Taiko Toys and Happy Sets

I love the game Taiko no Tatsujin (Taiko Drum Master in its one release stateside). It’s pretty much my favorite rhythm game. I have three games for the DS, two for the PSP, two for the Wii (with two drum peripherals), and a whole bunch for the PS2. On top of that, I frequently play the arcade version with friends. So when I found out that there would be Taiko no Tatsujin toys at McDonald’s I was pretty excited. Not only are the toys musical and adorable, but they have codes to unlock new costumes in the latest DS game.

The only catch was that I had to buy Happy Meals, or rather Happy Sets as they are called in Japan, to get them. This was not too bad actually. For Japanese Happy Sets you have four options: hamburger, cheeseburger, chicken nuggets, and mini pancakes. All meals come with either a small French fries or corn and a small (actually tiny) drink. The kid’s meal is the only way you can get nuggets or pancakes at Japanese McDonald’s. I love chicken nuggets and was thrilled to find that the kid’s meal comes with 5 nuggets, while I seem to remember the American kid’s meal only coming with 4. Also, I don’t have the fondest memories of McDonald’s breakfast items. I seem to remember their pancakes being soggy and not too great. But these little gems are delicious! They made a great dessert to the meal.

To top it all off, you get to choose which toy you want! Toys 1-4 were available during the first week with the addition of 5-8 the following week. This made it pretty easy to get a full set. These little guys are so cute and I’m thrilled that I was able to get all of them. Each one plays a musical cue appropriate to their costume. The coolest thing is the password system on the DS game. The music cues ARE the passwords and you play them into the DS mic and that unlocks the new costumes! It’s not something I’ve seen before on the DS and its very inventive and fun.

The next post will be the epic 50th post for this blog!  It should be up some time next week, so look forward to it!