12/01/2024 Wadaiko Master

Hey there! and welcome back to my blog! As you guys can see, I changed a few things here and there since with the layout and I think I got something goood.

I started to study for "game making" (can't think of a better term LoL) on this week, so wish me luck on that! Oh, and I got a new computer now!

Besides all that, I wish to share a cool thing I wanted to talk since creating this website!!

An althentical arcade machine of Wadaiko Master, the one and (at the moment) only brazilian version of Taiko No Tatsujin!!!!

I first played this one since last year, in the arcade at the shopping near my house. There were a Guitar Hero and a DDR-like machine as well, but I got way more interested in this one. At first I was very confused about the name and the game's controls, but after playing every now and then, and also searching about this specific machine, I now know a lot more, and it's still my favorite machine at that arcade.

My research was made with the help of this Taiko Time page, so I suggest you to read it before continuing, specially because it's the only article about this machine, like at all, I'm not even kidding LOLL

For basics, this machine, wich I'll refer as "Wadaiko", is a modified version of Momoiro version, cutting off a lot of musics present on the original, having only three new songs, all of them being grouped together as "Brazilian Music".

Speaking about the music, one of the so called "brazillian music", Samba Alegria isn't even made by a brazilian! I'm not sure how Taiko Time entirelly sure how Taiko Time got this information to be honest, but I think that's way too funny and odd! It's still a good song, but I wonder why they didn't made a "samba music" genre or something, since "brazilian music" is just is so open to interpretation.

Another odd thing about Wadaiko is it's localization. Not everything is translated to portuguese, only the main stuff, like the warning, categories, and some stuff of the menu, but things like, the song titles, are still in japanese.

A little warning on the side of the machine, telling the player to put the drum sticks (called as "bachi") back in the holder, above the warning

A better view of the side of the machine, including it's title

A cool fact about the title, since "Wadaiko Master" isn't that far from the original title, which literally means "Master of the Drums" or the english localization on the PS2, "Taiko: Drum Master", but I was wondering what the "wadaiko" part meant. I'm a little confused, but from what I understood, taiko is short for wadaiko, with the latter refering to "japanese drums". I'm still not sure if what I'm saying is entirely correct, since I understood different things from different sites, but the point is: it still close to the original title. A pretty creative title in fact. I just get confused why it's in english instead of portuguese. I guess it's just way more engaging.

I honestly wonder why this version was made. None of the songs in the "brazilian music" list ever appeared outside of this one. I guess it's pretty obvious, but my guess is that this was an attempt to Bandai Namco get in the brazilian arcade market, which isn't that out there, I've seen a lot of cases of partnership within Japan and Brazil. Whatever the result was, it probably didn't satisfy them, considering they've never put their hand on that market ever again LoL.

Even if this version is barebones compared to pretty much everything else, Wadaiko is a cool piece in the history of Taiko in my opnion. I know it didn't introduce anything new to the series, or at least anything that major, but it's a neat introducion to this series or maybe even to rhythm games in general. If you're curious, this machine show in the photos is located in Salvador, BA, at "Game Station" in the "Salvador Shopping", right at the top floor, at least at the moment of writing this entry.

This is all I have to talk about this one! I know it doesn't sound all that interesting, but I have this topic at the back in my head since october 2023. Taiko No Tastujin became one of my favorite games to the point to get one of the console games and a drum controller!! It's so much fun, even in button mode!!!!!! Huge recommend to anyone, literally!