Taiko no Tatsujin has long been a popular series in Japan with sparse releases in the west until recently. The Rhythmic Adventure titles originally saw release on the 3DS where they would not come to be localized until they made the recent leap to the Nintendo Switch. It came as a surprise during one of Nintendo’s partner showcases where the unique mix of RPG and drumming to the beat clashed once more, but this time with the opportunity to play it in English. All things considered the title is simple enough to have been playable even without, but let’s see just how well it stands up now that more players around the world can finally get their hands on it.
Rhythmic Adventure combines two individual titles into one tight package with each having their own story for their respective adventure modes. The first follows Don and Katsu as they get wrapped up in a time-traveling journey with a rabbit looking to find the missing pieces of his best friend who happens to be a clock. The group sets off to stop a mysterious crew of villains trying their best to mess up various points in history, and drumming is the only way to stop them in their tracks. In the second title Don and Katsu find themselves at a museum where they accidentally bump into one of the items in display and cause a mysterious girl and her monkey to show up. They tell Don that the world is in danger and they must travel to various places across the world to stop ancient dragons from tearing it apart. In both titles the crew of friends will recruit various figures and creatures from each of these eras they travel to in order to build up their team to put a stop to the villains in their path.
As one might expect, the basic gameplay includes classic drumming. Players can take on the traditional taiko mode and challenge themselves to drum to the best of their ability but the story mode handles things a big different. For one there is a world that Don can freely explore, find treasure, earn money to buy costumes and more. In the first title battles are random encounters while the second has overworld enemies appear in order to begin a fight. Fights play out similarly across both titles with players matching the beats of the randomly-selected song in order to fight enemies. Don relies on his friends to do the attacking, all of whom will attack at certain intervals depending on their speed. Generally the faster companions will have lower attack stats, while the heavy hitters will be slower. Don will meet various named companions along the way but can also recruit monsters that are defeated in battle if they wish to join. Many of these recruits come with unique skills that make them extremely valuable such as healing the party or increasing their attack power. In the first title the teams share a health bar that will slowly knock out enemies or allies if they take enough damage. In the second each companion has their own health and will more easily gauge how far away one is from taking defeat. There’s no direct control on which enemies are attacked, but as long as the drum is played well enemies will be defeated in no time. The main challenge comes from the difficulty the player selects, as songs of that difficulty will come up. Unlike the main play mode the story songs also have bomb notes that will damage allies if hit. Bosses offer the biggest challenge as they will often use attacks to attempt to cover the notes up so they’re missed or bombs are hit instead.
While Don doesn’t directly fight in combat he can aid his allies from wearing costumes. These costumes are earned through a multitude of ways such as playing certain songs or purchasing them with money earned from defeating enemies. These give various buffs in combat to either certain allies or charging up the special attack. Allies in battle are mostly the same, but do differ between each title. In the first players can select up to four allies to bring along into battle or have one large ally take the place of two. There are no other restrictions besides that but deciding which member to bring depends on the player’s strategy. In the second title the number of allies is restricted to their cost. Cost for allies is 16, with each member having their own individual cost. Players must decide who to bring along based on that in addition to one other unique setup mechanic. In the second title there are three rows companions can be allocated to. The front row takes and delivers the most damage, the middle is more balanced but does less damage while the back row takes the least amount of damage but also dishes out the least. Party members that are attackers are ideal for the front row while healers are best at the back, but there are tons of ways to arrange them that makes for a fun and further creative way to both collect and mix up who is used in combat.
Outside of the story of course the biggest draw is the taiko mode. Each title contains around sixty individual songs which splits up a good variety between each one. Players can enjoy drumming while docked, handheld or even with the drum peripheral if they happen to own it. The motion controls are the weakest of the playable options as they tend to be the least accurate, but are fine for just having a little fun with it. There are a variety of unlockable sounds the drum can make such as a cash register or cat sounds for those wanting to mix things up. Each Taiko title tends to have its own unique grab and outside of the story itself, Rhythmic Adventure has its stamp system.
In Rhythmic Adventure stamps more or less act like achievements or trophies for certain objectives met. There are around 100 that can be obtained that lead to a good variety of optional items such as clothing or alternate drum sounds. These aim to push the player to try different things or advance further through the story. Some may be as simple as completing songs on a certain difficulty, while others challenge completion of a song with only Good or OK notes. While completely optional, it’s nice to have a goal to work towards outside of just playing songs repeatedly. This was something missing in the previous Switch release, but a somewhat similar stamp system was seen in the PS4 version, although they were all song-specific.
One of the most charming elements of Rhythmic Adventure is its art style. The story mode makes a great blend of 2D characters in a 3D world, and the cutesy characters make collecting them all extremely fun. The music in both titles offers a great variety, although it would be nice if there were a way to play songs from both versions without having to completely back out of one title and swap to the other. It’s also a shame that the drum peripheral doesn’t work with the story mode, but given players need to be able to move Don around a map it makes sense. It would also be nice if touch controls were somehow usable for the story, but it’s not a huge loss as button controls do work just fine.
Closing Comments:
After thinking Taiko no Tatsujin: Rhythmic Adventure might be locked to Japanese players on the 3DS for all time, it was a wonderful surprise to see it getting a localized Switch release. What’s even better is it met expectations as an absolutely wonderful shake up of the Taiko formula. It’s not often you see the inclusion of a story mixed up with a rhythm title, but Taiko pulls it off in a way that makes it wonderful for players of any skill to enjoy drumming while taking down and befriending monsters. It’s wonderful to see this beloved series continue to be released in the west and Taiko no Tatsujin: Rhythmic Adventure is worth picking up for anyone looking for more of their favorite drumming action or wanting to get into it for the very first time.
