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More Fun Than You Can Shake A Stick At

Posted by timothy on from the don't-eat-the-drumsticks dept.

BrokenPipe writes "When I was in Japan last summer I bought a PlayStation 2 in anticipation of a game that was just released a couple of weeks ago. It is only available in Japan and it will probably never be released in the US. It is called "Taiko no Tatsujin". The game has been in the arcades in Tokyo for a while but it has just been released for the PlayStation 2. Apparently it is the number 3 game in Japan right now and many places are sold out. Luckily, mine arrived this past Monday. So what is the hype all about? Well, the game is based on Japanese traditional drums which are called 'taiko' drums. Basically, you need to drum along with a song, hitting the drum at just the right moment. Most of the songs are either Japanese pop songs (J-Pop) or more traditional Japanese songs. It is a great game for all ages. The official website is here." For more information, here are several more sites to puzzle over: one, two, three, four, five.

6 of 235 comments (clear)

  1. I've seen this... by GoofyBoy · · Score: 3, Interesting


    Its like DDR for you finger tips.

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  2. A very simliar game by Monkelectric · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Came out in the US a year or so ago called Frequency.

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    Religion is a gateway psychosis. -- Dave Foley

  3. Re:Improves Real Instrument Skills? by AsnFkr · · Score: 3, Interesting

    im a drummer (as well as a guitarist and bassist) and ive played one of those drumming games that is set up as a "real kit" - and no...it does not help you at all. If you play technically correct along with the game, you loose. Its just like DDR, you hit each pad as the arrow lights up, and for the most part it doesn't correspond to the actual note being played at all. In my opinion it would prbably confuse a persons ability to play an instument more than anything.

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  4. Yet Another Rhythm Game? by Rayonic · · Score: 3, Interesting

    And it's not like drums haven't been done before, even.

    Don't get me wrong, I like rhythm games (along with every other genre of video game), but this is not groundbreaking in any sense of the word.

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  5. Re:I've Played It... by MuteflY · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I'll agree that not all DDR players look like they're dancing (me for instance) but have a look at some of the videos here and you'll see that any decent freestyler looks very much like they're dancing, mainly because they are.

  6. Re:you never know by jafuser · · Score: 3, Interesting
    There's a game out right now for the GameCube called called "Animal Crossing", which I assume must be a market-test for it's kind in America.

    It's a very odd sort of game, which claims to be a "communication oriented" game. It's not really comparable to anything else I've seen before. It's sort of an RPG/Sim hybrid, with emphasis on making friends, and staying in touch such as chatting with your neighbors, writing to electronic friends, trading virtual items with your RL friends, etc...

    It's definitely a concept that would probably never have seen the light of day if it weren't for the novel Japanese way of thinking. I hope the test market succeeds. It's quite addictive, and I hope to see it catch on, and perhaps see more games like it =)

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