{"id":948,"date":"2008-05-13T03:44:03","date_gmt":"2008-05-13T09:44:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamingwithchildren.com\/?p=948"},"modified":"2008-05-13T03:44:03","modified_gmt":"2008-05-13T09:44:03","slug":"import-game-review-meccha-taiko-no-tatsujin-ds-7tsu-no-shima-no-daibouken","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/2008\/05\/13\/import-game-review-meccha-taiko-no-tatsujin-ds-7tsu-no-shima-no-daibouken\/","title":{"rendered":"Import Game Review: Meccha! Taiko no Tatsujin DS: 7tsu no Shima no Daibouken"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/taikoclay.jpg\"><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/taiko2screen.jpg\"><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/taikohaticon.jpg\"><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/milon.jpg\"><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/taiko2box.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-949\" title=\"taiko2box\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gamingwithchildren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/taiko2box-150x135.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"135\" \/><\/a>Taiko drums have had a long history in Japanese culture as they are used in festivals, parades, and even during times of war.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>You&#8217;ve probably seen a Taiko drum before and not even known it.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>They look like a big barrel tipped on its side.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Lately, Taiko drums have appeared in a series of popular music\/rhythm video games from Namco.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>First in the arcade, Taiko no Tatsujin (Taiko Drum Master) has since been on home consoles, with the latest one being a sequel on the Nintendo DS.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>That&#8217;s the name of it up there in the title, but since it&#8217;s such a mouthful, from here on out we&#8217;re just going to call it Taiko DS 2.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">The Taiko drum games are insanely popular in Japan, but haven&#8217;t had as much success over here in the US.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Nintendo tried to &#8216;Americanize&#8217; the Taiko games with Donkey Konga on the GameCube with the bongo drum controllers, but that didn&#8217;t work out as well (even though Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat is one of the most creative 2-D platformers I&#8217;ve played in some time).<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Namco also tried to localize the Taiko games for the US PS2 with Taiko Drum Master with the Taiko drum controllers, but that was a flop, too.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>It&#8217;s a shame because that was even better than Donkey Konga.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>So most of the Taiko games remain in Japan.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>I like the Taiko games a lot, so I try and import them whenever I can.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>I think it would be fun to try and play a REAL Taiko drum, or at least play the arcade version of the game.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>But since that probably won&#8217;t ever happen where I live in good ol&#8217; Dallas, TX, I&#8217;ll have to settle for importing the Taiko games.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>A couple of weeks ago, the sequel to the first Taiko game on the DS came out, so I imported it.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Here&#8217;s an overview:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">The gameplay in all Taiko games, including the DS sequel, remains the same.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Think of it like the drum game in Rock Band, except less complicated and more cutesey (and more fun, if you ask me).<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>All you need to know is when a red circle scrolls by, hit the middle of the drum as it crosses the marker.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>And when a blue circle comes by, hit the drum on the side of the rim.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Aside from a few variations, that&#8217;s all you need to know.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Since you can&#8217;t use a drum on the DS, you just tap the touch screen with the stylus.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>There&#8217;s a picture of the drum on the bottom screen and you can tap in the middle or on the side and it&#8217;ll register as a hit.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Just don&#8217;t tap too hard!<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">Just like the first Taiko DS game, the sequel comes with two styluseses so you can alternate drumming with one in each hand like a &#8216;real&#8217; drum.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>You can also use the buttons, but that&#8217;s not near as fun.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Most of the songs are easy enough that you can use one stylus if you&#8217;re quick enough, though.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>You can also buy a special stand to put your DS on while you have your hands full with both styluseses, but I didn&#8217;t import that because I didn&#8217;t know if it would work on my old DS Phat.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>No, I don&#8217;t have a DS Lite yet, my old one works just fine so I don&#8217;t need a new one.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">Taiko DS 2 also comes with stickers and a full color instruction booklet.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>That&#8217;s one cool thing about Japanese video games is that sometimes they come with extra stuff like that.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Most US game instruction booklets are in black and white, have very small or hard to read text (uses less pages), or they&#8217;re very poorly written.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Even the best games in the US succumb to one or more of these faults.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>For instance, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, one of my favorite games this year so far, has a very poorly written instruction book.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Well I&#8217;ll get off my soapbox now and talk about the features of Taiko DS 2.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">Just like in all the other games, you can pick from a list of songs to play on Easy, Normal, Hard, or Oni mode (Oni is like an evil devil in Japan, so that means this mode is super hard).<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>You can also go to your house and do various things in the game.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>During the course of play you can unlock outfits and accessories for your drum character (player one is Don and player two is Katsu).<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>You can choose to paint your drum any color you want and dress it up with outfits you unlock.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">You can also pick various sounds for your Taiko drum if you tire of the tradtional drumming sound as you play.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Most are different percussion sounds, but others are more creative.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>And for the first time, they also show a picture of whatever you&#8217;re tapping, so there&#8217;s bubble wrap on the bottom screen for popping sounds. And for the farting noises, yes, there is a butt you tap on the bottom screen.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>No Namco arcade sounds like in past Taiko games (some had Pac-Man and Druaga sounds).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">In your house you can also check your e-mail (characters from the game will e-mail you from time to time and sometimes attach unlockable gifts like new songs, outfits, or drum sounds).<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>The Daily Dojo also returns from the first game where you try and pass a song each day to improve your rank.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Ever since Brain Age, it seems every DS game has to have some kind of daily excerise mode.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>You can view cutscenes and tutorials in your house, too.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>You can also play wireless with up to four other drummers but I don&#8217;t know how that works exactly because of the language barrier.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>No matter, as I don&#8217;t know anyone with another copy of Taiko DS 2 anyway.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/taikoclay.jpg\"><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/taiko2screen.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-951\" title=\"taiko2screen\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/taiko2screen.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"256\" height=\"368\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/taiko2screen.jpg 256w, http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/taiko2screen-208x300.jpg 208w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 256px) 100vw, 256px\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><strong style=\"mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">Story Mode<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">For the first time in a Taiko game, there&#8217;s a Story Mode that you can guide your drum through.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>At first I was afraid to try Story Mode because of the language barrier.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>But you shouldn&#8217;t be afraid of it, just jump right in!<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>The Story Mode is where most of the unlockables are anyway.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">In Story Mode you go around different island maps, kind of like the overworld maps in Super Mario Bros. 3.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>At each stop you meet up with a Taiko character and play a song.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Each song has a seperate challenge you must complete, too, like never going below a certain percentage, getting a certain score, or getting a high enough combo, etc.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>In some of the challenges, you have to compete with four other computer drums.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>This is nice because it let me see what the four player mode is like since I don&#8217;t know anyone else around who owns Taiko DS 2.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">Even with the language barrier, the only part of Story Mode that really stumped me at first was that there were some places that wouldn&#8217;t let me do a song until after I dressed up the drum as something beforehand.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>After you know this, it&#8217;s pretty easy to figure out what to dress as because it&#8217;s usually an outfit that you just unlocked.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>For instance, in the water world, you have to dress up as a fish at one point.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">At the end of each island you have to fight a boss.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Just play the song as normal, but don&#8217;t tap the bombs.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Each time you miss a beat or tap a bomb, you lose some energy, and each time you make a hit, the boss loses some energy.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Whoever has more energy at the end of the song, wins.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>The bosses will try to distract you from time to time with objects that block your view of the scrolling circles.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Just don&#8217;t get distracted and concentrate and keep playing.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">The villians in Story Mode are a geisha woman with purple hair and her kabuki ninja cat.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>I&#8217;m not exactly sure what makes them evil, but they do have a hulking robot mech that looks like a trap drum set, and it can poop out vampire Taiko drums, and that&#8217;s NEVER good.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>I don&#8217;t care who you are.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-950\" title=\"taikoclay\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/taikoclay.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"186\" \/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><strong style=\"mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">Song List<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">In every music game, the most important question is &#8216;What songs are on it?&#8217;<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>So here&#8217;s most of the songs on Taiko DS 2:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">Classical<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">Most of the classical songs you&#8217;ll know by name, but other ones it&#8217;s easier to know them by where you hear them from and what they sound like.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>So if some of the names of these songs don&#8217;t sound familiar to you, you&#8217;ll probably know &#8217;em once you hear &#8217;em.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">There&#8217;s Gershwin&#8217;s Rhapsody in Blue, which is the song they play in the city scene of Fantasia 2000.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Carmen is also in the US Taiko game, and La Campanella was also in the intro tutorial level of Beautiful Katamari.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>There&#8217;s the Nutcracker march and Beethoven&#8217;s 5th Symphony (you know, the &#8216;dum-dum-dum duuummmm&#8217; song also on US Taiko).<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>The Entertainer is also in the movie The Sting and is also played on the ice cream truck that runs by my house.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>There&#8217;s a Beethoven rock medley and March of the Wooden Soldiers, which they always play when the Rockettes dress up as toy soldiers and fall down like dominoes after the cannon goes off.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Every&#8230;single&#8230;time.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Stupid Rockettes.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>And finally, there&#8217;s the New World Symphony and some Japanese girl singing words to some classical song that I don&#8217;t know.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">Traditional<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">These are two familiar songs, probably more so to Americans as one is an instrumental version of Yankee Doodle.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>The other one is the ABC song, and no I don&#8217;t mean the Michael Jackson song.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Instead it&#8217;s the &#8220;now I know my ABC&#8217;s&#8221; song.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Not since Donkey Konga&#8217;s &#8220;Itsy Bitsy Spider&#8221; have I felt more embarrassed playing a music game.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Definitely one to use headphones on.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>I wonder if Japanese kids have songs they sing to help them learn language skills.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">Video Game Songs<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">Always a favorite of mine, as most Namco game songs are fun to drum to.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>There are two songs from the IDOLM@STER series of games.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>It&#8217;s very popular in Japan but I doubt they&#8217;ll ever come over here.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>And probably for good reason.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>It&#8217;s a game where you&#8217;re a talent agent and you must manage a group of anime styled teen pop idol girls.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>But of course, since I&#8217;m a Namco fan and elements of IDOLM@STER have been appearing in my Ace Combat and Katamari games, I can&#8217;t help but be a little curious about the gameplay.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>What do you DO in IDOLM@STER?<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Most Web sites just talk about the girls in the game, and I don&#8217;t care about that (except for the ones with blue hair, ha ha, just kidding).<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Is the game a music game?<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Or some kind of simulation?<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Or is it one of those dreaded (gulp) dating games?<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>We may never know.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">Back on topic, there&#8217;s also a new song from Mojipittan, a popular Japanese word puzzle game that&#8217;ll also never come out over here, though I hear it&#8217;s a lot like Scrabble.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>One song I don&#8217;t recognize, but the wikipedia list says it&#8217;s from &#8220;Mizuro Blood&#8221; which I don&#8217;t know either.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>In the last Taiko DS game, you could play a Namco Famicom medley and the theme from NES Super Mario Bros.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>In the sequel, you can play a medley from another NES game, this time from&#8230;Spelunker?<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Of all the games to pick, why did they choose that one?<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Spelunker was a Donkey Kong like platformer game except it sucked and a drop of two pixels would kill you.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Finally there are three game songs that were also on the US Taiko game: Ridge Racer, Soul Calibur 2, and Dragon Spirit.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">Namco Originals<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">These are a series of songs made specifically for the game.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Some are specific to the story mode, like the boss themes, while others are traditional Japanese sounding songs that go good with a Taiko drum beat.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">Anime Songs<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">There are quite a lot of anime songs in Taiko DS 2.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>And some songs even have the anime characters dancing on the bottom half of the screen instead of the regular Taiko characters.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>I wonder if since Namco is now merged with Bandai, it was easier for them to get the rights for some of the anime songs and likenesses since Bandai has ties with anime, too.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">Before I start this list, I want to let everyone know that I&#8217;m not much of an anime fan and I don&#8217;t know much about popular anime.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>But it&#8217;ll seem like I know more than what I really do, because I actually did a little research on the anime songs in this game because I wanted to sound like I know what I&#8217;m talking about for once.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>After next week, I&#8217;ll probably forget everything I looked up to write this.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">I do like some anime, but I&#8217;m very selective in my tastes.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>I like some kiddy anime like Astro Boy and Dragon Ball (not Z, the original), and I like all of Miyazaki&#8217;s stuff.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>And there&#8217;s some others that I like, but I can&#8217;t remember the names to.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>I wish my friends were here right now to help me remember.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">But even though there&#8217;s a lot of anime I don&#8217;t like, there are a couple of elements found in most anime that I do like.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>One is the ways they use storytelling elements to move the plots along.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>For instance, most anime won&#8217;t make an episode just to introduce a new character, they&#8217;ll let the writing in the ongoing story do it for them.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>The other thing I like about most anime is a little more shallow.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>But it just cracks me up when an anime character has blue or pink or purple hair.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>i guess I&#8217;m just easily amused.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>I&#8217;d probably look like a Lemming if I had green hair!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">Man I&#8217;m going off topic.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Here&#8217;s the anime songs on Taiko DS 2.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>One song is from Anpanman, an anime for young children about a superhero with a head made out of a pastry.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>You can see the intro on YouTube, it&#8217;s pretty weird.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>But if you think about it, we have some weird stuff here in the US, too.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>I mean, remember the old school McDonaldland characters?<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>On Taiko DS 2, this is a different Anpanman song that the one on the first game, so I&#8217;m thinking it&#8217;s from an Anpanman movie or something.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>I know it&#8217;s from Anpanman, though, because the first thing the lady singing belts out with is AN-PAN-MAAAAAANNNN!!!<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">There&#8217;s also a new Doraemon song, too.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Probably also from a new movie since the TV show theme was on the last Taiko DS game.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Doraemon is also a super popular kids show in Japan about a blue robot cat from the future who helps out a Japanese grade school boy from the present, and they both get into a lot of trouble.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>I&#8217;ve seen some Doraemon cartoons on YouTube and I can see why they&#8217;re popular in Japan.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Despite the awful English subs, you can tell the Doraemon cartoon had heart.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>I can tell this is a Doraemon song on Taiko DS 2 because there&#8217;s Doraemon characters dancing on the screen and the lady sings Doraemon at one point.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Anpanman and Doraemon are such popular characters that you&#8217;ve probably seen them and not even known it.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">There&#8217;s also a song called Oshiri Kajiri Mushi, which means bottom biting bugs.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Just do a search on YouTube if you want to see it, but don&#8217;t say I didn&#8217;t warn you.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>It&#8217;s supposed to be either an anime or song about a bug who bites people in the butt to help them be less shy and more social to others.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Another one is called Engine Sentai Go-onger.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Sentai shows in Japan end up coming to the US as Power Rangers, and this song has them dancing on the bottom screen with a race car backdrop.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">Another song is from Pretty Cure, which is another one of those magical girl shows (think Sailor Moon).<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Another anime song with dancing characters on the bottom is from GeGeGe no Kitaro, which is an anime about Japanese legends about ghosts.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>The characters look kind of like the ones in that old Namco game Yokai Douchuuki, which makes sense, since it&#8217;s all the same kind of stuff.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>I couldn&#8217;t find much info about the next song, but the characters on the bottom look like Hello Kitty except they&#8217;re bats, and the song was both erie and cute at the same time.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Wikipedia said the song was from Fukou Mon, but I couldn&#8217;t find much info on that name.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">Another song I didn&#8217;t find much info on was &#8220;Genesis of Aquarion.&#8221;<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>But the next song I did know, as it&#8217;s the main theme from Neon Genesis Evangelion.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>I don&#8217;t know much about anime, but even I know what the Evangelion song sounds like.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>And speaking about anime with giant robots with plots too depressing and complicated for their own good, another anime song on here is supposedly from Gundam.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>The song has the English title &#8220;Daybreakers Bell&#8221; if that means anything to anyone.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>And finally, there&#8217;s the Japanese theme song to Dragon Ball Z.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">J-Pop<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">Unlike the anime section, I didn&#8217;t do to much research on the J-Pop songs as I find them annoying.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>But I find most American pop songs annoying, too, so it&#8217;s not like I&#8217;m singling anyone out or anything.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>But like some of the dorky songs in Elite Beat Agents, I wouldn&#8217;t have them on a playlist, but they are kind of amusing to drum to.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>I&#8217;m only going to list the J-Pop songs with English titles, you&#8217;re on your own for the other ones.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">There&#8217;s a song called &#8220;Peach&#8221; (too bad it&#8217;s not Momo, I like that word for peach, it&#8217;s fun to say).<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>And others called Lifetime Respect and Love So Sweet.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Finally is a song that I think is called &#8220;Linda&#8221; or Linda Linda, or Linda Linda Linda, or Linda x17 as that&#8217;s all they sing over and over in the main chorus.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">And that&#8217;s pretty much all I have to say about Taiko DS 2.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/taikoclay.jpg\"><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/taiko2screen.jpg\"><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/taikohaticon.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-952\" title=\"taikohaticon\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/taikohaticon.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"152\" height=\"181\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><strong style=\"mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">Cary&#8217;s Newbie Tips for Importing Games<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">By now some of you may be wondering how I import games like Taiko DS 2, so I&#8217;m going to conclude with a small list of tips for importing that work for me.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>There are other tips and advice than what I can give, but these are what has worked for me, personally.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">1. Importing games is only recommended if you&#8217;re more of a hardcore gamer.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>There are plenty of very good games that come to the US if you&#8217;re only a causal gamer that you don&#8217;t really need to bother with importing.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Me, personally, I hate being labeled a hardcore gamer, but if the shoe fits&#8230;<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">2. Stick with Region Free consoles when importing games.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Region Free means a game from any country will work on your system.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>All the handhelds are region free, so I only import games for the GBA, DS, and PSP.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>You can import games for the Wii, PS2, PS3, and 360, but you have to modify your consoles to get the import games to work.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>And that can void your warranty and takes time, money, and elbow grease, all of which I don&#8217;t have enough of.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">3. Make sure it&#8217;s a game that you REALLY want, because import prices are expensive.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Since I really like Taiko games, Stafy, and Klonoa games, I make sure to import those.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>There are lots of other Japanese games that I&#8217;d like to try, but I&#8217;m not willing to pay that much money for.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>For instance, I like Namco&#8217;s Family Stadium baseball games, but I&#8217;m not going to pay 50 bucks for the new DS Famista game.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Same goes for Game Center, a game about a Japanese TV show where a guy plays a bunch of hard classic games.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Not worth 50 bucks for me.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Plus I usually pay more for good shipping, too, because I&#8217;m afraid my stuff might get lost in the mail (happened to me once).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">4. Pick simple games to import so the language barrier won&#8217;t hamper your enjoyment.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Music games like Taiko are good, or simple kiddy platformers like Stafy.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Or familiar arcade games like shooters such as the PSP Parodius collection (also a highly recommended import).<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>I see a lot of people wanting to import text heavy RPGs, which I never understand because in order to play those, you have to stumble around or follow a FAQ while playing.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>And that doesn&#8217;t sound that much fun to me.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">5. I recommend importing from a trustworthy Web site.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>I usually import from Play Asia (www.play-asia.com) or National Console Support (www.ncsx.com).<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Some places have import stores you can buy from, but I don&#8217;t know of any where I live.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Fry&#8217;s used to carry some import games, but the ones near where I live stopped doing that recently, which is a shame.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Finally, the Wii&#8217;s virtual console might be a good way to get import games in the future, as previously Japan only games like Sin and Punishment and DoReMi Milon&#8217;s Fantasy Adventure are now available in the US.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>I highly recommend the Milon game, as it&#8217;s a fun and colorful 16-bit 2-D platformer and a sequel to one of my favorite NES games: Milon&#8217;s Secret Castle.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/taikoclay.jpg\"><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/taiko2screen.jpg\"><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/taikohaticon.jpg\"><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/milon.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-953\" title=\"milon\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/milon.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"256\" height=\"224\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">And that&#8217;s all I have to say about that.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>If you have any holes to fill about anime or insights on the Taiko game I may have missed, or want to share some of your own importing tips, feel free to in the comments section.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Taiko drums have had a long history in Japanese culture as they are used in festivals, parades, and even during times of war.\u00a0 You&#8217;ve probably seen a Taiko drum before and not even known it.\u00a0 They look like a big barrel tipped on its side.\u00a0 Lately, Taiko drums have appeared in a series of popular [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-game-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=948"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/948\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}