Snow Miku – Mikufest Event in Mikucolle (Part 3)

Hello Mikucolle players! I’m here to show you the next part of the Snow Miku – Mikufest event, including all of the new updates there have been. If you’re curious about what has happened previously, you can read my previous two articles here: (Part 1 /and/ Part 2).

Okay, so let’s dive in!

Our newest opening image, featuring the art of ใพใ‚ (Maro) and tokki respectively.

When you log in now, you’ll get to see a joyous Melopi:

1. Melopi: “We did it!”
2. “We managed to get all of the musical instruments back!”
3. “None of them got damaged, so I’m glad!”
4. “So now…”
5. Miku: “So now, we can have our music concert!”.
6. Let’s bring some joy to this place!”
7. Right, let’s go!”
8. “Usaaaaaa~!”
9 & 10. Melopi: “…..usa?”.

So what is going on in this leg of the event? Well, you’re still able to get 3 Mikucoins for logging in, so make sure to grab them every day! As for the other stuff going on…

1.New gacha

Our new gacha for the event are as follows:

-The top banner shows our first gacha, in which we have three options. The first one on the left is one pull only, and it costs 3 Mikucoins. You can do this one once a day. The middle one is a one pull gacha too, but you can play it as many times per day as you like. This one costs 5 Mikucoins per pull. (If you have a regular golden gacha ticket, you can use that for one pull too). Next we have the third option, which gives you 10 cards plus one extra, so it’s the best value for money. You should get at least one SSR with this gacha, and it costs 50 Mikucoins. 

-The second one you can see is the free gacha! With this one, you’ll be able to do the equivalent of a 10 + 1 pulls gacha without paying anything. This gacha will disappear from the page once used, leaving the other four event gacha behind.

-For the third gacha down, you’ll need to use special gacha tickets instead of Mikucoins. You only get one pull, but there’s a high probability for an SSR+. I’ll explain how to get these tickets in a little while.

-The final gacha is linked to the new quests available! Here, you need to collect 100 tickets for 1 pull, or 1000 tickets for a 10 + 1 pull. In this gacha you also have the chance to get this event – limited card:

ใ€Œใฟใซ้›ชใƒŸใ‚ฏ2020ใ€/ “Mini Snow Miku 2020” – SSR

Art by ใฏใญใ“ใจ (Hanekoto)

Skill: The Winter Night is Quiet

But just HOW do you get these tickets? Well let me show you~

2. New “Advance! Mikucolle Exploration Team” Quest available to play!

With this quest, each time you clear a level, you’ll get a certain amount of tickets which you can use in the aforementioned gacha. The more levels you clear, the more difficult the levels become, and the more tickets you get! You’ll also receive challenge medals which can be exchanged for cool items in the shop.

3. Ranking

Similar to the second part of this event from before, your scores that you get from each level in the Exploration Team quest will be used to place you on a leaderboard. The highest score you get when you clear a level is what they’ll use to place you. If your score is high enough (in the top 100 of players), you might have the chance to get this special limited card:

ใ€Œ้™ใ‹ใช้›ชใฎๅคœใ€/ “Quiet Winter’s Night” – SSR+

Art by MACCO

4. Special Packs to buy in- store

And as always, we have the special packs available to buy, which can allow you to partake in one of the two gacha I mentioned earlier!

Star Mikufest Pack 10000 – ยฅ10000 ($91 USD/ยฃ70 GBP)

-225 Mikucoins (Buy 100, get 125 free).

โ€“ One SSR+ Star Gacha ticket. (A ticket for the “high probability for an SSR” gacha I mentioned).

Star Mikufest Pack 4900 – ยฅ4900 ($44 USD / ยฃ34)

-106 Mikucoins (Buy 49, get 57 free!)

-One “No less than SSR” Star gacha ticket (for the second gacha requiring tickets that I mentioned).

Note: you can buy each of these packs a maximum of 10 times. 

And now, here are the cards that you can get in the gacha!

Snow * Marching band – SSR+

Art by KEI

Skill: “Because it’s today, I’ll present this to you”.

ใ€Œๅ†ฌใฎๆฃฎใฎ้ผ“็ฌ›้šŠใƒŸใ‚ฏใ€/ “Winter Forest’s Drum and Fife Band Miku” – SSR+

Art by ใชใ˜ใ‚‡ (Najo)

Skill: Forward March

ใ€Œๅ†ฌใฎๆฃฎใฎ้ผ“็ฌ›้šŠใƒชใƒณใ€/ “Winter Forest’s Drum and Fife Band Rin” – SSR+

Art by ใชใ˜ใ‚‡ (Najo)

Skill: Rear march

ใ€Œๅ†ฌใฎๆฃฎใฎ้ผ“็ฌ›้šŠใƒฌใƒณใ€/ “Winter Forest’s Drum and Fife Band Len” – SSR+

Art by ใชใ˜ใ‚‡ (Najo)

Skill: Right Side March

ใ€Œๅ†ฌใฎๆฃฎใฎ้ผ“็ฌ›้šŠใƒซใ‚ซใ€/ “Winter Forest’s Drum and Fife Band Luka” – SSR+

Art by ใชใ˜ใ‚‡ (Najo)

Skill: Left Side March

ใ€Œๅ†ฌใฎๆฃฎใฎ้ผ“็ฌ›้šŠ KAITOใ€/ “Winter Forest’s Drum and Fife Band KAITO” – SSR+

Art by ใชใ˜ใ‚‡ (Najo)

Skill: Right Face

ใ€Œๅ†ฌใฎๆฃฎใฎ้ผ“็ฌ›้šŠ MEIKOใ€/ “Winter Forest’s Drum and Fife Band MEIKO” – SSR+

Art by ใชใ˜ใ‚‡ (Najo)

Skill: Left Face

ใ€Œๅ…ƒๆฐ—ใชๆฃฎใฎ้ผ“็ฌ›้šŠใ€- “Drum and Fife Band of the Lively Forest” – SSR

Art by ใชใ˜ใ‚‡ (Najo)

Skill: “Right Pin Feel”

ใ€Œๆ˜Žใ‚‹ใ„ๆฃฎใฎ้ผ“็ฌ›้šŠใ€- “Drum and Fife Band of the Bright Forest” – SSR

Skill: “Left Pin Feel”

Art by ใชใ˜ใ‚‡ (Najo)

I think that wraps up our Mikufest in Mikucolle coverage for now. Make sure to try your luck at the gacha if you get a chance, since the event is on until February 25th (JST).

Thanks for reading ~ โ˜†

~Tanudama

Official Crypton Future Media Blog

Official Mikucolle Twitter (JP) 

NEUTRINO Neural Singing Synthesizer Available for Download

On February 22, 2020, SHACHI unveiled the NEUTRINO Neural Singing Synthesizer to the world, and has now made it available for download!

About NEUTRINO

NEUTRINO is a freeware voice synthesizer program that reads notes and lyrics from a MusicXML file (*.musicxml) created in a musical score program such as MuseScore. Using neural networks, it can estimate parameters like timing, pitch, voice type and more. It then uses a vocoder to synthesize the voice that sings the notes based on those estimated parameters.

A sample can be heard here:

https://n3utrino.work/332/

What’s more, two different voice banks are already available. The first is ่ฌกๅญ / Yoko, a voice bank based off the singing voice synthesis system Sinsy, and described as possessing a powerful yet cool and relaxed voice type. Below, you can hear song that SHACHI created for Sinsy’s recent 10th anniversary!

The other available voice bank will no doubt please AHS fans. It’s none other than AI Tohoku Kiritan! Below, you can listen to numerous sample tracks that SHACHI created using her voice database.

More samples can be heard on SHACHI’s SoundCloud page.

Interested in hearing more of her? You’ll be delighted to know that many users have already tried their hand at Yoko and Kiritan’s NEUTRINO banks, and have shared their results online! Below are just a few of the many examples out there!

Many more user songs can be found by searching on Niconico, or searching on Twitter for #NEUTINO, #AIใใ‚ŠใŸใ‚“, #AIใ‚ทใƒณใ‚ฌใƒผใใ‚ŠใŸใ‚“, or (of course) Tohoku Zunko’s official Twitter!

https://twitter.com/Orahi_Shiro/status/1230965476446154759
https://twitter.com/kossy0619/status/1231057833375854593

Download

Impressed by what you hear? You can download and give NEUTRINO a try for yourself below!

https://www.vector.co.jp/download/file/winnt/art/fh725154.html

Testing

After unzipping the file to your desired folder, open the resulting NEUTRINO folder, double-click on the Batch file called “Run.bat”, and let it run for a while.

When it finishes, check the folder called “output” and you should see a WAV file called “sample1_syn.wav”. This means that the program works and you are ready use it!

How to Use NEUTRINO

1. Create a song with lyrics in MuseScore. Save it as MusicXML file (*.musicxml) in “score” > “musicxml”

โ€ปIf you see 4 sample MusicXML files, then you got the correct folder

2. Right-click the earlier Batch file called “Run” and open it in Notepad. Change where you see BASENAME into the name of the MusicXML file that you want to synthesize.

โ€ป”sample4″ is being used in this example

This is also the step where you can adjust the parameters (PitchShift, FormantShift, etc.) to your liking, or change Kiritan to Yoko. SHACHI gives a brief tutorial about how to do each here (Japanese only).

3. Launch Command Prompt in the current folder. You can learn how to do so here.

โ€ปThe easiest way is to type “cmd” into the folder address bar, and hit Enter

4. Enter “Run.bat” in Command Prompt, hit Enter, wait a little while, and then the newly synthesized WAV file will appear in the “output” folder!

Recommended operating environment

Operating System: Windows 10 (64bit)
CPU: Intel Core i5/ AMD RYZEN 5
Memory: at least 8GB
Free disk space: at least 10GB

Keep up to date on this exciting new voice synthesis program by following SHACHI on Twitter and visiting the NEUTRINO official site!

AHS Characters Pop-Up Store Merchandise Revealed

**UPDATE ON FEBRUARY 28, 2020**

We have visited the pop-up store and have pictures of it!

Original report below:

Gamers has recently revealed the available merchandise for the previously reported pop-up store in Akihabara for AHS character goods! If you’re going to be in the area between late February and mid-March, here’s what you can find!

Location

AKIHABARA GAMERS Main Shop, 7F

Time Period

February 28 through March 15

Merchandise

โ€ปAll prices are after-tax

Lottery Goods

For every ๏ฟฅ3,000 JPY you spend on AHS character goods at the store, you get a chance to enter a lottery drawing for the below prizes!

Jackpot prize

Autographed Yuzuki Yukari Swimsuit Wedding ver. Tapestry

Consolation prize

Random character poster (19 types)
โ€ปAvailable while supplies last

Gamers-Exclusive Goods

Can Badge (1 out of 18 possible kinds, selected at random): ๏ฟฅ400 JPY each

Bonus: these badges may randomly come with a label that says “ๅฝ“ใŸใ‚Š.” If you receive a badge with this, then you can also get some autographed goods!

Pre-Sale Goods

Giant Keychains (2 types): ๏ฟฅ1,210 JPY each

Tsurumaki Maki B2 Tapestry: ๏ฟฅ3,300

Yuzuki Yukari T-Shirt (available in L and XL sizes): ๏ฟฅ3,300 JPY each

Sports Towel (2 types): ๏ฟฅ3,850 JPY each

Tsurumaki Maki Giant Acrylic Stand: ๏ฟฅ1,980 JPY

Yuzuki Yukari Parka (available in L and XL sizes): ๏ฟฅ7,150 JPY each

Mug (2 types): ๏ฟฅ1,650 JPY each

Yuzuki Yukari Portable Charger: ๏ฟฅ4,950 JPY

General Merchandise for Sale

Yuzuki Yukari Swimsuit Wedding ver. B2 Tapestry: ๏ฟฅ3,300 JPY

Yuzuki Yukari Swimsuit Wedding ver. T-shirt: ๏ฟฅ4,400 JPY

Yuzuki Yukari Swimsuit Wedding ver. Giant Acrylic Stand: ๏ฟฅ1,980

Yuzuki Yukari Swimsuit Wedding ver. Portable Charger: ๏ฟฅ4,950 JPY

Acrylic Stand (8 types): ๏ฟฅ1,100 JPY each

Giant Acrylic Stand (4 types): ๏ฟฅ1,980 JPY each

There is still one week before the store opens, so if more merchandise is announced, such as AHS software products, we will report!

Links

Pop-up store official site

Official AHS Store

Ukiyo-e Hatsune Miku Merchandise from Atelier Magie

Atelier Magie and Village Vanguard are teaming up once again to bring us more merchandise for the piapro characters!

This time, the new merchandise is featuring an ukiyo-e style illustration of Hatsune Miku by ๅฒฉๅ / Iwato. Have you ever envisioned Miku’s hair as a representation of Hokusai’s double “The Great Waves”? And there’s not just one wave hereโ€ฆ but two in the form of her signature twin-tails, which help in portraying a gorgeously elegant version of our virtual diva, Miku!ย 

Merchandise

Denim tote bag: ๏ฟฅ5,720
Product page: https://vvstore.jp/i/vv_000000000200727/

Acrylic figure stand: ๏ฟฅ1,650
Product page: https://vvstore.jp/i/vv_000000000200725/

BIG Can badge: ๏ฟฅ660
Product page: https://vvstore.jp/i/vv_000000000200724/

Clear file folder: ๏ฟฅ440
Product page: https://vvstore.jp/i/vv_000000000200726/

See the hub page below where you can find other collaboration merchandise with Hatsune Miku from Atelier Magie, and expect a release sometime in the middle of April!

https://vvstore.jp/feature/detail/10559/

MEIKO & KAITO Life-Size Statue Crowdfunder Now Open…. and Already Fully Funded!

At exactly 5:00 PM JST today, February 17, 2020, the crowdfunding campaign to fund life-size statues for MEIKO and KAITO has been opened to donations.

And within just a couple hours, the campaign is now over 100% funded!

Screenshot taken at about 7:00 PM, two hours after the campaign opened.

About an hour into the campaign, as it was nearing 94% completion, the organizers sent out the below tweet on Crypton Future Media’s official Twitter account:

“Good evening! MEIKO & KAITO life-size statue project planners, here! Thank you so much for all your support… I feel like my chest is going to burst from joy. We better increase the max amount of donors for those courses that were utterly destroyed in the blink of an eye. From here, we’ll be confirming the case for each of the courses, so stay tuned for announcements…! #MK15th_project“

“Furthermore, as explained on our official blog and the crowdfunding site, if donations exceed the targeted goal, then we’ll be using the money for future events and exhibition plans, meaning all of it will be going towards MEIKO and KAITO activities…! It’s almost reaching the goal, and I’m equally happy and impatient, but I hope everyone will continue to support us for the long run! #MK15th_project“

The utterly destroyed courses that they are referring to are the two ๏ฟฅ30,000 and ๏ฟฅ50,000 courses, which are currently unable to accept any more donors.

However, as mentioned above, they will be increasing the max amount of donors soon, so more people will have the chance to receive the rewards and meet Meiko Haigo and Naoto Fuuga!

For info on all the donation options, see our previous report below, which will be updated as developments continue!

https://vocasphere.com/2020/02/12/meiko-kaito-life-size-statue-crowdfunding-details/

Remember that while the statues are definitely going to be made now, we can all always do more for MEIKO and KAITO, so be sure to support the crowdfunding effort if you were planning to all along! The campaign will remain open until 12:00 AM (JST) on April 20, 2020.

Links

ACT NOW crowdfunding page for the MEIKO & KAITO life-size statue project

Hatsune Miku / Crypton Future Media Official Twitter

Crash Fever x Hatsune Miku 2020 Collab Now Live!

While the collaboration has been out since the 14th, I wanted to make sure that I could cover everything going on in as much detail as possible. This collab comes jam packed with two new Hatchers, seven new quests, a returning Hatcher, and multiple return quests so Miku fans have a ton of work ahead of them if they want to collect everything!ย 

If you’d like a detailed article breaking down everything this collab has to offer, check out our Crash Fever collab crash course here. This article is a much shorter one breaking down the basics.

Remember the collab ends February 28th at 12:59 am server time!

New Quests

Hatsune Miku Singin’ Orchestra

This quest is only available once a day and requires a Master Key to play. Beating it gets you a 6* Concert Princess Snow Miku 2020 with 11 Bugs. That’s 9 days of questing to get her to Bug Max!

On Air! Guerrilla Live Show!

This is a Guerrilla Quest only available during certain times of the day. If you see it, but sure to play it to get yourself a 6* Chibi Performers Miku and Franklin! Your best bet for Bug Maxing this unit is to play with others because higher Bug units drop when you play in multiplayer.

Special Quests

There are four normal Special Quests as well as a Score Attack quest. The first three are the ones that drop brand new units.

The Gothic Road
Available in Legend, Wizard, and Ultra
Drops 5* Fascinating Red Maquillage MEIKO with various Bug counts

Keyboard Resonance
Available in Basic, Legend, and Wizard
Drops 5* Pure Peach Blossom Megurine Luka

Virtual Classic
Available in Basic, Legend, and Wizard
Drops 5* Blue Lord KAITO

86624149_3291111980933855_5928667710304026624_nEach of these quests also has a chance of the 6* Unit Spiral Scream Kagamine Len appearing. If you defeat the quest, he’ll drop as well! This higher the difficulty of the quest, the higher the Bug count will be for this unit. There’s no other way to obtain him outside of these quests.

Standby Party

This quest doesn’t drop any units but instead drops Musical Notes 2020. These Notes can be exchanged in the Item Exchange for all the units from the previous years’ collabs!

Aim at the Top!

This Score Attack quest has both a Training level and a Score Attack level. So far I’ve been training without much luck. Newer players as well as ones who don’t frequently play the game may have difficulty with this quest.

Hatchers

There are two Hatcher for new units in this collaboration as well as a Hatcher for older Miku Collab Hatcher units. The return Hatcher even has a free 10x pull!

The new Hatchers feature multiple new units but VOCALOID fans will likely be more interested in Green String Girl Hatsune Miku and Yellow Camellia Kagamine Rin. You can obtain them as well as other exclusive collab units from the two new Hatchers. However, there is a Miku Side and a Rin Side that boost the chance of you getting either Miku or Rin.

You can even check out samples of their special theme songs (included in game) in a promotional video!

More Information

For more information, be sure to follow Crash Fever on Facebook as well as VocaSphere! Be sure to check out our more in depth article about the collaboration here as well!

You can find Crash Fever on the Google Play Store as well as the Apple App Store.

Crash Fever x Hatsune Miku 2020 Collab Crash Course

New to Crash Fever or just haven’t played it in a while but really want to get into the Miku collab? Having a hard time figuring out where to start? You’re in the right place! Here’s our crash course to help you jump right into the Miku collab! If you’d prefer just a quick rundown of what’s new, check out our previous article here.

Free Hatcher

First thing’s first: the free Hatcher. If you’re a new player, this free Hatcher is absolutely perfect to get you going with some really good units fit for the quests at hand. If you’re an old player, it’s still a free Hatcher and will hopefully help you complete your collection of Hatcher only VOCALOID units.

The Quests

If you’re a new player, take this time to level up your units using the free ducks given out as login bonuses and use Apples on your units to increase their stats. I won’t get too into that here but there are tons of guides online to help you out if you need some assistance.

Once you have some good units ready to fight, it’s on to the quests! There are a ton to choose from but there’s definitely an efficient way to go about everything.

New or old, focus on either Virtual Classic or Keyboard Resonance first depending on which units you have. You get Musical Notes 2020 (used in the Item Exchange to exchange for units from previous collabs) by completing these quests and collecting more and more of the units (which you need to do anyway to Bug Max them) so you’re best off collecting the many, many rewards of 390 Musical Notes 2020 before actually doing the Standby Party quest.

Doing more difficult levels of the quest gets you higher Bug counts but don’t feel discouraged if you’re only able to do the lower level quests. You’ll be leveling up over and over again as a newbie and each level up means a refill of energy! So you’ll be making progress in no time.

Now the focus is definitely on Bug Max-ing these units. Bug Max nets you two extra drops which means Bug Maxing following units faster. You can also use those Musical Notes 2020 that you receive to get Fruitful Future Hatsune Miku from the Item Exchange. You can Bug Max her for 450 Notes and she’ll be able to help you in the Virtual Classic Quest. Pair her up with Rin and Len V4X and any other unit capable of breaking Damage Panels without being injured and you’ll be able to take out the Virtual Classic quest over and over!

If your units are lacking, I’d definitely suggest starting with KAITO and Bug Maxing him first before moving on to the others as KAITO is super effective against both Luka and MEIKO.

While you can totally Bug Max these units without the help of multiplayer, the yields for multiplayer play are absolutely amazing and I highly recommend playing multiplayer if you can.

Screenshot_20200214-173650_Crash Fever.jpg

Spiral Scream Kagamine Len

Crash Fever_2020-02-16-11-46-09.jpg

In addition to getting the KAITO, Luka, and MEIKO units when completing their respective quests, each quest has a chance of the 6* unit Spiral Scream Kagamine Len appearing. If he appears and you beat the quest, you’ll receive one unit with a set number of Bugs depending on the quest difficulty. Higher difficulties yield higher Bugs.

There’s no other way to obtain this Len unit so good luck Bug Maxing him!

Daily Quest: Singin’ Orchestra

Don’t worry about having a Bug Max unit for this quest; it drops the same thing every time. You’re allowed to play this quest once a day and it’ll drop a 6* Concert Princess Snow Miku 2020 with 11 Bugs each time. You have to play the quest nine days during the event to get to Bug Max! Make sure to play it every day in order to max out the unit.

Guerrilla Quest: On Air! Guerrilla Live Show

This special Guerilla Quest is also an easy one to finish but I definitely recommend using multiplayer for it! Having a Bug Max unit is a nice bonus but 100% unnecessary thanks to the drop mechanics. Any Bug Max units will net extra drops but they’re all enhancement units. Here’s the run down of the multiplayer drops for the quest:

  • 1 Player: 1x Chibi Performers Miku and Franklin 1 Bug
  • 2 Players: 1x Chibi Performers Miku and Franklin 1 Bug, 1x Chibi Performers Miku and Franklin 2 Bug
  • 3 Players: 1x Chibi Performers Miku and Franklin 1 Bug, 1x Chibi Performers Miku and Franklin 2 Bug, 1x Chibi Performers Miku and Franklin 3 Bug
  • 4 Players: 1x Chibi Performers Miku and Franklin 1 Bug, 1x Chibi Performers Miku and Franklin 2 Bug, 1x Chibi Performers Miku and Franklin 3 Bug, 1x Chibi Performers Miku and Franklin 4 Bug

As you can see, it definitely adds up when you play multiplayer!

In addition, playing multiplayer will net you Polygons. You’ll receive 50 Polygons for the first ten players you play with and 10 Polygons for the next 89. That’s enough for a few pulls from the Hatchers!

While this unit isn’t exactly amazing overall, it’s definitely worth Bug Maxing for the Bug Max bonuses.

Standby Party

The Standby Party quest is where you get the Musical Notes 2020 that you can exchange for previous years’ units in the Item Exchange. The Wizard level will likely be most accessible to new players as it focuses on Damage Panels which many of the VOCALOID units can deal with. Ultimate, on the other hand, focuses on Protected Panels which are a completely different game. However, the new MEIKO unit is capable of dealing with both so she’ll make a great addition to the team.

The Wizard level quest will net you 100 Musical Notes 2020 per solo run with an additional 20 for Bug Maxed. As always, running the quest with others will work better for drops but isn’t required.

Score Attack: Aim at the Top!

This quest is by far the most difficult. With five stages of increasing difficulty, it’s definitely a challenge. Only try it if you’ve got quite the team!

Returning Quests

There are multiple returning quests as well all offering the chance to get units from previous years’ collaborations! You’ll have to decide if these quests are worth doing or if farming Musical Notes 2020 would work better for you.

Note that one quest from MIKU Museum 2016, Frosty Diva, will likely end up on your list of quests to grind as the unit dropped is used as Awakening material for several of the older collab units.

Fight on the Stage
Available in Wizard, Ultimate, and Spectre
Drops 5* Fighting Queen Megurine Luka

Unleash the Flurry Limits!
Available in Basic and Wizard
Drops 5* Blue Note Performer KAITO

MIKU Museum 2018 Quests

Shrine Maiden Diva
Available in Easy and Hard
Drops 5* Snow Miku 2018

Standby Party (2018 Version)
Available in Hard and Wizard
Likely drops Musical Notes 2018

Surprise Party!
Available in Wizard and Ultimate
Drops 5* Historic Prayer Hatsune Miku

MIKU Museum 2017 Quests

Starry Sky Diva
Available in Easy and Hard
Drops 5* Snow Miku 2017

Electroconcerto
Available in Wizard
Drops 5* Rodent Romancer Hamelin

Run, Run! ALICE GP
Available in Wizard
Drops 5* Heavenly Note Inaba

Secret Event Spy Mission
Available in Wizard
Drops 5* Chic Songstress Murasaki Shikibu

Electric Diva’s Fallen Angel
No difficulty given but was originally Ultimate
Drops 5* Song Lord Lucifer

MIKU Museum 2016 Quests

Frosty Diva
Available in Easy
Drops 4* Winter Sports Miku

Sing it! Hatsune Miku V3
Available in Wizard
Drops 4* Hatsune Miku V3

The Hatchers

These two Hatchers both have the chance of dropping four collaboration units, two of which are Crypton VOCALOIDS, but each side has a preference towards one of those VOCALOID units. Choose the Miku side for a higher chance at Green String Girl Hatsune Miku and the Rin side for a higher chance at Yellow Camellia Kagamine Rin.

The first pull is a discounted 250 Polygons with each following pull being 500. On the 6th pull, you’re guaranteed to pull one of the four featured units!

You can check out the app itself for more details on all the featured units.

More Information

There are of course packages you can purchase for Polygons and other various items. However, those cost real money and that’s not what this guide is about. I’m just hoping to help out players so they can decide the best way to tackle this giant event. Hopefully it’s been of some help to you!

You can find Crash Fever on the Google Play Store as well as the Apple App Store.

Celebrate Our Beloved Kaito’s Birthday In Mikucolle!

Following on from Megurine Luka’s birthday event in Mikucolle (which I covered recently here), we also have a cute Kaito event available!

1. Free Mikucoins upon logging in

(Opening screen, art by ใ‚ตใƒฏใ‚ท)

Until February 17th (13:59 JST), you can get free Mikucoins just by logging in! If you haven’t already checked the app, it’d be a good idea to check it out quickly to make use of the offer (I know I needed those coins… ).

2. Special Kaito Gacha!

Three Kaito gacha have been created especially for his birthday! So let’s take a look at them quickly:

-With the first banner at the top, we have a gacha which requires 100 Mikucoins for a 10+ 1 extra gacha pull. You’re guaranteed at least one SSR+ from it, and all cards come with max rank and max level! I’d assume that this gacha is so expensive because the rate for SSR+ here is 5%, which is 4% higher than the next gacha.

-In our second gacha we have three options. The first one on the left is one pull only, and it costs 3 Mikucoins. You can do this one once a day. The middle one is a one pull gacha too, but you can play it as many times per day as you like. This one costs 5 Mikucoins per pull. Next we have the third option, which gives you 10 cards plus one extra, so it’s the best value for money. You should get at least one SSR with this gacha, and it costs 50 Mikucoins. 

-The final gacha available is a free one. You can have one whole go at the full gacha without paying! And I must admit, I got a reaaally good pull from this one:

Special cards available include:

ใ€Œ็ฅๆญŒใฎไฝฟ่€… KAITOใ€/”Iwai-uta no shisha KAITO” (Messenger of Festive Song KAITO) -SSR+

Art by : ใ‚ตใƒฏใ‚ท (Sawashi)

Skill: ๆฉๆ„›ใ‚’ใŠๅฑŠใ‘๏ผ(Deliverance of Kindness and Affection!)

ใ€Œ็ด ๆ•ตใง็‰นๅˆฅใชไธ€็›ฎใ€/ “Suteki de Tokubetsu na Hitome” (A Lovely and Special Glance) – SSR+

Art by : kkc

Skill: ใ‚ใ‚ŠใŒใจใ†ใฎใใ‚‚ใก (Thankful Feeling)

ใ€Œๅ’Œใƒญใƒƒใ‚ฏโ˜†KAITOใ€/ “Wa-rokku KAITO” (Japanese-style Rock KAITO) – SSR+

Art by : ้ป’็…ๅญ (Kuro Jishi)

Skill: ๆธ…ๅป‰ใชใ‚‹่ชฟใน (Melody turning pure)

ใ€Œใ‚ตใƒ•ใ‚กใ‚คใ‚ขใจๆ…ˆๆ„›ใฎ่ผใใ€/”Saffaia to Jiai no Kagayaki” (Radiance of Sapphires and Affection) – SSR+

Art by : kkc

Skill: ็ฅ็ฆใฎใ‚ตใƒ•ใ‚งใ‚คใƒญใ‚น “Blessing of Sappheiros”

3. Special Kaito packs available to buy! 

Then we have the new packs available in the shop!

Pack 1. KAITO Birthday Pack 10000 – ยฅ10000 ($90 USD/ยฃ70)

-225 Mikucoins (Buy 100, get 125 free!) 

– One Kaito “bodyguard”

Pack 2. KAITO Birthday Pack 4900 – ยฅ4900 ($44 USD/ยฃ34)

-106 Mikucoins (Buy 49, get 57 free!

-One Kaito “assistance team”

Although it might not look like much, a special gacha or three is always fun to play, especially when celebrating one of our favourite Vocaloid’s birthdays! Good luck with your Gacha pulls everyone! And make sure to check out the event before February 17th (13:59 JST)!

~Tanudama

Links

Official Crypton Future Media Blog

Official Mikucolle Twitter (JP)

Cho Kabuki ใ€ŒOtogi-zลshi Koi no Sugataeใ€Announced For Niconico Chokaigi 2020

The latest chapter in the Cho Kabuki series starting Hatsune Miku and Shido Nakamura II has been announced for Niconico Chokaigi 2020!

Program Title

ๅพกไผฝ่‰็ด™ๆˆ€ๅงฟ็ตต / Otogi-zลshi Koi no Sugatae

Official Website

https://chokabuki.jp/2020chokaigi/

Theme Song

ใƒญใƒŸใ‚ชใจใ‚ทใƒณใƒ‡ใƒฌใƒฉ / Romeo & Cinderella by doriko

Official Trailer

Also on Niconico: https://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm36344756

Cast

Nakamura Shido II

Hatsune Miku

Nakamura Choushi

Sawamura Kuniya

Dates & Times (JST)

April 18 at 1:00 PM

April 18 at 4:00 PM

April 19 at 1:00 PM

April 19 at 4:00 PM

The show will also later be performed at the Minami-za Kabuki Theater in June. Official page here.

Location

Makuhari Messe Event Hall as part of Niconico Cho Kaigi 2020

Ticket Page and Seating Layout

Purchase tickets here.

Price per show: ๏ฟฅ4,800 JPY

Getting a ticket enables you to watch the show from the reserved seat section on the first floor.

Without a ticket, you can still watch the show from the unreserved side and rear seats on the first floor, or from the second or third floors.

โ€ปNote: to enter Niconico Chokaigi, a separate ticket is required. Available here.

Livestreams

Don’t fret if you can’t make it to Niconico Chokaigi 2020. All four showings will be streamed on Niconico Live!

โ€ปAll times are JST

April 18, 1:00 PM show:
https://live2.nicovideo.jp/watch/lv324051671

April 18, 4:00 PM show:
https://live2.nicovideo.jp/watch/lv324051701

April 19, 1:00 PM show:
https://live2.nicovideo.jp/watch/lv324051732

April 19, 4:00 show:
https://live2.nicovideo.jp/watch/lv324051764

Stay tuned for more information on Niconico Chokaigi 2020, and expect VocaSphere staff to report straight from the show floor!

Links

Cho Kabuki Official Site

Niconico Chokaigi Official Twitter

Niconico Chokaigi Official Site

Other VOCALOID Events At Niconico Chokaigi 2020

Cho Virtual Music Festival ใƒผVOCALOID Fesใƒผ

Cho VOCALOID Area

First Look: Hatsune Miku Project DIVA Mega39’s

Last February 13, 2020, the game has been officially released in the Japanese and Asian regions! The game is expected to be localized and released later this year in the West but Iโ€™ve gone ahead and got myself the Japanese digital version since the first announcement. I couldn’t wait to play this game and here are my first impressions!

When the Nintendo Switch initially came out about three years ago, some fans of Project DIVA speculated whether weโ€™ll be seeing the game coming out on Nintendoโ€™s latest console. I had speculated back then that it was very unlikely since the game has only appeared on the Sony PlayStation devices where it featured its โ–ณโ–กโ—‹ร— buttons and most likely it will stay as an exclusive, making Project Mirai-like spin off a way more plausible option.

Two years later, SEGA, as part of celebrating the rhythm-action game seriesโ€™ 10th anniversary, had announced Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Mega39s (also known as MegaMix), on the Switch! 

And now, last February 13, 2020, the game has been officially released in the Japanese and Asian regions! The game is expected to be localized and released later this year in the West but Iโ€™ve gone ahead and got myself the Japanese digital version since the first announcement. I couldn’t wait to play this game and here are my first impressions!

I had pre-purchased the game from the eShop so it was a matter of waiting for it to be unlocked after midnight on the release day and sure enough, a quick update was needed for the game to be booted up for the first time.

Youโ€™ll go through the expected intros (although, we donโ€™t hear Miku singing โ€˜SEGAโ€™ this time) and youโ€™re off to the gameโ€™s main menu. There isnโ€™t a new theme for the menus and youโ€™ll get the same ones that were present in the Project DIVA arcades just like in Future Tone on the PS4.

When you want to start playing the rhythm game, youโ€™ll be greeted with the selection of choosing between two game modes: the staple Arcade Mode and the new Mix Mode. More details below!

Arcade Mode

All of the songs are also playable at the start of the game at the Easy, Normal, and Hard difficulty. Clearing the song in Hard mode will unlock the Extreme difficulty for an even more challenging play. For some songs, you can even take it up another notch with the  Extra Extreme difficulty!

Since this is a first for the Switch, the default settings will be set to the XYBA button styles which will throw off some veteran players (especially that X is also in blue!) but it can be easily changed back to the Playstation-style โ–ณโ–กโ—‹ร— notes!

Why is X also blue?
Much better!

Just like with the previous installments of Project DIVA, having played both on a PS Vita and PS4, itโ€™s a very similar gameplay on the Switch. I would recommend getting a grip case when youโ€™re playing on Handheld mode. On TV mode or even in Tabletop mode, itโ€™s better to play it with the Joy-Cons separated! (Donโ€™t use the Joy-Con controller grip!) 

One thing to also note is that, since there are also four separate directional buttons on the left Joy-Con, itโ€™s actually a better fit for playing rhythm games but it took some to get used to having the analog stick above the buttons.

Just like with Future Tone, you can also remap some of the controls which I did for the L, R, ZL, and ZR, buttons in this case to better handle the combos.

This way, when you hit a quad-combo, just press ZL+ZR!

Mix Mode

New to Mega39s is another rhythm game mode which banks on motion controls of the Joy-Cons. How this works is that youโ€™ll match up the notes with the corresponding Joy-Con by tilting it and hitting the note by either pressing the ZL/ZR or L/R shoulder buttons. Personally, the latter works better. 

This does mean that for Switch Lite owners, youโ€™ll need to have separate Joy-Cons in order to play this mode.

In playing a few songs under this mode, it may appear easy but it does tend to be more challenging as you progress through higher-rated songs but itโ€™s also very fun to play especially in TV mode! I would actually recommend trying a song in Easy difficulty first which uses the right Joy-Con only to get a feel of the controls before dual-wielding,

Just like with Arcade mode, all songs will be available to play at the start on Easy and Normal difficulty. Clearing a song on Normal will unlock Hard.

Graphics

One of the main concerns early on before release was how the game will perform graphically on the Switch. The gameplay itself always runs at 60 frames per second but there are instances where PVs are being rendered real-time in various frame rates and at a lower resolution especially for more complex ones and where there are multiple performers. This can be seen more when playing in Handheld mode. One example of this happening is in Senbonzakura:

This only happens in the later part of the PV. Captured in TV mode

Honestly, I didnโ€™t even notice it much until looking closely and itโ€™s not much of a deal-breaker for me since it doesnโ€™t actually affect the gameplay itself. Hopefully, SEGA does work on some performance optimizations in future updates.  

Wrap-up

Overall, Mega39s is yet another enjoyable addition to the Project DIVA series and a rhythm-action game on the Nintendo Switch regardless which mode you play and how you play it.

SEGA is expected to introduce more songs into the game this year through DLCs and again, Iโ€™m looking forward to seeing the game released in the West which is to be expected later this year!