Across Japan: Asian Dojo Ranking detailed

It was quite the exciting time for Asian donders when the Dojo Ranking mode (translated literally by the team to 'Dan-i Dojo') was announced...and will be released tomorrow, in fact! Today on their Facebook page, more details regarding the dojo have surfaced, in four succinct pictures.

A short guide for the uninitiated on how to access this belated addition to Taiko Murasaki Asia. Remember, it's from the song select screen!

Update: Wadaiko Master is an official Namco release

This comes from an email I received from a fan three weeks ago but couldn't publish due to personal work. Sorry for the delay!

Anyway, this post is regarding the somewhat fishy-looking Brazilian version of Taiko HD, Wadaiko Master. South American players can set their minds at ease as this is not a hack; NBGI specifically licensed it for that region! One screenshot submitted (above) is from the cardboard banner on its side, showing the copyrights to Wadaiko Master on the cabinet itself.

The email also confirmed that under the Brazilian songs list, one of the three songs is owned by Namco themselves (Samba Alegria and its Ura, the one which is in Namco Original everywhere else), and the other two are considered in the public domain.

Still not convinced? This should seal the deal: a trademark licensing report from Bandai Namco themselves, filed for the name Wadaiko Master! Yup, it's all official.

The songlist is still pretty barebones, but it's heartening to see Taiko HD make it so far across the globe!

Across Japan: Murasaki's first update!

Asian donders can look forward to an exciting month of new songs as, starting next Monday, tons of new songs will be released for Murasaki! On April 27th, four new songs will be out, corresponding to the JP Murasaki's first and second updates.

Game Version 1.10 (Asia) will contain:

 君に桜ヒラリと舞う Kimi ni Sakura-hirari to Mau
さぁ行け！ニンニンジャー！ Saa Yuke! Ninninger!
 あったかいんだからぁ♪ Attakai'n Dakara♪
 ケラケラじゃんけん Kerakera Jyanken

In addition, the Nihon Elekitel Renhou cllabolation collaboration will be coming to Asia, offering costumes of their two hostesses! The collab will run from April 28th to August 31st, so you have about three months to grab the costumes~!

And there's....even more? The gradual release of the IM@S songs, previously announced on the Taiko Team's livestream...that's going to be brought over too! Well, four out of five of the songs anyway: THE IDOLM@STER, Thank You! (a new song), Maou o Kakete! and shiny smile will grace Asian Murasaki with their presence beginning April 28th. The dates of release are all on the above image!

Have fun, overseas players!

Original Facebook post

Across Asia: Update from Murasaki

As expected, the songs on the poster from Taiko Team aren't the only ones that are new to the game. Hataraku 2000, Jinpuumaru (Ura) and Zeihen ~transformation all made it in, the Don Point unlocks are as usual. Two other songs were opened up to Asia, that have been in JP since the original firmware. That's a three year wait!

The songs are:

• Punishment
• Kill Me no Baby

The evidence comes from the Taiwanese group of Taiko fans!

Both are high-difficulty Onis, sure to give veteran players quite a bit of entertainment!

Murasaki (Asia)'s songlist will be updated with the changes as soon as possible!

Addendum, April 17 2015:
After a first day it is also confirmed that more latecomers including Sakuranbo, Kiseki, and Kurae! Butto Burst!! also made it.

Across Japan: AOU Phase 2

Wondering why Asia hasn't upgraded to Murasaki ver. yet? The team mentions that it is being prepared; methinks they had some unfinished business for the firmware, one of them being the AOU songs. Well, Phase 2 is finally rolling out, on 21st March, 2015 (Saturday)!

The update consists of four songs, which represent the cardinal elements earth, wind, water and fire (as we've mentioned before)

• Scars of FAUNA
• Fujin RUMBLE
• VeRTeX
• Ignis Danse

Have fun guys!

Addendum: March's Tournament goes to Hong Kong's Watashi~ in Oni and Taiwan's Shingo in Muzukashii. April's Tournament will be announced April 1 (hmm) and starts April 4~12. -ngnitrox
Link to original post

Across Japan: AOU Phase 1

 

Well, the Taiko Team weren't kidding when they said this month's tournament would be the "real deal"; it involves the four songs of the first phase of the AOU collab! After weeks of agony waiting, when the rest of the games involved in the collab have gotten all seven songs (Jubeat and JPN Taiko on the 25th, Maimai and Groove Coaster on the 26th), Asian Taiko is getting a slow release of the set, with Garakuta Doll Play, Got more raves? and FLOWER being unlocked to play this March 7th!

And immediately, they will be the songs used for this monthly tournament!

The Oni tier uses the aforementioned three songs (score total), and Kita Saitama 2000 is the sole representative for the Muzukashii tier. Remember, to be eligible for score submission, you need to turn Shin-uchi mode on and nothing else!

Have fun, and wait a bit more for the second phase of AOU songs!

Link to original post

Across Japan: 3 new songs for Kimidori Asia

These three Namco Originals are from two different Kimidori updates; the one in October which added the IOSYS songs, and the one which was just last week. Yup, for once, Kimidori Asia is getting a song less than a month after its JP counterpart!

The songs will be available to play tomorrow, and they are:

• Yamatai Night Party
• IOSYS Aki no Nikushokusai 2014
• Yami no Mahou Shoujo

"Wait, where are all the licensed songs from these two updates? What about the IM@S songs and the Pokemon ORAS Medley?"

Well, Asia should already be familiar with this situation, but most likely the ones in the Vocaloid and Game Music genre will come eventually.

Across Japan: Kimidori Asia gets 3 new songs

Another mid-month update for Taiko Kimidori (Asia)!

Three new songs will be added to it on November 13th, 2014 (this coming Thursday), which echoes last month's Japanese update that added the same songs. They are:

Game Music

• Picopico Mappy (ピコピコ マッピー)

Namco Original

• Picopico Ruin (ピコピコ ルイン)
• Yureru Pleats Jikkouiin (ゆれるプリーツ実行委員)

All of Prof. Sakamoto's crossover songs made it in! And we were worried after his Vocaloid song failed to make it into Asia last month...not sure why.

Click the link above to watch some play videos  and steel yourself for Picopico Ruin's difficult 10* Ura Oni!

Original Facebook Post

Across Japan: Kimidori Asia says goodbye too

No no no, Taiko isn't getting withdrawn from Asia! This is referring to deletion of a few licensed songs, mirroring what will happen in Japan's Kimidori as well.

On November 1st 2014, Day by Day!, the new 8* floaty Namco Original introduced as October's Donchare song, will arrive as scheduled. And on November 5th, the great song deletion occurs. There are far less songs in Asia's list so the deletion is not as tragic either. The songs that will be cut are:

J-Pop
Kimagure Romantic (気まぐれロマンティック)
Niji (虹)
Sobakasu (そばかす)

Anime
Dragon Soul
Switch On!
Happy Happy (ハピハピ)
One day
Guts Guts!! (ガツガツ!!)
We Go! (ウィーゴー！)

Variety
Maru Maru Mori Mori! (マル・マル・モリ・モリ！)

So, exactly the same songs to be cut as in Japan, minus whatever was never in Asia's songlist to begin with.

Facebook post

Wadaiko Master song list

Some time in May 2014, photos of an unknown region version of Taiko no Tatsujin Momoiro Version began circulating around the Internet, with only two pictures of its top and side banners in Brazilian Portuguese. It was called 'Wadaiko Master'. There was not much information to go on it except those two.

In September 2014, Taiko Time received a tip-off by a reader named Milton through email that several units of these were spotted in Brazil, containing more photos of Wadaiko Master and a short video, and more videos followed shortly after by another email from an anonymous reader, including one that showed Wadaiko Master's songlist in its entirety. It is thanks to them that we were able to gather this much information on this mysterious translation of Taiko Momoiro, and to him we express our utmost gratitude. From Japanese website wikihouse, we also happen to know that this arcade model has also been spotted in Kenya as well.

It is still unconfirmed whether or not Wadaiko Master is an export by Namco themselves, as they have not officially acknowledged its existence yet, but what we do know is that, aside from the fact that it contains mostly new songs, it has one of the smallest songlists in any arcade version ever, totaling 32 with 10 Ura Onis. There is no network infrastructure and the middle of the cabinet lacks a Banapassport card reader of any kind.

The play instructions and most of the menu interface save for a few details (and song names) is completely translated from Japanese to Brazilian Portuguese, which is the first time Taiko no Tatsujin has been presented in a language other than Japanese since Taiko 12 Asia, and the first non-Asian version of the game since Taiko Drum Master for PlayStation 2. As this forum post on Zenius-i-vanisher.com puts it, Wadaiko Master almost feels like a location test for Momoiro in Brazil. Keeping tabs on the development of Wadaiko Master in the future should be interesting!

One oddity stands out in particular; Sampling Masters AYA's Namco Original song, Samba Alegria, is in the Brazilian Pop genre, Ura and all, instead of its normal place.

Videos of Wadaiko Master

Thanks to our Taiko fans from across the Pacific, we now have recorded footage of Wadaiko Master in action! Not sure if it's an officially supported product but it's still interesting to see!

You can see the translation effort for the game is pretty patchy, with the main interface and basic instructions translated, but the song names remain in Japanese, and there's no translation for 'Oni' difficulty either, so it's half-here, half-there. The font used on the menus is different, making the Brazilian quite jarring against the original Japanese font. Well, it's something at least; the Asian version was left untouched with no translation at all (except the cardboard banners for the warning and play instructions, which are in pretty good English).

As mentioned before, the songlist is extremely small, with the total barely touching 30 songs. The J-Pop and Anime genres are completely cut out and replaced with a folder for Brazilian pop, with three songs in it: Escatumbararibe, Hoje e Domingo and Samba Alegria (yes, that Samba Alegria. For some reason it's in Brazilian Pop and we don't know why).

Below, we have videos for two of the three. Here's Escatumbararibe (wow that's a mouthful).



And here's Hoje e Domingo, a 4* Oni. Unfortunately the difficulty ratings for Escatumbararibe isn't in the video.

EDIT: Same reader sent a photo containing the missing difficulty ratings and confirmed Samba Alegria as being the Sampling Masters AYA song. Weird to see it swapped genres like that.



We should have a songlist page up for Wadaiko Master on the blog pretty soon! Once again, thanks to our Brazilian Taiko fans for the contribution!

First capture video of Day by Day!

Apologies for the lateness as we have not been able to look for a regular capture video of this song until now! Here is Day by Day! in its full glory, a very nice, breezy Namco Original that's as fun to listen to as it is to play. The chart is an 8* Oni with 608 total notes (difficulty 3/5/7/8). Calm parts aside, the repetitive simple rhythm patterns and medium-length streams are reminiscent of a simpler time in Taiko where most high ranking Oni charts looked like this (Angel Dream, Yumeiro Coaster, Kirame Kirari etc.)

No mention on who the artist and singer are yet.

It is playable on Japanese Kimidori for those who have cleared 8 goals, and will be open to Asian Kimidori this 1st of November!

The Almost Transient Mysteries: What We Were Not Told for Kimidori 2.06

...or mostly what we have not told you for Kimidori 2.06. Yes we are sorry we didn't get to that sooner, and we are patching up the information void now.

Kimidori Asia Monthly Tourney: September Results are in!

 

The one week tournament for Asian arcade Donders has ended, and the results are, as scheduled, uploaded to the official Facebook page. Congratulations to ~?!~ from Hong Kong and Itougin from Taiwan for ranking first in the two divisions, pulling out the impressive plays of 877,200-point on Night of Knights Muzukashii and 1,211,110-point on Purple Rose Fusion Oni respectively!

Swiftly ahead onto the October tourney, here is the schedule:
Song Announcement: October 8 (Wed)
Tournament Duration: October 11~19 (Sat~Next Sun)
Results Announcement: October 22 (Wed)

The Facebook post is also open for fans to nominate songs to be used in future Tournaments! Desirably a song that does not require unlock, so that everyone can join in with ease. If another commentor has already nominated your desired set, just leave a like and the tally people will count that too.

Results post and request thread

Kimidori (Asian) Updates! September 11

Tomorrow is the day that Taiko no Tatsujin Kimidori ver. (Japan) will be updating with seven new songs. Today, though, we have news that the Asian version will also be updating with new songs, one day later on September 11!

So what songs will it be getting? Well... seven songs from a previous Japan version update. Sorry, no Xa or Souryuu no Ran just yet guys. :(

•  Gomenasai no Kissing You
•  Love Song wa Tomaranai Yo
•  Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari
•  BORDERLESS
•  Bugi Bugi Funassyi
•  G Ishiki Kajou
•  Oresama Pirates

Anyway, do stick around for tomorrow's first videos for the Japanese version. See you!

Official Facebook Page post

Quick Takeaways: August 28 Livestream

This post will be removed when the full coverage is ready. Meanwhile, feel free to contribute screenshots and information to help out!

• All comment goals met.
• 30K: Title part voted as no Ran (ノ乱) (voted by audience)
• 76.5K: RPG da-don
• 87.6K: Rate up for rare title parts in AC0 gasha
• 100K: Mirai e no Kagi open in AC0 (including Asia) for 8/29~9/7
• New songs: Kenka Joutou (喧嘩上等) by Kishidan, FUTURE FISH from Free!, World's End Dance Hall, Mugen no Sora by Silver Forest (reported earlier)
• Funassyi gift campaign and excited new CM
• New song by Tatsh: Xa (read as Ikusa) (both spelling and pronounciation voted by audience)
• New song by Zeami: Souryu no Ran (双竜ノ乱), with special feature Sou-uchi (双打, i.e. playing on two drums) ("Sou-uchi" voted by audience)
• Dedicated folders for Professor Sakamoto and Tatsh/Zeami respectively.
• September 3DS2 DLC: Fuuga and Mirai's Deserted Island Training
• Songs: Ponytail to Shushu, HOT LIMIT, BLUE TOPAZ, Tenohira wo Taiyou ni, dance storm
• 22 ranks in Kimidori Ranking Dojo, still can skip ranks, comes about Sept or Oct
• 4th Outfit Contest results announced. Winner: a 40-year-old demon, or your mother (voted by audience)
• Perhaps livestream will become monthly stable

Taiwan Tourney 2014: T'was the Night Before the Finals

Well more like the evening before the Finals because it's only 5pm as of this writing. But it is true that the Finals is just tomorrow (August 30). Let's check out some more last day news!

From Sume's Facebook post

First the more adverty news: sets of these KATSUDON- and Sorairo-styled Banapassports will be sold at the venue. Each set is priced at 300 NT dollars. Stock is limited!

From Sume's Facebook post

Also noteworthy is that a special guest will come all the way from Japan to be at the competition! Who would it be? Takemoto (who has once been to Taiwan already for Asian ver. Day 1)? Etou? Or perhaps even a composer/singer? We'll have to wait and see!

Stick to Sume's Facebook page for more!

Taiko AC0 Asia: Monthly Facebook Tournaments!

Asian Donders is really missing out a lot without the Donder Hiroba eh? No DonChare, challenge sending and online tournaments... So the title above should be a big eye opener!

Wadaiko Master

Thanks to Milton for the email with the video and pictures  and the guys at Taiko no Tatsujin Malaysia (Facebook) for the first information!

Taiko Momoiro was released, on early 2014, to several different countries in Asia...but might it have spread even further than most people initially thought?

Taiwan Tourney 2014: Finals Rules Now Out

Rules slide cover from Sume Facebook Fan Page

As summer closing in on the end, it's time to let out the long-awaited Taiwan Tournament Finals! Today Sume released a set of slides detailing the rules and regulations. Let's go through them quickly together!