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Wednesday, April 22, 2015

THE COLL@BM@STER (17/04/2015)


It's time for another of these! Collaboration was the word for last week's Taiko Team streaming session, as our drumming series reaches once again both close and distant worlds. Credit to nigelliusnitrox, crystalsuicune and the Taiko Team's Twitter page for the pictures!

This feature will be a little slimmer than usual in the image side due to some viewing issues from us, but we hope you'll enjoy the read.

The first part of the stream was about the whereabouts of the newborne Murasaki Version firmware for modern Taiko games, featuring that side of the incoming Version 2.03 update (going live tomorrow!) the team has kept hidden. First of all, there's the return of the Taiko School and Taiko Dojo features, followed by the partial reveal of Murasaki Version's dojo courses:


Even if most songs are covered up, it's easy to figure out which genres most of the hidden tunes are. Just watch out for the final three courses' hidden tunes! Not pictured above is the addition of the 'Home Training' feature for the Taiko School, which is able to list a group of songs to the players that can be played for training in the most recent Taiko console games.

Shortly after, may's DonChare news arrived, revealing that Zeami/Tatsh's Shikou no Ran will be the next Don Challenge unlock, together with the Tyrannosaurus outfit for the Taiko avatars. May's unlockable and Purple Rose Fusion will also be involved in something else...


The two Zeami songs will be used for the next Taiko online tourney, called the 'Battle of Purple Flames' (紫煌の陣), with the title parts Hiko (火皇) and Shiko (紫煌) being awarded respectively to all the partecipants and the Top 100 players across Japan. The third song has been decided by the streamers during the show, ultimately resulting into Necrofantasia ~Arr. Demetori.

But enough Taiko talk, have the stream's main event!


This year marks an important milestone for both the Taiko no Tatsujin and Idolm@ster franchises, so it makes sense to have a huge collaboration event. So huge that the Taiko side will split it in two parts! Starting on April 28th, Part 1 will last until the end of May, while Part 2 will run during the month of June.


Across the duration of the Im@s collab, Taiko Murasaki machines will receive new Idolm@ster songs across for 7 weeks, with the rate of one per week. Coming on Tuesdays, these songs never reached Taiko 0 before, featuring both returning classics and brand-new songs as well, with the last of which feeling quite new, even for the Im@s fandom...

Collegamento permanente dell'immagine integrata

You guessed it-the closing song has been made in occasion for this event and never heard before! The funnily-titled Majide...?! is being lyricized by Taiko Team personality duo Etou/Kuboken and composed by Sato Takafumi. Anyone up for a on-stream sneak peek until the first chorus with the Team's fan cheers? (Large lyrics sheet here)


  (fan cheers removed)

For the Taiko side of the collaboration, Banapassport players will earn some event tickets after playing Idolm@ster songs for the duration of the event's Part 1. These tickets are used to join an online lottery that will decide exactly 765 winners in four different categories from A to D, netting different real-life goodies to the winners. Of course, the more you play and the bigger are the chances of winning something.

The 20 'D' winners will receive a set of 13 paper bracelets featuring the 13 main idols from the Im@s series; the 430 'C' winners will have an 'unspecified Taiko element' to be usable in the arcade line of Idolm@ster games, the 300 'B' winners will get a limited-edition Banapassport card. The 15 'A' winners will get the prizes from the previous 3 tiers AND the tickets for an Idolm@ster live concert!





If luck isn't your name, there's more to be joyful at: during the two parts of the collaboration, the Donder Hiroba will have a limited Idolm@ster gacha machine for more cutesy goodness! The 765 Studios girls will be the main star of the event, as they can be unlocked as Petit Chara for the Taiko avatars to enjoy. Their in-stage outfit can be unlocked as well!



Joining the fun are also six extra idols (as Petit Charas) from recent spin-off titles of the franchise: Million Live! and Cinderella Girls.


More real-life goods are also planned to be scheduled during the event, suck as these stickers:


After a generous break, the stream goes on with console updates, starting with Taiko 3DS 2. Sasaoka brought up the sheets for the DLC songs of April and May, featuring both arcade firsts and console returns.



The DLC corner is followed by the presentation of quite an unusual guest: the comedy duo Nippon Elekitel Rengo (日本エレキテル連合), of which we already heard of from some earlier Taiko Team tweets and blog entries.


Their presence in the stream is justified by yet another future Taiko collaboration, aimed to bring custom outfits on Taiko Murasaki Version, starting from the next week. What's new, however, is that the incoming Taiko no Tatsujin V Version for PlayStation Vita will have the promo outfits as well!


Shortly after the duo left, we had the last bit of news for the game... teasing the future reveal of a new bit of news, slated for tomorrow. Don't forget to check the game's official website and Twitter account as well! 


Back to the arcade grounds, the Taiko franchise will sparkle in a good number of live events in the near future, and the Taiko Team made sure to warn everyone about those. The first of these is the NicoNico Chokaigi 2015, coming this Sunday.


While the event's Super Anime corner will host a stage event about the TaikoxIm@s collab, the Super Game section will have a returning machine.. As expected from the previous editions, there will be updated Taiko arcades for everyone to enjoy for free. Your quarters are safe for now!


These arcades will have something more, however: Sachi Sachi ni Shite Ageru and May DonChare song Shikou no Ran can be tried in there as well, before everyone else does on the public arcades!


This year's milestone for the franchise is kind of a big deal, so here's your chance to be a part of it! After a Murasaki Version play, you can leave your name under a commemorative flag; by doing so, a special pin will be gifted. Happy 15th anniversary!


The Super Game area will also feature another, incoming Bandai Namco rhythm game. Do you remember it?


Yup, it's Synchronica! Before its official release on June this year, the machine will be playable, granting free pins for everyone trying the arcade. For more infos about the game and its songs (maybe some more Taiko stuff, too?), the Taiko Team also listed the game's Twitter page.


In more Taiko-related news, this year's Super Let's Play section of the Chokaigi '15 will have some Taiko magic as well! The Live event will feature random people trying to clear Help me, ERINNNNNN!! and Senbonzakura, while the off-stage Murasaki arcades will be up for a special challenge, awarding people special Banapassport designs by clearing the Oni mode of one of the available songs, of which there's a short list below.


The Taiko franchise has its chance to shine even in the Chokaigi's Super F.A.T.E IN TOKYO corner, as the event-exclusive Final Fantasy XIV content will be the star in two different events between next Saturday and Sunday.


The corner will have some Taiko arcades featuring the already-heard The Navel Extreme from the incoming RPG title. an in-stage event will have the audience trying to beat the heart of the Titan in form of the limited song's insanely-long Kusudama note on Muzukashii/Oni. For whoever manages to make it, there's a promo t-shirt waiting for you!


That's all for the Chokaigi '15 event, but there's one last event worth mentioning! Next month, on May 10th, the yearly Hakurei Shrine Reitaisai will have some Taiko arcades in there, in occasion of more Taiko x Touhou goodness.


First of all, the event's machines will have the four songs of the NAMCO SOUNDS x Touhou Project collaboration, shipping popular Taiko composers with equally-popular Touhou tracks for four special remixes.


It's also time for more promo Petit Charas! One of the future Taiko Murasaki updates will hold special gachas for characters from ZUN's acclaimed bullet-hell shooter series. However, Banapassport users attending the Reitasai will receive a Reimu figure that can be used right the day after the event!


If Reimu is not your Touhou character of choice, what about these? All the characters appearing as the custom dancers for the Touhou songs will have their Petit Chara equal as well, with two more to come.


...erm, it's just me or is my keyboard acting funny? Hrm...

...anyway. Not-Japanese Taiko and Touhou fans could be happy to hear that the Taiko x Touhou content will be available in Taiwan's Hakurei Shrine Reitasai event as well! The four songs will be event-restricted too, so we can assume that the Touhou collab update for public Taiko arcades won't be operative before June 6th.


Some of the Taiko x Touhou content will be also discussed during some of the NicoNico Chokaigi's stage events, with special pins being gifted to the live attenders. Just, don't expect to see the four aforementioned remixes, though...


This concluded April 2015's Taiko Team stream. See you soon, and -if you happen to attend one of these- feel free to share pics and content with us!