about the 366-days cycle that has come and gone.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nJoin our written flashback about Taiko gaming for 2016 after the jump!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ca name='more'\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EJanuary 2016\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThe series at the start of the year was in quite the middle ground position in both arcade and console fronts, as a lot of the previously-announced contents and events began to take place from the year's very beginning. For the (then) newcomer White Version we've had the Taikai mini-tournament and its exclusive unlocks (with some of these pictured at the top of this page), while the then-active console games for Ps Vita and Wii U stepped in the new year with a continued DLC distribution plan. All while the Taiko Team's top members were preparing for their yearly visits to the World Hobby Fair and Tokaigi!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nIt's also worth mentioning that White Version was released in General Asia arcade rooms outside Japan, since apparently we've \u003Cspan style=\"font-size: x-small;\"\u003Eforgot to talk about the General Asia\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: xx-small;\"\u003EMurasaki transition in last year's recap...\u003C\/span\u003E (sorry about that)\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFebruary 2016\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg border=\"0\" height=\"216\" src=\"https:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-taJxnAIywa4\/VpCP0ZDUGsI\/AAAAAAAAA3U\/EJ_k3YCJil8\/s320\/PSTH.png\" width=\"320\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nWith the arcade scene being enriched with the release of the MyBachi official set of portable Taiko drumsticks for arcade play (and us keeping up the pace with some of the most outdated features of the blog), the real deal for the last February has been the launch of an Android-friendly version of iOS platforms's Taiko Plus, even though some significant features from the former app like purchasable song packs and Oni\/Ura Oni modes (for unsupported models only) are missing.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nOther remarkable events for the month were the Team's livestream return for the year and the beginning of the WCS2016's song distribution plan for the tournament, together with more console DLCs and some past\/present\/future collaboration talk with some of the unit EXILE's members.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EMarch 2016\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg src=\"http:\/\/taikoblog.namco-ch.net\/blog\/blog_160226_0b.jpg\" height=\"400\" width=\"212\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nWith one new song coming to General Asia arcades before Japan after the Taiko 11\/12 days and a new slew of collaboration continuations\/song removals, White Version has had yet another busy month, while the additional content trend for Ps Vita\/Wii U titles was still going rampant and the rest of March was all about the latest scoops of a certain other Taiko portable game which had to wait a few more months in order to see the light of day...\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAlso, we got one of our blog entries plagiarized by someone else. \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/taikotime.blogspot.it\/2016\/04\/site-abour-our-blogs-identity-and.html\"\u003EFun stuff!\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EApril 2016\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/taikoblog.namco-ch.net\/blog_20160414_2.png\" height=\"320\" width=\"226\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nWCS 2016-related arcade updates and April Fools tomfoolery aside, this month has been another one of anticipation about future games\/events's arrival, as the stream of news about this year's main portable Taiko entry continued to flow through and the returning Spring conventions of the Niconico Chokaigi and the Hakurei Shrine Reitasai advertised the coming of some Taiko magic between the month's end and the next one's beginning.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nDuring this month, we've also introduced a sister feature branch to the Sympho-Neighbours branch, with the Sonority Scouts posts being about shared rhythm games topics of a really contemporary nature!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EMay 2016\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg height=\"266\" src=\"https:\/\/pbs.twimg.com\/media\/Ci0s7iPUgAAsRsj.jpg:large\" style=\"user-select: none;\" width=\"400\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nYet another busy month full of updates about future and interesting Taiko things to come... It has also been one of our own most busy months for real-life commitments too, so much so that we weren't even able to live report that month's Taiko Team livestream properly.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nWatching that picture up there again, it's like if the Taiko Team figures are folding their arms right at us...\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EJune 2016\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg height=\"289\" src=\"https:\/\/pbs.twimg.com\/media\/CdRGpKlW0AAnoUq.jpg\" width=\"320\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nTogether with a Taiko-spawn song being featured in an external rhythm game franchise, last June is best remembered to the Taiko scene for the release of Dokodon! Mystery Adventure, the third installment for Nintendo 3DS whose difficulty curve and song selection feels pretty much like a Nintendo-fueled continuation to the legacy set the year prior with Ps Vita's V Version! Incidentally, the DLC support for that game was ended during the same month.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThis has also been another month that was geared towards major future content updates, with White Version's firmware successor warming up for its release and a certain returning cross-over tournament setting up all the preparations needed for a third installment...\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EJuly 2016\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg src=\"http:\/\/taikoblog.namco-ch.net\/blog\/blog_160630_01.jpg\" height=\"180\" width=\"320\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nBefore that, however, the month of July has seen the rise of Red Version, the color used for the current incarnation of the ongoing HD Taiko arcade gaming generation filled with many kinds of collaboration events and lots of Don Challenge song unlock recycles. The highly-heated World Championships 2016 have also ended with the former 2013\/2014 champion managing to defend the title while spotlighting new songs from prominent artists in the general rhythm games scenario.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nOther interesting features for this past July include the first arcade events for the newly-released Red Version (including the first new rhythm game crossover event in years with Capcom's crossbeats REV. series) and one of our staff members starting to have \u003Ci\u003Ewaaaaay\u003C\/i\u003E too much Touhou running on his head as a result to summer blog maintenance...\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EAugust 2016\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg border=\"0\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-gO8VMTuHfoc\/V8KTSzvdTiI\/AAAAAAAAA6o\/lx8TtsQrGBIBilEzn_05JEstG9MZDxHigCLcB\/s200\/TaikoTime6Anni.png\" width=\"197\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nBelieve it or not, our humble blog turned 6 years! While we've been -once again- really busy to jump in anniversary-related events this year (which were slated to the following month), the post-arcade firmware launch month was jam-packed with updates to the recently-expanded console and arcade fronts, while the Taiko Team abandoned their former blog website in favor of a new, more modern-looking one.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nCan't forget the continuing arcade events featuring Taiko 3DS 3 and the Puzzle \u0026amp; Dragons series, too!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ESeptember 2016\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg height=\"220\" src=\"https:\/\/pbs.twimg.com\/media\/Cr51F59VMAAfiuK.jpg\" style=\"user-select: none;\" width=\"400\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAside from Red Version getting released to General Asia countries and some rather unfortunate occurrences (namely, the new DLC distribution plan's closure for the Wii U game Atsumete Tomodachi Daisakusen and Red Version's first round of song removals), last September went by mostly with updates of exciting things to come in Red Version for the coming months.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nFor the more positive additions, we can recall the very first BMS song's inclusion in Taiko, the series' continued involvement in the aforementioned returning cross-over music game tourney and a 2nd Touhou Project collaboration due to the next month's Autumn Reitasai incursion.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nB̴̢̙͚̠͘u̵͜҉̝̭̺̗͕̘t҉̵̱̠̪͎̜͕̼͎̗ ̩̗̩͇̬͔̼͢ͅb̵̠̥͈̘͈͙̼́͡o̸̸̳̗̳̖͠y̴̖͇̩ ͇̼́o̞͎͖h̸͚̦͇͕ ̛̛̹̼̹̲͞ͅb̧̛͏̞͉͕̭͔̝̯ͅơ̷͈͇̖̺͉ͅy̜͖̫ ̹̤̦̬̻͜i҉̻̤̺͔̣͠f͚̬͔̯͢͜ ҉̯͓̤t̜͖̣͍̬͉̜́h̵̥̳̯̺͚̜̥́e̴̸̩̝ ̢̣͇̤̕͟a̵͚̖͉̬̣c̨̼̺̣̲t̝̩̮̦̖̜̯̝͖u̶̢̟͍͉̮͍̤̗͟ͅa͎͓̰̖̟̖͇̰̬͜l̤͎̪͓̮͚͙͘ ͓T̙̀̀ơ̵̧̱̪͎̺͓̤͔u҉̨͎͓̩͍͚̖h͙̹͕̞o̧̫̠ṳ͖̀ ̶̛̳̺̟̖g̱̬̮̞̲ͅa̷͙̘̬͕͝m͜҉̞̱̰e̜͝s͟͏͕̮ ̙́͡a̶̶̢͎̫̞̯̻͔̥̹̼r̭̫̱̞̥͕͕e͏̰͈̻͎ ̘̭̥͎̳̮̪̗͚͘͝r͔͢e̸̛͔̫̲a҉̶̳̣l̙͔͠l̡̟͍͓͕̞̀y̨͉̻̹͎͇͟ ̛͖̱͙̺̼͚͖͉̹͜h̜͈̙̠̠͚͠a͕̯̤̘̯͉͢r̡̨͕d҉͢҉͚̙̩\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EOctober 2016\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg src=\"https:\/\/pbs.twimg.com\/media\/BvYklWwCIAA2c2i.jpg\" style=\"-webkit-user-select: none;\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThe Tenkaichi Otogesai tournament is back and it's better than... well, last year at least, as crossed-over songs as a feature makes its triumphant return but it's a really stingy exchange yet again with each franchise getting only two new playable tracks overall, when compared to the first edition.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAside from that, it has been yet another update-oriented month about things to come in the near future, between arcade\/console games updates (starring another Chain Chronicle collaboration among other things) and the Taiko Team beginning to advertise more prominently the launch of new original songs with both Youtube preview clips and tweets about returning composers being put in charge of new Taiko songs's creation.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ENovember 2016\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg alt=\"\" class=\"media-image\" data-height=\"1108\" data-width=\"1478\" height=\"238\" src=\"https:\/\/pbs.twimg.com\/media\/Ct2C346WAAAPrO9.jpg:large\" style=\"display: inline-block; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;\" width=\"320\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nLast November has been the first one in a long while without any major pre-holidays console release, so what happened on the year where there wasn't none?\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThe answer is... not that much, really, as we've witnessed another relatively-lukewarm period of quick updates about ongoing games\/events and future features, with some of the highs being the Taiko livestream edition of the 3rd Tenkaichi Otogesai (+ the related crossed-over track release for AOU-affiliated arcades) and Beat Mario sharing the joy of his wedding to the world via social feeds.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EDecember 2016\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg alt=\"05_psx_20161206_212530\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-779\" src=\"http:\/\/taiko-ch.net\/urgybrhm3ukw\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/05_PSX_20161206_212530.jpg\" height=\"400\" width=\"299\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nIn the spirit of great part of the year's previous event-less months, December has kept arcade and console Taiko gaming's flame alive with updates\/new content's distribution, while hinting at new collaboration events (namely, an event featuring the returning iDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls games). Not to mention that Red Version's firmware successor is already lurking in the air...\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n------------------------------------------\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nOverall, this closing year for the Taiko no Tatsujin series has mostly been a period of time when there has been a background feel of something happening behind the scenes for the most part, due to a more regular stream of news coming from the Taiko Team members themselves and monthly content support for the most modern games for both arcade and console players, although if the news flow itself was on a very average kind of \"excitement degree\" during the frames of time that were far away from the year's major games's pre-release\/launch window span.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nIt surely is a step up from the very first days of the Taiko Team's public activity with their first public interactions back in the Taiko 10\/DS 2 period, but with the new original song production ratio being not that wide when compared to other Japanese music game series competitors, how will the series raise their stakes in the coming year? Right now, we of the Taiko Time staff are far from knowing that answer like anyone else, but rest assured that we'll be there to document what the Taiko no Tatsujin series is brewing to its players in 2017...\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nUntil then, have an exciting year conclusion and clear resolutions for the next months!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: xx-small;\"\u003E\u003Cstrike\u003E(I for one am happy I can just copy\/paste one of mine from last year)\u003C\/strike\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E"},"link":[{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/713959606503501117"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/713959606503501117"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"https:\/\/taikotime.blogspot.com\/2016\/12\/feature-2016-year-in-hindsight.html","title":"Feature: 2016 - The Year in Hindsight"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Nintendo 5-Star"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/00378622809042133428"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"32","height":"29","src":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_q54rb31Kf8A\/SqpQHwyZlmI\/AAAAAAAAAAM\/n0_hPxNZuLM\/S220\/n5slogo.png"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"https:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-taJxnAIywa4\/VpCP0ZDUGsI\/AAAAAAAAA3U\/EJ_k3YCJil8\/s72-c\/PSTH.png","height":"72","width":"72"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-760759784775244167.post-2822060596836004006"},"published":{"$t":"2016-09-04T04:48:00.000+01:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2016-09-04T04:48:08.926+01:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"feature"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Feature: General Sales Figures in the Taiko no Tatsujin series"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg src=\"http:\/\/gonintendo.com\/system\/file_uploads\/uploads\/000\/017\/467\/medium\/taiko-drum-master.jpg\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nHere on this blog we've had multiple occasions to see the launch week figures for many Taiko no Tatsujin games that have been released during this humble blog's existence; however, have you ever wondered how most of these releases have fared on the later years in the sales spectrum?\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nIn this feature, we're taking a look at the current situation of the software sales figures for the Taiko no Tatsujin series as a whole, by dividing the game releases to the many console families and listing both the 1st-week sales and the Life-to-Date (or LTD) figures for each boxed release.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAmong the many sources that have been browsed for the data you're about to see, give our shoutouts to Media Create, VGChartz and NeoGAF user Chris1964 for the Media Create\/Famitsu historical database, available at \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.neogaf.com\/forum\/showthread.php?t=1169225\"\u003Ethis link\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ca name='more'\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThis list refers to the data that has been officially updated up until the latest Taiko no Tatsujin game's release, which -at this entry's original posting date- is Dokodon! Mystery Adventure for Nintendo 3DS. Said title will have its sales figures updated to the end of its 8th week of release, which ended on \u003Cb\u003EAugust 6th, 2016\u003C\/b\u003E.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nFor the time being, due to not-fully-documented instances we're only sticking with the \u003Cb\u003Ephysical sales figures\u003C\/b\u003E for each title, consisting of the actual titles being sold regardless of the purchasable versions the games have been in (ie. featured in a Taiko Tatacon bundle, Platinum\/Nintendo Best Choice,...)\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: x-large;\"\u003EPlayStation 2 Games\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg border=\"0\" src=\"https:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_q54rb31Kf8A\/TGpbxG3LnOI\/AAAAAAAAAvw\/mhTPodw80eM\/s320\/taikops21.jpg\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETaiko no Tatsujin Tatacon de Dodon ga Don\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFirst Week sales\u003C\/b\u003E - 64.002\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ELTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;- 743.334\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETaiko no Tatsujin Doki! Shinkyoku Darake no Haru Matsuri\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFirst Week sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- 102.940\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ELTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;- 407.181\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETaiko no Tatsujin Appare! Sandaime\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFirst Week sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- 53.995\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ELTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;- 578.993\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETaiko no Tatsujin Waku Waku Anime Matsuri\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFirst Week sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- 50.023\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ELTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;- 205.130\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETaiko no Tatsujin Atsumare! Matsuri da!! Yondaime\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFirst Week sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- 30.716\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ELTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;- 156.164\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETaiko no Tatsujin Go! Go! Godaime\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFirst Week sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- 29.381\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ELTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;- 194.840\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETaiko Drum Master\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFirst Week sales \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cb\u003E(NA)\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; - Unknown\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFirst Week sales (JP)\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; - 3.203\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFirst Week sales (Global)\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- Unknown\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ELTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003Cb\u003E(NA)\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;- ~4.000\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ELTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003Cb\u003E(JP)\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; - 16.054\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ELTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003Cb\u003E(Global)\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; -\u0026nbsp;~20.000\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETaiko no Tatsujin Tobikkiri! Anime Special\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFirst Week sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- 10.130\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ELTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;- 49.554\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETaiko no Tatsujin Wai Wai Happy! Rokudaime\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFirst Week sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- 14.553\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ELTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;- 98.106\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETaiko no Tatsujin Doka! to Oomori Nanadaime\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFirst Week sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- 11.502\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ELTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;- 66.761\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThe many Taiko titles's overall selling trend on PlayStation 2 isn't very dissimilar to many other videogame series, past and current, which relied on yearly releases (even multiple ones!) on the very same console for a long time, with the first games scoring some of the series' highest peaks of all time in the series' life-time figures, sporting what currently is the most sold Taiko game in physical version with the very first release. Appare! Sandaime is the 2nd highest peak overall, while the PS2 title in-between can bolster the biggest launch week sales for the series on its first home console venture.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThe least-performing title in both aspects -as well as the reason of why aren't getting any other official Taiko games in the West to date- is Taiko Drum Master, whose sales figures have been incredibly low in Japan as well as in the original North American release. The closer contender for PS2 grounds is instead Tobikkiri! Anime Special, whose combined sales can barely match 1\/4 of the ones scored by the first Taiko Anime game compilation.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: x-large;\"\u003EPlayStation Portable Games\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg alt=\"Taiko no Tatsujin Portable DX boxart\" src=\"https:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-V_Nbv-jfTFM\/Tgslo3YlriI\/AAAAAAAAAI8\/Nqd4I8142lE\/s400\/tntpsp3.jpg\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETaiko no Tatsujin Portable\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFirst Week sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- 14.593\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ELTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;- 100.884\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETaiko no Tatsujin Portable 2\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFirst Week sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- 14.638\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ELTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;- 233.267\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETaiko no Tatsujin Portable DX\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFirst Week sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- 110.242\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ELTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;- 344.347\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nWe have quite the inverted trend when it comes to Sony portable gaming, as each of the progressively-released games in the Portable trilogy has fared better than its predecessor, with Portable 2 observing the highest selling rate from the launch week compared to its debut window and Portable DX's FWS easily trumping the former games by almost 7 times each!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: x-large;\"\u003ENintendo DS Games\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg alt=\"Meccha Taiko no Tatsujin Nanatsu no Shima no Daibouken boxart\" src=\"https:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_q54rb31Kf8A\/TFUh5vmDkvI\/AAAAAAAAAqI\/wZbvrzPKea4\/s320\/tntds2.jpg\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETaiko no Tatsujin DS Touch de Dodokon\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFirst Week sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- 89.158\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ELTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;- 641.229\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003EMeccha! Taiko no Tatsujin DS Nanatsu no Shima no Daibouken\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFirst Week sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- 60.250\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ELTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;- 693.164\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETaiko no Tatsujin DS Dororon! Youkai Dai Kessen!!\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFirst Week sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- 65.214\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ELTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;- 418.229\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThe Taiko franchise on their Nintendo handheld debut has had its highs and lows as a whole, with the 2nd title boasting the 2nd overall biggest physical sales for the series and the third title almost counting a loss of 300.000 copies from the former DS game. At the very least, the many launch week figures have been consistent in popularity for this trilogy of games!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: x-large;\"\u003ENintendo Wii Games\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg alt=\"Taiko no Tatstujin Wii boxart\" src=\"https:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_q54rb31Kf8A\/TLbyNzsOH8I\/AAAAAAAAA1A\/KJGgl1-GiF0\/s1600\/250px-Taiko_no_Tatsujin_Wii_Cover.jpg\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETaiko no Tatsujin Wii\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFirst Week sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- 114.160\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ELTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;- 658.783\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETaiko no Tatsujin Wii Dodon~! to Nidaime!\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFirst Week sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- 29.349\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ELTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;- 430.096\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETaiko no Tatsujin Wii Minna de Party Sandaime\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFirst Week sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- 26.855\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ELTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;- 270.672\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETaiko no Tatsujin Wii Kettei-Ban\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFirst Week sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- 25.343\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ELTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;- 338.281\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETaiko no Tatsujin Wii Chogouka-Ban\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFirst Week sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- 102.437\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ELTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;- 654.842\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nSales figures for the five Wii games has been a lob-sided journey on the release order spectrum, with the first and fifth game being sold the most and the games that were launched in-between getting meddling launch\/overall sales. The first Wii game, in particular, is the current holder of the best-selling Taiko game at launch week in the franchise, on top of being the 3rd best seller overall.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: x-large;\"\u003ENintendo 3DS Games\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/ec2.images-amazon.com\/images\/I\/61LQjuVp7KL._SL500_AA300_.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg alt=\"Taiko no Tatsujin Chibi Dragon to Fushigi na Orb boxart\" border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/ec2.images-amazon.com\/images\/I\/61LQjuVp7KL._SL500_AA300_.jpg\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETaiko no Tatsujin\u0026nbsp;Chibi Dragon to Fushigi na Orb\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFirst Week sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- 63.388\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ELTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;- 548.998\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETaiko no Tatsujin\u0026nbsp;Don to Katsu no Jikuu Daibouken\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFirst Week sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- 62.247\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ELTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;- 274.510\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETaiko no Tatsujin Dokodon! Mystery Adventure\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFirst Week sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- 35.465\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ELTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;- 77.501\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nFrom this point onward, we ask you to take the data for this and the following console entries to be a snapshot of the current situation, as these (and the next!) games are still in production and purchasable for home\/portable consoles which are still currently supported by new software entries. We also have to mention that all of the sales figures have been grouped under one value; for this reason, we don't know the exact figures for the localized versions of some of the most modern games, such as Korean Taiko 3DS 2 and V Version's Chinese 'General Asia' edition.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nKeeping that in mind, the new Nintendo portable adventures of the Taiko siblings still have their following of customers, although if not matching with the former DS titles' trail. After Chibi Dragon to Fushigi na Orb's popularity, the sequel barely moved more than half of the former title's sales numbers and the most-recently released game has had a launch week start drastically reduced from the former games in they physical side of gaming releases.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: x-large;\"\u003ENintendo Wii U Games\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg src=\"http:\/\/s.pacn.ws\/640\/ic\/taiko-no-tatsujin-wii-u-version-bundle-set-with-taiko-bachi-330407.2.jpg?nnj2ui\" height=\"320\" width=\"320\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETaiko no Tatsujin\u0026nbsp;Wii U Version!\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFirst Week sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- 17.518\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ELTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;- 187.958\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETaiko no Tatsujin\u0026nbsp;Tokumori!\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFirst Week sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- 11.769\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ELTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;- 112.281\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETaiko no Tatsujin\u0026nbsp;Atsumete★Tomodachi Daisakusen!\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFirst Week sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- 11.989\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ELTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;- 59.714\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nFor the next Nintendo home console Taiko releases, it appears that the newcomer system itself's lower user-base is well reflected into the Taiko Wii U game sales, with each subsequent title selling a little less than the former one in the same system (given the same time span from release).\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: x-large;\"\u003EPlayStation Vita Games\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg src=\"http:\/\/gematsu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Taiko-Vita-JP-Box-Art_04-16-15.jpg\" height=\"320\" width=\"251\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETaiko no Tatsujin\u0026nbsp;V Version\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFirst Week sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- 46.101\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ELTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;- 102.758\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003EThe iDOLM@STER Must Songs Red Album \/ Blue Album\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFirst Week sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;- 23.349\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ELTD sales\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;- 36.761\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nClosing this feature is the report for the games that have been released on another less-performing console on the market, this time for the portable front. So far, 2015's three PS Vita Taiko titles have barely managed to break the 130k combined sales milestone, while still being modern fan-favorites."},"link":[{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/2822060596836004006"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/2822060596836004006"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"https:\/\/taikotime.blogspot.com\/2016\/09\/feature-general-sales-figures-in-taiko.html","title":"Feature: General Sales Figures in the Taiko no Tatsujin series"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Nintendo 5-Star"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/00378622809042133428"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"32","height":"29","src":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_q54rb31Kf8A\/SqpQHwyZlmI\/AAAAAAAAAAM\/n0_hPxNZuLM\/S220\/n5slogo.png"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"https:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_q54rb31Kf8A\/TGpbxG3LnOI\/AAAAAAAAAvw\/mhTPodw80eM\/s72-c\/taikops21.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-760759784775244167.post-5213840399371844356"},"published":{"$t":"2016-08-07T01:00:00.000+01:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2017-08-19T17:16:41.043+01:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"feature"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"god collection"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Feature: God Collection and the Shinto Culture Behind Them, Part 2"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cimg src=\"http:\/\/taikoblog.namco-ch.net\/blog\/blog_151105_03.jpg\" height=\"179\" style=\"text-align: center;\" width=\"320\" \/\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cimg src=\"http:\/\/taikoblog.namco-ch.net\/blog\/blog_160226_13.jpg\" height=\"179\" style=\"text-align: center;\" width=\"320\" \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nContinuing from \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/taikotime.blogspot.it\/2016\/06\/feature-god-collection-and-shinto.html\"\u003EPart 1\u003C\/a\u003E, we are looking into the Shinto culture tidbits found in the God Collection songs, which are based on Japanese mythological gods as the name implies.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nLike the circle's contribution in the Historic Figures Series (not yet a Song Series Showcase for the Taiko Time blog) playing off \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Himiko\"\u003EHimiko\u003C\/a\u003E and \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Prince_Sh%C5%8Dtoku\"\u003EPrince Shotoku\u003C\/a\u003E, the two song created by IOSYS talents for the collection features alternate world views with inspirations from the source materials.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ca name='more'\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"color: #0b5394;\"\u003E私立高天原学園高校・校歌 Shiritsu Takama-ga-hara Gakuen Koukou Kouka\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nFrom the Shinto mythology,\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Takama-ga-hara\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETakama-ga-hara\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;(高天原, 'Plain of High Heaven') is the dwelling place of the kami, which in the second D.watt Taiko song is used as the setting of the private school where the neo-born gods from the chapters of\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Kamiumi\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003EKamiumi\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;(神産み 'Birth of the Gods') are getting their first education by their teacher and father\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Izanagi\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003EIzanagi\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;(イザナギ). He's considered to be one of the gods of creation, as Izanagi (together with his spouse and younger sister Izanami) has given life to the first generation of kamiumi (Shintoism's deities) as well as the land's formation on Earth. This is also at the basis of the expression\u0026nbsp;\u003Cb\u003EYaoyorozu no Kami\u003C\/b\u003E, or '8 Million of Gods' (八百万神, also written as やおよろずのかみ), which ultimately addresses the number 8 as a sacred number and the expression itself to address a countless amount.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nIzanagi's students in the song happen to be his 17 natural sons, originated from the union with Izanami:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cul\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003EOokotooshio (大事忍男神)\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003EIwatsuchibiko (石土毘古神)\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003EIwasuhime (石巣比売神)\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003EOotohiwake (大戸日別神)\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003EAme-no-fukio (大戸日別神)\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003EOoyabiko (大屋毘古神)\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003EKazamotsuwake-no-oshio (風木津別之忍男神)\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003EOowatatsumi (大綿津見神)\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003EHayaakitsuhiko (速秋津日子神)\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003EHayaakitsuhime (速秋津比売神)\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003EShinatsuhiko (志那都比古神)\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003EKukunochi (久久能智神)\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003EOoyamatsumi (大山津見神)\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003EKaya-no-hime (鹿屋野比売神)\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003ETori-no-iwakusufune (鳥之石楠船神)\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003EOogetsuhime (大宜都比売神)\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003EHi-no-kagutsuchi (火之迦具土神)\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nIn Shiritsu Takama-ga-hara Koukou Kouka, all of the 1st-generation kamiumi's names can also be heard during Izanagi's student call, shortly after chanting the\u0026nbsp;\u003Cb\u003ENirei Nihakushu Ichirei\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;(二礼二拍手一礼, lit. 'Two Bows, Two Claps, One Bow'). Also known as\u0026nbsp;\u003Cb\u003ENihai Nihakushu Ippai\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;(二拝二拍手一拝), this is the ritualistic sequence of gestures performed at Shinto temples to worship their gods and be thankful for the gifts received in life.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nComing to Izanagi's subject teachings, it looks like that the main topic is geography, as the islands originated thanks to Izanami in the Birth of the Islands chapter (or\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Kuniumi\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003EKuniumi\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, 国産み) are mentioned:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cul\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003EAhaji-no-ho-no-sawake-no-shima (淡道之穂之狭別島)\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003EIyo-no-futana-no-shima (伊予之二名島)\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003EOki-no-mitsugo-no-shima (隠伎之三子島)\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003ETsukushi-no-shima (筑紫島)\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003EIki-no-shima (伊伎島)\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003ETsu-shima (津島)\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003ESado-no-shima (佐度島)\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003EOhoyamatotoyoakitsu-shima (大倭豊秋津島)\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"color: #0b5394;\"\u003EMy Muscle Heart\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThe infamous 'fictional Anime Opening' Namco Original depicts one of the episodes being narrated in the so-called 'Quelling of the Middle Country' chapter, where the gods of Takama-ga-hara are planning to conquer the terrestrial world, dubbed by the deities as\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ashihara_no_Nakatsukuni\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003EAshihara-no-Nakatsu-Kuni\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;(葦原中国). Chief god of sword and thunder\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Takemikazuchi\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETakemikazuchi\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;(タケミカヅチ) -also known as Kashima-no-kami (建御雷神)- was put in charge of dealing with the earth deities, among which was Inaba's\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Takeminakata\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETakeminakata\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;(タケミナカタ, also 建御名方神), the so-dubbed 'Divine Wind of Suwa' and the only one among his brothers to oppose to the invader.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThe fight between the two gods has been dubbed by the Shinto mythology as the precursor of sumo fighting, as the close combat was dictated by the two fighters' muscular strength. With Takemikazuchi having one of his hands turned into a sword by the opponent and Takeminakata outright losing one of his, the latter challenger had to retreat to the sea nearby Suwa of Shirano and to ultimately surrender to Takemikazuchi.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nTakeminakata is the son of\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/%C5%8Ckuninushi\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003EOokuninushi\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;(大国主), the kami known as the 'Great Land Ruler' and former chief of Izumo Province. The reason of why Takeminakata happens to be surrounded by white bunnies in My Muscle Heart's song and fictional Anime synopsis is a connection to a myth concerning his father and the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hare_of_Inaba\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003EHare of Inaba\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, or Inaba no Shirousagi (因幡の白兎). In this tale,\u0026nbsp;Ookuninushi has been the only one among his eighty brothers to show true empathy for a talking bunny who asked to be washed of its fatigues, and in turn the Hare of Inaba revealed itself to be an ancient deity, foretelling the generous man that he would be married to princess Yakami.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"color: #0b5394;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003E天照 Amaterasu\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAlso known as Amaterasu-ōmikami (天照大神／天照大御神／天照皇大神) or Ōhirume-no-muchi-no-kami (大日孁貴神),\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Amaterasu\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003EAmaterasu\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;is the goddess of the sun and the universe, as well as the sister of sea ruler Susanoo-no-Mikoto and moon god Tsukuyomi. This trio of gods was born from a purification ritual that Izanami took after his attempted rescue of Izanami in Yomi, with Amaterasu being born after washing out Izanami's left eye. It's told that the three gods have created the ancient Japan's landscape through a combined painting effort.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nIn Shinto culture, it's believed that the Emperors of Japan are far descendants of Amaterasu, as the deity would have passed to her first descendant Ninigi the three legendary items that would later be known as the Imperial Regalia of Japan (of which the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi is also part of).\u003C\/div\u003E\n"},"link":[{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/5213840399371844356"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/5213840399371844356"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"https:\/\/taikotime.blogspot.com\/2016\/08\/feature-god-collection-and-shinto.html","title":"Feature: God Collection and the Shinto Culture Behind Them, Part 2"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"nigelliusnitrox"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/13948454407347219729"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"32","height":"32","src":"\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-oW40pbUS7lM\/Xi8JVux7fuI\/AAAAAAAABgg\/pGQNFtLgnJ4MD5EXk7FibIrMVAHtY3GBgCK4BGAYYCw\/s220\/niHA97ZK.jpg%2Bsmall.jpg"}}]},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-760759784775244167.post-6016982407587548190"},"published":{"$t":"2016-06-26T00:00:00.000+01:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2017-08-19T16:45:23.940+01:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"feature"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"god collection"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Feature: God Collection and the Shinto Culture Behind Them, Part 1"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg src=\"http:\/\/taikoblog.namco-ch.net\/blog\/blog_151105_03.jpg\" height=\"179\" width=\"320\" \/\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003Cimg src=\"http:\/\/taikoblog.namco-ch.net\/blog\/blog_160226_13.jpg\" height=\"179\" width=\"320\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nKey visuals of Taiko no Tatsujin White ver. take the imagery of the Japanese creation myth, and with that comes a multi-artist song collection named the \u003Cb\u003EGod Collection\u003C\/b\u003E (ゴッドコレクション), drawing references from parts of Japan's prehistory and the Shinto culture's over eight million gods and deities (kami).\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nLet's get a very brief overview for the figures and concepts referenced in the four songs that are currently released under the name. If you want to know more, we would recommend you to go do your own research, which would be more fun anyway.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ca name='more'\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"color: #0b5394;\"\u003EKUSANAGI\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\"Kusanagi\" here refers to the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Kusanagi\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003EKusanagi-no-Tsurugi\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;(草薙の剣), literally \"sword that cuts\/shaves grass\". This sword is one of the three important\u0026nbsp;Imperial Regalia\/Sacred Treasures of Japan, together with the Yata no Kagami mirror and\u0026nbsp;Yasakani no Magatama jewel piece.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"color: #0b5394;\"\u003Eカグツチ Kagutsuchi\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Kagu-tsuchi\"\u003EKagutsuchi\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E (カグツチ, some hyphenates as Kagu-tsuchi) is a kami of fire from Shinto mythology. He was given birth by Izanami, who suffered severe burns in her body (especially the reproductive organs in some accounts) and ultimately dies from it. Izanagi, under tremendous fury and grief, beheaded and dismantled Kagutsuchi by blade, leading to more landforms and deities created.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"color: #0b5394;\"\u003E黄泉のイザナミ Yomi no Izanami\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nWe haven't touched on it when we mentioned them in the last section, but \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Izanagi\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003EIzanagi\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E (イザナギ) and \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Izanami\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003EIzanami\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E (イザナミ) are two deities who together created a mass of multiple gods and island landforms of Japan, being siblings as well as a husband-wife couple. Following her death in the story from above, Izanami descended to \u003Cb\u003E\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Yomi\"\u003EYomi\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E (黄泉), the underworld. Izanagi ventured to Yomi to retrieve her but was in vain,\u0026nbsp;because she ate the food there so she could not return to the land of the living. In curiosity he lighted a fire to see her in the darkness, but found her to have transformed into a pest-infested mass. In fear, Izanagi fled Yomi and blocked the entrance, locking Izanami inside. Izanami vowed that she will take 1000 lives a day for him leaving him, and Izanagi replied he will give life to 1500. This is why she is also considered the goddess of death.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nOther cultural\/historical references used in the song's lyrics include the setting of a descendant of \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Himiko\" style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_blank\"\u003EHimiko\u003C\/a\u003E, shaman-queen of Yamataikoku (see also Yamatai Night Party), and a close friend, significant quotes from \u003Cb\u003E\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/ja.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/%E5%A4%A7%E7%A5%93%E8%A9%9E\" target=\"_blank\"\u003EOoharae-no-kotoba\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E, liturgy for cleansing ritual, and mentions of major Shinto deities\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Amaterasu\" target=\"_blank\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003EAmaterasu\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;and \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Susanoo-no-Mikoto\" target=\"_blank\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003ESusanoo-no-mikoto\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E."},"link":[{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/6016982407587548190"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/6016982407587548190"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"https:\/\/taikotime.blogspot.com\/2016\/06\/feature-god-collection-and-shinto.html","title":"Feature: God Collection and the Shinto Culture Behind Them, Part 1"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"nigelliusnitrox"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/13948454407347219729"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"32","height":"32","src":"\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-oW40pbUS7lM\/Xi8JVux7fuI\/AAAAAAAABgg\/pGQNFtLgnJ4MD5EXk7FibIrMVAHtY3GBgCK4BGAYYCw\/s220\/niHA97ZK.jpg%2Bsmall.jpg"}}]},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-760759784775244167.post-4240882029899092052"},"published":{"$t":"2016-05-29T14:53:00.000+01:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2016-05-29T15:19:51.127+01:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"feature"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Feature: Score Fixing"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ciframe allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/n4gZOLG-ZHs?rel=0\" width=\"560\"\u003E\u003C\/iframe\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EScore fixing\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;(点数調整 \u003Ci\u003Etensuu chousei\u003C\/i\u003E or\u0026nbsp;スコア調整 \u003Ci\u003Escore chousei\u003C\/i\u003E) is when you play a song in Taiko no Tatsujin and make the ending score something nice-looking, be it a round number (most often 1,000,000), repeated digits (say 777,770), or something with a \u003Ci\u003Egoroawase\u003C\/i\u003E connection (765,000 and 876,000 are in theme with the series, for example). While it is not necessary, some score fixing feats also assumes the requirement of a Donderful Combo (getting all 良s) and clearing all notes as normally as possible except yellow drumrolls.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ca name='more'\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nIn another note, because in \u003Ci\u003Ejubeat\u003C\/i\u003E the full score is a flat million and calls that feat \u003Cb\u003EEXCELLENT\u003C\/b\u003E (EXC for short), so when one plays\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=pk8rJWJTSTA\"\u003Ea certain song that is tied to that series\u003C\/a\u003E and fix the score to 1,000,000, some people call it the same name as a reference. There are also some who would just\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=5RCH8HoekHg\" target=\"_blank\"\u003Ecall it EXCELLENT regardless of the song source\u003C\/a\u003E. If you would like to see some score fixing in action, that's another keyword to search for.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nTo successfully achieve a fixed score, you would have to be very lucky in your hit and misses... or you could just know the scoring scheme for the song, plan ahead and hit exactly to the plan. Let's take the Yuugao no Kimi footage above for a full case study:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"color: #0b5394;\"\u003ECase Study: Fixing to 1,000,000 on Yuugao no Kimi Oni in AC0\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nA prerequisite for a score fixing analysis would be to calculate the \u003Cb\u003Eceiling score\u003C\/b\u003E (天井スコア \u003Ci\u003Etenjou score\u003C\/i\u003E) and then work out a scheme from it. The ceiling score is the maximum score you can get from this notechart, including all notes (except impossible balloon\/kusudama notes) but excluding the optional yellow drumrolls that is not ceilinged. The ceiling score also counts combo increments, large note bonuses (2×), Go-go Time bonus (1.2×), clear bonus from balloon\/kusudama notes and the 100-combo bonus (10,000) in the newest generation.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nInstead of calculating the ceiling score for the Yuugao no Kimi notechart in AC0 KATSU-DON and up\u0026nbsp;out here\u0026nbsp;\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: x-small;\"\u003E\u003Ci\u003E(we do not discourage anyone else to do so, though. In fact, if you really did it, send us the thing and we will feature your working here!)\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E, we will just link you to\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=zAi5h1BWMsI\" target=\"_blank\"\u003Ea DFC video where the yellow drumrolls are not hit\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;and\u0026nbsp;give you the ceiling score being\u0026nbsp;\u003Cb\u003E998,000\u003C\/b\u003E before drumrolls.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nWith that done, you can see that the ceiling score is only \u003Cb\u003E2000 points\u003C\/b\u003E away from the round million. Considering drumrolls are 100 points\/hit and 120 during Go-go Time, you would need 20 hits in the bar outside Go-go Time to make the fixed score (20×100 = 2000). Other combination also works if you mix in Go-go Time hits: in fact in the above video, the Donder hit 15 times during Go-go Time and 2 times outside, also coming to the same total (15×120 + 2×100 = 2000).\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nNote that all of this does not make the feat too much easier, because you still have to actually control the hit numbers on point. Having to accurately control getting 良s (and especially not getting 良s) wherever you need is not easy, I'll just say."},"link":[{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/4240882029899092052"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/4240882029899092052"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"https:\/\/taikotime.blogspot.com\/2016\/05\/feature-score-fixing.html","title":"Feature: Score Fixing"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"nigelliusnitrox"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/13948454407347219729"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"32","height":"32","src":"\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-oW40pbUS7lM\/Xi8JVux7fuI\/AAAAAAAABgg\/pGQNFtLgnJ4MD5EXk7FibIrMVAHtY3GBgCK4BGAYYCw\/s220\/niHA97ZK.jpg%2Bsmall.jpg"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"https:\/\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/n4gZOLG-ZHs\/default.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-760759784775244167.post-3238554508764073341"},"published":{"$t":"2016-02-08T00:00:00.000+00:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2016-09-27T15:33:43.862+01:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"feature"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"synchronica"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Feature: How to Play Synchronica"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ciframe allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/EhAk8IZEGrE?rel=0\" width=\"560\"\u003E\u003C\/iframe\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nSeeing Taiko no Tatsujin and Synchronica are getting more and more closely collaborating, it is time that we at least brief you on how to play this new game, so that you have some head-start initiation to get those collaboration effort goodies.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ca name='more'\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"color: #0b5394;\"\u003EThe Markers\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nIn Synchronica there are five types of markers that you have to deal with (or four, if you see Swipe and Flick as one type).\u0026nbsp;Additional screen effects are sometimes scripted to appear for reacting to a marker accurately.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cul\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"color: #3d85c6;\"\u003ETouch\u0026nbsp;(タッチ)\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E: just tap on the marker when the circle enters the ring, so simple\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"color: red;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003EHold\u0026nbsp;(ホールド)\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E: tap on the marker when the circle enters the ring, and hold it there until the outside gauge completes around\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"color: #bf9000;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003EMove\u0026nbsp;(ムーヴ)\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E: tap on the marker when the circle enters the ring, and move it to the other end \u003Ci\u003Ebefore\u003C\/i\u003E the outside gauge drains up (note that you don't have to follow the designated path or speed exactly)\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"color: #38761d;\"\u003ESwipe\u0026nbsp;(スワイプ)\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E: swipe along with the arc-shaped marker\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"color: #38761d;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003EFlick (フリック)\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E:\u0026nbsp;only appearing in Advanced or higher, the Flick marker asks you to tap on it and then flick it away. It could feel like just a smaller \u003Cspan style=\"color: #38761d;\"\u003ESwipe\u003C\/span\u003E marker to some\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\nAnd to get more deep, check out more advanced techniques to use in higher level plays:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cul\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003ELinked notes means that they are to be tapped\/started at the same time. The highest number of markers seen linked together is currently six, and would need both hands on the field to complete.\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003EGlissando\u0026nbsp;(グリッサンド)\u003C\/b\u003E: meaning a glide in actual music terms, in Synchronica it means you can just slide across a line of closely placed notes in time to finish all of them. As a rule of thumb, separations at or less than the 16th note usually allows for Glissando treatment\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETrill (トリル)\u003C\/b\u003E: meaning a vibrating sound in actual music terms, in rhythm games it refers to two groups or columns or notes that require rapid alternating taps to clear. While it might apply similar concepts to hand-switching in Taiko, the Glissando explained above may not work. The above-embedded video of Uchuu SAMURAI Technical has a lot of them as examples\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003ERelease Bonus (リリースボーナス)\u003C\/b\u003E: \u003Cspan style=\"color: red;\"\u003EHold\u003C\/span\u003E and \u003Cspan style=\"color: #bf9000;\"\u003EMove\u003C\/span\u003E markers have an additional chance to score points, if you release your hand at accurate timings at the end also\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003EHand Switch (スイッチ)\u003C\/b\u003E:\u0026nbsp;\u003Cspan style=\"color: red;\"\u003EHold\u003C\/span\u003E\u0026nbsp;and\u0026nbsp;\u003Cspan style=\"color: #bf9000;\"\u003EMove\u003C\/span\u003E\u0026nbsp;markers also allows small intervals of time where the hand is released in the middle, letting you switch hands if needed\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"color: #0b5394;\"\u003ESongs and Levels\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\nEach song has three difficulties namely\u0026nbsp;\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"color: #38761d;\"\u003ENORMAL\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E, \u003Cspan style=\"color: #e69138;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003EADVANCED\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E and \u003Cspan style=\"color: #674ea7;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003ETECHNICAL\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E, with \u003Cspan style=\"color: #674ea7;\"\u003ETECHNICAL\u003C\/span\u003E being the hardest. Each difficulty is rated a level up to 18, with Kita Saitama 2000 and co. reigning the scale currently. Unlike Taiko no Tatsujin where an Oni 2★ is vastly more difficulty than a Futsuu 2★, the rating scales appears to be compatible between the three difficulties.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003EAddendum:\u003C\/i\u003E\u0026nbsp;Originally started as the April Fool joke for 2016, a limited\u0026nbsp;\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"color: red;\"\u003EPANDORA\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;chart is added to Synchronicity, which is unlocked by tapping on the\u0026nbsp;\u003Cspan style=\"color: #674ea7;\"\u003ETECHNICAL\u003C\/span\u003E\u0026nbsp;button multiple times. Later the \u003Cspan style=\"color: red;\"\u003EPANDORA\u003C\/span\u003E difficulty made the official addition to the game to more songs, and pushing the maximum level to 19.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"color: #0b5394;\"\u003EMultiplayer\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAs hinted by the name (\u003Ci\u003ESynchro\u003C\/i\u003Enica) and much of the promotional material, playing between 2 players is one of the signature aspects.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThe most important feature to note is the \u003Cb\u003EMulti-combo (マルチコンボ)\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;that works vastly different from the normal combo (which is also separately kept by the way). The Multi-combo counts both player's successful taps (so for each note it can mean +2 combo). If any one player misses one marker, the Multi-combo is not immediately reset or reduced as long as the other player is still keeping on, only taking one out of the five lives that is shared between the two. Only when all five lives are gone will the Multi-combo be reduced (not reset). Continuously giving successful hits can slow down the reduction and\/or refill lost lives. Completing a song without the Multi-combo reducing even once is called an \u003Cb\u003EUnbroken Combo (アンブロークンコンボ)\u003C\/b\u003E, that could be easier than a one-player Full Combo since it allows for very occasional misses.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAnother feature for multiplayer only is the \u003Cb\u003EMulti Mission (マルチミッション)\u003C\/b\u003E where both players work together to complete a chosen goal (that you are supposed to have discussed about it) like exceeding some Multi-combo count.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAnd here are more technical aspects of the multiplayer gameplay:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cul\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: normal;\"\u003ELike the Taiko no Tatsujin HD arcade, the two sides can play different difficulties of the same song together.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003ESynchro Touch (シンクロタッチ)\u003C\/b\u003E: when both players complete markers successfully at the same time, it will be judged with an additional \u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"color: #674ea7;\"\u003ESY\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"color: #cc0000;\"\u003ENC\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E. The total rate of Synchro Touches converts to a bonus to the final Multi-combo, that might lift you up in a particularly touch Multi Mission\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003ESync Burst (シンクバースト)\u003C\/b\u003E: once in each song for each player, you can activate this mode, which grants (1) a bonus to the Multi-combo that is a percentage of it; (2) invincibility from misses and not lose lives; (3)\u0026nbsp;\u003Cb\u003EIn-burst Bonus (バースト中ボーナス)\u003C\/b\u003E: during a Sync Burst, all Synchro Touches gives a +1 bonus to the Multi-combo and (4) Synchro Touches made easier to pull off in general\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003EDouble Burst (ダブルバースト)\u003C\/b\u003E: activating Sync Burst when your partner's Burst is still active kicks it into a double-charged version, giving double (+2)\u0026nbsp;In-burst Bonus.\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003ELead (リード)\u003C\/b\u003E and \u003Cb\u003ESupport (サポート)\u003C\/b\u003E roles: are assigned in real time according to the current scores and combos maintained, with the better performing side being the lead. When having full lives, all perfect hits by the lead will be given +1 \u003Cb\u003ELife MAX Bonus (ライフMAXボーナス)\u003C\/b\u003E. However, in return,\u0026nbsp;misses by the lead will take 2 lives instead of one and\u0026nbsp;the support can refill lives faster than the lead.\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/bandainamcoent.co.jp\/am\/vg\/Synchronica\/howToPlay\/\"\u003ESynchronica main site: How to Play section\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n"},"link":[{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/3238554508764073341"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/3238554508764073341"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"https:\/\/taikotime.blogspot.com\/2016\/02\/feature-how-to-play-synchronica.html","title":"Feature: How to Play Synchronica"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"nigelliusnitrox"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/13948454407347219729"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"32","height":"32","src":"\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-oW40pbUS7lM\/Xi8JVux7fuI\/AAAAAAAABgg\/pGQNFtLgnJ4MD5EXk7FibIrMVAHtY3GBgCK4BGAYYCw\/s220\/niHA97ZK.jpg%2Bsmall.jpg"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"https:\/\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/EhAk8IZEGrE\/default.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-760759784775244167.post-7711705498420509194"},"published":{"$t":"2015-12-30T23:10:00.004+00:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2016-01-27T15:01:11.101+00:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"feature"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Feature: 2015 - The Year in Hindsight"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg border=\"0\" height=\"240\" src=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-bbkLwRxEQPg\/VMHpVqVkQsI\/AAAAAAAADkU\/WWXYPnMwo-4\/s1600\/P1232146.JPG\" width=\"320\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nWith yet another 365 days-long circle coming to a close, it that time of the year for us to take a look at what has been of the Taiko no Tatsujin series in this ending year, both in its darkest shades and its shining hours.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nSit back and enjoy this recap read, as we venture once again into Taiko memory lane for the year 2015!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ca name='more'\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EJanuary 2015\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThis closing year's beginning on the Taiko side was the very definition of the \"Cut with the past and go forward\" mentality of the New Year celebration, as the loss of old services and games meant the hints to a brighter progression for the series.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nWith the iOS Taiko RPG Da-don closure announced and Kimidori Version receiving its last song-bringing update (together with the Taiko x Meiji collaboration feud's ending), last January also brought new collaboration announcements (with Im@s Cinderella Girls and Assassination Classroom) and the thrills of the Tokaigi '15 and the surprise reveals it brought for the franchise, with the first official reveal of Murasaki Version being the crown jewel.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nWe also had the last \"conventional\" song pack for the second 3DS Taiko videogame. Since pikaby had his spikes of frenzied excitement, we have a picture from said pack's exclusive song as a header for the page! We are truly thankful for those moments, indeed.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFebruary 2015\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg src=\"http:\/\/www.4gamer.net\/games\/267\/G026782\/20150218051\/TN\/001.jpg\" height=\"320\" width=\"240\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nWhile January had the Tokaigi '15, the following month had the yearly JAEPO to further plug the future inception of Murasaki Version in pre-existing Taiko arcades, complete with preliminary newcomer song lists and the Tenkaichi Otogesai event from the past year finally coming to a close.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThe console front had less to look forward to for the very near future, but nonetheless interesting additions were made for the always-running Taiko Plus -grown bigger with more song packs and an Aikatsu collaboration shared with Shinkyoku Tori Houdai- and for the Japanese 3DS front with weekly-released songs and the first Taiko themes for the system's menus.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EMarch 2015\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg src=\"http:\/\/taikoblog.namco-ch.net\/blog\/blog_150226_01.jpg\" height=\"180\" width=\"320\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nRoughly half a month and an all-night livestream later, Murasaki Version finally became a reality for the Japanese arcade route (and for overseas Asian players the next month). Together with that, the announcement of an even bigger collaboration event with the Idolm@ster franchise -together with returning Touhou Arrange events- made the firmware's coming even merrier.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nOn a more negative side, March has seen the termination of Taiko Plus's first two Popular Song Pack as separate apps, together with Taiko-enriched Variety show Kanjani no Shiwake Eight ending its run.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EApril 2015\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg height=\"212\" src=\"https:\/\/pbs.twimg.com\/media\/CCzQRP-UsAAhopk.jpg\" style=\"-webkit-user-select: none;\" width=\"320\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nFor those who survived \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/taikotime.blogspot.it\/2015\/03\/namco-taiko-blog-march-31-2015-its-not.html\"\u003EEto's Pre-April Fools scroll-based riddle challenge\u003C\/a\u003E, the month of April was yet another galvanizing one in the side of collaboration efforts and console grounds, as popular Japanese personalities Sachiko Kobayashi and comedic duo Nippon Elekitel Rengo (pictured above) have joined the Taiko fun in a number of ways, together with the already-anticipated Idolm@ster 10th Anniversary event.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nNot only that, on April we heard for the first time about Taiko no Tatsujin V Version, the first Playstation Vita title of the series! From here, there have been long months of waiting...\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EMay 2015\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg src=\"http:\/\/taikoblog.namco-ch.net\/blog\/15th_logo.jpg\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThe last month of May simply rode on the many events\/DLC continuation being issued from the year's beginning, while keeping on the news delivery front for V Version and more Touhou magic at the annual Reitasai. This month is also notable for overseas Taiko fans due to the franchise spawning in unusual places, from Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate DLC missions to current-gen Taiko arcade models being spotted in Brazil and Kenya!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nWe also had the sad task to echo the saddening news about the death of Phenotas digital percussionist\u0026nbsp;Sawa \"sweets\" Mikihiko (澤\"sweets\"ミキヒコ), who contributed in the making of the Namco Original Denshi-drum no Tatsujin.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EJune 2015\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg alt=\"Collegamento permanente dell'immagine integrata\" height=\"240\" src=\"https:\/\/pbs.twimg.com\/media\/CIug6osUkAATgVw.jpg\" width=\"320\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nCompensating for the delayed Taiko Team livestream session from the last month, June had a double portion to compensate, starring the development team of Synchronica for the first time and fully explaining the plans for the Taiko 15th Anniversary celebration on the tournament side, with another huge competition being revealed (and beginning this coming year!) and paired with another CreoFuga song-making contest.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nTogether with the continued news support for V Version's imminent release month, the announcement of Taiko 3DS 2's localization was made for South Korean players, with their own version getting a 2015 release later in the year. More collaboration events have risen between other videogames, such as Chain Chronicle and the Ace Combat series.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EJuly 2015\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg src=\"http:\/\/gematsu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Taiko-Vita-JP-Box-Art_04-16-15.jpg\" height=\"320\" style=\"-webkit-user-select: none;\" width=\"251\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nLast July has been one of the darkest months for the gaming world with the departure of Nintendo personality Satoru Iwata; yet, in the Taiko scope of things, this was also the month of the launch of what is probably going to be remembered as the most challenging console Taiko release ever made, with the elder gamer-centric V Version's song selection of generally-hard tracks and brand new inclusions. Not only that, the twin Idolm@sters Must Songs titles were announced in the same month as well!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nTogether with reporting the usual DLC\/collaboration reveals in the other console fronts (as well as the return of the Tenkaichi Otogesai tournament action), we also started the Sympho-Neighbours feature in order to have a glimpse on how certain themes\/tropes available among Taiko songs are developed in other rhythm games franchises.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EAugust 2015\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg border=\"0\" height=\"256\" src=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-1TExSaHxQqg\/Vb96PK5YUHI\/AAAAAAAAA1U\/xwbC3VM-D9A\/s320\/taikotime5th.png\" width=\"320\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nYes, our humble blog turned 5 last August, and thanks to our loyal readers we had some fun with another kind of special quiz, this time around headed to us -the blog editors! You can still check it out on our Contacts section, along with the interviews to both current and old staff members.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nOn the news side, even more Taiko no Tatsujin collaboration content made it to the west with Puzzle \u0026amp; Dragons and Yakuza 5 (both for NA and Europe for the first time!), while the third Taiko game for Wii U was revealed in occasion of the last August's livestream session.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ESeptember 2015\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg src=\"http:\/\/www.iplaypsvita.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/the-idolmaster-must-songs-red-board-blue-board-ps-vita-packshot.jpg\" height=\"247\" width=\"400\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nTwo months after V Version's release, the dual Idolm@ster Must Songs started to have a steady flow of updates regarding their respective content alongside with Taiko Wii U news, Taiko Plus's score attack events and the hint of something white coming our way!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nBad news, however, has been the first huge losses in form of simultaneous DLC content removal, including one song pack from the 2nd 3DS game and the entire DLC catalog for Taiko no Tatsujin Portable Deluxe. Topping that was the saddening news of Vocaloid producer Takayuki 'samfree' Sano's departure, which we documented the month later.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EOctober 2015\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg src=\"http:\/\/www.port24.co.jp\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/o01_s.png\" style=\"-webkit-user-select: none;\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAfter a few Twitter leaks from the Arcade Operator Unit, the 2nd edition of the Tenkaichi Otogesai cross-over tournament finally began, although in the end this is turning out to be a weaker edition due to the fact of no new song crossovers between the participating external publishers' rhythm game franchise.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nLeading up the pile of the other Taiko games' DLC news and minor updates are the first tangible leakes of what the Murasaki Version firmware's successor looks like. The race for an end-year triple Taiko game release is about to come to an end!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ENovember 2015\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg src=\"http:\/\/taikoblog.namco-ch.net\/blog\/blog_atutomo.jpg\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nBefore the end-year new games rush we have yet ANOTHER console Taiko release in form of Atsumete Tomodachi Daisakusen, the aforementioned third Taiko game for Wii U. The update flow of news for the other currently-active and going-to-be-released games ran with no other major surprises.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EDecember 2015\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg src=\"http:\/\/taikoblog.namco-ch.net\/blog\/blog_151105_01.jpg\" height=\"180\" width=\"320\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nFor Taiko gaming, the year ended with a bang, thanks to \u003Ci\u003Ethree\u003C\/i\u003E Taiko titles getting a simultaneous release on the same day: the twin Idolm@ster Must Songs Ps Vita games and White Version, Taiko Murasaki's arcade firmware successor.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThe support for both the the latest arcade firmware and the former 2 console games for Wii U and PS Vita was also proved to be leading strong this coming year's opening, with even more DLC content being scheduled and a month-long arcade tournament in order to anticipate the big 2016 tourney's beginning.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n-----------------------------------------------\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThis was the year 2015 in a nutshell. By looking back it's been scarily frightening about what has been lost during the course of the year, as well as the overwhelming content the Taiko no Tatsujin franchise has acquired as a whole between collaborations, loads of new games and even leaks of attempts for a greater overseas recognition.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nIt's kind of hard for me personally (Lokamp) to draw the line in general, as it might have been my hardest year to live on for personal reasons; regardless, I hope that the personal experiences that you guys may have carried through this year -being either positive or negative ones- can help you on positively carrying your life forward as more resolute people in the years to come.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nCan't wait to write more in 2016! I hope that by then I'll be making less orthographic errors..."},"link":[{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/7711705498420509194"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/7711705498420509194"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"https:\/\/taikotime.blogspot.com\/2015\/12\/feature-2015-year-in-hindsight.html","title":"Feature: 2015 - The Year in Hindsight"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Nintendo 5-Star"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/00378622809042133428"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"32","height":"29","src":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_q54rb31Kf8A\/SqpQHwyZlmI\/AAAAAAAAAAM\/n0_hPxNZuLM\/S220\/n5slogo.png"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-bbkLwRxEQPg\/VMHpVqVkQsI\/AAAAAAAADkU\/WWXYPnMwo-4\/s72-c\/P1232146.JPG","height":"72","width":"72"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-760759784775244167.post-2267307528237220773"},"published":{"$t":"2015-08-21T00:46:00.002+01:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2015-08-21T15:30:56.986+01:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"feature"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Feature: ≠MM: Facts and Speculations"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ciframe allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Z17UlztFBjs\" width=\"560\"\u003E\u003C\/iframe\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAs the (plot-wise) secret last boss song for V Version, slews of half-speed 220 BPM then 250+ BPM section, and an almost unpronounceable name to boot without some butchering,\u0026nbsp;\u003Cb\u003E≠MM\u003C\/b\u003E is no doubt one of the toughest nut to crack in recent Taiko history alongside Donkama 2000, Xa, Dokadoka and Yuugen no Ran (oh god and all of them converge at V Version soon).\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nHere, about one month as of its release, let's check out some of the scattered clues and rising speculation of the elusive tune.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ca name='more'\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"color: #0b5394;\"\u003EBehind the Drums\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThis rugged theme of desolation is composed by the familiar Linda AI-CUE. The notechart maybe devilishly hard, but unlike many past crazy challenges Etou \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/taiko_team\/status\/621259262698745857\"\u003Ehas spoken\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;to not be involved in charting this. Whoever that notecharter is, kudos has to be acknowledged that the crazy rush of notes actually reflects the interlacing sound effects in the music.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"color: #0b5394;\"\u003EPronouncing\u0026nbsp;≠MM\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nA tweet from Erika Suzuki, who we have been mentioning a lot recently for starring in the V Version TVCM and especially the bonus feature of reciting all song titles, may give a good starting lead.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" lang=\"en\"\u003E\n\u003Cdiv dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"ja\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/HHB10_765\"\u003E@HHB10_765\u003C\/a\u003E \n\n返信遅れてごめんなさい😔💦\nではない にせん ですよー😊😊 ！\u003C\/div\u003E\n— 鈴木えりか PPP! PiXiON (@erika_pixion) \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/erika_pixion\/status\/624831009222057984\"\u003EJuly 25, 2015\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: x-small;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003EQ:\u003C\/b\u003E [...] During the shooting for the Recite All Song Titles PV, how did you read that \"≠MM\" song?\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: x-small;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003EA:\u003C\/b\u003E [...] It was \"Dewanai Nisen\"!\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThis answer surprisingly makes sense if you know your mathemetics: the unequal sign can mean a simple negation like \"not\", and \"dewanai\" (ではない) means exactly that. MM in Roman numeral equals to 2000, read in Japanese as \"nisen\".\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nNow it is true that Suzuki should have been told all the official pronunciations before the PV shoot, yet it is still not a completely official source. We still await future confirmation from Linda AI-CUE and\/or Etou and co.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"color: #0b5394;\"\u003EM for Morse (code)\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nI know we just say M here is the Roman numeral for thousands, but work with me on this catchphrase okay? Parts of the track, where the notecharts had a rush of only kat notes, contains subtle sounds that can be interpreted in Morse code to reveal the following (with some speculated errors, in red):\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cul\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003EI can no longer make up with \u003Cspan style=\"color: red;\"\u003Eyou\u003C\/span\u003E.\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003EI \u003Cspan style=\"color: red;\"\u003Enever\u003C\/span\u003E accept you\u003Cspan style=\"color: red;\"\u003E!!!\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\nIf you look into with the Donder Quest story though, this may make more sense: [spoilers+speculation hidden] \u003Cspan style=\"color: white;\"\u003EAfter an initial fight with a Noise-corrupted Violia (Zetsubou e no Toccata), Maple and Don-chan managed to purify some of the Noise, only to have Violia consumed once again by the overwhelming Noise. The feeble message within this final boss music might be seen as Violia's own (sub)conscious putting up whatever weak resistance it could muster.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"color: #0b5394;\"\u003EA Secret 2000?\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nSo after all these talk, some leaves the speculative conclusion that\u0026nbsp;≠MM might have been in secret another 2000 Series installment. Let's see some of the coincidences:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cul\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003EOutside some of the older songs on PS2 Anime Special (The DonRangers ones), the 2000 series has been Linda AI-CUE's only Namco Original work.\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E2000 Series has known to include Morse Code, either in chart (Soroban, Kidaruma) or in the music (KitaSai, Hataraku, Suuhaa). If not the only ones, the 2000 Series is some of the very few pieces in Taiko that has such codes buried within.\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003EIt's not like a 2000 song title has to write out the namesake \"2000\" in square Arabic numeral. Joubutsu 2000 (万戈イム－一ノ十) can be the first to rebutt that.\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\nSo what do you think? All these are just mere wishful thinking, or are you convinced? Share with us below in the comments.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"color: red;\"\u003E\u003Ci\u003EUpdate with Aug 21 livestream:\u003C\/i\u003E Pronouncation is\u0026nbsp;officially confirmed to be\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"color: red;\"\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cb style=\"color: red;\"\u003EDewanai Nisen\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"color: red;\"\u003E, as well as the explanation behind it. Noting that as with the title literally meaning \"Not 2000\",\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"color: red;\"\u003E≠MM is also officially confirmed to \u003Cb\u003E\u003Cu\u003ENOT\u003C\/u\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E be in the 2000 Series, despite any tropes it satisfies.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n"},"link":[{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/2267307528237220773"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/2267307528237220773"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"https:\/\/taikotime.blogspot.com\/2015\/08\/feature-mm-facts-and-speculations.html","title":"Feature: ≠MM: Facts and Speculations"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"nigelliusnitrox"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/13948454407347219729"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"32","height":"32","src":"\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-oW40pbUS7lM\/Xi8JVux7fuI\/AAAAAAAABgg\/pGQNFtLgnJ4MD5EXk7FibIrMVAHtY3GBgCK4BGAYYCw\/s220\/niHA97ZK.jpg%2Bsmall.jpg"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"https:\/\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/Z17UlztFBjs\/default.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-760759784775244167.post-7656045013850866"},"published":{"$t":"2015-08-09T10:30:00.000+01:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2015-08-09T10:35:47.404+01:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"feature"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Feature: Idolm@ster and Call Notecharts"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"Connections between Idolm@ster x Taiko no Tatsujin appears to be endless. Even with the already-enormous count of 30 songs, there is still\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/taikotime.blogspot.hk\/2015\/08\/twitter-snippets-4-august-2015-shining.html\"\u003Eanother round of Cinderella Girls collab\u003C\/a\u003E coming in, an expected\u0026nbsp;foray into the men's department with a\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/taikotime.blogspot.hk\/2014\/09\/twitter-snippets-sept-11-12-2014.html\"\u003ESideM collab\u003C\/a\u003E,\u0026nbsp;and even \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/taikotime.blogspot.hk\/2015\/07\/is-this-even-taiko-no-tatsujin-game.html\"\u003Ea whole Taiko no Tatsujin-based but Idolm@ster-branded game\u003C\/a\u003E on the PSVita.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nWith that, let's talk about two notechart-related terms that have been associated with the idol production franchise in Taiko history.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ca name='more'\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"color: #0b5394;\"\u003Eim@s Notecharts\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThis term seems to have been deprecated and wasn't too widely used to begin with, but it is recorded with major fan communities like\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.wikihouse.com\/taiko\/index.php?%CD%D1%B8%EC%BD%B8#imasscore\"\u003Ewikihouse\u003C\/a\u003E, so here's a brief run down anyway.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAlso called the\u0026nbsp;\u003Cb\u003EAngel Dream Notechart\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;(エンドリ譜面), the\u0026nbsp;\u003Cb\u003Eim@s Notechart\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;(アイマス譜面) is one that has rather basic patterns, mostly a simple mix of single notes and triple 16th cluster at a 1\/8 spacing, but mainly challenges Donder in processing notechart patterns under high speed and\/or density conditions.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nBoth of the names come to be because the whole\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/taikotime.blogspot.com\/2010\/08\/angel-dream-series.html\"\u003EAngel Dream series\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;and many earlier Idolm@ster notecharts use these characteristics extensively. Other examples include\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=vGIqYbcTnIc\"\u003EPunishment\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;and\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=UsEwcwB75QU\"\u003EBlack Rose Apostle\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAgain, the use of this term is limited, and as the rise of this next category, the term has appeared to be replaced in meaning.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"color: #0b5394;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003ECall Notecharts\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nDefinitely not to be confused with a telephone call or a (margin) call in the financial fields,\u0026nbsp;\u003Cb\u003Ecall\u003C\/b\u003E (コール) is the encouraging display of vocal shouts and cries during a sports event or contemporary concerts, or basically like \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Cheering\"\u003Echeering\u003C\/a\u003E in English.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nIn Idolm@ster (and some other idol game franchises), there are recognized patterns of calls specific and in time to each song in the franchise. Calls have been present in both the games and other derivative media like the anime and, of course, live concerts.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAs an example, take a look at this excerpt from the Idolm@ster (main series) anime, where the idol girls from 765 Production puts on a concert performance of\u0026nbsp;\u003Cb\u003EJibun REST@ART\u003C\/b\u003E (自分REST@ART), and the audience calls on enthusiastically in time with the song. This video specifically is also annotated with the lyrics and most major call cues, being a \"call training video\" and all.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ciframe allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-sFxfv4Bz5k?end=118\" width=\"560\"\u003E\u003C\/iframe\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nNow check out the same song on Taiko no Tatsujin Murasaki ver., especially the Futsuu notechart (4★). Can you see the resemblance? And here is where we draw the definition: a \u003Cb\u003ECall Notechart\u003C\/b\u003E (コール譜面) is a notechart that has a lot of the recognized call patterns worked into the notes.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ciframe allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8k93WlC05bE\" width=\"560\"\u003E\u003C\/iframe\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nWith more and more Call Notecharts propping up like \u003Cb\u003ETHE IDOLM@STER\u003C\/b\u003E (new chart) and \u003Cb\u003EMajide...!?\u003C\/b\u003E, Some of the common patterns start to emerge, including:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cul\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003EUsually large notes and sometimes sped up immensely for excited calls\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003EVery easy sections consisting of yellow drumrolls and single notes (like the PPPH call), that is unfitting for higher difficulty\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003EVery short bursts of Go-go Time, with the firework effects emulating stage effects in an idol live event\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\nPart of the introduction of Call Notecharts also involved massively revamping some of the previously included songs. This has caused resentment from Donders who feels nostalgia with the old notecharts. As such, the Taiko Team went and readded older Oni notecharts as Ura notecharts whenever they can, including updates to AC0, repackaging newer 3DS2 DLCs, and a free DLC patch to V Version's default im@s song.\u003C\/div\u003E\n"},"link":[{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/7656045013850866"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/7656045013850866"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"https:\/\/taikotime.blogspot.com\/2015\/08\/feature-idolmster-and-call-notecharts.html","title":"Feature: Idolm@ster and Call Notecharts"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"nigelliusnitrox"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/13948454407347219729"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"32","height":"32","src":"\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-oW40pbUS7lM\/Xi8JVux7fuI\/AAAAAAAABgg\/pGQNFtLgnJ4MD5EXk7FibIrMVAHtY3GBgCK4BGAYYCw\/s220\/niHA97ZK.jpg%2Bsmall.jpg"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"https:\/\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/-sFxfv4Bz5k\/default.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-760759784775244167.post-6911598865718791140"},"published":{"$t":"2015-01-02T15:07:00.001+00:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2015-01-03T09:51:16.145+00:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"feature"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Feature: 2014 - The year in hindsight"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-dwCU4xQyXvU\/UuZrTo3YxOI\/AAAAAAAAC1M\/lA3BzhTi9SE\/s1600\/Be-kdvFCQAAvNLp.jpg\" height=\"213\" width=\"320\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nA new year is upon us! A time to look forward to future events, and recollect our memories of the past 12 months.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAnd what an awesome 12 months it was; so much happened for our beloved Taiko no Tatsujin, it rivals even the cherished 10th Anniversary events! So many new releases, events and collaborations have occurred on both arcade and console that it's hard to keep track of them all! Let's look at 2014 month by month, shall we?\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ca name='more'\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EJanuary 2014\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nTaiko Momoiro is just one month old, but it had already started roaring on what usually is a silent month for gaming, with its localization in other Asian countries (the first networked HD Taiko!) starting with Taiwan, then Hong Kong, Malaysia and Thailand, and even reaching Brazil and Kenya later in the year! The top picture of the article is from the Taiwanese launch event, inaugurated by modern Taiko games programmer Takemoto.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThe Japanese Taiko scene is burning too with its own business, as a couple of software updates and two continuing\/returning collaborations (Momoiro Clover Z and Puzzle \u0026amp; Dragons) have kept expectations high, even in the console department with free DLC songs for the Taiko Wii U.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFebruary 2014\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg alt=\"File:MKAGPDX Don-chan artwork.jpg\" src=\"http:\/\/www.mariowiki.com\/images\/4\/41\/MKAGPDX_Don-chan_artwork.jpg\" height=\"204\" width=\"320\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThe month of February also rode the collaboration wave for, with a slew of new merchandise at\u0026nbsp; Winter World Hobby Fair 2014, additional tie-ins with McDonald's, Puzzle \u0026amp; Dragons Z and a silent yet steady localization of the latest Mario Kart Arcade GP title in America, with Don-Chan and everything else. The month has also been an emissary of future and bigger events, with the inclusion of more IA\/Touhou songs, and Idolm@ster songs being featured in Maimai, everyone's favorite 'washing machine' rhythm game from Sega.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nBut not everything is fun and games for the month; February also saw the death of Luvkraft composer Ishibashi 'mirawi' Wataru, composer for nearly all the Chata and Kaori Aihara songs on Taiko games up to March '14. The news was spread on the Internet three months later and recollected on our blog later on, after a random find by our staff. His last composition for Taiko was a Donchare Namco Original named Mahou no Kissaten, sung by Kaori Aihara.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EMarch 2014\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg src=\"http:\/\/taikoblog.namco-ch.net\/blog\/blog_140320_10.jpg\" height=\"148\" width=\"320\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nWith mild updates in the arcade front, the birth of Taiko mini soundtracks and Taiko Wii U users enjoying four exclusive Game Music tracks from classic Nintendo games as part of a Famicom Remix event, the key word for the previous March has been loud and unanimous: HYPE. A Nicovideo livestream for the third NicoNico Super Conference has spread the announcement of a three-piece rhythm game collaboration between Bandai Namco, Sega and maimai, simply known as the Game Music Triangle.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nStarting the month after, the event linked the arcade releases of Groove Coaster, maimai and Taiko no Tatsujin with new songs, ultimately resulting into the release of three original Game Music arrangements from the three game companies' history and three remixes from the aforementioned arranges. Which, in retrospect was slightly disappointing as most fans were expecting original song exports from each of the games into the others. But that craving would be satiated some time later....\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EApril 2014\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg alt=\"Collegamento permanente dell'immagine integrata\" height=\"320\" src=\"https:\/\/pbs.twimg.com\/media\/BkFzUf2CUAEy8ji.jpg\" width=\"240\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nWith the April Fools' round yellow Daruma and the starting collaboration triangle, the Taiko scene of this month surely started in a good shape! Puns aside, further livestream sessions expanded the GMT's presence, as well as Touhou tracks for the yearly Hakurei Shrine Festival and the debut of Yuru-kyara songs with Kumamon on the home console scene. Last but not least, the shape of a brand new portable Taiko game and a certain composer's real identity have become clearer and clearer...\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nLast April has also been a great month for our blog as well, as we welcomed long-time readers \u003Cb\u003Enigelliusnitrox\u003C\/b\u003E and \u003Cb\u003ECoroQuetz\u003C\/b\u003E as regular contributors for the blog. Thanks for your help, guys!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EMay 2014\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg alt=\"View image on Twitter\" class=\"autosized-media\" data-crop-x=\"0\" data-crop-y=\"10\" data-height=\"399\" data-image-index=\"0\" data-srcset=\"https%3A%2F%2Fpbs.twimg.com%2Fmedia%2FBmogD9XCMAAw0kH.jpg%3Alarge 1024w,https%3A%2F%2Fpbs.twimg.com%2Fmedia%2FBmogD9XCMAAw0kH.jpg 600w,https%3A%2F%2Fpbs.twimg.com%2Fmedia%2FBmogD9XCMAAw0kH.jpg%3Asmall 340w\" data-width=\"600\" height=\"212\" src=\"https:\/\/pbs.twimg.com\/media\/BmogD9XCMAAw0kH.jpg\" title=\"View image on Twitter\" width=\"320\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n2013's May was an uneventful month for Taiko fans. This May, the pre-release information for the second Taiko game for Nintendo 3DS and the expanded audience for Momoiro Asian arcades made the Taiko Team more active in the social front as well, on both the usual Twitter account and a new Facebook presence, with MC Linn of EkiBEN 2000 fame handling the translation of Taiko Team's announcements into Chinese for the Asian fanbase.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAside from that, the climate on Taiko games was simply gliding under the wind of excitement from\u0026nbsp; the previous months, with the final GMT songs and some other public exhibits of the arcade. It has also been the month of mobile spin-offs for the franchise, with an Au Smart Pass-exclusive app about outfit customization and the announce of another Taiko-themed game for iOS (Taiko RPG da-don!) taking a page from Puzzle \u0026amp; Dragons' book.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EJune 2014\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-2M5PpDeHpnM\/U1FKMaA3KVI\/AAAAAAAADEo\/VyNH0hjHmGM\/s320\/taiko3ds3_0412_05.jpg\" height=\"283\" width=\"320\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThis has been a jolly month both for console and arcade Taiko players! While the former category saw the release of the much-anticipated second 3DS title for the franchise (with paid DLC!), the latter group rejoiced as 2013's much-delayed Taiko tournament finally came to a close, featuring Momoiro's final boss songs, and the explosive reveal of both Zeami as Tatsh, and together with it, his challenge to the winner of the tournament with his latest devilish creation, Yuugen no Ran. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nOne more huge item was revealed at the tourney, one that would be release just the month after.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EJuly 2014\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg src=\"http:\/\/taikoblog.namco-ch.net\/blog\/blog_140619_00.jpg\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThe Taiko arcade's rainbow of colors grew larger on July, as a brand new firmware was released, complete with many songs from Taiko 3DS 2, system tweaks, custom song folders and generally-speaking, a whole lot more new content. The 3DS game continued its expansion as well, with the introduction of monthly DLC packs with extra Story Mode chapters. For the record, we're getting the last DLC pack of this cycle by January 2015's end, so get ready!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nMeanwhile, our blog received yet another additional feature for our readers' pleasure: our own Twitter account! Drop by in for periodical, fast updates on what's going on in this blog.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EAugust 2014\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg src=\"https:\/\/33.media.tumblr.com\/b421d3c5746722b082854502c8034387\/tumblr_ndjjwfHhYF1ssebn3o1_400.png\" style=\"-webkit-user-select: none;\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nBeing the month of this blog's creation back in 2010, August always means business to us. However, the announce of yet another cross-over rhythm game collaboration in the same year has set the bar at a new, unprecedented height! Started in the following months by the Japanese Arcade Operator Unit, the Tenkaichi Otogesai tournament tied together the three GMT rhythm games and Konami's jubeat series in a legendary sharing of crossed-over songs, featuring one famous boss tune from each of the participating games and 4 brand new songs made by different composers from the four franchises involved, featuring nature's four elements as the driving theme.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAmong the other hot topics for the month, we also had some Super Smash Bros. talk in the composers department and another slew of rumors for an additional console game for the year...\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ESeptember 2014\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-E6yK9-cK83U\/VAWVkNNGTGI\/AAAAAAAADWw\/Y9F8pBJ98Us\/s1600\/blog_140902_03.jpg\" height=\"320\" width=\"220\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThe previous month's rumors were not spread to give false hopes: a second Taiko videogame for Wii U was actually coming! ... it's just that we had two more months of waiting ahead. Until then, September had a more-relaxed attitude, focusing on crossed-over activities with livestreams, the Tenkaichi Otogesai, PazuDora (yet again) and a series of contests starring the hyper-energetic Funassyi, Funabashi prefecture's unofficial mascot.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EOctober 2014\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-HL-P0AsNsdw\/VEYoihg1ruI\/AAAAAAAADbg\/2w4zxhdBVIo\/s1600\/img_title.png\" height=\"182\" width=\"400\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAnother kind-of-random month follows, as the most exciting Taiko-related news come from either future events or outside of Taiko. Falling in these categories, we had a new slew of Touhou songs exclusive to the Autumn Hakurei Shrine Festival, the Tenkaichi Otogesai's beginning and the first location test for new rhythm game from Bandai Namco (Synchronica), which is partially relying on Taiko no Tatsujin's popularity both for advertisement and for a certain flagship song's presence...\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ENovember 2014\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg src=\"http:\/\/taikoblog.namco-ch.net\/blog\/blog_140918_03.jpg\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nOur quest of updating the out-dated content on this blog becomes harder and harder for us, as a second console Taiko game hit the scenes with roughly 30 songs more than its predecessor at launch. Also note-worthy throughout the month were the final Tenkaichi Otogesai songs and new collaborations with Puyo Puyo games and enka singer Sachiko Kobayashi, the latter of which is still running (at the time of this feature's publishing date).\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EDecember 2014\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cimg border=\"0\" height=\"255\" src=\"https:\/\/lh4.googleusercontent.com\/proxy\/P8OOmWz5lQqCpzp3nSTKYulaPjj0oWl-lC-eUlHiafo2PQKiyTegDuR1de-r5DueUbXdnlJR\" width=\"320\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThe Autumnal laid-back tones make their comeback, with little to no new major features other than the additional content\/news being revealed in two different streams and a Taiko x Meiji collaboration aimed to the arcade machines. On the distance though, we can already see the perspective of yet another firmware upgrade for the Taiko arcades, coming in 3 months...\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n--------------------------\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThat wraps up 2014 in Taiko gaming. With the usual focus on collaboration and general advertisement throughout the year, it still has been a stellar year for Taiko gaming in any way: while introducing lots of new tunes and a big share of new features throughout new arcade updates and games, it's also the first year since the foundation of Taiko games' lore leeching into multiple rhythm game franchises at the same time (and vice-versa!), thanks to two legendary cross-over events.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nWe hope that you guys enjoyed the ride as much as we do! Let's hope for an even brighter 2015.\n\u003C!-- Blogger automated replacement: \"https:\/\/images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com\/gadgets\/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2Fpuu.sh%2FdSjZV%2F164dffc307.jpg\u0026amp;container=blogger\u0026amp;gadget=a\u0026amp;rewriteMime=image%2F*\" with \"https:\/\/lh4.googleusercontent.com\/proxy\/P8OOmWz5lQqCpzp3nSTKYulaPjj0oWl-lC-eUlHiafo2PQKiyTegDuR1de-r5DueUbXdnlJR\" --\u003E"},"link":[{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/6911598865718791140"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/6911598865718791140"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"https:\/\/taikotime.blogspot.com\/2015\/01\/feature-2014-year-in-hindsight.html","title":"Feature: 2014 - The year in hindsight"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Nintendo 5-Star"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/00378622809042133428"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"32","height":"29","src":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_q54rb31Kf8A\/SqpQHwyZlmI\/AAAAAAAAAAM\/n0_hPxNZuLM\/S220\/n5slogo.png"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-dwCU4xQyXvU\/UuZrTo3YxOI\/AAAAAAAAC1M\/lA3BzhTi9SE\/s72-c\/Be-kdvFCQAAvNLp.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-760759784775244167.post-2247030931628630800"},"published":{"$t":"2014-08-03T10:13:00.000+01:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2014-08-03T10:13:08.432+01:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"feature"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Feature: Yuru-kyara: What's the big deal?"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-MVj8biU_B8k\/U9ZffvvwJdI\/AAAAAAAADRM\/nfKWLD-RwSE\/s1600\/SEB201301270051.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-MVj8biU_B8k\/U9ZffvvwJdI\/AAAAAAAADRM\/nfKWLD-RwSE\/s1600\/SEB201301270051.jpg\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: x-small;\"\u003EThe cuddly side of Japan in a nutshell\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nSome very interesting developments in Taiko no Tatsujin's song library (the Variety genre) include characters which foreigners might not be familiar with. Who is Funassyi? Who is Kumamon?\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ca name='more'\u003E\u003C\/a\u003EThey're mascots called 'yuru-kyara' (ゆるキャラ), short for 'yurui mascot character' ('yurui' meaning 'gentle' or 'soft'). Yuru-kyara are created by government bodies and other organizations to represent many things, much like the many mascots created by other countries for major sporting events (think the Olympics and major league baseball), except with a much heavier emphasis on cuteness. Just look at all the soft, cuddly things on the picture!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nMascot characters for places, events and things, and people wearing oversized suits of characters have been around for a long time throughout the world, but the term 'yuru-kyara' is said to have only came about at the turn of the millenium, coined by manga artist Miura-jun (みうら じゅん) during the 15th National Cultural Festival in Hiroshima, upon seeing its main symbolic character named Bunkakki (ブンカッキー). Miura used the term frequently over the next few years, but it wasn't until the year 2007 when Hikonyan (ひこにゃん), a mascot created to commemorate the Hikone Castle, was created, that the culture of 'yuru-kyara' truly hit its stride, that everyone decided that making a mascot for everything would help increase its popularity.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-cPWN32E623I\/U9ebwEZS3ZI\/AAAAAAAADRk\/a1_6OiiZKnI\/s1600\/hikonyan-mascot-of-Hikone.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-cPWN32E623I\/U9ebwEZS3ZI\/AAAAAAAADRk\/a1_6OiiZKnI\/s1600\/hikonyan-mascot-of-Hikone.jpg\" height=\"200\" width=\"166\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: x-small;\"\u003ECute little samurai cat Hikonyan\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nBecause of Japan's obsession with cute things, more and more mascots were created as a public relations symbol for places, organizations and events to bring attention to them. There is huge amounts of publicity and attention to be gained just by having a cute object to turn people's heads. When some of them even have fan clubs, merchandising and theme songs (as in Hikonyan, Kumamon and Funassyi's cases), you know it's turning into a full-blown craze. Even institutions known to be tough and stern use yuru-kyaras to change their image. Case in point:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-EM1By89iFP8\/U9emqL2OGhI\/AAAAAAAADR0\/hGm-rUjUoEg\/s1600\/asahikawa_prison_mascot.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-EM1By89iFP8\/U9emqL2OGhI\/AAAAAAAADR0\/hGm-rUjUoEg\/s1600\/asahikawa_prison_mascot.jpg\" height=\"180\" width=\"320\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: x-small;\"\u003EKatakkuri-chan standing next to a cop\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nBelieve it or not, this huggable creature is the mascot for a prison! There are mascots for other 'scary' things like the police and government officials, and is believed that the mascots make them a lot more approachable and well-accepted by the public.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nNot content at just having a cute symbol, some mascots even have their own background stories, hobbies, catchphrases and personalities to endear them more to people and increase their uniqueness. A ton of them have stuff like this; it's up to you to dig up as much information about your favorite mascots as possible!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/sociorocketnewsen.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/header03.png?w=580\u0026amp;h=290\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/sociorocketnewsen.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/header03.png?w=580\u0026amp;h=290\" height=\"200\" width=\"400\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nSince the popularity of yuru-kyaras translate into more exposure for whatever it represents, it makes sense to have a popularity contest for them, to further increase their awareness. That's what Japan has been doing for four years now! The annual 'Yuru-kyara Grand Prix' has been going on since 2010, and this year will be its 5th.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/si.wsj.net\/public\/resources\/images\/OB-VP190_JCHARA_H_20121206142754.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/si.wsj.net\/public\/resources\/images\/OB-VP190_JCHARA_H_20121206142754.jpg\" height=\"213\" width=\"320\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: x-small;\"\u003EYuru-kyara Grand Prix shot. Who's this cutie corn mascot?\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThe Grand Prix is a cute lover's heaven and (at least that's what it looks like from here) it's all too easy to drown in the sweet, fluffy diabetes as there are so many of them participating (865 in the year 2012, as shown in the above picture!). The congregation of cuddly things face off in an online popularity poll, where Japanese people vote for their grand prix winners online, American Idol style.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nGuess who won it once?\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/blog.maripositas.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/kumamon_thumb.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.maripositas.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/kumamon_thumb.jpg\" height=\"320\" width=\"315\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: x-small;\"\u003EKumamon, representing Kumamoto Prefecture\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nHere's your winner of 2011! Kumamon continues to enjoy stupendous celebrity status and is well-known internationally, but we'll cover his biography and story in an appropriate Song of the Week feature! What we can say here is Kumamon transformed sleepy Kumamoto Prefecture into the center of attention, and has generated billions of yen in revenue. He's the flagship example for how influential yuru-kyaras can be.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nOther example winners:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/timefordinner.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/11\/barysan1.png\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/timefordinner.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/11\/barysan1.png\" height=\"320\" width=\"271\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\nBarii-san, a super round and huggable baby chick mascot who won in 2012.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.goodtheater.jp\/images\/sanomaru.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/www.goodtheater.jp\/images\/sanomaru.jpg\" height=\"320\" width=\"263\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nSanomaru, a cute white puppy dog samurai mascot representing Sano City in Tochigi Prefecture, won in 2013.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nWait, something's missing. Where's that insane, violently-shaking pear of a mascot, Funassyi? \u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-XV3KvQ9yt_I\/U9e7Z5gbizI\/AAAAAAAADSE\/mLsMSluP-x0\/s1600\/11633241.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-XV3KvQ9yt_I\/U9e7Z5gbizI\/AAAAAAAADSE\/mLsMSluP-x0\/s1600\/11633241.jpg\" height=\"320\" width=\"320\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: x-small;\"\u003EHya-haaa!!\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nFunassyi is an 'unofficial mascot' representing Funabashi City. 'Unofficial' because it was created by a local citizen for his individual purposes at first. He tried to get it officially approved by the municipal council but was rejected. However, Funassyi grew extremely popular anyway because of its erratic behavior and hyper-activeness, something all other yuru-kyaras do not have. Like Kumamon, it has gained widespread recognition and is one of the most active yuru-kyaras in Japan in terms of public appearances and merchandising campaigns.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-HPm4E-JUKOg\/U6mEMCronNI\/AAAAAAAAFaw\/V8v35KwSasU\/s1600\/2um0w.gif\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-HPm4E-JUKOg\/U6mEMCronNI\/AAAAAAAAFaw\/V8v35KwSasU\/s1600\/2um0w.gif\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: x-small;\"\u003EHow can you not like a crazy dancing jumping pear?\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nSpeaking of which, remember that event where \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/taikotime.blogspot.com\/2014\/06\/twitter-snippets-june-19-2014-huis-ten.html\" target=\"_blank\"\u003ETaiko no Tatsujin Momoiro sessions were to be projected on a building-sized screen\u003C\/a\u003E? The one at the Huis Ten Bosch in Nagasaki? Yup, there's a yuru-kyara for that as well! The building and its surroundings are based off the Netherlands, famous for its tulip fields, therefore the mascot for the Huis Ten Bosch is a giant tulip named Tulie (ちゅーりー)! Tulie comes in five different colors and you can buy plush dolls of it on-site.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/d\/dd\/Tulie_Huis_Ten_Bosch.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/d\/dd\/Tulie_Huis_Ten_Bosch.jpg\" height=\"320\" width=\"240\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: x-small;\"\u003ETulie is a big pink huggable cutie-pie\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nNot all is rosy in the cuddly yuru-kyara land however; with how many are being made regularly, there is bound to be a group of characters who fade into obscurity and become dead weight (\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.tokyoweekender.com\/2014\/05\/unpopular-yuru-kyara-face-early-retirement\/\"\u003Ehttp:\/\/www.tokyoweekender.com\/2014\/05\/unpopular-yuru-kyara-face-early-retirement\/\u003C\/a\u003E). When there are too many mascots in one area, the unpopular ones get the axe and are either re-branded or never seen again. If you know your favorite yuru-kyara is one of the less well-known ones, rally up some support for it sometime!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-F254sV2L2_c\/U938kEbE12I\/AAAAAAAADSk\/pNwJQGOT7Uw\/s1600\/cdn10.atwikiimg.com.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-F254sV2L2_c\/U938kEbE12I\/AAAAAAAADSk\/pNwJQGOT7Uw\/s1600\/cdn10.atwikiimg.com.jpg\" height=\"320\" width=\"249\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: x-small;\"\u003ESomeone take me to Kokonoe so I can physically hug Miya-chan aaaaaaa\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nWe often think it important to have a symbol or character of some sort to promote something or someplace. But few people bother to make the symbol\/character attractive and desirable, to the extent that people would know the character before whatever it is promoting! That's the mark of a successful mascot. Japan's various yuru-kyara are funny, sometimes weird, sometimes adorable. Popular or not, each of them carry a unique message to tell the world."},"link":[{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/2247030931628630800"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/2247030931628630800"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"https:\/\/taikotime.blogspot.com\/2014\/08\/feature-yuru-kyara-whats-big-deal.html","title":"Feature: Yuru-kyara: What's the big deal?"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"pikaby"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/09296753026801611740"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"32","height":"32","src":"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/_7c6U7YgNX_I\/TSwmKIGEMQI\/AAAAAAAAAAM\/YXcwj-cJ_NA\/S220\/pikachu.jpg"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-MVj8biU_B8k\/U9ZffvvwJdI\/AAAAAAAADRM\/nfKWLD-RwSE\/s72-c\/SEB201301270051.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-760759784775244167.post-5586432811133300734"},"published":{"$t":"2014-07-13T16:13:00.000+01:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2014-07-13T16:13:41.967+01:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"feature"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Feature: Bad Jokes and Other Deleted Nonsense, Taiko Edition"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"Unless you have been living under a rock (wait then how do you read us), you should have heard of this large-scale human experiment of a free encyclopedia where everyone can edit, called \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.wikipedia.org\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003EWikipedia\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;(WP hereafter). As surly enough there are pages on WP about \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Taiko_no_Tatsujin\" target=\"_blank\"\u003ETaiko no Tatsujin\u003C\/a\u003E!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nBut just as Twitch plays Pokemon shows, not exactly everyone can contribute positively to the project. Today we look at some of the less accurate and more absurd additions to the small Taiko no Tatsujin corner in WP.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"color: red;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003EDisclaimer:\u003C\/b\u003E This is possibly the only BJAODN Taiko Edition we are doing. Do \u003Cb\u003ENOT\u003C\/b\u003E go and deliberately vandalize Taiko no Tatsujin WP pages to get featured by us. You may be \u003Cstrike\u003Eburnt at the stake\u003C\/strike\u003E by the otherwise-nice folks at WP.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ca name='more'\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nFirst and foremost, it is very important to note that \u003Cb\u003Enot all erroneous\/destructive edits are done maliciously\u003C\/b\u003E. Editors can mean perfectly well when putting them in, but only been made victim of unconfirmed rumors. Everyone makes mistakes sometimes, and that person might have just been confused or misguided.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/puu.sh\/9XlJM\/45965eae1c.png\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/puu.sh\/9XlJM\/45965eae1c.png\" height=\"391\" width=\"640\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\nAs an example, take a look at this old and partially wrong list of AC14 playable songs (last seen\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/w\/index.php?title=Taiko_no_Tatsujin_14\u0026amp;oldid=551851108\"\u003E20:27, 23 April 2013\u003C\/a\u003E‎). Although some songs are proved to be non-existent in Taiko or just not ported to AC14, they are quite nicely attributed to the artist and source and in the correct genre had they been real. It is reasonable to assume that this editor just got the wrong news.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/puu.sh\/9XntU\/6aabd597f3.png\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/puu.sh\/9XntU\/6aabd597f3.png\" height=\"137\" width=\"640\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThis edit (on\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/w\/index.php?title=Taiko_no_Tatsujin\u0026amp;oldid=498676215\"\u003E21 June 2012\u003C\/a\u003E‎ and since been removed) could also be just misguided. Personally speaking, in all the arcades I have ever been to (and I only go to those with Taiko), there has always been a few Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune cabinets here and there. This person could have easily been just confused by the two.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nNow for the really facepalm-inducing edits:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/puu.sh\/9XmWb\/569243acd8.png\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/puu.sh\/9XmWb\/569243acd8.png\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/puu.sh\/9XmVb\/3e75291b46.png\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/puu.sh\/9XmVb\/3e75291b46.png\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nHow can we miss these four releases? Oh wait, they don't exist. And Jigoku no Tuner (地獄のチューナー, lit. Tuner from Hell) is totally ripped off of Jun Kitami's nickname from Wangan Midnight. Done across three edits on \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/w\/index.php?title=Taiko_no_Tatsujin\u0026amp;diff=530744056\u0026amp;oldid=523719068\" target=\"_blank\"\u003EJanuary 1 2013\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/puu.sh\/9XmDV\/d17e7ffbf5.png\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/puu.sh\/9XmDV\/d17e7ffbf5.png\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nProtip: anything \"over 9000\" implies a possible sign of vandalism. Done on \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/w\/index.php?title=Taiko_no_Tatsujin\u0026amp;oldid=592246444\" target=\"_blank\"\u003EJanuary 24 2014\u003C\/a\u003E‎.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/puu.sh\/9Xmwx\/1825391268.png\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/puu.sh\/9Xmwx\/1825391268.png\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both;\"\u003E\nHe himself announced it to be trolling, so that's easy. Done twice on February 1 2014,\u0026nbsp;at  \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/w\/index.php?title=Taiko_no_Tatsujin\u0026amp;oldid=593401010\"\u003E07:21\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;and \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/w\/index.php?title=Taiko_no_Tatsujin\u0026amp;oldid=593401103\"\u003E07:22\u003C\/a\u003E, both quickly removed.\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both;\"\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both;\"\u003E\nContributing to Wikipedia can be a great way to show you are a Taiko no Tatsujin fan! Hope this little hilarious collection gives you motivation to do that!\u003C\/div\u003E\n"},"link":[{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/5586432811133300734"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/5586432811133300734"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"https:\/\/taikotime.blogspot.com\/2014\/07\/feature-bad-jokes-and-other-deleted.html","title":"Feature: Bad Jokes and Other Deleted Nonsense, Taiko Edition"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"nigelliusnitrox"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/13948454407347219729"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"32","height":"32","src":"\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-oW40pbUS7lM\/Xi8JVux7fuI\/AAAAAAAABgg\/pGQNFtLgnJ4MD5EXk7FibIrMVAHtY3GBgCK4BGAYYCw\/s220\/niHA97ZK.jpg%2Bsmall.jpg"}}]},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-760759784775244167.post-7215389011729653545"},"published":{"$t":"2014-03-09T12:54:00.000+00:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2014-03-09T15:02:15.091+00:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"feature"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Feature: Overview of Japanese rhythm game terms"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/b\/b7\/The_Taiwanese-Japanese_Dictionary.JPG\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/b\/b7\/The_Taiwanese-Japanese_Dictionary.JPG\" height=\"320\" width=\"240\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nDepending on how you look at it, Japanese can be the easiest language ever to learn, or it will be an impenetrable barrier. Regardless of whether you know the language or not, the rhythm game community uses a certain set of words in describing the games and the difficulty involved, and to outsiders it may not be immediately apparent what their meaning is. So below is a guide to some of the more common phrases you'll see among the community.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ca name='more'\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cb\u003Eanmitsu (餡蜜)\u003C\/b\u003E - The literal meaning of this word is a 'mixture of syrup, jam and fruit', but among rhythm enthusiasts, it's a term used to describe multiple notes being spaced apart very closely in time, but hitting all of them in a single stroke, or faster than what its timing is supposed to be. It's not great for accuracy and reduces your score, but when you're up against a crazy pattern and all you want to do is Full Combo, desperate times do call for desperate measures. Note however that \u003Ci\u003Eanmitsu\u003C\/i\u003E is not common in Taiko no Tatsujin, as hitting faster than the notestream scrolls will still eventually cause you to miss, unless you break the stream apart and hit it by faster-timed clusters, which not many people do.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003Egyaku-anmitsu (逆餡蜜)\u003C\/b\u003E - The direct opposite of anmitsu. This involves tackling a really fast stream by deliberately hitting it as if it were slower. One common example is \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=T7Xf6LXtVOI\" target=\"_blank\"\u003ERyougen no Mai\u003C\/a\u003E's 1\/24 dkdkdkdkdkd stream, which is difficult to keep up with. You might get through it by hitting the first 'don' note earlier, and ending the last one later. In effect, hitting it slower than perfect. Again, it's mainly a workaround so you can safely Full Combo something, disregarding accuracy.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003Esashou (詐称)\u003C\/b\u003E - Means 'misrepresentation'. Basically means the same thing in rhythm games; \u003Ci\u003Esashou\u003C\/i\u003E is used to refer to songs that are, according to the general opinion by players, much harder than its rating would suggest, like if you saw an 8* Oni song, but it feels more like a 9* in terms of difficulty when you actually play it.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003Egyaku-sashou (\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cb\u003E逆\u003C\/b\u003E詐称)\u003C\/b\u003E - Another reversal of meaning; \u003Ci\u003Egyaku-sashou\u003C\/i\u003E means that a song is much easier to play than the rating displayed on the select screen. Many Taiko songs suffer from this, and more and more of them become misrepresented in this way because of the ever-present difficulty creep. It applies to all other rhythm games as well; songs we used to consider as crazy difficult become easy when newer, even crazier songs come out.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003Ekanzen seido kyoku (完全精度曲)\u003C\/b\u003E - 'kanzen' means 'completely, and 'seido' means accuracy, so this phrase is pretty straightforward; it refers to a chart in Taiko no Tatsujin which is completely reliant on accuracy to get a good score, i.e. no drumrolls. \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=TXVh4gkrldU\" target=\"_blank\"\u003EKurenai\u003C\/a\u003E is one of them. These songs are significant because they have a ceiling score; once a player gets 0 可 on it, the score cannot go any higher.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003Ekojinsa (個人差)\u003C\/b\u003E - This phrase means 'individual differences'. Certain charts prioritize specific sets of playing skills, so much so that whoever cannot do that one thing well will fail badly at it, while others call it the easiest song ever. Examples? \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=jwxyrO8Mw-k\" target=\"_blank\"\u003ESuuhaa 2000\u003C\/a\u003E, which emphazise handswitch ability in its entire second half, \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=P2vrNBF5lEU\u0026amp;feature=youtu.be\" target=\"_blank\"\u003EMori no Kumasan (Ura)\u003C\/a\u003E which tests the player's ability to either memorize charts or read super-speed notes, and \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=OTun1tk-xG4\" target=\"_blank\"\u003EHatsune Miku no Gekishou (Ura)\u003C\/a\u003E being a trial of endurance with those fast, long streams.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003Elast goroshi (ラスト殺し)\u003C\/b\u003E - Imagine yourself playing Taiko. You've been doing well all through the song, and you're excited that you're about to Full Combo or clear it when suddenly.....a massive difficulty spike occurs right at the end of the song or a crazy unexpected pattern appears and your combo is shattered, right before the song ends. That's \u003Ci\u003Elast goroshi\u003C\/i\u003E, or 'ending kill'. \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Ndwd1FhtCms\" target=\"_blank\"\u003ESORA-I Earth Rise \u003C\/a\u003Eis an example, saving its craziest handswitch clusters and 1\/24 for the ending part. Higher up on the scale are ending kills from the like of \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/youtu.be\/ZBl8GxAICbw\" target=\"_blank\"\u003EToryu (Ura)\u003C\/a\u003E, \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=FXNB9r_PBIM\u0026amp;feature=related\" target=\"_blank\"\u003ERotter Tarmination (Ura)\u003C\/a\u003E and \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/youtu.be\/TcstJnQGnw0\" target=\"_blank\"\u003ECalculator\u003C\/a\u003E, both of which use long streams, high BPM and increased scroll speed at the end.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003Esoflan (ソフラン) \u003C\/b\u003E- (thanks to anongos for helping me find the origin of this one) No, this has nothing to do with the \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/soflan.lion.co.jp\/soflan\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003Ebrand of deodorant\u003C\/a\u003E. It's actually an abbreviation of an old song from beatmania IIDX 2nd style called '\u003Cb\u003ESof\u003C\/b\u003Et \u003Cb\u003ELan\u003C\/b\u003Eding On The Body', which had a chart that relied on constant shifting BPM and scroll as its main gimmick. Since then, multiple BPM or scroll changes on every single rhythm game ever has been referred to as \u003Ci\u003Esoflan\u003C\/i\u003E. \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=PSxxGSrttw0\u0026amp;feature=related\" target=\"_blank\"\u003EEtude Op. 10-4\u003C\/a\u003E and \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=dyhKVhiKvXE\u0026amp;feature=youtu.be\" target=\"_blank\"\u003ESymphonic Motos\u003C\/a\u003E and pretty much every Classic genre song ever are prime examples.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003Efukugou (複合)\u003C\/b\u003E - The phrase means a 'composite' or a 'complex'. Basically corresponds to what we term as 'clusters' of notes in Taiko.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThat's all I can think of at the moment. This will probably be updated if there are suggestions but if you've encountered these terms on Taiko websites in the past, now you know what they mean!"},"link":[{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/7215389011729653545"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/760759784775244167\/posts\/default\/7215389011729653545"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"https:\/\/taikotime.blogspot.com\/2014\/03\/feature-overview-of-japanese-rhythm.html","title":"Feature: Overview of Japanese rhythm game terms"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"pikaby"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/09296753026801611740"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"32","height":"32","src":"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/_7c6U7YgNX_I\/TSwmKIGEMQI\/AAAAAAAAAAM\/YXcwj-cJ_NA\/S220\/pikachu.jpg"}}]}]}});