Taiko no Tatsujin

This article is about the Taiko no Tatsujin series. For the North American installment in the series, see Taiko: Drum Master.

A Taiko no Tatsujin 12 arcade machine

Taiko no Tatsujin (太鼓の達人) is a series of rhythm games created by Namco. The series has seen releases for the arcade, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 3, Playstation Vita, Wii, iOS, Advanced Pico Beena, and mobile phones.

There have been many releases of the game in Japan, and one North American release under the name Taiko: Drum Master. Due to the nature of the series, there were no other releases outside of Japan.

Overview

The player uses a simulated taiko drum controller to play the notes of a chosen song's drum part as they are displayed on the screen. The PlayStation 2 and Wii versions can be played with a TaTaCon (stands for Taiko Tapping Controller), a special controller which looks like a small taiko drum. The Nintendo DS and iPhone OS versions uses the touch screen as an interactive taiko drum, with the DS games including two styluses in their packages.

The Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable versions also have the ability to engage in 4 player wireless multiplayer.

Gameplay

Symbols moving horizontally along a timeline show the player what to hit and when. Blue symbols indicate that the drum should be hit on the rim. Red symbols indicate that the face of the drum should be hit. The drum can be hit on the left and/or right side. The symbols can be either large or small. Large symbols indicate that the drum should be struck on both sides simultaneously, and small symbols indicate that the drum should be hit on either side. A large blue symbol thus means that the left and right rim should be hit at the same time.

In the Japanese version, subtitles under the symbols give the pronunciation of the sounds (for example, "do don do don") using a traditional system called kuchi shoga (口唱歌).

While its appearance may seem cute, it is actually quite difficult: the player needs to accomplish at least 65% of the drum chart to pass, and the harder levels (hard and Oni mode) and modifiers (e.g.: hidden mode) will require much skill and chart recognization.

Successful play builds up a life meter, and if the meter is past a certain point by the end of the song, the song is passed.

Music

Most releases include J-pop, anime music, classical music, children's\Folk music, variety music, video game themes, and namco original themes (i.e. songs composed by Namco).

A soundtrack based on these series has been released on May 2008. It includes songs from Taiko no Tatsujin 10, Taikujin 11, Taiko no Tatsujin DS: Touch de Dokodon, and Mecha! Taiko no Tatsujin DS: 7-tsu no Shima no Daibouken.

Releases

Arcade

• 太鼓の達人 (Taiko no Tatsujin) (February 2001)
• 太鼓の達人 2 (Taiko no Tatsujin 2) (August 2001)
• 太鼓の達人 3 (Taiko no Tatsujin 3) (March 2002)
• 太鼓の達人 4 (Taiko no Tatsujin 4) (December 2002)
• 太鼓の達人 5 (Taiko no Tatsujin 5) (October 2003)
• 太鼓の達人 6 (Taiko no Tatsujin 6) (September 2004)
• 太鼓の達人 7 (Taiko no Tatsujin 7) (September 2005)
• 太鼓の達人 8 (Taiko no Tatsujin 8) (March 2006)
• 太鼓の達人 9 (Taiko no Tatsujin 9) (December 2006)
• 太鼓の達人 10 (Taiko no Tatsujin 10) (September 2007)
• 太鼓の達人 11 (Taiko no Tatsujin 11) (March 2008)
• 太鼓之達人 11 亞洲版 (Taiko no Tatsujin 11 Asian Version) (April 2008)
• 太鼓の達人 12 (Taiko no Tatsujin 12) (December 2008)
• 太鼓之達人 12 亞洲版 (Taiko no Tatsujin 12 Asian Version) (June 2009)
• 太鼓の達人 12 ド～ン！と増量版 (Taiko no Tatsujin 12 Don to Extra Version) (July 2009)
• 太鼓の達人 13 (Taiko no Tatsujin 13) (December 17, 2009)
• 太鼓の達人 14 (Taiko no Tatsujin 14) (September 2010)
• 太鼓の達人 15 (Taiko no Tatsujin 15) (November 2011)
• 太鼓の達人 オンラインバトル (Taiko no Tatsujin Online Battle) (July 2012)

Nintendo DS

• 太鼓の達人 DS タッチでドコドン(Taiko no Tatsujin DS: Touch de Dokodon) (26 July 2007)
• めっちゃ! 太鼓の達人 DS 7つの島の大冒険 (Metcha! Taiko no Tatsujin DS: Nanatsu no Shima no Daibouken) (24 April 2008)
• 太鼓の達人 DS ドロロン！ヨーカイ大決戦！！ (Taiko no Tatsujin DS: Dororon! Yokai Daikessen!!) (1 July 2010)

Nintendo 3DS

• 太鼓の達人 ちびドラゴンと不思議なオーブ (Taiko no Tatsujin: Chibi Dragon to Fushigi na Orb) (12 July 2012)

Wii

• 太鼓の達人 Wii (Taiko no Tatsujin Wii) (December 11, 2008)
• 太鼓の達人 Wii　ドドーンと2代目！ (Taiko no Tatsujin Wii: Do Don to 2 Daime) (19 November 2009)
• 太鼓の達人 Wii みんなでパーティ☆3代目！ (Taiko no Tatsujin Wii: Minna de Party 3 Daime) (December 2, 2010)
• 太鼓の達人 Wii 決定版 (Taiko no Tatsujin Wii: Kettei-Ban) (November 23, 2011)
• 太鼓の達人Wii 超ごうか版 (Taiko no Tatsujin Wii: Chogouka-Ban) (November 29, 2012)

PlayStation 2

• 太鼓の達人 タタコンでドドンがドン (Taiko no Tatsujin: Tatacon de DODON ga DON) (24 October 2002)
• 太鼓の達人 ドキッ！新曲だらけの春祭り (Taiko no Tatsujin: DOKI! Shinkyoku Darake no Haru Matsuri) (27 March 2003)
• 太鼓の達人 あっぱれ三代目 (Taiko no Tatsujin: Appare Sandaime) (30 October 2003)
• 太鼓の達人 わくわくアニメ祭り (Taiko no Tatsujin: Waku Waku anime Matsuri) (18 December 2003)
• 太鼓の達人 あつまれ！祭りだ！四代目 (Taiko no Tatsujin: Atsumare! Matsuri da!! Yondaime) (22 July 2004)
• 太鼓の達人 TAIKO DRUM MASTER (Taiko no Tatsujin: Taiko Drum Master) (Oct 26, 2004)
• 太鼓の達人 ゴー！ゴー！五代目 (Taiko no Tatsujin: Go! Go! Godaime) (9 December 2004)
• 太鼓の達人 とびっきり！アニメスペシャル (Taiko no Tatsujin: Tobikkiri! Anime Special) (4 August 2005)
• 太鼓の達人 わいわいハッピー！六代目 (Taiko no Tatsujin: Wai Wai Happy! Rokudaime) (8 December 2005)
• 太鼓の達人 ドンカッ！と大盛り七代目 (Taiko no Tatsujin: DON-KA! to Oomori Nanadaime) (7 December 2006)

PlayStation Portable

• 太鼓の達人 ぽ～たぶる (Taiko no Tatsujin: Portable) (4 August 2005)
• 太鼓の達人 ぽ～たぶる2 (Taiko no Tatsujin: Portable 2) (7 September 2006)
• 太鼓の達人 ぽ～たぶるDX (Taiko no Tatsujin: Portable DX) (14 July 2011)

PlayStation 3

• 太鼓の達人 地獄のチューナー (Taiko no Tatsujin Jigoku no Chūnā) (To be announced)
• 太鼓の達人 オンラインバトル (Taiko no Tatsujin Online Battle) (To be announced)

PlayStation Vita

• 太鼓の達人 ヴィータ (Taiko no Tatsujin Vita) (Working title, to be announced)

iOS

• 太鼓の達人 (Taiko no Tatsujin) (February 1, 2010, only in Japan)
• 太鼓の達人 2(Taiko no Tatsujin 2) (2010, only in Japan)
• 太鼓の達人 +(Taiko no Tatsujin +) (May 28, 2010, in Japan and Hong Kong)

Android

• 太鼓の達人 AR (Taiko no Tatsujin AR) (only in Japan)
• 太鼓の達人 AR 妖怪バトル(Taiko no Tatsujin Youkai Battle) (Spring 2011, only in Japan)
• 太鼓の達人 +(Taiko no Tatsujin +) (Coming Soon)

Advanced Pico Beena

• 太鼓の達人 Beena (Taiko no Tatsujin Beena) (14 April 2005)

Mobile Phone

• 太鼓之達人 流行月租 (Taiko no Tatsujin Pop Monthly) (2 January 2008, only for Taiwan)
• 太鼓の達人 もばいる (Taiko no Tatsujin Mobile) (20 March 2008, only for Japan)
• 태고의달인 (29 March 2011, only for South Korea)

Spin-offs

From 2005, Kids Station broadcast 3-minute shorts of the Taiko no Tatsujin characters in clay anime. A manga version of the series was also serialized in Comic Bom Bom.

Mini versions of the game appear in the Namco game Tales of the World:Narikiri Dungeon 3 when the main characters is equipped with a costume resembling a drum, and in the Nintendo DS game Nodame Cantabile.

In Mario Kart Arcade GP DX, there is a Japanese-themed stage based on the series. Don also makes an appearance as a playable driver.

Notes

There are several notes in the game series, they are:

• Don - This is represented by a red face "note", players are required to hit the surface of the taiko itself.
• Kat - This is represented by a blue face "note", players are required to hit the rim of the taiko itself.
• Renta - This is represented by a yellow face "note", players are required to hit any part of the taiko rapidly, or do a drum roll.
• Balloon - This is represented by a red face "note" with a balloon next to it, players are required to hit the surface of the taiko rapidly until the counter hits zero. The Yam note can give players a special bonus when the counter is successfully cleared in the same manner.

The Yam note may be replaced with different notes in the handheld versions. In DX, this was emitted.

Modes

In the main game mode, player may choose a few other modes and difficulties to enhance gameplay, the modes are accessible via the options menu in song selection screen, as well as the difficulty, they are:

1. Auto (オート)

Let's the computer play and does a perfect full combo, but players won't be able to get any high score, symbolized by Mekadon.

2. Baisoku (ばいそく)

This mode can double the song's BPM and timing, it is symbolized by a tiger.

3. Sanbai (さんばい)

This mode can triple the song's BPM and timing, it is symbolized by a smiling tiger.

4. Yonbai (よんばい)

This mode can quadruple the song's BPM and timing. it is symbolized by a laughing tiger.

5. Doron (ドロン)

The notes become invisble with this mode enabled to any song, and thus leaving only katakana kuchi shoga words as cues, symbolized by a shuriken.

6. Kanpeki (かんぺき)

This mode enables the "perfect". Players will be required to get 100% to any song. and anyone who misses just one note will automatically stop the song instantly, it is symbolized by golden Don wearing a crown.

7. Abekobe (あべこべ) (unlockable)

This mode mode enables reverse mode, which allows the don　(red notes) to kat (blue notes), while kat changes to don, it is symbolized by a purple taiko.

Difficulties

Taiko no Tatsujin currently features four level of difficulty. The song and BPM remain the same. However, the number of notes and their variation (the distance between notes, what kind of notes used) differs between the difficulties. Also, there is a general difficulty indicator for each song, represented by stars beside the song's name. The plants used to signify the first three levels are a traditional Japanese ranking system. The four difficulties include:

• Kantan (かんたん), represented by ume flowers.
• Futsuu (ふつう), represented by bamboo.
• Muzukashii (むずかしい), represented by a bonsai.
• Oni (おに), represented by a demon. Players may be able to unlock this difficulty in the arcade and/or the console versions.

Trivia

• The Kamen Rider Hibiki video game included a Bonus Disc with the Opening and Ending of the Show, which can use the TaTaCon controller.
• The arcade version of the game is featured in the films Lost in Translation and Wasabi.
• The ninth arcade version of the game is also featured in episode 2 of the anime Lucky Star. Obs.: The music is Hare Hare Yukai from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. In response, NAMCO added Lucky Star's opening theme "Motteke! Sailor Fuku" into the 10th edition.
• The ninth arcade version of the game is also featured in episode 13 of the anime Nodame Cantabile.
• The mini version of Taiko no Tatsujin was featured on Nodame Cantabile Game on Nintendo DS
• In the documentary Global Metal, anthropologist Sam Dunn can be seen playing it while in Japan
• Taiko no Tatsujin's famous song, Saitama 2000, is featured in the arcade music game Music GunGun.
• The thirteenth arcade version of the game is featured in episode 3 of the anime Ore no Imōto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai.
• The ninth arcade version of the game is featured in one episode of the anime Idolmaster.

External links

• Official Website (Japanese)
• Table of music tracks by version of the game (in Japanese)
• Official Site Taiko no Tatsujin 3DS (in Japanese)
• Taiko no Tatsujin Asian Version (in Chinese)