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Namco Taiko Blog (14 September 2017) - A3! x Taiko no Tatsujin's Collaboration Primer

September 14, 2017, 3:11 am
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Another long-ago-announced collaboration is about to move its first steps on Yellow Version grounds, as this week's blog entry is about the A3! x Taiko collaboration's future goodies.

While no release date has been provided for the campaign yet, there are four key elements for Yellow Version players to enjoy in the future:

1) Special Key Art commemoration the two franchises' collaboration!
(which is the same as the picture at the top of this page)

2) A3! Custom Dancers for the regular Play mode!


3) A3! Custom Dancers for the Issho ni Waiwai Ensou mode!


4) Special Collaboration Gadgets by Banpresto!


From this last picture, we can expect this collaboration to roll out between the next two months (approx October/November). Still, the Taiko Team invites its readers to follow their Twitter feed for more details in the future.

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Sonority Scouts - Synchro Sign「Rezonating Fall」

September 14, 2017, 3:31 am
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True to the original intentions of IOSYS' collaboration plans, the 9th Anniversary version of Cirno's Perfect Math Class is starting to spread in other music game series, after last week's debut in Taiko fields. Its first stop is Bandai Namco's Synchronica, where the song (surprise, surprise!) has become the very first track in the series to come with a non-standard dedicated video, which is actually the anniversary track's PV that was already published on Youtube.

Much like with Taiko no Tatsujin, the Synchronica fields have doubled down thois occasion with a collaboration event which includes -among other things- yet another commissioned Touhou Project arrange track about the Cirno-related music, also brought by IOSYS people.

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Truth be told, this post shouldn't have come out today in lieu of some other related topics to talk about tomorrow... but it's not like that I'm using this space to include some innuendo to some stuff I hid last week on places like... I don't know, the latest SotW feature. Somewhere, say, among the italic-worded lines of such feature... ptch, how ridiculous would it be!?
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Celebrating YOU for the Taiko Time 7th Anniversary

September 14, 2017, 5:35 pm
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Our Anniversary celebration could not have been complete without a showcase for the loyal readers we have, and this is for you guys!

Again, we are only three guys trying our best to bring you Taiko no Tatsujin scoop outside the mostly Japanese-exclusivity (not completely as of recently, gratefully), and we wouldn't have stayed for 7 years without your continued support, and even the occasional tip-off to stuff we ourselves missed.

As a collective gratitude, here is us dedicating one whole post on the hidden talents among yourselves!

If we haven't mentioned it enough times, the Taiko Time team is now kinda based in this Taiko no Tatsujin server in terms of Discord presence. And in this server there is the #taikojiro channel where people can share their notechart creations. As an example is the following notechart for Dream to Nightmare (of Pump It Up origins) by Psyk, featuring scrollbar gimmicks like back-and-forth turntable scratches and clever sudden pauses among the ambientic tight streams.



To this point you might say, "Yeah we know the Taiko Time reader can and will chart stuff: you guys had a (kinda died-off) feature of Made By You. What else is new?" Well how about a lyrics video, my dear disgruntled hypothetical reader?

While our Mada Saitama 2000 Lyrics Feature is still under work, Discord user fartiliumstation has made a lyrics video for it on YouTube, even with handy side reference tables to help with understanding. As I looked over, everything is accurate with the theories so far. Who would have knew in advance that it was all about [REDACTED for spoilers]?



And finally, believe it or not, but the Discord server has actually helped unearthed one of the greatest discoveries for the whole Taiko no Tatsujin franchise. The discovery is so that we're going to leave the reveal for a separate Almost Transient Mysteries post on Sunday. Stay tuned then! (or you know, if you know what to search for you can actually go to the Discord server and see right now how it actually happened)
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Sonority Scouts - SDVX Sign「Perfect Effector」

September 15, 2017, 12:10 am
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The king of Touhou in music gaming is the next franchise to have a grasp on Cirno's Perfect Math Class, as the current installment of SOUND VOLTEX (SDVX IV HEAVENLY HAVEN) has received the heated 9th Anniversary version one day after its Synchronica port. While not having a max-rated difficulty, you can surely feel its high difficulty degree regardless!

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Just like yesterday, I'm here to drop some clues about something that currently hidden within the blog, but if the answer still eludes you, it will be publicly revealed soon. Anyway, it turns out that the 'missing link' is tied to numbers... Make of that what you will.

I wonder if these posts have some relation to the number that has to be scouted for...
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Song of the Week! ⑨ September 2017

September 9, 2017, 8:36 am
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... okay, you got me.

For what concerns our short-term song schedule for our Saturday features, I know that the Touhou Project lore has been invading these lines quite a lot recently, but there's one more song we need to talk about on this very day...

...I mean, it's not like September 9th is falling on a Saturday again anytime soon, right?!?

 Cirno's Perfect Math Class ⑨ Anniversary Edition (チルノのパーフェクトさんすう教室 ⑨周年バージョン) Touhou Project Arrange - IOSYS and Funny ⑨ Anniversary Friends
Version
Allx3 (128)x4 (229)x5 (350)x9 (751)
 Taiko 0 Y
 1~350
 none
 ???


If you try ask to any random Touhou fan about what day is today, chances are that he/she will answer with 'Cirno Day', due to the '⑨. Idiot' running gag that is going wild since the distribution of the competitive danmaku game Phantasmagoria of Flower View and its manual. Today also marks the official release of this song's official PV animation on Youtube by IOSYS, so why don't we take a closer look at its foundation, while we're at it? (if you see a different upload date though, remember that timezones are still a thing...)

This 9th anniversary version of Cirno's Perfect Math Class is here to commemorate, again, this meme-y occurrence, while also celebrating almost a decade since the creation of the original song, back in 2006. For this choice occasion, more doujin talents have gathered together to bring an alternate set of vocals to life with a more expansive cast to support miko's Cirno voice portrayal: Beat Mario (from COOL&CREATE), senya (from Yuuhei Satellite), Koshida Rute Takahito & Aki (from A-One), Ranko (from Butaotome) and annyyy (from TaNaBaTa).

All doujin groups that are included in the subtitle-dubbed 'Funny ⑨ Anniversary Friends' unit already have their own 'solo unit' songs in Taiko for us to be more extensively talked about under these lines... except for one of 'em, of which we're briefly talking about right here! Founded on August 12th, 2008, the TaNaBaTa doujin unit is specialized on rock-styled Touhou Project arrangements, with the nick-named annyyy (あにー; Twitter) being the sole member of the act and performing as a guitarist/vocalist/synth player for his songs. The act is named after the eponymous Japanese Star Festival celebrations that are occurring on July 7th every year; for the same reason, TaNaBaTa is also used to this point to host a yearly concert on the same date as well. Some of annyyy's former works can also be found in rhythm gaming alongside some collaboration-related pieces that were made specifically for rhythm gaming, including console jubeat games' Hollow Dance (ホロウダンス) and Groove Coaster's beyond the star line.

Back to the collaboration song, the ⑨ Anniversary Edition was first made playable during this year's edition of the Hakurei Shrine Reitasai convention back in May, where it was also possible to play it with some special custom note markers replacing the regular Don/Kat faces, a first in official arcade Taiko gaming! As referenced by our previous tweet-based reportage of the event (link), the faces of Reimu Hakurei and Cirno were replacing the Taiko siblings for this choice occasion. Alongside the now-live public outing for the Taiko no Tatsujin series, the song was also announced to be released on a number of other music game series later this year, including Synchronica, Groove Coaster, maimai, Chunithm and SOUND VOLTEX.

As expected from the alternate version of a song featuring a different lyrics set, the average-speed rhythms are interpreted for Taiko chart means with almost the same cluster-mapping approach. That, however, didn't stop its charter to add some unique flairs to the song, such as its average BPM value being doubled for almost the entire song and the scrolling speed being halved to give out a similar impression to its actual tempo a-la FLOWER, topped off with an almost-complete speed zero-ing at the very end!

  Cirno's Perfect Math Class ⑨ Anniversary Edition (チルノのパーフェクトさんすう教室 ⑨周年バージョン) Touhou Project Arrange - IOSYS and Funny ⑨ Anniversary Friends
Version
All---x10 (909)
 Taiko 0 Y
 1~350
 none
 ???


Indeed, this is another once-limited track that grew out an extra difficulty layer for its public debut! Once again, a similar stamina-draining approach to the original Cirno's Perfect Math Class Ura charts has been taken for this mode (up to inheriting entire note-to-note stanza formations!), but some surprises are springled in along the way like for its regular Oni counterpart, such as the already-discussed perceived-speed tinkering and an unbreakable 909-hit hit-balloon that is placed right before the very last Go-Go Time section's beginning.

Top it off with a 909 max notecount and the memes are preserved twice in this extra chart!
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Song of the Week! 16 September 2017

September 15, 2017, 4:04 pm
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I'm in the mood for another console-exclusive peak! Be sure to stay with us after the jump...

 Happy Synthesizer (ハッピーシンセサイザ) EasyPop
Version
Allx2 (95)x3 (168)x5 (274)x7 (331)
 Taiko 3DS 3
 127
 none
 hapsyn


Despite its slumps in the last few years, the Vocaloid genre still manages to score some console-exclusive entries to back up the arcade scene's more placid song release trend for it. One of the latest additions turns out to be more than 5 years old, no less!

Happy Synthesizer was originally uploaded on NicoVideo on November 22nd, 2010, featuring the Megurine Luka/Megpoid GUMI singing duo and sporting a custom video animation illustrated by the nick-named kiki. With over 4 million views for its original version and 9+ millions of its video re-release, it's easily the most popular Vocaloid song made by Niigata prefecture producer Yosuke Abe, mostly known by his art names of BETTI and EasyPop. The song itself is about the will to play a melody that is able to catch the heart of our own beloved one; due to the track's overwhelming popularity, this idea was later picked on for a novel adaptation of Happy Synthesizer, which was published on September 2015. Many are also the compilation albums featuring the track, including POP THE HATSUNE MIKU, VOCALOID Duet Collection and VOCA NICO☆PARTY.

Happy Synthesizer also happens to be one of the few choice songs that happens to travel quite a lot around the rhythm gaming sphere! On bemani fields alone, the song can be spotted in both arcade and mobile versions of jubeat and REFLEC BEAT, as well as being featured on DanceDanceRevolution, DanceEvolution and SOUND VOLTEX in a shorter cut. Other series that have featured the track are maimai, Groove Coaster (where it later became one of the chart renewal subjects on the arcade front) and, finally, both Project Diva titles (with Miku's singing replacing GUMI's role) and the two 3DS entries of the Project Mirai series.

For one of the Vocaloid genre's drumroll-less Oni affairs, Happy Synthesizer plays more around the concept of 1/16 backbeat rhythms with lots of even-note small clusters and some eye-catching flair to spice up the whole package, such as hit-balloons and one 1/12 final note cluster. The song's short length and slow pace should be enough for players to succeed on multiple plays without breaking a sweat!

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Today's afterword is about a little something that I hid inside last week's SotW article... There was, in fact, a second song feature for last Saturday, only hidden behind an invisible link that was placed on a certain word of the article itself! Being for a September 9th hidden feature, there sure was a reason behind it...

If the hints I gave out in the past few Sonority Scouts features have been enough for you to find out my little secret, this hidden SotW is now listed in our Full List of Previous Song of the Week page, alongside all the other former releases; the hidden link on the previous, regular feature, however, will still be there for posterity's sake. Try to find out where is it!
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Taiko Time 7th Anniversary Quiz Answers

September 17, 2017, 4:00 pm
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Question 1: Screenshot Quiz
(a) Ans.: Tonkatsu DJ Agetarou -Taiko no Tatsujin Mix-

(b) Ans.: Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen (PPAP)

(c) Ans.: Rin

(d) Ans.: Dance My Generation (Ura, 2P notechart)

(e) Ans.: Angel Dream (The Idolm@ster Cinderella Girls ver.)

Question 2: Coming for Seconds

(a) Taiko no Tatsujin Session de Dodon ga Don/Drum Session (PS4-1) is hailed simultaeously as the second English-, (traditional) Chinese- and Korean-language Taiko console game. Name one difference each from their respective firsts, excluding the ones that are also newly different in the Japanese version, as well as the obvious things like song choices and visual design.
Ans.: All reasonable answers are correct, with some examples here:
　　　English: Oni is renamed Extreme, customization
　　　Chinese: Same-console 2-player gameplay
　　　Korean: DLC support

(b) We all know which song is the first to have the famed Nam-combo. Which one is the second one then?
Ans.: Scroll Mika

(c) There is one big difference between the second place Donder in the Taiko no Tatsujin World Championships 2016 compared with the other winners. What is it?
Ans.: The second place winner did not have the chance to be the first ever in the world to play any new song. The champion was the first ever to play Amaterasu as exhibition play, and the 3rd and 4th places winners were the tied first to play VICTORIA for their 3rd-place match.

Question 3: Time-waster of the Day
Only counting running times of songs, what is the longest time a credit of 3 songs can take in these arcade versions? Consider their status as at August 15 2017.
(a) Taiko no Tatsujin 14 Plus
(b) Taiko no Tatsujin Sorairo ver.
(c) Taiko no Tatsujin Yellow ver.

Ans.:
For AC14, the longest credit possible is Haikei, Gakkou ni te... (Ura) / Fuun! Bachio Sensei (Ura) / Hikari no Kanata e (Ura) which takes 12 minutes 7 seconds.

The situation on the HD arcade would be trickier due to possible song removals, but the current longest credit possible on Yellow ver. is Juumensou colorful ver. / Geragera to Warau na / Senbonzakura which takes 9 minutes 38 seconds.

Because Senbonzakura is no longer available on cabinets that stayed at Sorairo ver., we have to replace it with Jinsei Reset Button instead, and the longest time would be 9 minutes 25 seconds.

Question 4: Audio Deka, Taiko Time 7th Anniversary Special
Audie and Professor Marvy are again in action to investigate a suspected case of foul play. The victim was found unconscious in a downtown arcade room, in front of a HD Taiko no Tatsujin cabinet, just as staff returns to business from a Marine Day 2017 break. The said cabinet was still running on Kimidori ver. firmware because the owners claims "upgrading is too expensive". The victim's medical records reveals that due to a chronic illness looking at objects flying past at extremely high speeds may cause him to lose consciousness. While our two intrepid protagonists proceeds to unravel the mystery, they must first decide whether that cabinet is related to the case anything more than just the location. What is the highest speed (in terms of equivalent BPM) that can be produced by that cabinet in a note, and which song is it?
Ans.: Depending on your perspective to the question, there can be two possible answer we have thought of. The actual highest scroll speed possible on a currently-still Kimidori ver. cabinet is from yellow drumrolls in Suuhaa 2000, at a 7.65-times speed on a 280 BPM base making for equivalent 2142 BPM.

You might also argue that a yellow drumroll at that speed is seen only like a strip of yellow appearing and don't necessarily count as a high-speed object, in which case the next contender would be the last note in Swan Lake ~still a duckling~ (Ura), clocking at 8-times scroll speed on a 240 BPM or equivalent to 1920 BPM.

Question 5: Dairantou SSB ~All-star Taiko Brothers~
The last Super Smash Bros. games (3DS/Wii U) have had such close relation with Namco (mostly its in-house composer) that we have done more than the fair share of feature posts for a Taiko no Tatsujin blog. What is the percentage of the playable characters (excluding Mii Fighters and costumes) in the whole Super Smash Bros. series that have song inclusions in any of the Taiko no Tatsujin games? Count all songs already released and/or announced to future inclusion as of August 15 2017, including those coming to PS4-1 for example.

Ans.: To answer this, we break out a complete list of the playable characters from the whole Super Smash Bros. series, and so happens the one on the series' Wikipedia page is conveniently sortable by franchise. From here we'll just tally the two sides:

Franchises with song inclusions (brackets are number of SSB playable characters)
  • Animal Crossing (1): Animal Crossing New Leaf Medley
  • Final Fantasy (1): The Navel Extreme
  • Kirby (3): Kirby's Dream Land Medley / Revenge of Meta Knight Medley
  • Mega Man (1): Dr.WILY STAGE 1
  • Pac-Man (1): EAT'EM UP / L・O・V・E 
  • Pikmin (1): Ai no Uta ~ Pikmin Theme
  • Pokémon (9): Pokemon game medleys
  • Sonic the Hedgehog (1): Sonic 4 Episode I Medley
  • Street Fighter (1): Theme of Ryu
  • Super Mario (9): Super Mario Bros. (two versions) / New Super Mario Bros. Wii / Dr. Mario (Fever) (incl. the part in Famicom Medley)
  • Legend of Zelda (6): Legend of Zelda Theme (Soul Calibur II) / Legend of Zelda (original medley) / Legend of Zelda BotW Medley
Franchises withour song inclusions (brackets are number of SSB playable characters)
  • Bayonetta (1)
  • Donkey Kong (2)
  • Duck Hunt (1)
  • EarthBound (2)
  • F-Zero (1)
  • Fire Emblem (6)
  • Game & Watch (1)
  • ROB (1)
  • Ice Climber (1)
  • Kid Icarus (3)
  • Metal Gear (1)
  • Metroid (2)
  • Punch-Out!! (1)
  • Star Fox (3)
  • Wii Fit (1)
  • Xenoblade (1)
And that bring us to 34 characters with song inclusion and 28 without, giving a percentage of 54.8%.

PS. Note that while the Tekken series and Tower of Druaga does have representation in the latest 3DS/Wii U Super Smash Bros. game (and of course have so many songs in Taiko no Tatsujin), they are only costumes for Mii Fighters and hence are not counted here.

Question 6: Ranking Dojo Gaiden, Taiko Time 7th Anniversary Special
If we take the favourite songs of nigelliusnitrox, Lokamp and pikaby and put them as a Ranking Dojo Gaiden trial (use the highest possible difficulty, in that order), what is the ceiling score attainable?

Ans.: Knowing our favourite songs is the easy part. We have spoken of them fondly in the past and the last time we checked they are still our favourites. For the purpose of this question, the three songs should have been Samba Alegria (Ura) / Chiriyuku Ran no Tsuzuru Uta / Kimi no Akari (Ura). We have also already talked about the concept "ceiling score" in our feature article on Score Fixing, but the problem might be that until now we did not fully touch on how scoring works in a Ranking Dojo trial.

Long story short, each song in the trial still uses its original scoring formula, but because combos are continued between songs, the combo increment would have been maxed out at the start. Assuming getting all Greats, it is just simple maths of how many each kind of notes there are (normal and large notes, and both under Go-go Time) times the highest per-note score, plus the 100-combo bonuses incurred:

SongsCeiling Score
サンバ アレグリーア Samba Alegria1,099,100 + drumroll
(same as normal)
散りゆく蘭の綴る詩 Chiriyuku Ran no Tsuzuru Uta1,160,400 + drumroll
Normal notes1370× 390
Large notes2740× 21
Normal notes in Go-go Time1640× 276
Large notes in Go-go Time3280× 14
100-combo bonus10000× 7
きみのあかり Kimi no Akari1,114,860
Normal notes1320× 381
Normal notes in Go-go Time1580× 343
100-combo bonus10000× 7
Total3,374,360 + drumroll

Question 7: Fill in the Tables
(a)
Tsunagare! Hirogare! Uchi-agare! (つながれ！ひろがれ！打ち上がれ！)
Version
Allx4 (209)x5 (314)x7 (???)x9 (776)
PS4-1
 ???
 none
 ???

(b)
Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild Medley (ゼルダの伝説 ブレスオブザワイルド メドレー)
Version
Allx4 (88)x5 (140)x6 (279)x8 (469)
Taiko 0 Yellow
94~184
 none
 ???

(c)
God RaySynchronica
Version
Allx5 (152)x6 (243)x7 (413)x10 (777)
Taiko 0 Yellow
73.5~172
 none
 ???
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Taiko PS4 - LOSER Difficulty Ratings Reveal

September 19, 2017, 10:29 am
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Up here we have the latest Japanese trailer for upcoming PS4 games and if you can endure weird rapping up until about 1:35 (or if you just skip ahead on that portion), it's possible to track down the star ratings of LOSER, one of the new J-Pop inclusions of the game, which is rated 3/5/6/8.

Thanks to taikojoe from the Taiko no Tatsujin Discord for the find!
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Twitter Snippets (20 September 2017) - Red Version's Final Dojo Ranking Results

September 20, 2017, 5:56 pm
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While Taiko Team livestreams are a thing that is not happening with the same frequency as before, some of their buds are still beneath the ground, ready to resurface when the time is right. Case in point for today, here's the tweet signaling the publication on Youtube of Red Version's Dojo Ranking players, updated until said firmware board's last operative day (March 15th, 2017).


A more detailed breakdown of the overall results is also provided in tweet form, no less!
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Namco Taiko Blog (21 September 2017) - NO/GM Arcade Revival Poll

September 21, 2017, 12:35 am
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This year's Autumn season opener from the Taiko Team consists of a Twitter revival poll, where 40 tracks among both the Game Music and Namco Original genres are eligible to be chosen for a temptative arcade resurrection in the near future. *coughWinterRewardsShopcough*

With the tweet above briefly showing the full list, after the jump are the translated song title list and the do-s and don't-s of this campaign's submission method.

Game Music
Where is the Target?
Oodain
KARMA (Tatsujin Mix)
Koi wa Mizuiro
Comona
SAMURAI ROCKET
Thunder Ceptor Medley
Symphonic Motos
Symphonic Valkyrie
Soul Calibur V The Invincible Blade
DIGITAL HORIZON
DESERT STORM
Dragon Saber Submerged City
Naked Glow
Baladium's drive
Bambini
Fighter's Honor (Flying Remix)
Lovely-X
Ridge racer(RIDGE RACER USA MIX)
Rare Hero

Namco Original
Eringi no Ekubo
Kathiawar no Cutlass
Karui Zawameki
Kissa Rain
Crane City
SORA-III Heliopause
SORA-IV Bunpasong
Taiko Session ~Live Version~
Taiko no Tatsujin Ai no Theme
Takara no Oka
Dajare de Oshare
Takkyu de Dakkyu
Desert de Yanikuniku (Sahara-hen)
Knitting High
Numujika ac.10
Neko Kujira
Future Lab
Houkan no Kougetsu Middle Verse "The Sighing Princess"
MEKADON ~A Mechanical Drum Disappeared Into Space~
Wasure na Gusa

In order to submit your revival request among those songs, you can either reply to the tweet shown at the top of this page or post an independent tweet with the name of the song of your choice, followed by the Japanese #復活ナムオリ (it means "#NamOriResurrection" by the way, but please only use the Japanese tag) tag. Any message can be sent together with your vote as well, unless it's something rude or obscene! What matters for the vote, however, is to abide by the following rules:
  • Be sure to input the full name of the song in your tweet, as it appears in the list provided in either the original blog entry or the Twitter photo above, as fan abbreviations won't be counted;
  • Each person can vote only once, and only the first vote tweet recorded for any user will be counted;
  • It's possible to vote from today until September 30th, 11:59 pm (JP time).
The most voted songs from this poll will be featured among the next arcade revivals for many future occurrences, such as the next seasonal Rewards Shop outlet changes. There might be future revival polls for arcade goers to enjoy if enough participants are gathered, so don't despair if your pick isn't chosen this time around!

Link to original post
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Never Left without Saying Goodbye-da-don! Taiko no Tatsujin x Deemo collaboration

September 21, 2017, 12:50 am
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Note: Earlier we posted this based on only one image claiming just a rumor, but since we found the very-official announcement we are rewriting the whole post with more info and images. Thanks to taikojoe from the Taiko no Tatsujin Discord for the initial find though!

Image may contain: textNo automatic alt text available.

Of course this collaboration is announced on the day the piano-performance rhythm game hits the Nintendo Switch.

The first fully-confirmed additions for this will be the Deemo Pack on the Traditional Chinese version of PS4-1 that was transiently shown on Asian PlayStation Store fronts and later removed. The pack will consist of the Deemo original song Saika by Rabpit (3/4/6/8 apparently) and the Petit-chara outfit part Deemo & the Little Girl. For those who want to have a demo of this Deemo song, here's a gameplay video on Hard mode from the original source game:


But of course Cytus Saika best Saika amiri- (dragged away


The pack will be available first-hand via download codes attached with the first printing of package version and as pre-order bonus digital version . Saika the song will also be available as free DLC later on. And if PS4-1 will not be on your shopping list, releases on the arcade and mobile app versions of Taiko no Tatsujin are also hinted, although with no concrete details yet.

On the other arm of the collaborative efforts, Hyakka Ryouran will be the Taiko ambassador to the piano-score-book nation of Deemo, slated for release in the iOS/Android app's version 3.1 update coming in 2017.

In more PS4-1 exclusive news, Asian Donders can rejoice when (The) Tower of Babel, (The) Tower of Druaga Medley, Mappy Medley and Dragon Spirit Medley are confirmed to also be Traditional Chinese version's first-printing bonuses in the form of packed-in download codes, not as store-exclusive bonuses like in Japan. If trinkets are more your type, the Traditional Chinese version also come packaged with one random Don-chan strap in either Shark, Alpaca, Sushi or Forest Friends outfits.

 
Image source: 4Gamers

BNEI Taiwan press release
BNEI Taiwan Facebook post (has more pictures)
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Sonority Scouts - Burning Coaster

September 23, 2017, 12:43 am
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One day after its Groove Coaster debut, we finally have a hold of some gameplay footage of the Taiko-spawn Burning Force Medley being played on Taito's ongoing music game franchise, which has just celebrated its 500th song release thanks to this track's inclusion!

Just like with the Dragon Spirit Medley port from the last year, the song is rated 8/10 on its hardest arcade setting, with today's feature 1-upping the previous medley cameo for the fact of the Burning Force Medley being completely ported for gameplay means in Groove Coaster, without any song cuts or sorts.
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Song of the Week! 23 September 2017

September 23, 2017, 2:00 am
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While originally there was no intention to make of this September a themed month to begin with, we might as well carry on with the console-exclusivity theme for the next features, seeing how that was also the motif of this year's (non-hidden) features as well!

Today's pick comes from the early PlayStation 2 times...

 Paradise Ginga (パラダイス銀河)
Version
Allx4 (144)x4 (205)x5 (310)x7 (441)
 Taiko PS2 3
 155
 none
 genji


With the very first Taiko home console title -Tatacon de Dodon ga Don- being mostly an opportunity to port a good chunk of the pre-existing songs from the arcades as the sole song list focus, its two main sequels for the most ancient Taiko software engine already tried to put in a mix of never-heard-before tracks to balance out the pre-existing console porting process.

For Appare! Sandaime, one of its tracks that is still exclusive to said game alone is one of the smash hits from the Japanese male idol group Hikaru Genji (often worded as '光GENJI'), whose patronage is also hinted to in the song's own ID. In activity from 1987 to 1994 for the Johnny & Associates talent agency, this is a 7-men act made up by Kohji Uchiumi (内海光司), center dancer Kazumi Morohoshi (諸星和己) and five different vocalists, with Junichi Yamamoto (山本淳一) being the main singer. With 20 albums under its tally and 26 singles releases (including the Taiko-recurrent Yuuki 100% from the Anime genre), Hikaru Genji was remolded into the Hikaru Genji Super 5 act after the resignation of two of its singers, only to be disbanded for good in 1995.

Hikaru Genji's musical debut is one of the most awarded in Japan for the male idol scene, as it has been the youngest idol act (up until the debut of Hey! Say! 7 in 2007) to top the Oricon singles charts, in 1988. Not only that, said Oricon chart has seen four of their songs receiving high ranks, with three of them constituting the whole Top 3 for the year! The track that has risen to the very top happens to be Paradise Ginga, Hikaru Genji's third single. Released on March 9th, the single was composed by songwriter Ryo 'ASKA' Asuka (飛鳥涼) and made its commercial debut on EPs, single CDs and single cassette media for an overall first shipment of about 1 million copies, which was depleted so fast that it made the idol unit issue a public apology on newspapers for the stocking shortage. Paradise Ginga's popularity didn't stop from sales charts alone, as it was awarded the 30th Japan Record Award in 1988 and the Gran Prix Singles Award of the year later.

With an almost-evened-out Don/Katsu note range, Paradise Ginga's Oni mode has been very fond of exploiting note cluster triplets that include two Kat notes in a row, making it for several cluster section pattern structuring that can also be found in lots of harder charts from future Taiko Oni trials.
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Twitter Snippets (September 19 2017): At Least SOME Form of Trial Version for PS4-1

September 23, 2017, 4:30 am
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Now deep within Tokyo Game Show season, let's wind back a bit to a prior Sony press conference, where it is announced that subscribers of the PlayStation Plus can get their hands on a copy of the TGS demo for Taiko no Tatsujin Session de Dodon ga Don for a limited time.

From what we have seen so far in conventions, it is suggested to not expect too many groundbreakingly new songs and features available, but this could be a first-hand buffet to try for the new PS4 aesthetics.
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The Almost Transient Mysteries: The Hidden Secret Behind Tsumami-kui Performance

September 23, 2017, 4:00 pm
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Thanks to Sehuny and I'm don with you kats (Nether) on the Taiko no Tatsujin Discord for setting off this little journey.

Being more than 5 years overdue certainly makes it transient for the longest time. The Tsumami-kui Performance (つまみ食い演奏) mode was first introduced in PSP2 and then revived for Wii4 and Wii5, after which it went on to inspire the Taiko Training (太鼓トレーニング) mode in PSVita1. Today we look at those later incarnations for a quaint little secret.

"It's just a training mode that lets you rewind songs. What's so hidden about that?" And THAT is what is so hidden about this.

If you play around the mode a bit, you might notice that the rewind and fast-forward jumble-noise are the same for all songs, implying that it is a different audio file in the software level. You know, with precedents like Yokuderu 15300 and whatnot, what if we play around with a copy of that soundbite on an audio software?


But isn't that a ultra sped-up instrumental Momoiro♪Taiko Paradise (Wii4 theme song), just added first with some voice speaking something and then with people screaming and frolicking around? That wasn't too weird when (this incarnation of) Tsumami-kui Performance did begin with Wii4 and it can be a nice nod.

But what about later? Vita1 having Shimedore 2000+ let us have a full listen to the fast-forward jumble, and here is one person trying to set off a 1/7.65 speed of the result to hear out for anything weird:


So after the above Momoiro♪Taiko Paradise antics, there is now a change in music to a small section resembling Koibumi 2000? And then it loops back after a transitional bridge? What is all this supposed to mean?

While that's all dandy and well, the lineage of this soundbite appears to hit an end. The Tokkun Mode from AC0 uses only a more-generic click sound when moving through the notechart, and PS4-1's upcoming Training Performance mode appears to more closely follow its designs as well, but without sounded sample as of now we could only speculate.
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Kitto Motto Zutto Lyrics

September 24, 2017, 4:00 pm
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Composer, Arrangement: Keiichi Okabe (岡部啓一)
Lyrics: LindaAI-CUE
Vocals: Ichirou Mizuki (水木一郎), Mitsuko Horie (堀江美都子), Hironobu Kageyama (影山ヒロノブ)
Chorus: Katsuyuki Oda (小田一行), Satoru Kousaki (神前暁), LindaAI-CUE, Tomoko Kurosawa (黒坂智子), Katsumi Sawajiri (澤尻克美)

Japanese
空に飛んでった　夢を追っかけた (sora ni tonde tta yume o okkaketa)
路地裏のヒーロー　どん・かつ　ぼくら (rojiura no hero don katsu bokura)

今日も楽しかった　明日も遊ぼうね (kyou mo tanoshikattaasu mo asobou ne)

指切り　そう　きっと　もっと　ずっと (yubikiri sou kittomotto zutto)

ドン・ドン・ドン！　そーれ　ド・ドン・ドン！ (don-don-don! so~re do-don-don!)
みんな一緒に　だって (minna issho ni datte)
ドン・ドン・ドン！　そーれ　ド・ドン・ドン！ (don-don-don! so~re do-don-don!)
素敵なことが　あふれてるから (sutekina koto ga afureteru kara)

ねぇ　いつの日か　宇宙の果てまで (neh itsunohika uchuu no hate made)
太鼓叩きに　行こうね (taiko tataki ni ikou ne)
ねぇ　そのときは　自慢のロケットで (neh sono toki wa jiman no rocket de)
最高の旅だね (saikou no tabi da ne)

ドン・ドン・ドン！　そーれ　ド・ドン・ドン！ (don-don-don! so~re do-don-don!)
浴衣見っかった？　だって (yukata mikkatta? datte)
ドン・ドン・ドン！　そーれ　ド・ドン・ドン！ (don-don-don! so~re do-don-don!)
今年も街に　いつもの夏に (kotoshi mo machi niitsumo no natsu ni)

ぼくらの街に　みんなの夏に (bokura no machi niminna no natsu ni)

祭囃子が聴こえてきたよ (matsuri-bayashi ga kikoete kita yo)


English translation
Flying into the skies, chasing down the dreams
The backstreet heroes, Don, Katsu, that's us

We have had fun too today, Let's play tomorrow also
At a pinky swear, yeah, for sure,for more, for always

Don-don-don! That's it, do-don-don!
Everybody together, while still
Don-don-don! That's it, do-don-don!
Because wonderful things are overflowing

Hey, what if some day, towards the edges of the universe
We can travel by hitting the Taiko drum
Hey, when that time comes, let's take the rocket we pride ourselves
For the most awesome journey

Don-don-don! That's it, do-don-don!
Have you seen the yukatas? But still
Don-don-don! That's it, do-don-don!
This year too in the streets,for the summer til forever
In the streets of ours,for the summer of everyone
Hear the festival bands as they come

Back to lyrics list
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Twitter Snippets (25 September 2017) - Early-Fall's Random Compoer Facts

September 25, 2017, 7:14 am
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With a week of "news jet-lag" from the Taiko Team part, the official Twitter handle has shared a tweet concerning last week's post-recording session for new Taiko no Tatsujin songs!

This time around, two new tracks were made, one involving longtime contributor Oogami Masako and the other starring the singer Yako, the ex-member of p-model who has contributed in Taiko gaming under the Danchinomiya alias.
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Namco Taiko Blog (28 September 2017) - Behind the Notechart: FooFoo Cassette

September 28, 2017, 12:18 am
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Returning triumphant after his first Xa Ura clear performance (now aim to a Full Combo!), Taiko Team notecharter Sentai Yamaguchi is back for another rendition of this single-song chart feature, which today is starting to broaden the scope to the Autumn Rewards Shop content.

Harunaba's second non-Vocaloid song in Taiko gaming has been charted by notecharter Arihotto (アリーホット), which has been invited in today's blog entry to tell about the reason behind him including the yes-they-are-still-patented trippy barlines(TM). As FooFoo Cassette chimes back to the old-school style of gaming in some way or another, the charter felt that an introduction to the touched gaming tropes for the younger readers is a must!

The earlier gaming consoles that popularized the concept of electronic videogames to the mass markets had two distinctive features that are also reflected in the song and its title; the first of those is the primitive graphical style based on 8-bit systems, once a necessity due to the earliest consoles' processing limitation that still has found its niche place in modern gaming.

The other aspect is the method to access the games with said old consoles, mostly relying on dedicated cassettes to slot into the system's dedicated spaces. Picking up such systems after years of inactivity might result your game cartridges to become dusty over time, so it's not uncommon to spot old-time gamers blowing the dust away if the games did not load properly... Hence the inspiration for Harunaba's song theme and title, with FooFoo being an onomatopoeia to call back to such gesture!

Once your old system has been properly plugged in and the game was up to snuff, the software unfolds upon the player's very eyes...


By taking a closer look at the picture displayed above, it's also possible to spot another graphical difference for the games of yesteryear generations: wire-framing graphical display! While the current consoles' processing power are able to handle a lot of visual geometries and commands at the same time on screen, older systems' lesser power only allowed for simpler forms to be shown under more simple schemes, with one of the most simple visual renderings being pure framework-based models.

For a better example, here's how Don-chan would look like as a wire-frame model!


If you're asking "what has this to do with the trippy barlines(TM) in FooFoo Cassette?", try looking to the model from a certain point of view...

 


So you can see that what I told you was true,...

And there you have it, yet another way to pay homage to old-school gaming in Taiko notechart form!

Link to original post
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PS4 Update: Session de Dodon ga Don's Demo Song List

September 29, 2017, 10:01 pm
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Here's a brief look at what the PS Plus-exclusive demo for the first Taiko PS4 videogame has to offer! It's basically a selection of 6 songs with all difficulties available (including available Uras!), all coming from different genres in couples; from left to right, the songs seem to be EAT 'EM UP!, KAGEKIYO, Tsunagare! Hinogare! Uchi-agare!, Saitama 2000, Carmen Prelude and the Heaven and Hell Overture.

Lo and behold, we also have the first gameplay videos from said demo version! Below is the Oni video of Session de Dodon ga Don's theme song Tsunagare! Hinogare! Uchiagare!, rated 4/5/7/9.



Other details that we've gathered from other first-play videos on Youtube about this demo version can also be found in our Demo/Promotional TnT Releases page, over our Console Games section.

Source (Plurk.com)
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Song of the Week! 30 September 2017

September 29, 2017, 11:04 pm
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For our final entry in this impromptu themed-feature month, I'm waging a bet on what I'm going to assume is going to be a console-exclusive song for quite a while in the very next Taiko console game release! (I definitely see this plan not backfiring a few month from now, totally)

 Brand New Theater! THE iDOLM@STER Million Live! Theather Days
Version
Allx? (???)x? (???)x? (???)x? (???)
 Taiko PS4
 177
 none
 ???


One of the long-standing tradition of Taiko gaming since the 2nd Anime compilation and the early Wii days is to feature at least one or two iDOLM@STER-related tracks as part of the Game Music genre; for Session de Dodon ga Don's case, this launch day quota is filled by the newcoming theme song for the latest mobile game of the franchise!

Released on June 29th for both iOS and Android platforms, the Japan-exclusive THE iDOLM@STER Million Live!: Theater Days (アイドルマスターミリオンライブ!シアターデイズ) app puts the player in the shoes of one of 765Pro's many producers, being put in charge of guiding the debut and career of the newly-born 39 unit (pronounced as 'Sankyuu', as in "Thank You"), consisting of both the returning idols from the former Million Live! app and new talents. This is essentially a rhythm game with note markers to tap/hold/flick as the idol performance goes along, with songs available through storyline/time-limited event means and a roster of over 50 idols to interact with and to be recruited with both in-game and real money currency, a-la gacha game style.

Brand New Theater! is the theme song of the Theater Days app, composed by Sato Takafumi (佐藤貴文) and lyricized by Momoki Eiji (モモキ エイジ), both affiliated to Bandai Namco. All the idols from the original Million Live! app lend their singing contribution in this combined group song, with the sole exception of in-game idol Kotoha Tanaka as her voice actress, Risa Taneda (種田梨沙), went on a hiatus since September 2016 due to sudden illness means. This also meant the (temporary) exclusion of the idol in the Theater Days app, although it's already confirmed its tentative return with future updates, together with the recent announcement of her VA's recovery. In album form, Brand New Theater!'s full version made its debut on the album THE IDOLM@STER MILLION THE@TER GENERATION 01 Brand New Theater!, which was released 3 days prior the Theater Days app's debut.
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