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Namco's Taiko Drumming Games To Debut In West
Thanks to 1UP for its news story noting that Namco's Japanese hit PlayStation 2 drumming title, Taiko No Tatsujin, is coming to the West. According to the article's translation of a Bloomberg News story: "Namco tentatively plans to localize two titles in the series (four have been released in Japan so far) with revised song selections better suited to an American audience. Its expectations of the title's success are relatively modest - Haraguchi said Namco expects to initially ship around 100,000 units - but given the success of Dance Dance Revolution in this country, it could balloon into a similar cult phenomenon." The Taiko No Tatsujin series "...has shipped two million units for PlayStation 2 in Japan so far", even with an (optional) expensive drum controller, and it seems Nintendo's previously mentioned Namco-developed conga-drum title Donkey Konga is also likely to head Stateside.
You should look into importing Drum mania / Percussion freaks for PS2. There are quite a few versions of the game available. In addition, it uses 3 "drums", 2 "cymbals" and a bass pedal, instead of just a round drum with 4 sensors in it. The music is also much more challenging. You can find the imported arcade versions at some arcades in the US.
You crazy man? You piss off supahfly!
Seriously, have you played this game? The only thing "traditional" about it is the drums.
The music in the game is from anime, J-Pop, even classical music (William Tell Overture). There's even some disco!
It's a game that's very easy to pick up and play. The important thing for Namco is they need to pick the right songs for the American market. If they do that well, I don't see why this won't be successful for them.