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Saturday, August 20, 2011

Song of the Week! 20 August 2011

 

Another user request gives a hint for this month's Ura song! One of the longest songs ever made is coming up...

 Fuun! Bachi o Sensei (風雲!バチお先生)
Version/
Taiko 3

x7 (476)x10 (476)
Taiko 4, Taiko PS2 1
x3 (245) x7 (476)x10 (476)
Taiko 5
x4 (245)x7 (476)x10 (476)
Taiko 6
x5 (245)x7 (476)x9 (476)
Taiko 7, Taiko PSP 1, 2x5 (182)x5 (245)x7 (476)x8 (476)
Taiko 9x5 (182)x5 (245)x6 (476)x8 (476)
Taiko DS 1x4 (142)x5 (184)x7 (476)x8 (475)
Taiko 10 to 12.5,
Taiko PSP DX, Wii 2, 4
x4 (142)x5 (184)x6 (320)x7 (476)
Taiko 11A, 12Ax4 (142)x5 (184)x6 (320)x7 (475)
Taiko 14x5 (142)x5 (184)x7 (320)x8 (476)
Taiko 0 R, Taiko 3DS 3x3 (142)x5 (184)x6 (320)x7 (476)
 Taiko 3 to 7, 9 to 12.5, 14, Taiko 0 R, Taiko PS2 1, Taiko PSP 1, 2, DX, Taiko DS 1, Taiko Wii 2, 4, Taiko 3DS 3
 130
 Japanese -> Pop -> Namco Original
 nao


DS/Asian version

Have you ever noticed them when you play the arcade? The stick men on the bottom right of the screen with faces on them, throwing confetti to cheer you on when you clear a song? They're the Drum Stick Masters, or Bachi o Sensei, who are featured in every Taiko game as Don and Katsu's old mentors, and are featured in Tutorial mode in every game to guide newbies into the game.

Fuun! Bachi o Sensei is the debut Taiko song of its composer, Go Shiina (椎名毅), who goes on to compose many other Namco favorites in Taiko's large tracklist, like console Taiko's first theme song, Nijiiro Yumeiro Taikoiro and Ace Combat X2 song In The Zone. In the same vibe as Japan's ancient Taiko tradition, the song features traditional melodies played with Japan's cultural instruments, performed by someone nicknamed NAOTO.

Fuun! Bachi o Sensei's history in Taiko is one gigantic muddle involving many unnecessary genre changes, from a perfectly fine spot on Wafu (和風, meaning 'Japanese style') to the Pop genre after the 4th arcade, and finally shuffled into the Namco Original genre after the new classification was introduced. Inferior popularity poll results in 2005 made the song sink down for the 8th arcade, only to float back up in the 9th, and later taken down in the 13th, only to be put back into the 14th. It was made to be a very tough song at the beginning, starting with the maximum rating of 10* on Donderful, but as the notechart remained the same throughout so many versions, it slowly became easier and easier, falling gradually to 7*, but then gained one star for unknown reasons. It was at this same time another old song, Scroll Mika, was revived and given 10* Oni even though it most certainly has fallen from grace since Taiko 6.

For a touted great challenge from back then, Fuun! Bachi o Sensei bears elements that wouldn't be out of place in a modern 10* song, however the slow BPM and lots of easy parts undermine the tough 64-note stream, which was the first of its kind ever made for Taiko, which really tested the stamina of fledgeling Taiko players all the way back then. Now, it's a great 7* (8*) milestone for aspiring experts because that stream provides some great training experience.The stream is also seen on Taberuna 2000, fused with the much shorter note stream from Saturday Taiko Fever.

The Asian arcades and the DS edition of this song has one note less than the original, by removing the Don note right before the sole balloon note in the song, making for a total of 475, which when pronounced makes up the composer's name, Go Shiina! (the performer's name is in the songID: nao) Another fun fact for the arcades is about the Bachi o Sensei themselves: no matter what version it is, old or new, sometimes the drumsticks will be absent while playing this song.

  Fuun! Bachi o Sensei (風雲!バチお先生)
Version
All arcade, Taiko PSP DX, Taiko 3DS 3x4 (258)x5 (346)x7 (603)x8 (999)
Taiko Wii 2, 4x5 (258)x7 (346)x8 (603)x8 (999)
 Taiko 12.5, 14, Taiko PSP DX, Taiko Wii 2, 4, Taiko 3DS 3
 65~130
 none
 exnao


Following the trend for creating full versions of songs on Ura Oni, 12.5 featured a longer version of this famous tune.

Unlike other longer Ura songs, Fuun! Bachi o Sensei Ura's extra portion is added to the beginning of the song, and not in the middle. This lengthened part joins together with the short version at the tail-end. By having other short BPM shifts, this is a slightly tougher challenge. Although the characteristic 64-note stream isn't here, it's replaced by several other streams which are just as difficult. Fuun! is the first Namco Original to reach the 999 note combo limit, and the third overall (after J-Pop songs Kurenai and Punishment).

Fuun! Bachi o Sensei's Ura mode also became the first full version song to be relabeled as a Long Version song in Taiko PSP DX's songlist, becoming Fuun! Bachi o Sensei Long Version (風雲!バチお先生 ロングバージョン) instead of being a Ura.