You may remember in our last post about Marvelous’ two new kids card game launches, it was said that they would possibly be the biggest arcade news for this month. Well, less than two days later, we now have a huge surprise announcement for one of the most highly anticipated arcade games of recent times in the West… read on to find out more about the confirmed launch of Taiko No Tatsujin into US arcades.
Taiko No Tatsujin In The US
First, a bit of a refresh as it has been a short while since this release was last in the news. Way back in February 2023, Bandai Namco Amusements surprised us all when they placed their long-running drum rhythm game Taiko No Tatsujin on location test in the US for the first time in over 20 years; initially at Round1, then at Dave & Busters. The reception to this – especially at R1US – seemed overwhelmingly positive, leaving many with little doubt in their mind that the game would release here this time.
A few further test appearances followed at other locations and events, yet Bandai Namco were otherwise mostly quiet on the matter, with no new information coming in for months at a time. This did bring with it speculation that things had stalled for a variety of the usual reasons; licensing, manufacturing, networking, negotiations with chains, etcetera. The game did not appear at IAAPA 2023, which seemed odd to some, but did go back on test a month later in December. Six months on from that, we at last now have some answers on Taiko’s North American rollout.
Taiko No Tatsujin – The US Release
At the official Taiko No Tatsujin World Championship held today in Japan, several announcements were made by Bandai Namco for the game towards the very end. These generally were future content updates… however, as a last minute major reveal, they declared with much fanfare that Taiko would be releasing into the US this November (relevant part is at 6:38:20, for those who don’t want to watch over six hours of competitive Taiko No Tatsujin 😛):
The whole stream for the event was of course in Japanese, so besides the below slide with some English text, all further information here has had to be translated. But from the sounds of things, Bandai Namco did also confirm that the game will be coming over to the States with all Asian region content intact, as well as online Banapassport functions. Which should surely please any fans who were concerned about these – good things come to to those who wait…
As with Marvelous’ new Naruto game launch the other day though, some questions were not answered by this stream. Namco hasn’t shown the game at any industry tradeshow up to this point, and when I had asked about it at the last Amusement Expo, there were still elements up in the air. Due to when this news has landed, I haven’t been able to get a confirmation on certain questions yet, but for a short list:
- The same Banapassport network that supports Maximum Tune 5DX+ will supports this, but it is unknown what the monthly fee will be.
- What content will be added through the network?
- I had heard it would be a limited release but now it sounds like it will be a wide release for any arcade to pick up
- The cabinets are apparently going to be produced domestically in the US.
- What will the price be?
We’ll update this with answers as soon as we can, but either way, it is great news for the US arcade scene. Taiko has long held a special place in gaming culture, thanks to occasional imports and some console ports, the general public is familiar with it on some level.
If you are an operator, would you consider this for your venue? If you are a player, would a location having one compel you to visit them more often?
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About the author: arcadehero View all posts by arcadehero
I’m a lifelong fan of video games and I have been operating my own arcade, Arcade Galactic in West Valley City, Utah since 2008. Soft spots in my heart for Atari, Sega, and Nintendo.