Taiko Drum Master: Dokodon! Mystery Adventure gets plenty of details and screens

18 March 2016 Lite_Agent Bandai-Namco, Taiko Drum Master: Dokodon! Mystery Adventure

Today, Bandai-Namco shared plenty of details and screenshots for Taiko Drum Master: Dokodon! Mystery Adventure, the third Taiko Drum Master on Nintendo 3DS. As usual, the translations are by Gematsu.

First, we have details about the three main modes:

Regular: you chose your favorite song, and start playing using buttons or the touchscreen;
Mystery Adventure mode: an adventure mode filled with mystery, in which Don-chan travels around the world searching for mystery spots: Greece, Easter Island, and even Antartica. It features some beefed-up rhythm battles, with 8 vs 8 battles. During the adventure, you will get to meet over 100 creatures and allies, which can be synthesised.
Multiplayer: in this mode, you can use the allies you trained in Mystery Adventure mode to play with your friends (in co-op or VS). The game is compatible with Download Play, and 4 players can play with just one copy of the game. If you play in co-op, you can try out various quests with your friends. In VS, you use your allies and techniques to defeat enemies as fast as possible, get the highest score, and more.

Some more details about the Mystery Adventure Mode: to progress in the story, you need to defeat your enemies in rhythm battles. If you don’t manage to defeat them all by the time the song ends, the battle ends in a draw. Of course, if you and your allies fall, you lose the battle.

The gameplay of those rhythm battles is the same as the regular rhythm game the series is known for. The better you perform, the more damage you deal to enemies. Alternatively, the more poorly you perform, the more damage you take. Thanks to allies (who can get XP and level up), you can deal more damage to enemies, and therefore defeat them faster.

As for the Gocha Character Clash Battles, they pit two teams of 8 characters against each other. You can pick up your allies, and arrange them in rows. Just like in regular RPG, you need to place the right characters in the right row: the toughest ones at the front, and the most powerful ones at the back.

Bandai-Namco also mentions two elements:

Drum Magic (new): Don-chan release his drumming power, which can deal damage to enemies, heal party members, and more;
Clash notes: they appear when you clash with an enemy. You need to touch the touchscreen in order to deal a lot of damage at once… be careful, because it’s you who will take all the damage if you happen to fail.

Next, some details about the story. It all starts when Don-chan and Kacchan go visit a newly-opened museum, as special guests. There, they encounter a mysterious girl called Tia, who is accompanied by a strange creature called Popokaka. Everything goes south when the Magic Society Hekisaguria (who possess magical powers) appears and steals the Necklace of the Lion Fangs (a precious artifact, which actually protects the world).

After that, Don-chan, Kacchan, Tia, and Popokaka decide to go after the thieves, but they soon realise something is wrong: the appearance of an ancient Greek town has completely changed, the Moai statues on Easter Island have disappeared, the Antartic ice is melting, and other worrying events are happening all around the world.

Here’s the main characters:

Don-chan: a kind drum, always ready to help others;
Tia: a mysterious girl who goes on a journey with Don-chan in order to get the Necklace of the Lion Fangs back and save the world;
Popokaka: a mysterious floating animal. He’s surprisingly knowledgeable, but also rather sarcastic;
Lily, Arnold, Debra, and Mateus: the members of the Magic Society Hekisaguria.

Head after the break for the rest of this post!

Of course, Taiko Drum Master: Dokodon! Mystery Adventure will get DLC, with additional songs and costumes (both free and paid, with weekly free songs, and paid song packs). Talking of costumes, they allow you to customise the following parts of Don-chan: colour, body, and head.

You can get them in treasure boxes in Adventure Mode, by shopping, or as Stamp Book rewards. An important detail about costumes: they come with stats and skills in Adventure Mode, and are not just for customising Don-chan’s appearance

Just like many other Nintendo 3DS games, Taiko Drum Master: Dokodon! Mystery Adventure will be compatible with StreetPass. You can trade your Donda card with other players: on it, you can find your play history, title, and Drum Magic. After you’ve met some people, you can challenge them to auto-battles. Bandai-Namco also mentions QR Code (found in magazines and various other places), which allows you to unlock goodies in-game when scanned.

If you complete certain challenges, you will be able to get bonuses such as costumes, backgrounds for your Donda cards, and more.

Here’s the list of songs already confirmed:

Anime

Dramatic Jinsei (from Yo-kai Watch)
Yo-kai Taisou Daiichi (from Yo-kai Watch)
Warera Omou, Yueni Warera Ari (from Kamen Rider Ghost)
Hard Knock Days (from One Piece)
Korokoro Koko Tama (from Kamisama Minarai: Himitsu no Cocotama)
XY&Z (from Pokémon XY&Z)
Untaka Dance (from Eiga Doraemon Shin Nobita no Nihon Tanjou)
Umi no Mieru Machi (from Kiki’s Delivery Service)
Question (from Ansatsu Kyoushitsu / Assassination Classroom)

J-Pop

Nai Monoo Nedari
Hikaru Nara Hikaru Nara
Watashi Igai Watashi Janai no
Sugar Song to Bitter Step
Himawari no Yakusoku (from the movie Stand By Me Doraemon)
360 Degrees (from the movie Doraemon Nobita no Uchuu Eiyuuki)
Koioto to Amazora
Silent Jealousy
Umi no Koe [early purchase bonus]

Vocaloid Songs

Setsuna Trip (Last Note.)
Happy Synthesizer (EasyPop)
Lost One no Goukoku (Neru)
Gigantic O.T.N (Gigareworu)
Children Record (Jin)

Variety

Name Kono Uta
Honnou Tera no Hen (Explosion)
Night of Knights (Touhou Project Arrange Beat Mario)
Chiruno no Perfect-san Suu Kyoushitsu (Touhou Project Arrange ARM + Yoshimi Yuuno (IOSYS) feat. Miko)
Utakata, Ai no Mahoroba (Touhou Project Arrange Yuuhei Satellite)

Namco Original

Sekai ha Itsu demo Mystery
Hoshikuzu to Linear to Boku (feat. Yuiha (Plum Sonic))
Diet Fighter
Seitoku Taiko no [Hi izuru made Hichou] (Yuuya Kobayashi (IOSYS) feat. Miko)
Aka no Senritsu
Shiryu

Game Music

Hoshi no Kirby Medley (from Kirby’s Return to Dream Land)
Travel-na (from Monster Hunter Generations, Reo Uratani feat. Neko-jou Kati voiced by Reina Ueda)
“Gyakuten Saiban 123 Medley”