Summary

Taiko no Tatsujin 12.5 (the widely accepted short form of the 12 Zoryoban machine) was released in July 2009, a month after Asia 12. It's not a fully new version, instead 12.5 succeeds at what the original Taiko 12 failed to do- provide compelling reason to come back to the arcade to play compelling new songs. 'Zoryoban' means 'expanded version' which is very true, as it included a whopping 145 songs on debut and 155 after all the secret codes were revealed, a far cry from the minimalist approach by the original. 12.5 is almost completely different from 12 in terms of fun.