Taiko no Tatsujin Rhythm Festival is the newest game of the series to be available on the Nintendo Switch, differing from Drum N Fun. This game does have a bit of excuse plot to get you more immersed in it, but we know what we’re here for: drumming till our arms fall off!

ROLLING OUT

Knowing how to hit the beat is step one to succeeding at a rhythm game. This iteration of Taiko lets you play it with the regular Joy-Cons, the oft neglected touchscreen, motion controls, or with the external drum accessory.

The Joy-Con button controls come in three presets which is slightly more flexible, but from experience, I know hitting buttons can get a little tough when it comes to rapid fire notes.

Opting for Touchscreen will set the drum in the center, then you hit the left or right sides as needed for the notes. This should be a more familiar control scheme for mobile rhythm gamers. Visibility for the drum can be either fully visible, just the frame, or invisible.

Motion controls is the closest you can get to a typical arcade experience sans the external accessory. Swing your arms and hit those notes! Unfortunately, much like the previous Nintendo Switch outing, it’s hard to tell if it’s the sensors going wonky or I’m the one being offbeat. I still find this mode of play the most fun, if not necessarily accurate.

ROCKING ON

It might be disappointing to note that the J-Pop and anime songs are cover versions rather than their original singers, though I say that’s understandable due to licensing. That said, it’s not like covers are bad. Some of them even manage to be so similar to the original style it’s hard to say anything against them.

All the tracks are nicely categorized so the weebs can beeline straight to their beloved anime tracks, or dip into other offerings of Pop which can include K-Pop, but still primarily J-Pop, or Variety for the grab bag of songs. More songs are available through the monthly Taiko Music Pass, setting you back $3.99 for 30 days or the option for 90 days at $9.99. The pass immediately unlocks 500 more songs, expanding the decent if modest starting library.

WASSHOI WASSHOI

For those of you able to wrestle some people into playing the game with you, there are a variety of modes to co-op or compete in:

• Taiko Mode: The regular game mode, to play whatever songs you have in your library against or with each other. GOOD Match is a versus mode to get more GOODs than the other player.
• Great Drum Toy War: Go against other players or the computer with a “toy card deck”.  You’ll need to deploy as many of these as possible by charging up your cards; hitting Perfect notes will charge it up faster and will deploy a toy once the card is fully charged. This will continue for the rest of your cards.
  • As you might expect, these cards can possess a variety of effects that can sabotage your opponent. You can buy more cards in the shop using the coins you earn from regular gameplay.

• Don-chan Band: A cooperative mode for up to 4 people to play a song just like a band. Each player will have their own part, with some sections requiring everyone to hit the notes simultaneously. A miss in these sections will be considered a fail. They all have their own sounds too, so it could be a harmonious or chaotic time.
• Taiko War: It’s time for sweaty online ranking! This one is where you will definitely want to get the external accessories if you want to reach anywhere in the leaderboards as you can easily lose out on the roll notes even if you successfully hit everything else perfectly. （refer to screenshot SS17）

ENDING NOTE

Don-chan can be decked out as you like from outfits to greetings or name plates, purchasable with the in-game coins or through achievements. For those who wanna Get Good, Practice Mode is available, even showing your performance at certain sections which you can practice individually.

It’s definitely a good time whether going at it solo or with company, or just getting salty at the AI being better than you.

By all means, if you’re new to the Taiko series, this one is a pretty good entry!