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Monday, August 16, 2010

Namco Original Showcase: Angel Dream Songs

This series is a small one consisting of three songs, the first appearing on Taiko 10 which is the titular Angel Dream. This is a series in every sense of the word; all songs below have so far stuck to a very strict standard, from the similar pattern of notes to the same brand of uplifting, fairytale music with an English sentence in the bridge before the final chorus, and all of them have the exact same note total in all difficulties, 212 for Kantan, 295 for Futsuu, 526 for Muzukashii and 765 for Oni. The BPM for each of them hovers around a really narrow interval as well. Outside from the odd stream of notes, the three of them are very close to each other in terms of difficulty so if you clear one, it's quite possible to be able to clear the rest of them right away. And as soon as the new difficulty standard was applied, all three went down from 9* to 8* as well!

The Angel Dream songs are all composed by Keiichi Okabe (岡部啓一) and sung by Yoko Takamitsu (たかみつようこ/高満洋子), who also wrote the lyrics.

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-Angel Dream series-




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Angel Dream (エンジェル ドリーム)
Version
Taiko 10x4 (212)x7 (295) x7 (526)x9 (765)
Taiko 11 to 14, Taiko Wii 1, Wii 2, Wii 4, PSP DXx4 (212)x6 (295) x7 (526)x9 (765)
Taiko 0, Taiko 3DS 1, 3, Wii U 1, PS Vitax3 (212)x6 (295) x7 (526)x8 (765)
Taiko 10 to 14, Taiko 0, Taiko Wii 1, 2, 4, Taiko PSP DX, Taiko 3DS 1, 3, Taiko Wii U1, Taiko PS Vita, Taiko +, CD 2008
180
none
 trance


The first in the series. Is one of the pioneer songs for the usage of secret codes in the arcade, together with The Carnivorous Carnival. Both songs were intended to be image 'antagonists' to each other; Angel Dream represented 'heaven', and Carnival represented 'hell'. Carnivorous Carnival, although still a fan favorite, stopped its continuation after Taiko 11 (though it would later be revived many times), and Angel Dream kept on going, and it has since become an instant favorite for the sweet melody and fast-paced beats.

You can tell Angel Dream is a popular song, as it has never left the arcade ever since it was introduced, and  outside of Saitama 2000 it is also one of the most repeated songs on a single home console ever, being included in a whopping three Wii Taiko games.

Angel Dream (エンジェル ドリーム)
Version
Taiko 12 Asia to 14 x10 (906,906,906)
Taiko Wii 2, Wii 4x5 (294,265,227)x7 (522,449,400) x8 (760,676,557)x10 (906,906,906)
Taiko 0, Taiko 3DS 1, 3, Wii U 1, PS Vita
x9 (906,906,906)
Taiko 12 Asia, 12.5 to 14, Taiko 0, Taiko Wii 2, 4, Taiko 3DS 1, 3, Taiko Wii U 1, Taiko PS Vita, Taiko +
180
none
 extran


Angel Dream as a song was popular enough to warrant a Ura difficulty for itself, and that extra difficulty star really isn't for show. The notes are indeed more tiring, but the kicker is at the end of the song, where the notes gradually speed up from 1x to 2x, and then to 3x and 4x, increasing every time one line of the chorus is sung. The levels change at the same fast rate too. If you're not careful you'll be bumped out of Master Notes in two lines and you wouldn't even know it. However, note total and patterns for all three paths is the same, the only difference is in which notes are red or blue.

On Wii, it also has forked paths on all difficulty levels like Soroban 2000.

 Angel Dream (エンジェル ドリーム) THE iDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls
Version
Allx3 (194)x6 (270)x7 (462)x8 (694)
 Taiko 0 Y
 180
 none
 ???


Years went by since Angel Dream's introduction, gradually growing into one of the fan-favorite original creations of the series and consequently getting ported into different Bandai Namco music games series, from Synchronica to the iDOLM@STER franchise. For this selected outing, however, the Namco Original cold hit was re-recorded from scratch featuring a new trio of vocalists from the idol-plentiful series!

Indeed, the version of Angel Dream that got transplanted for Taiko collaboration means is a cover performed by three of the Cinderella Girls idols: Chieri Ogata (緒方智絵里), Rika Jougasaki (城ヶ崎莉嘉) and Riina Tada (多田李衣菜), which are respectively dubbed by Naomi Ozora (大空直美), Nozomi Yamamoto (山本希望) and Ruriko Aoki (青木瑠璃子). This version of Angel Dream was made playable to the Idolm@ster CG mobile game Starlight Stage on March 14th, 2017, with the following week seeing the release of the song in album form for March 22nd's THE IDOLM@STER CINDERELLA MASTER Treasure☆ album release, which also includes three solo covers of the same song starring one of the three idols. Finally, the cover was featured on Taiko the month after, due to one of Yellow Version's earliest software updates.

Expectedly enough, the im@s Angel Dream cover has simply inherited the notechart formations and star ratings from the original song, resulting into an overall-lower notecount for all modes due to the cover's shorter length.

Kaze no Fantasy (風のファンタジー)
Version
Taiko 12, 13,
all console
x4 (212)x6 (295) x7 (526)x9 (765)
Taiko 0.5x4 (212)x6 (295) x6 (526)x8 (765)
Taiko 12 to 13, Taiko 0.5, Taiko Wii 1, Taiko PSP DX, Taiko Wii U 3, CD Full Combo
182
none
 angel2


Second song in the Angel Dream series. More mature sounding than Angel Dream, but retaining the same sweet uplifting vibe. With Angel Dream garnering so much attention, it's only natural that a sequel to it is released. Aside from all the similarities, the song ID of Kaze no Fantasy proves its relationship to the first song. 'angel2'. Unlike Angel Dream, Kaze no Fantasy does not have a Ura difficulty. It was very recently revived as a secret song in the HD arcade Taiko 0.5.

Kaze no Fantasy is also in Taiko PSP DX, and it requires a rather pricey method to unlock, by purchasing a new Memory Stick PRO Duo, developed by the console accessory maker Hori, after the release date of the game.

Pastel Dream (パステル ドリーム)
Version
Taiko PSP DXx4 (212)x6 (295) x7 (526)x9 (765)
Taiko 0, Wii U1x4 (212)x6 (295) x7 (526)x8 (765)
Taiko 0, Taiko PSP DX, Taiko Wii U1, CD Donderful
180
none
 angel3


Pastel Dream came about as a result of fan input, which Namco has increasingly emphasized over the past few years. After 3 generations of arcade versions without a new song in the series, fans were itching for a third. As such, it was little wonder that Angel Dream emerged as the winner of the "Namco Original Songs Sequel" poll (続編を遊びたいナムコオリジナル曲), where users had to vote for their favorite Namco Original to get a sequel for it. The winner of the survey, Angel Dream, was used as a model for the creation of the final product, Pastel Dream, which was also one of Namco's little presents to fans in conjunction with the Taiko 10th Anniversary celebration.

Like its predecessors, Pastel Dream follows every characteristic of the Angel Dream series to the dot, from the notes (and total number) to the song and the BPM too.

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