Last week has been a busy one on the livestream front, between the Red Version Launch broadcast and the thrilling conclusion of the World Championships 2016. If you've missed any of these events, we're still here to fill the gaps with the usual commentary and visuals... for real, this time!
Starting with the livestream's pre-portion, tensions are already high, with a Red Version cabinet lingering behind the Taiko Team hosts from the very beginning!
But, as usual, the pre-livestream segment has mostly been for live interactions with the Nicovideo viewers, between asking questions and answering some small polls. One of the last broadcast's inquires were about the surroundings of the room where the Taiko Team livestreams are run, which Takemoto and Anne were eager to showcase by filming the immediate surroundings of the floor.
Don't trust the used camera's data - this was filmed live during the Wednesday pre-portion!
When Anne was been asked of how she's training for the future broadcasts' host duties, here's a little piece of dedication of her: Taiko-styled nail polish!
Coming to Etou's polls, the topic for this iteration was about the most popular fan-given abbreviation of the Taiko no Tatsujin series, with the more simple 'Taiko' leading the crowd. Better luck next time, Don...Game?
With the actual livestream's beginning, we are already greeted to the final news corner about last Sunday's WCS2016 Finals.
At this point, we'd usually describe what has been said in the Taiko Team's slides about the event, but since said Finals have already happened, why don't you have a look for yourself instead?
The video above is one of the many on Youtube which has recorded the whole Finals showdown in a single, long sitting! If you have more that 5 hours to spare and want to have a (digital) seating for yourself, here's the video for you.
For a quick synopsis of the brand-new content announcements and reveals, we have the newcomer tracks from Tatsh and cranky (which we also talked about here) as well as the announcement of the next Taiko Team livestream to take place on August 19th, aimed on Dojo Ranking talks and more collaborations for Red Version.
The Wednesday livestream still had some exclusive content to talk about in the softer side, such as a collection of lovely snapshots from the tournament's pre-Finals segments!
Have also a closer look at the WCS2016 finalists' awards, with the 4th-to-2nd glass plates and the winner's multi-color trophy!
The Finals' block round formation has also been decided live during the Wed. broadcast, with Etou drawing a finalist's name on the pictured white box and the relative block among one of the many cards on the table, eventually completing the whole grid live.
And now, Red Version time!
With the latest arcade firmware being out, the real news to us on the song list department is the group of songs that have become default tracks on Red Version, consisting of the Synchronica/Taikai time-limited campaigns and White Version's Don Point unlocks.
After the song list details, there has been the parade of guest outfit unlocks, starring the four already-known pairings and an external, never-heard-before campaign on the bottom...
Related to the Sakana-san collaboration on the seaside spectrum is a small partnership with Bandai Namco's medal game Fishing Spirits, where Taiko drums with different outfits will start appearing for everyone to fish out. Keep an eye for the most valuable ones: Jingly Rope Don and Katsu!
For the collaboration news talk, the Taiko Team was joined by quite the unexpected guest: CROSSxBEATS series director Naoki Maeda (also pictured in this post's beginning)!
Naoki's appearance has a sense too, as Red Version will partake in a 2-parter music game collaboration, with the two involved songs swapping franchises between July and August. On Taiko grounds there's a slight update as well, as both songs will net Banapassport-exclusive Petit Charas if played before August 2016's end!
With the already-available Over Clock ~Kaihou~ giving out the Petit Chara version of Akatsuki from the original crossbeats REV. arcade, the first SAKURA EXHAUST play on Taiko will give out the PC of Chan, the mascot of the current crossbeats arcade version (REV. SUNRISE).
Roughly at the same time of the Team playing a demo of the CxB song, Capcom's arcade Youtube account has published the full playable version of Rio Hamamoto's SAKURA EXHAUST, with a portion of each of the song's 4 modes being played in a row. It also has a very Taiko-esque background to show off!
The last Taiko portion of the Wednesday livestream has seen the appearance of two overly-energetic Bandai Namco employees, talking about the Macross Delta collab we've already heard about before. Aside for a Macross-themed lottery and 5 mystery unlocks that are also being listed in the campaign's page, there's not that much else to talk about.
Ending the run was the 1-hour long portion of the Synchronica Team (with Daifuku) talking about the music game's first major update, occurring this coming Thursday. While we state once again that this Synchronica portion didn't have any Taiko-related tie-in content in particular, there are a couple of side topics worth mentioning for the Synchronica content already in Taiko.
First of all, it has been revealed that New World, one of the crossed-over songs in Taiko, is the next subject of the fabled Pandora mode, the April Fools difficulty setting that is going to be become an official one with the next update, with this Classic arrangement bearing what currently is the highest-rated mode in the game to date.
To celebrate, Daifuku played the song (on Easy) alongside what probably is Synchronica's pitch-in mascot of sorts... a dude wearing a deer mask. No joking!
If you've liked the Synchronica inclusions in Taiko so far, this last bit of news might catch your interest, as Bandai Namco is partnering with SuperSweep Records for a Synchronica soundtrack, including all of the original firmware's Bandai Original/Classic songs (plus the Touhou Arrange by Taku Inoue)! First-printings will come out on August 20th, featuring an extra DVD with a music video of Tenkaichi Otogesai song Yoake Made Ato 3-byou and the making-of the game's original songs. Regular CD-only printings will begin on September 30th.
Now that our double-livestream feature is over, there's a full month of Red Version to enjoy before the next broadcast will be aired! See you then.
