Taiko No Tatsujin Portable... is it worth it?

[ΩOMEGAΩ]

alright, I was thinking about getting it, but I really dont hear anything about japanese games, so I dont know if its good, or even worth it.

so is it worth it, or should I wait until the price goes dowm.

also since I am just getting into the series, would I even like it that much?

[Enaress]

Well both games have the ability to download songs off Namco's site whenever new songs are released. There are no more new songs being added for Taiko Portable 1, but they are still adding songs for Portable 2. Gameplay-wise, it's just about the same as the PS2 releases.

[MechaGai]

You have to know that the downloadable songs can't be played via wi-fi against other people, even if they have it downloaded as well. All the downloadable songs from Portable 1 are there by default in 2, so you could play those with others.

Gameplay-wise, the only things that are fundamentally different about them are the mini-games and an extra special cue where you have to rotate the analog stick around to get points, but those are added mostly to easy-hard songs, with very few oni songs having that. Actually, play Katamari on the Rocks on hard, and get a surprise! And the mini-games are quite interesting, since they take advantage of the PSP's size and how you can hold it sideways, at least for 1 of them in each version. :-P

Overall, they're great titles to add, and it would make it easier for you to familiarize yourself with the songs if you're also playing on the PS2 versions. Add the fact that Portable 2 has a "Training Mode" where you can stop and start the songs at any point, and switch between the different "routes" if the songs has them. Great for songs that just break your thumbs, like Kita Saitama.

I say go for them. Start with P1, download the songs, and if you like it, get P2.

[ΩOMEGAΩ]

ya well P2 is cheaper then P1!

[titlecade]

buy taiko no tatsujin 2 for psp, its worth it

[zeh]

Taiko no Tatsujin portable 2 has 75+ songs, it's song list is way bigger than the first. I liked the songs of the first one better, but if I had to choose I would go with the second because of the number of songs, also they're still releasing downloadable songs.

[Giel]

How about the controls? You have 4 different ways of hitting? right, left, both, sides, and you do it with which buttons? It might be me, but when I first played this game on the PS2 I found it quite easy(I was an expert in Donkey Konga so that might make a small difference) and the movies on youtube from this game look easy as well. Any comment on that anyone?

[Enaress]

Originally Posted by Giel

How about the controls? You have 4 different ways of hitting? right, left, both, sides, and you do it with which buttons? It might be me, but when I first played this game on the PS2 I found it quite easy(I was an expert in Donkey Konga so that might make a small difference) and the movies on youtube from this game look easy as well. Any comment on that anyone?

Taiko is definately harder than Donkey Konga. Try some of the 10-star Taiko songs on Oni difficulty.
Controllers are obvious, there are only 4 buttons to hit, just like Dualshock PS2 and the drum itself on PS2.

[MechaGai]

Agreed. Taiko is miles ahead in terms of difficulty, but it is still one of the easier rhythm games to master. In any case, just look at songs that have 2000 in their title (e.g. taberuna2000, kitasaitama2000, koibumi2000). They're the hardest songs in the game. The only song non-Namco song that rivals their difficulty is the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX theme in Anime Special. The thing is that although there are hard songs like those, I enjoy playing a lot of the other songs, even if they aren't 10-stars. :-P

And you're supposed to play with the drums, but the dual-shock is there simply to support it. Portable exists to play taiko on the go, and to learn some of the trickier songs like kitasaitama.

On a side note, the actual arcade machine itself adds on difficulty due to the size of the drum and the weight of the drumsticks.

[Giel]

Originally Posted by Enaress

Taiko is definately harder than Donkey Konga. Try some of the 10-star Taiko songs on Oni difficulty.
Controllers are obvious, there are only 4 buttons to hit, just like Dualshock PS2 and the drum itself on PS2.

I don't have the game on the PS2, so I don't know how you play it with Dualshock on the PS2 either .

And you're supposed to play with the drums, but the dual-shock is there simply to support it. Portable exists to play taiko on the go, and to learn some of the trickier songs like kitasaitama.

So it isn't really much fun when you don't have the home version with the drum?

[Enaress]

Originally Posted by Giel

I don't have the game on the PS2, so I don't know how you play it with Dualshock on the PS2 either

Well, on both PS2 and PSP, you can use 1 of 2 setups for Dualshock/PSP: Directional and face buttons, or a combination of directional, face, and shoulder buttons. Example: I use Down and X for the Red (Don) hits and Left and Circle for the Blue (Kat) hits. Alternatively, I can use the shoulders instead for the Blue (Kat) hits. I think using the shoulders is harder though.

Originally Posted by Giel

So it isn't really much fun when you don't have the home version with the drum?

Well to me it feels like you aren't as involved with the game if you were playing with the Dualshock compared to the drum. Drum is funner than dualshock, just like any other game that has a special controller or Dualshock to use (IIDX, Popn, Drummania, etc.). I usually only use the Dualshock on PS2 to unlock the game quickly and quietly at night when I cant use the drum due to loudness.

[MechaGai]

Originally Posted by Giel

So it isn't really much fun when you don't have the home version with the drum?

On the contrary, it's quite fun when you can't play with the drum for whatever reason. I just like being able to play some songs and show them to my friends, especially some of the downloadable songs for portable 2. :-P

[EMAGDNIM]

I was thinking about picking this up...I'm going to go a head with my order...

[Benjo]

I think they are very worth it! They are excellent for on the go playing, and want that Taiko fix whilst you are on a lunch break at work or something.

Initially it might be a bit jarring, lacking a drum to hit if you are coming off the arcade or PS2 versions, and you might wonder how without the peripheral that a largely peripheral based game can be much fun.. but it just is!

I've pumped quite a lot of hours into both the portable versions, and I'd highly reccomend them both, but probably number two more-so than number one as an entry, as it contains a large amount more songs, and on top of that has a bunch of download songs to boot. There are also a number of little tweaks over number one that are nice, such as being able to use L/R to scroll through more than one song at a time in the list. Havng a drumroll counter for the drumroll sections, seeing how much each note is worth point wise when you hit it etc

But mainly the sheer number of songs (when you factor in the download ones) makes it a stellar purchase and gives it a bit more over number one.

Also great is the fact that you can game-share and play along with 4 other friends, it helps if they have copies of the game also, as otherwise it means you have to transfer the song across to them before you play it (whcih admittedly doesn't take too long), but the fact that you actually can play it with a single UMD with 4 friends is awesome! You can do that in both number one and two however..

[Opethian]

i just got 1 and 2 and they are pretty sweet
i have never even played the PS2 versions i was just shocked to recognize alot of the anime songs
some of which are in popn or gf/dm