太鼓の達人DS ドロロン! ヨーカイ大決戦!!

Starting

Controls

Menu

Story

First Steps

Starting

Before we begin, this guide assumes you have a copy of this game and are using a real Nintendo DS or 3DS, and not an emulator. Playing rhythm games on an emulator is very frustrating because of lag, and I don’t recommend it.

This game can be played with two styluses on the touch screen. Make sure to keep your enthusiasm in check so you don’t scratch your screen. If you’re using styluses, get some longer ones than the one in the DS. Don’t use anything sharp, or anything that will leave a mark (like a pencil). You also might be better off playing with your DS on a table.

Select either save slot using the D-pad and press A to create a new file.

Enter your name using the Japanese keyboard. Here, I have misspelt my name. You can use a name converter to find the correct spelling of your name in Japanese or you can just enter any characters you like the look of. The two buttons below the keyboard on the left switch between the hiragana (far left) keyboard and katakana keyboard. Western names are always written in katakana, the sharp-angled characters.

The red button below the keyboard on the right is “Done”, tap that when you’re happy with your name.

Controls

In this game, the notes you have to hit will move from right to left on the upper screen. When the note reaches the fixed circle on the left, hit the drum. The different coloured and shaped notes call for different kinds of hits.

The first kind of hit is a red ‘don’, which is labeled under the note, ドン. Use a stylus in your dominant hand (i.e. left if you’re left-handed) to hit the surface of the drum.

If you’re using the buttons, press any of the face buttons for a ‘don’.

There’s also a big ‘DO-ON’ or ド〜ン. When using the stylus you need to be precise for these notes, hit right in the middle where the red circle is.

The second note is a ‘ka’, カッ. These are blue, and for these notes you need to hit anywhere outside the drum surface. Use your non-dominant hand for these notes. For a big ‘KA’, カ〜ッ, you need to hit in the blue circle shown, just around the edge of the drum.

When using the buttons, a ‘ka’ is made with the shoulder buttons.

A drum roll note is yellow. Use both styluses to tap repeatedly while the yellow bar is under the circles. For a big drum roll note, you will need to tap big ‘DO-ON’ notes, so make sure you’re hitting right in the middle for those.

This is slightly harder when using the buttons, but press any of the buttons, and try to use both hands if you can.

Tap ‘don’ notes repeatedly, like a drum roll, to blow up the balloon. A countdown will show how many hits you need to pop the balloon. If you succeed, all your taps will land, if you don’t make it in time, none of them will hit.

The hardest note is the ‘den den’. This is like the balloon note, except instead of just hitting ‘don’ you need to hit ‘don’ and ‘ka’ alternately. When using buttons it is easiest to use the shoulder button with one hand and a face button with the other.

When using the stylus, a ‘den den’ is much easier to pull off, however you need to be quick and precise.

Menu

I’ve translated the main menu for you, based on what these would be called in a western rhythm game. I’m going to select the Story mode.

Story

First Steps

A battle!

Battles are pretty straightforward. Your health is on the left, your enemy’s is on the right. If you hit a note correctly, you’ll do damage to your enemy, if you miss it (or hit a bomb note) then you’ll take damage.

Small Town

After your first battle, you’ll get to choose the difficulty level. The first battle is in ‘normal’ mode, so choose what you’d like based on how that battle went. The difficulty levels are “Sweet” (left), “Medium” (middle) and “Hot” (right). You’ll need to confirm your choice in the next screen. If you know no Japanese here are three important words for you:

• はい Yes (hai)
• いいえ No (īe)
• セーブ Save (sēbu)

The top screen view when not in battle mode shows your current status. At the top it tells you what chapter of the game you’re in, below that in the pill is your current level (レベル). The left section has two stats, at the top is your XP (けいけん). Below that is your money (おかね). On the right side, at the top is your health (いのち), and below is your attack (こうげき) and your attack bonus from your items (ぼうきょ). Below your stats are your currently equiped items. The first slot is for your drum (音色, literally “tone colour”), the second is for your hat (ぼうし) and the last for your costume (ふく). You’ll start with a basic taiko drum and no costume or hat. But fear not, these are easily changed!

Here are two shops you will find in the first town. In each town there may be up to three shops selling drums, clothing or hats. The upper shop, with the red sign labeled 武 (martial arts) sells drums, and the lower with the blue sign labeled 防 (defend) sells costumes. You can spend the money you earn fighting battles on better equipment.

At some point, you will take some damage in a battle. The only way to heal in this game is to spend the night at an inn. Inns are not free, costing 10 to 50 coins. Sometimes there won’t even be a building, just the innkeeper and the little green sign saying 宿 (inn). Sometimes there are plot points that are only triggered by spending the night at the town inn, so it’s generally a good idea to stay at the inn in every town. To stay at the inn, talk to the innkeeper (the woman just inside).

To exit the first town, just keep going down and you’ll go to the overworld map. Here, the town is just above Don, and another town is visible in the top left corner. To enter a town just walk onto its tile. As you walk around the overworld, you will have random encounters with enemies, so choose your path carefully. Also here you can see the shortcut, X, for コマンド (command). Press X to open the Command Menu.

The command menu items are:

• 日本地図 Map of Japan — Map showing next goal and quick travel menu.
• 音色 Drum — Choose your drum
• きせかえ Change Clothes — Choose costume and hat
• セーブ＆おわる Save & Quit — Save the game. If you say “no” to the second question you can quit back to the main screen
• とじる Close — Leave the menu

Happy Travels!