Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum 'n' Fun! (2018)

After I modded my switch and downloaded everything under the sun that I could possibly want. I came across a game that got my interest a couple years ago. Nintendo has always had this weird obsession with drumming games, with Donkey Konga and their stupid loud annoying bongos being the front runner in my mind. Well, the Switch came out with Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum 'n' Fun!, a game that lets you use the joycons as drum sticks or you can purchase a plastic drum peripheral.

Even though I hated Donkey Konga, I was at least interested in trying out Taiko, since even though I can’t carry a beat even in a bucket, I still enjoy Rhythm games a ton. Learning how to do basic drum beats with Rock Band or even just pressing buttons in time with something like PaRappa was always super fun to me.  So I loaded up the game while I sat in my car, while waiting for our Real Estate Agent to sell our house.

Taiko is a game that I can only describe as “what you think of in your mind as the quintessential Japanese video game”. It’s loud, obnoxious, has so many inconsistent art styles, little girls screaming Japanese phrases at you at all times, cuddly dancing animals and just a pure assault on your basic senses.

I couldn’t hate this game more if I tried…. and I really did try to like it. After the first song I was pretty much done. But I pushed forward and played most of the songs.

When you play the game you are giving the choice of a few characters. I debated on which one I should chose, certain characters have different skills, but I ended up just choosing the main one on account of he was the main mascot of the game. Then comes the musical selection, which should be the main draw of the game… sadly this game is 100% a Japanese only game in pretty much every way it could be. It only features Japanese music that only Japanese people could enjoy…

And this comes from someone who regularly listens to various other language music. I listen to French Electro Pop, I listen to German Rock, I listen to Korean Rap, I listen to Norwegian Heavy Metal… I’m not opposed to songs sung in a different language than my own, but sadly, Japanese pop is one that is so ear bleeding Lou annoying and one that is tact on to the “otaku'' classification of people that you immediately think of Jr. boys who are obsessed with all things Naruto and Dragon Ball Z. It’s just embarrassing to listen to.

The Song list is split into Pop/Vocaloid/Classical/Game Music/ & Namco originals.

The pop and vocaloid lists are just traditional Japanese pop songs, some being love ballads that make no sense being included in this game. And the classical tracks takes classics like Ode To Joy and Beethoven's 5th and puts a techno beat behind it… I could have sworn I heard some of these “remixes” back in 2000 on Napster. It’s so unbelievably bad and sounds like it was made with Fruity Loops in about half an hour.

The game music isn’t as bad, as the

The gameplay itself is not any better.