Japanese publication Famitsu reveals that Namco will be bringing Taiko no Tatsujin to the iPhone and iPod Touch. The game has been called Taiko: Drum Master in the U.S. and is a rhythm/drumming game where players match up beats to on screen icons:
Symbols moving horizontally along a timeline show the player what to hit and when. Blue symbols indicate that the drum should be hit on the rim. Red symbols indicate that the face of the drum should be hit. The drum can be hit on the left and/or right side. The symbols can be either large or small. Large symbols indicate that the drum should be struck on both sides simultaneously , and small symbols indicate that the drum should be hit on either side. A large blue symbol thus means that the left and right rim should be hit at the same time.
According to the article, the iPhone version will have online/twitter support as well as multiple levels of difficulty. Here is a screenshot of the Japanese version:
The series has previously been ported to the Nintendo DS, PSP and Wii platforms, amongst others. The arcade version came with a physical drum and sticks to play with, while the DS and Wii versions had natural adaptations to the platform. The iPhone version will, of course, use fingers for the drumming. Here’s a video of the game in action from the PS2 version:
The game is expected in March of this year.
