Taiko no Tatsujin

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

Taiko Master (太鼓の達人, taiko no tatsujin^?) is a series of rhythm games created by Namco. The series has seen releases for the arcade, PlayStation 2, and the PlayStation Portable. There have been many releases in Japan, and one North American release. 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 version can be played with a TaTaCon, a special controller which looks like the face of a Taiko drum.

1 Gameplay
2 Music
3 List of Releases
4 Claymation Series
5 Trivia
6 External links

[edit] Gameplay

Symbols moving horizontally along a timeline show what to hit and when. Home versions distinguish single and double strikes, arcade versions hard and soft strikes.

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.

While its appearance may seem cute, it is actually quite difficult: player need to accomplish 75% of the drum chart to pass, and its harder levels (hard and Oni mode) and modifier (eg: 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.

[edit] Music

Music in the Japanese version includes J-pop, anime music, western classical music, traditional Japanese festival music, and video game themes.

[edit] List of Releases

[edit] Arcade

太鼓の達人 (Taiko no Tatsujin)
太鼓の達人2 (Taiko no Tatsujin 2)
太鼓の達人3 (Taiko no Tatsujin 3)
太鼓の達人4 (Taiko no Tatsujin 4)
太鼓の達人5 (Taiko no Tatsujin 5)
太鼓の達人6 (Taiko no Tatsujin 6)
太鼓の達人7 (Taiko no Tatsujin 7)
太鼓の達人8 (Taiko no Tatsujin 8)
太鼓の達人9 (Taiko no Tatsujin 9)

[edit] PlayStation 2

太鼓の達人タタコンでドドンがドン (Taiko no Tatsujin: TATAKON de DODON ga DON)
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)
太鼓の達人あっぱれ三代目 (Taiko no Tatsujin: Appare Sandaime)
太鼓の達人わくわくアニメ祭り (Taiko no Tatsujin: Waku Waku ANIME Matsuri)
太鼓の達人あつまれ! 祭りだ!! 四代目 (Taiko no Tatsujin: Atsumare! Matsuri da!! Yondaime)
太鼓の達人ゴー! ゴー! 五代目 (Taiko no Tatsujin: GO! GO! Godaime)
太鼓の達人 TAIKO DRUM MASTER (Taiko no Tatsujin: TAIKO DRUM MASTER)
太鼓の達人とびっきり! アニメスペシャル (Taiko no Tatsujin: Tobikkiri! ANIME SUPESHARU)
太鼓の達人わいわいハッピー! 六代目 (Taiko no Tatsujin: Wai Wai HAPPI- Rokudaime)

[edit] PlayStation Portable

太鼓の達人ぽ～たぶる (Taiko no Tatsujin: Po-taburu)
太鼓の達人ぽ～たぶる2 (Taiko no Tatsujin: Po-taburu 2)

[edit] Claymation Series

Started in April 2005, Kids Station, a Japanese cable TV channel, is showing 3-minute shorts of the Taiko no Tatsujin characters in claymation animation.