Taiko no Tatsujin — previously known in North America as Taiko: Drum Master — is coming back West for two new games this November. Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum ‘n’ Fun! for Nintendo Switch and Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum Session! for PlayStation 4 come stateside on Nov. 2, each with unique features to make both games worth checking out.
Drum ‘n’ Fun! on Switch makes use of both Joy-Con controllers to air drum to a number of songs. It’s based on the popular arcade version of Taiko no Tatsujin, according to developer Bandai Namco, which seems to mean it will have a strong multiplayer focus. The game supports anywhere from one to four people at a time, with 20 different mini-games to check out. And another nice bonus for Nintendo fans is that the primary campaign will feature characters like Kirby and the Inklings from Splatoon to shake up gameplay.
Meanwhile, Drum Session! has online play and encourages players to compete for worldwide high scores. There’s also various unlockables and a Guest Session mode that lets players drum along to songs with people like Hatsune Miku and Hello Kitty by their side.
Both games will include songs from various anime, like Neon Genesis Evangelion, Dragon Ball and One Piece, as well as music from recent Disney movies Frozen and Zootopia. Miku contributes to the soundtrack too, and there’s a Hello Kitty track in there. Bandai Namco’s also throwing in some of its own music, including stuff from Ridge Racer and Idolmaster.
These Taiko games will be the first entries in the beloved rhythm game series to come stateside since 2004. Even more surprising is that the U.S. only ever got one Taiko game before; the PlayStation 2’s Taiko: Drum Master came with the traditional taiko drum peripheral, which requires players to hit the sides of the drum in time to the music, as well as the center for special notes. That peripheral sadly won’t return to the West alongside the series, but we’ll take what we can get for some good Taiko action.
