Taiko no Tatsujin: Rhythmic Adventure Pack is an awesome rhythm game with a very amazing list of songs straight from Japan! Playing as Don and Katsu in story modes adds a creative twist to the Taiko no Tatsujin series and is a great way to introduce the series to a western audience. However, without the drum, the price of the drum, and a lack of multiplayer, it may turn some new people interested in playing the series away.
Never did I think that I would get to sit down and play Taiko No Tatsujin without being at an arcade in Japan! In fact, before the pandemic, I was already supposed to have gone to Japan and I had planned on visiting the many arcades in Japan just to find this game and test it out. I had seen all the crazy YouTube videos with people playing it at the highest difficulty and perfecting every note. It always left me in shock and wanting to experience the game for myself without having to leave the country. But, thanks to Taiko No Tatsujin: Rhythmic Adventure Pack releasing on the Nintendo Switch, I finally get the chance to play from my couch!
The Taiko no Tatsujin series developed by Bandai Namco is very popular in Japan and has never really had a proper introduction to the west until now. This game series in Japan is like how Guitar Hero is to America, except you’re a drum and you beat a drum to hit notes. With Taiko no Tatsujin: Rhythmic Adventure Pack, you get two adventures with Taiko no Tatsujin Rhythmic Adventure 1 and Taiko no Rhythmic Adventure 2. The story of each game is very wacky and unique and takes the mechanics of a rhythm game to a whole other level. In the first game, you are Don and Katsu, who are the game’s mascots, and you meet a rabbit who is looking for his friend named Ticky who happens to be a pocket watch. Ticky is taken by an evil, wacky, and interesting group who time-travels and their goal is to scramble the flow of time. Don and Katsu have to rescue Ticky and stop the group from messing up time!
The second game has Don and Katsu meet Tia and her monkey friend who isn’t a monkey but is named Popo Kaka. This time, the gang must collect OOPArts to save the world from the evil Sorcery Society Hexaglia who wants to use the parts to destroy the world!
I found the two stories to not be very deep but cute, fun, and especially wacky. As much as I wanted to stick to playing my favorite songs individually, story mode rewards you with collectibles and outfits for Don and Katsu. After sitting down and enjoying story mode, I realized it’s one of the best parts of the game. Each level has a theme and instead of just playing a song and progressing through the story, you have to recruit other characters to journey with you and defeat enemies, and what better way to do that than through the power of music!
To fight in this game, you have to drum along to the music! Like a JRPG and with your buddies you have to fight against your enemies in battle. The more notes you hit without missing a note, the higher your combo will be and the higher your combos are the more damage you will do. Missing notes will cause you to take damage and allow your enemies to get the upper hand. Your party members can also help you by learning special abilities. You can be healed and even do more damage depending on the ability your party member learns. You also have random encounter battles and will even have to solve puzzles to progress through the story. This adds a little flavor to the basic rhythmic formula of Taiko no Tatsujin.
Feeling the Beat with Great Songs!
When I first opened up Taiko no Tatsujin the first thing I did was check the list of songs you could play off the bat with Taiko Mode. I was so excited to see songs from my favorite Anime and even Vocaloid songs like Guren no Yumiya from Attack on Titan and Kagerou Days from Jin, songs I never thought I would hear in a rhythm game! Taiko no Tatsujin has a wide range of songs that will keep you entertained for a while, especially if you complete the story. The further you get through the story the more songs you will unlock for Taiko mode and I think that is a great way to get players to play through the story instead of just sticking to Taiko Mode.
Songs range from Bandai Namco originals, Japanese pop music, Anime intro songs, and even classical music. I mean, how often can you say that you played a game that has Pokémon and Demon Slayer songs in it?! There is a wide variety of music even for those that are not familiar with Japanese culture and are just looking to try this unique drum game. Combining the two games gives you a large list of songs that will keep you entertained for a while.
Missing a Few Beats without the Drum and Multiplayer!
This game has one major problem for me and that is that it is almost impossible to play on anything but easy difficulty if you do not have the drum set. I tried playing many ways, like swinging my Joy-cons into the air like a mad person and pressing buttons offbeat. I can not stress enough that you should not just go to the Nintendo Eshop and download the game. It would be worth the money to buy the game that comes with the official drum. In handheld mode, to play for blue notes, you have to hit the triggers, but for red notes, you have to press in on the joystick. This made playing very uncomfortable, especially when playing on a harder difficulty. When you aren’t in handheld mode you can use the motion control in the Joy-cons but this isn’t any easier than handheld mode. You have to swing down the Joy-cons pretty hard to get them to register the notes and to hit blue notes you have to tilt the Joy-cons over on their side just a bit while pressing either the L or R button. This sometimes leads to notes not being registered properly and makes playing the game on harder difficulties impossible. The only way to fix this issue is to buy the drum. Honestly, I can’t see any other way to make playing the game easier. Even though the drum goes for around $100 on the internet, I assure you that it fixes the biggest problem of the game and is worth the experience.
Another issue is the lack of multiplayer. In the arcade version, you can play with a friend and they have a separate drum. So if you have two sets of Joy-cons, why can’t you play with a friend? This really hurts the game because most rhythm games that I’ve played have a multiplayer mode adding to the experience. Even the new Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory game has an online and local multiplayer mode. Adding multiplayer would definitely make the game seem bigger and even adding multiplayer exclusive songs would make the game fun to play with a group. But, sadly it looks like you’ll be drumming to the beat alone.
Conclusion
Taiko no Tatsujin: Rhythmic Adventure Pack is an awesome rhythm game with a very amazing list of songs straight from Japan! Playing as Don and Katsu in story modes adds a creative twist to the Taiko no Tatsujin series and is a great way to introduce the series to a western audience. However, without the drum, the price of the drum, and a lack of multiplayer, it may turn some new people interested in playing the series away. If you’re a long time fan of the series and want to invest in a drum or already have a drum, then you will surely love it! But, if you want to have a real Taiko no Tatsujin experience I would recommend testing out the arcade version if you get the rare chance to experience it in the west.
