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Taiko no Tatsujin Waku Waku Anime Matsuri, 4, and 5 for the PS2 Retrospective Talk


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 Hello, my name is Kirbymeister2 and today I will be talking about more Taiko games on the PS2 in celebration for the series 20th anniversary. 

 

Only after a few months, Namco rushed another Taiko game that was Taiko no Tatsujin: Waku Waku Anime Matsuri. The game tried to celebrate the success of anime as Namco has publishing rights for most anime games; but it was a game that had no soul. The opening movie was shorter compared to the first three games, had used a song that already was in another game, and the  backgrounds for any song were copy and pasted like the last two games.

 

  

 

 

The series already had anime songs, so the game shouldn't have any problems with deciding which ones would be in.... right? No, the game has 19 songs total. There are good songs like Moonlight Densetsu, Advance Adventure, Haruka Kanata from Naruto, and Kasabuta from Zach Bell; but that's about it. Why? Namco at this time was a force to recon with it's anime games; so how was getting a good amine music compilation a problem? They could've used past anime songs they used from other games like how the game already took a Namco original song that was the main theme for this game.  

 

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 Alright, so at least the previous games had minigames so there could be more enjoyable things to play outside of playing music. I mean they couldn't have forgotten-... the game has no minigames? Why? The theme of anime would've been great for minigames!

 

 Outside of trying to celebrate anime, what is the point of this game?! The song list is low in numbers, nothing in the visuals changed, and there are no minigames. How did Namco think this game was a good idea besides it's an anime song compilation game? 

 

 Waku Waku was a blunder to Namco and to the series, that they had to turn it around. 

 

 

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 And they did. In July 2004, Atsumare! Matsuri da! Yondaime came out. The game introduced the series into the updated PS2-grade graphics engine. The game looked visually better compared to other games with colorful transitions of Donchan with rainbow backgrounds. The intro best encapsulates it with the song Ohayo! Taiko Summer. 

 

 Not only did the game look better but came back swinging with 40 songs all arranged in genres rather than note difficulty. As for game modes, Appare! threw out the outdated Arcade Mode with a Free Mode that would allow players to get Don Points after playing a song. The points would be used for either drum sounds or new unlockable music.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Notable songs this time around are Shanghai Honey, Sakuranbo, Go!! from Naruto, Bon Voyage! from One Piece, Funiculi Funicula, Ohaiyo! Taiko Summer, Donko's First Date, Tower of Babel, Dragon Spirit Medley, Katamari on The Rocks Main Theme, and Kechadon 2000.

 

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  The game had four minigames which mostly blended in the theme of summer. The first one has players button mash to make sure Donchan eats full slices of watermelons. They have to also dodge before being swatted by a blinded Tetsuo holding a plastic baseball bat. The next game has players correctly hit notes based on if Kame puts down the fireworks to hit into the sky or bombs. The third game is a simon sez with note recognition. Tetsuo says a word with a rhythm and pattern and players have to repeat it when Wada Inu comes around. If they get it right, they get a point. If they get it wrong, Donchan and Tetsuo don't eat the plate and lose a point. The fourth game.... ... Is Wada Inu topping over other ones to get into a helicopter. Players have to be aware of strong gusts of wind that will topper over the towering Wada Inus by making sure they are nicely balanced. 

 

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 A few months later Go! Go! Godaime! would come to the PS2. This game would introduce the series' first mode where choruses of songs would like up with fire. An interesting thing called Yarn Notes would appear with players having to drumroll for Donchan to eat it and press a note accordingly to fart. The Yam note was a prominent thing to have in the game that even the intro song sings about yams mostly. 

 

 

 Speaking about songs, there are 40 this time around with 5 being unlocked the same way as before. Notable songs this time around are Natsu Matsuri, Linda Linda, Anpanman no March, Mickey Mouse March, Jingle Bell (because the game came out in December), Pomp and Circumstance, Violin Concerto in E Minor, Ta * ko Ta * i * ko, and Koibuma 2000.

 

 As for the minigames there are four. The first one has Unagi throw takoyaki in the air while the players control Kame to catch them. Players have to watch out for.... dumbbells falling down as well that can impede progress. The next game is a red-light-green-light game in that players control Suzudon, a bell who is trying to steal dumplings from the Grandpa. If he spots the noisy Suzudon, they would have to start all over again. The third game is a drumrolling racing game to get to the end. The fourth game... is about... eating yams to fart forward into the sky to get to the very top.... sounds about right. 


 With the comeback after Waku Waku and the improved graphics, Taiko no Tatsujin would continue to dominate the PS2 for two more years. These two years would geet a revival of the one failure of an anime song compilation game with Tobikkiri! Anime Special and two games that would celebrate the X-Mas times. 

Edited by "Casual Trash" Kirbys
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