For my friend Ray

There have been a lot of Taiko no Tatsujin drum controllers over the years! I have included as many as I could find, and I believe the list is complete (except for third party ones). If I’m missing any, please let me know!

Tatacon タタコン is short for Taiko no Tatsujin Controller. The sticks are called bachi ばち. Bachipen　バチペン are the Nintendo DS styluses that are used as bachi on the touchscreen; Tacchipen タッチペン (touchpen) is the name of the stylus in Japanese so it’s a portmanteau of bachi and tacchipen 🙂

Sony

PS2

All Japan-only unless otherwise noted

Taiko no Tatsujin Tatacon de Dodon ga Don 太鼓の達人 タタコンでドドンがドン

Taiko no Tatsujin Atsumare! Matsuri Da!! Yondaime 太鼓の達人 あつまれ！祭りだ！！四代目

Taiko no Tatsujin Wai Wai Happy Rokudaime 太鼓の達人 わいわいハッピー!六代目

Taiko no Tatsujin Doka! to Oomori Nanadaime 太鼓の達人 ドカッ!と大盛り七代目

Taiko Drum Master – North America

Taiko no Tatsujin Go! Go! Godaime 太鼓の達人 ゴー!ゴー!五代目

Taiko no Tatsujin Tobikkiri! Anime Special 太鼓の達人 とびっきり!アニメスペシャル

Taiko no Tatsujin Appare Sandaime 太鼓の達人 あっぱれ三代目

Taiko no Tatsujin Taiko Drum Master 太鼓の達人 タイコ ドラム マスター

Playstation 2 Senyou Soft “Taiko no Tatsujin” Series Senyou Controller Tatacon “PlayStation 2”専用ソフト「 太鼓の達人」シーリズ専用コントローラタタコン

Playstation 2 Senyou Soft “Taiko no Tatsujin” Series Senyou Controller Tatacon “PlayStation 2”専用ソフト「 太鼓の達人」シーリズ専用コントローラタタコン

Sometimes the bachi are slightly different shades of beige (maybe some of it is sunfade and not just manufacturing differences? idk) but due to differences in lighting it’s really hard to tell unless you have them right next to each other like in this picture, so this is the only time I will note anything about the bachi colour

Taiko no Tatsujin Tatacon You Mat – 太鼓の達人 タタコン用マット https://www.suruga-ya.jp/kaitori/kaitori_detail/144011393 If you have any info on this please let me know!

PS4

All Japanese region

Taiko no Tatsujin Session de Dodon ga Don! 太鼓の達人 セッションでドドンがドン！

Taiko no Tatsujin Senyou Controller Taiko and Bachi for PlayStation 4 太鼓の達人専用コントローラー太鼓とバチ for PlayStation 4

Nintendo

DS

All Japanese region

Does not come with Tatacon, but instead Bachipen バチペン that you hold like so

https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ds/software/yktj/index.html

Taiko no Tatsujin DS Touch de Dokodon! 太鼓の達人DS タッチでドコドン！

Meccha! Taiko no Tatsujin DS 7-tsu no Shima no Daibouken めっちゃ！太鼓の達人DS ７つの島の大冒険！Comes with alternate stickers for the bachipen as well

Taiko no Tatsujin DS Dororon! Youkai Daikessen!! 太鼓の達人DS ドロロン! ヨーカイ大決戦!! First print editions came with gold bachipen, later editions came with the standard ones included with the other DS games

Gold bachipen 金のバチペン

Taiko no Tatsujin DS Stand Set 太鼓の達人DSスタンドセット

DSi

Japanese region

Taiko no Tatsujin DS DSi LL Stand 太鼓の達人DS DSi LLスタンド (DSi LL is the Japanese name for DSi XL, the same applies for 3DS LL and 3DS XL)

3DS

All Japanese region

Taiko no Tatsujin Bachipen DX Set for Nintendo 3DS LL 太鼓の達人 バチペンDXセットfor ニンテンドー3DS LL

Taiko no Tatsujin Chibi Dragon to Fushigi na Orb 太鼓の達人 ちびドラゴンと不思議なオーブ

FamilyMart special bachipen according to https://www.suruga-ya.jp/product/detail/104012807 was the only source I could find of these haha

Taiko no Tatsujin Don to Katsu no Jikuu Daibouken 太鼓の達人 どんとかつの時空大冒険

Taiko no Tatsujin Dokodon! Mystery Adventure 太鼓の達人 ドコドン！ ミステリーアドベンチャー – the wiki says it came with bachipen but I looked at dozens of listings on mercari and didn’t see a single one with them in the box like the above examples

Wii

All Japanese region

Taiko no Tatsujin Wii Taiko to Bachi 太鼓の達人Wii 「太鼓の達人Wii」専用太鼓コントローラ 太鼓とバチ

With pink sticker that reads Wii U 用「太鼓の達人」 ソフト対応 “Compatible with “Taiko no Tatsujin” software for Wii U” (translated by Google Translate)

“Taiko no Tatsujin Wii” Senyou Controller Kin no Taiko to Bachi「太鼓の達人Wii」専用コントローラ 金の太鼓とバチ

ダブルチャンスキャンペーン

「太鼓の達人Wii」専用コントローラ 金の太鼓とバチ

くじの半券から応募できるダブルチャンスキャンペーン。非売品の「太鼓の達人Wii」専用コントローラ 金の太鼓とバチが、10名様に当たります。

★Double Chance Campaign

“Taiko no Tatsujin Wii” dedicated controller Kin no Taiko and Bachi

A double chance campaign that you can apply for using your lottery ticket stub. 10 people will win the not-for-sale “Taiko no Tatsujin Wii” controller, a golden drum and a drumstick. (Google Translate)

From https://www.4gamer.net/games/140/G014093/20130920017/

Taiko no Tatsujin Wii 太鼓の達人Wii

Taiko no Tatsujin Wii Dodoon to 2 Daime! 太鼓の達人Wii ドドーンと２代目！

Taiko no Tatsujin Wii Minna de Party * 3-Daime! 太鼓の達人Wii みんなでパーティ☆3代目!

Taiko no Tatsujin Wii Ketteiban 太鼓の達人Wii 決定版

Taiko no Tatsujin Wii Chougoukaban 太鼓の達人Wii 超ごうか版

Wii U

All Japanese region

Taiko no Tatsujin Wii U Version 太鼓の達人 Wii Uば～じょん！

Taiko no Tatsujin Atsumete Tomodachi Daisakusen! 太鼓の達人 あつめて☆ともだち大作戦！

Taiko no Tatsujin Tokumori! 太鼓の達人特盛り

Taiko no Tatsujin Senyou Controller Pro 太鼓の達人専用コントローラPro

Taiko no Tatsujin Wii U Taiko to Bachi 太鼓の達人Wii U太鼓とバチ

Switch

Taiko no Tatsujin Senyou Controller Taiko to Bachi for Nintendo Switch 太鼓の達人専用コントローラー太鼓とバチ for Nintendo Switch – Japanese region

Taiko no Tatsujin Senyou Controller Taiko to Bachi for Nintendo Switch Gouka Set 太鼓の達人専用コントローラー 太鼓とバチ for Nintendo Switch 豪華セット – Japanese region

Taiko no Tatsujin Drum Controller https://store.bandainamcoent.com/taiko-no-tatsujin-drum-controller-nintendo-switch/ and https://stores.horiusa.com/NSW-079U – North American region

Taiko no Tatsujin Drum ‘n’ Fun! – Bundle is European region only

Taiko no Tatsujin Rhythm Festival 太鼓の達人 ドンダフルフェスティバル – Europe has one, and Japan kinda has one

Also I found this weird mock-up or fake image of it? Note the missing fireworks on the cardboard box

Japan only gift box – it’s one of the ones I already covered just in a special gift box though

Taiko no Tatsujin Fit Bachi for Nintendo Switch 太鼓の達人 フィットバチ for Nintendo Switch https://toy.bandai.co.jp/item/detail/13628/ – Japanese region

Mobile

Japanese region

Taiko no Tatsujin Senyou bluetooth Taiko Controller Taiko to Bachi 太鼓の達人専用Bluetooth太鼓コントローラ太鼓とバチ

According to https://taikotime.blogspot.com/2013/11/bluetooth-tatacon-for-taiko-ios.html “The first 2000 customers get this adorable Don-chan cover for their Tatacon, along with hands to hold their sticks!”

Games where I could not find proof of a bundle

Taiko no Tatsujin Doki! Shinkyoku Darake no Haru Matsuri 太鼓の達人 ドキッ!新曲だらけの春祭り

Taiko no Tatsujin Waku Waku Anime Matsuri 太鼓の達人 わくわくアニメ祭り

Taiko no Tatsujin Rhythmic Adventure 1 – code in a box available in Europe, digital only all other regions

Taiko no Tatsujin Dokodon! Mystery Adventure – digital only Japan only

Taiko no Tatsujin Rhythmic Adventure Pack 太鼓の達人 ドコどんRPGパック！ – no bundle gamefaqs says. There’s an English language Asian version, a Chinese version, and Japanese version

Taiko no Tatsujin Rhythmic Adventure 2 – digital only, Europe got a code in a box

Consoles without peripherals for their Taiko no Tatsujin games

(this is just here for completeness’ sake)

PSP

Taiko no Tatsujin Portable 太鼓の達人 ぽ～たぶる

Taiko no Tatsujin Portable 2 太鼓の達人ぽ～たぶる２

Taiko no Tatsujin Portable DX 太鼓の達人 ぽーたぶるDX

Vita

Taiko no Tatsujin V Version 太鼓の達人 Vバージョン

Xbox One

Taiko no Tatsujin The Drum Master! – digital only

Xbox Series

Taiko no Tatsujin The Drum Master! – digital only

PC

Taiko no Tatsujin The Drum Master! – digital only

Beena

Taiko no Tatsujin Ongaku Lesson 太鼓の達人おんがくレッスン – Honestly I’d love to see someone find a way to connect a tatacon that would be beautiful

Third party

Gonna be honest this was the least interesting part of the project and I kinda gave up so this is not comprehensive unlike the previous sections. If you wanna really dig into unofficial taiko controllers on your own though, I support that decision, have fun!

PS2

Red Octane Taiko Drum

Wii

Wii Taiko Drum

Switch

Armor 3 Taiko Drum Controller

Amazon says this is both Dobe and also Ostent brand…weeeee. Tako Drum for N-S

Just for play, Iine brand – Taiko no Tatsujin for Nintendo Switch Senyou Controller 太鼓の達人for Nintendo Switch 専用コントローラー

Xyab Taiko Drum Controller

YesOjo Taiko Drum

Dobe Drum Stick

Taikoller – https://www.dj-dao.com/en/taikoller

Taiko Force Lv5 – https://world.taobao.com/item/560834032433.htm

Arcade (I know I said console at the top but eh, why not include these? No other arcade stuff though, I don’t even know how I’d do that haha)

Taiko no Tatsujin My Bachi 太鼓の達人 マイバチ – https://taiko.namco-ch.net/taiko/mybachi/

I also saw some very determined people hook controllers up to consoles they weren’t originally meant for, I love it!

Research process:

Put all the ones from Consolevariations https://consolevariations.com/database?search=taiko

Put all the ones from Play-Asia https://www.play-asia.com/search/Taiko+controller#fc=prc:1.0000000000

Made a list of every console version of Taiko using https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/games/franchise/715-taiko-no-tatsujin and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiko_no_Tatsujin

Checked what I was missing with https://taiko.fandom.com/wiki/TaTaCon

Added more stuff from https://taiko.fandom.com/wiki/Bachipen

Ray said to make sure to include the Bluetooth one

Added all other controllers and stands and stuff from https://www.play-asia.com/search/taiko+no+tatsujin#fc=prc:0.0064053082

Added everything from https://www.suruga-ya.jp/kaitori/search_buy?category=&search_word=%E5%A4%AA%E9%BC%93%E3%81%AE%E9%81%94%E4%BA%BA&searchbox=1

Added photos boxes, drums, and stands for every English and Japanese game name searched on Google and eBay/Mercari

For the unofficial ones Google Image and Amazon searched taiko drum peripheral, third party, unofficial

Asked the Taiko Discord about the mysterious mat

Checked for ones that were sold by themselves and not with a game – searched each system (PS2, Wii, Wii U, PSP, Vita, Switch, PS4) with the phrase tatacon タタコン and in English

Same for DS and 3DS but with bachi ばち and in English

Box scans are from GameFAQs unless they didn’t have it

If you would like to use my lists for any reason (make a video, add it to a wiki, build on it and make your own list, anything at all), you are free to do so! No need to credit if you don’t want. I would be so happy if you want to be a link to sharing silly gaming knowledge to even more people. All I ask is that if you make anything, please share it with me because I would love to see 🙂
Please note I don’t own the images anyhow, they’re all from eBay or Mercari unless otherwise cited

I also made a post of all the delightful disc art that I found while doing this project if you’re interested:

Every Taiko no Tatsujin Disc

Thanks for witnessing!