On December 17, 2021, Shenzhen player "Hello everyone, my name is Pseudo Liaoyuan" won the first kill of the difficult song "Yuxuan Chaos" in the "Taiko No Master" arcade machine Chinese mainland. "Taiko No Da Ren" is the Chinese standard translation of the music game "Taiko No Da Ren" series of Bandai Namco, and we are usually more accustomed to calling it "Taiko Da Ren".
The video of the first killing went viral on social media. The first 17 seconds of the score are not too fast, and the notes are not too much, and after 17 seconds, the rhythm suddenly accelerates to BPM300, and the red and blue notes gush out to the left end of the screen like a flood of open gates. The player in the screen is not in a hurry, the drum stick in his hand is flying up and down, accurately tapping the drum surface and drum edge, and the number of combos on the screen continues to grow like the fuel gun metering of the gas station.
With a total length of 126 seconds, the Shenzhen player hit 1262 notes continuously, completing the first full combo of "The Chaos of Youxuan" in the Chinese mainland.
Of the 1262 notes in the whole song, 1239 are "good", only 23 are "can", there is no "can't"
In this first-hand killing video, the layman can look at the hilarity, lamenting that the human arm can really fly up and down like a butterfly, accurately hitting even the notes that are already too fast to be seen; the insider will lament the technical difficulty of it, knowing the gold content of the highest difficulty score of the former "Taiko Drum Master" series - this requires the completion of the entire combo at an average speed of 10 notes per second. The real Taiko Player will have some other thoughts.
At this time, it has been 7 years since "The Rebellion of The Mysteries" first appeared in the "Taiko Master". For Chinese mainland players, this shocking first kill came a little late. "The Chaos of The Mystery" is a frightening and difficult song, but in 2014, when the arcade was installed, it took only one month to be conquered by Japanese players who bravely climbed the peak, while Chinese players waited for this first kill for a full 7 years. Not because the difficulty of this song overwhelmed them, but because the new frame arcade containing this song was never officially introduced Chinese mainland, players could not kill a song on an unattainable arcade machine, even if they had the technology and strength.
Chinese mainland players have not had a new version of the Taiko Drum Master arcade for 10 years to play. Until December 2021, a latest version of the Chinese "Taiko Drum Master" arcade machine suddenly appeared in Guangzhou Tianhe City. Without any preview, no pre-publicity, the field test, which hinted at the introduction of a new version, began. This field test gives Chinese mainland players the opportunity to kill "The Chaos of the Shadows" for the first time. Taiko Players from all over the country flocked to play the last unique version of the Chinese.
After a gap of 10 years, the official introduction of the new version of the "Taiko Master" arcade has never been so close to Chinese mainland players. For 10 years, they have been waiting, waiting for the day when the "Taiko Master" will return.
The days when the "Taiko Drum Master" did not come
Originally a musical arcade game developed by Namco, Taiko Drum Master began appearing in arcade halls in Japan in 2001. The format of the game is close to the traditional Japanese instrument, the taiko drum, and the player needs to tap the drum face and drum edge of the controller with the drum stick against the rhythm of the notes appearing on the screen. In the official introduction, this is a "celebration entertainment game", which means that players can experience the lively atmosphere of playing taiko drums at the festival celebration when playing.
The original "Taiko Master" did not have too many fancy costumes, and was closer to the form of the taiko drum performance at the celebration (pictured is a plastic model)
But when the "Taiko Master" arcade machine first appeared in Chinese mainland, its situation and bustle were not at all related. The first batch of "Taiko Drum Masters" arcade machines that came to China appeared in the Konami Video Game City in Beijing's Zhongguancun e-World, and the game content was not translated into Chinese, and the machine itself was in tatters. They are all waste machines that no one wants after the elimination of Japanese arcades, and perhaps compared to the large-scale garbage disposal, the video game city transported here can also return to the book, and these barely running machines are piled up and appear in front of us.
Chinese mainland players have more widespread access to the series is on PS2. In 2002, Namco ported the game from arcade to the PS2 platform and continued to the 7th generation on the home console platform. Compared with the huge arcade frame, the console version of "Taiko Drum Master" gives Chinese players a more convenient opportunity to contact this series.
In the era of PS2's hot charter rooms on the streets, "Taiko Drum Master" is not one of the popular projects. Children who come to the charter room to play PS2 prefer "Naruto" and "Prince of Tennis", which can be multiplayer games, and enjoy the lively atmosphere in the charter room. Single-player games are relatively deserted, and there is no Chinese translation, just a simple rhythm game of the "Taiko Drum Master" is even less played.
On the other hand, the "Taiko Drum Master" of the PS2 era can only be operated with the handle buttons. At that time, there was actually a peripheral drum designed for the console version, a small plastic drum, inserted into the PS2 can be used as a special controller for "Taiko Drum Master", but in the eyes of players who had contacted this peripheral at that time, this drum basically could only "play with children". The size of the drum itself is small, the feel is terrible, and most importantly, it is not sensitive enough - unlike arcade drums, the sensor distribution inside the peripheral drum is not well designed, and it often fails when beaten. For the "Taiko Drum Master" who needs to accurately tap the judgment, not being able to help the player accurately combos is equivalent to being sentenced to death.
The original home machine peripheral drum can only say "barely working"
Relying on the players attracted by the PS2 version of the game, the domestic "Taiko Drum Master" player community began to become active. Around 2005, players interacted in Tieba – say interactive, more often than not, "bragging", and players from all over the world were gossiping inside. The most common post at the time was "Whoever can ×× song in a row, I will call him Grandpa". Later, the PSP version of the handheld version of "Taiko Drum Master", taking advantage of the PSP handheld at that time in the domestic hot wave, more Chinese players knew about this series.
But at that time, in the mainland area, no one could play the arcade version of "Taiko Drum Master", and no one had ever experienced the refreshing feeling of waving his arms with all his strength, just for a "FULL COMBO". No one yet knows that the mainland's home is about to have their own "Taiko drum masters".
There are days of "Taiko Masters"
In 2007, the arcade version of Taiko Master in Japan has been updated to the 10th generation, and after the merger of Namco and Bandai, the new company is actively planning to introduce the arcade version to the Chinese mainland. Bandai Namco translated a Taiko Drum Master 10, translating both the game interface and the song title into Chinese. This "Taiko Master 10" is the first Chinese version of the "Taiko Master" arcade machine.
However, when the machine finally entered the formal agency process, Japan's "Taiko Master" arcade machine had already reached the 11th generation. Bandai Namco decided to abandon the 10th generation and instead launch the latest version. In 2008, in cooperation with Holley Technology and Shiyu Technology, the two largest arcade agents in mainland China, "Taiko Drum Master 11 Asian Edition" finally entered the arcade hall of Chinese mainland.
Different from the 11th generation of Japanese local operation, "Taiko Drum Master 11 Asian Edition" as the first step of the series to the world, on the basis of the original content, added a lot of Chinese elements, such as S.H.E, Lin Junjie and other singers familiar to Chinese players to sing songs. The outer frame design of the machine is also highly localized, and under the signboard of "Taiko Master 11 Asian Edition" is a promotional slogan translated into Chinese - "Happy lot!" Lots of good songs! Boom, everybody! ”
The Asian version of the "Taiko Master" is still in service in arcade halls everywhere
The response of "Taiko Master 11 Asian Edition" among players is very strong, and the scene in front of the "Taiko Master" machine in various arcade halls can only be described as hot. At that time, as long as it was not too shabby in the arcade hall in China, two Asian versions would be placed, and the sound of "bang bang click" echoed everywhere. Link, a veteran player of "Taiko Drum Master", recalls that it may have been the hottest period of the series in China, and no matter where you are, you can see players stopping when you walk through the arcade. People lined up and laughed, and it only took an arcade machine to make a dozen people spend an incredibly enjoyable afternoon.
The arcade version of "Taiko Master" is updated quickly, and it is generally iterated once every year. At the end of 2008, Japan launched "Taiko Master 12", Bandai Namco is ready to hit the iron while it is hot, taking advantage of the popularity of the 11th generation in China, and then launching the "Taikoo Master 12 Asian Edition". The 12th generation Asian version, like the 11th generation, has added many popular Chinese songs, such as Jay Chou's "Double Truncated Stick" and "Huo Yuanjia".
In terms of updating methods, China's "taiko drum masters" are different from Japan's. In Japan, since the hardware of each generation of "Taiko Master" arcade machines basically uses the same set of equipment, only the game core and external plastic decorations need to be replaced when updating, and most of the components of the entire arcade machine do not need to be replaced, and they can be transformed and continue to operate.
This easy and quick update somehow didn't end up happening in the arcades of the Chinese mainland. In 2009, players discovered that there were several more Taiko Drum Masters 12 Asian Editions in the arcade, and the original 11th generation was still working. For players, this 11th and 12th generations are just right, because the two generations of machines each have tracks that are not on the other machine, and the appearance in the arcade hall allows players to play more songs.
But for arcades, this update can't last. Many arcade halls to add 12 generations of Asian version has been very reluctant, if the follow-up out of the 13th, 14th generation, do you continue to spend the price of the entire machine to update the new version? This uneasiness hangs over the hearts of arcade operators, and also lays the groundwork for the disappearance of "Taiko Drum Masters" in the future.
The day of losing the "Taiko Master"
"Taiko Drum Master 12 Asian Edition" was popular in the domestic arcade until 2010. Players play taiko drums as usual, constantly challenging difficult scores. Everything looked normal until Taiko 13 was released. When players discover that the 13th generation did not introduce the Asian version as quickly as the 11th and 12th generations, they find that something has gone wrong - the introduction of the "Taiko Drum Master" arcade to the mainland seems to have been suspended.
The reasons for the suspension of the introduction are various. The problem may not be with the usual approvals, which are not as difficult as the proxy process for arcade games, unlike console games. Some argue that arcades can't afford to buy new machines every time they are updated, and that the disruption of downstream demand directly affects the agency process; others believe that Holley and Shiyu began to focus on developing their own arcade games and stopped taking over too much overseas import business.
Whatever the reason, the end result is that Chinese mainland players have never had a new officially introduced version of the Taiko Drum Master playing since then.
"Taiko 13" was not successfully introduced
After a wailing sound passed, the Taiko Players began to try their best to save themselves. There was no official introduction of the new arcade, so they tried to update to the new version themselves. The first batch of players to buy the 13th generation of "Taiko Drum Master" accessories eliminated from the arcade hall from Japan and use the game disk containing the new version of the software. The 12th generation Asian version of the machine can not read the Japanese version of the disc, so it dismantled the Japanese version of "Taiko Master 13" with the same base board of the "motorcycle GP" racing game, the PS2 based on the design of the SYSTEM256 console, the 12th generation Asian version of the shell and the 13th generation of the game disk combined together, pieced together into a 13th generation arcade machine covered with the skin of the 12th generation Asian version.
After finding out that this approach worked, players began a "dismantling boom". Dismantled a lot of "motorcycle GPs" in the arcade hall, just to spell out a running "Taiko Drum Master 13". At the same time, because the 13th generation of accessories that have been eliminated is not abundant, in order to make a 13th generation machine in their arcade hall, players from all over the world began to compete with each other on Japan's flea auction websites, just so that players in their own region can play the new taiko drum.
In the end, more than 20 Taiko Drum Masters 13 were pieced together in arcade halls across the country, and these "new machines" became the most precious treasure in the hands of players. Many players live in cities where there are no 13th-generation machines to play, so they go to Beijing and Shanghai to play the latest version.
The method of assembling parts soon did not work. In November 2011, the "Taiko Drum Master" arcade machine ushered in a comprehensive upgrade. The new model substrate, called "New Frame", was replaced by a SYSTEM357 console based on the PS3 design, and the screen was no longer displayed with a picture tube, but a 32-inch LCD monitor was used, and the game interface was also greatly modified. Most importantly, the game changed from the previous disc upgrade to a networked update library.
The new frame of networked operation is quite convenient for Japanese arcade halls, and there is no need to replace hardware when you buy a machine, but only need to receive the official update of the new song package. Even if the machine fails, you only need to contact Bandai Namco for repairs.
This convenience is great bad news for domestic players. After being updated to the new frame, since the frame itself will not be obsolete – even if the arcade closes, the machine will be recycled to Bandai Namco – no parts of the new frame will escape official control and drain. As a result, the process of transforming the old machine also stayed in the "Taiko Drum Master 14" that was eliminated after the new frame was launched. To this day, you can still see the equipment of Taikoo 11 Asian Edition and Taiko Master 12 Asian Edition in arcade halls, which may be running 13th and 14th generation games.
It is not difficult to find this strange-looking version of "Taiko Drum Master" in the arcade hall
"Taiko drum masters" entered the era of new frames, and there was cheers abroad and silence at home. Unlike when they learned that the 13th generation would not be represented, players understood this time that the "Taiko Master" was really going to leave them. There are fewer and fewer active people in Tieba and the news in the QQ group is gradually thinning. At first, no one spoke for a month, and finally no one in the group said a word for a whole year.
In April 2014, from the employees of the company who had previously represented the "Taiko Drum Master", the player got an "important news": the company decided to introduce a new frame of the "Taiko Drum Master". After hearing the news, the player could not hide his excitement, but the next day, the employee said that yesterday was April 1st, and I wish everyone a happy April Fool's Day.
Waiting for the day of the "Taiko Master"
In the days when the "Taiko Drum Master" is no longer updated, the number of domestic players is sharply reduced. The machine is gradually aging, and the drums are no longer in front of the market, there are only a few people who occasionally appear and are still insisting, and there are parents and children who come to knock twice because of curiosity.
Although the old machines were no longer bustling, but it cost more money to dispose of them, the arcade owners chose not to care about these machines and left them there to fend for themselves. Over time, these arcade machines more or less began to malfunction and damage. In order to continue to play and give these arcades a "breath of air", players spontaneously went to repair these broken machines and try to keep them running. For example, the wooden board inside the drum surface was punched with a hole, so run to the furniture city to find a similar wooden board, take it home and grind it to the exact same size, and then change it to the machine, and this "Taiko Master" can live for a while.
In those years, the "Taikoo Daren" community was almost silent, but there was also a trace of warmth. PS4 and Switch version of the "Taiko Drum Master" game can buy song packs online, the music library is rich, the experience is also good, bringing a lot of new players to this series. The officially made peripheral drums gradually became usable, but they were only going to be "usable". A professional counterpart of the enthusiastic player "Zhang Dali" developed a fairly good effect of peripheral drums, and even exported overseas, but the price of one is 2,000 yuan, light players are somewhat unbearable.
In the past few years, there have also been players who have tried to spell out new frames in China in various ways, but the number is scarce, the process has gone through ups and downs, and there is no way to meet the needs of players across the country in a large area. Everyone knows in their hearts that there is always only one optimal option, and that is to introduce the official arcade version again.
Player Zhang Dali applied for a patent for his invention
In 2019, Bandai Namco announced the renewal plan of "Taiko Drum Master". The new frame version of the console will be replaced with the same architecture as the home computer, and the screen will be replaced by a screen with a refresh rate of 120fps, codenamed "Rainbow Edition". At the same time, in order to go overseas and adapt to more languages, the interface of the Rainbow Edition has changed the vertical writing form adopted in the past 20 years to the same horizontal writing as the Switch version. Again and again for the Chinese mainland players market survey, the official release of the new Asian version, in China' Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan regions and Singapore launched the rainbow version of the "Taiko Drum Master", Bandai Namco seems to be saying, the next step is to Chinese mainland. But when the next step will come, no one knows.
Until December 2021, a Guangzhou player stumbled upon a genuine "Taikoo Master" while passing through Tianhe City, which had everything the "Taiko Master" player imagined: a localized Chinese interface, a networked updated music library, and the latest frame synchronized with the world... Once, without any pre-publicity, the taiko field test broke into the lives of all taiko players.
The front of this test machine was lined up with long lines, and many foreign players rushed to Guangzhou, just to play the "Taiko Drum Master" that the official might introduce last time. Players who come to Guangzhou without conditions ask a friend to take a picture of the payment QR code of the arcade machine, and then remotely coin the machine. It is said that the actual number of coins on this machine has been stopped at 99 forever, because the upper limit displayed is 99. In fact, even if you play songs 24 hours a day, in theory, a machine can only earn less than 200 coins a day, but this "Taiko Drum Master" who carries the high expectations of players earns more than 1,000 coins per day during the field test.
The new version of "Taiko Drum Master" suddenly appeared in Guangzhou (image from Weibo netizens)
I asked the veteran player Link, this game has not changed at all after so many years, why do you still insist on playing? He replied firmly that it was precisely because the gameplay had not changed that the players had persisted. A screen, a drum, two drum sticks, plus a determined player are the complete "Taiko Drum Masters". Compared to an arcade game, "Taiko Drum Master" is more like a traditional musical instrument, and no matter how the machine is replaced, the kung fu of playing drums will not decline. Its lifespan will not age with the wear and tear of the old machine, as long as the beloved player is still there, the "Taiko Master" will live forever.
The field test of the new Asian version of the "Taiko Drum Master" continues. It is not clear how the field test will end, because the agent is not yet a nail in the coffin, and it may not be a result in the end, or it may be the last time that mainland players will play the genuine version for a long time.
What happens if the new version doesn't come in? Players will probably continue to go home and play taiko drums on the console, or continue to play with the old frames in the arcade hall, or continue to live without taiko drums. In some places, players have cobbled together a new frame that works, it has a new console, can play thousands of songs after the update, but it is not the official introduction version, and it looks a little shabby. The shell modified with the 12th generation Asian version does not fit the wide-scale LCD screen, and the wide gaps on both sides expose the internal structure of the machine, like an arcade version of "Frankenstein", revealing a dark and hollow look. However, even if they continue to fight these "hades machines", players are still full of optimism, after all, they have spent 10 years to get used to it, accustomed to the days without "Taiko Drum Masters".