Walk into any amusement center with video game cabinets and you’re bound to run into a Taiko No Tatsujin machine, almost always with people young and old whacking away at it.

It’s a taiko (traditional Japanese drum) simulator rhythm game where you play J-Pop, classical or video game theme songs in the medium of taiko by hitting the drum in time with the various symbols that scroll by.

But for one guy playing at the Oni (demon) level of difficulty, it’s a brutal yet beautiful assault on the drums leaving spectators dazzled as they watched from a safe distance of about three meters.

Take a look, although it would probably take multiple viewings to get it all in.

For those unfamiliar with the game, using the two sticks you hit either the center of the drum (Don) when you see a red face or the rim (Katsu) when you see the blue face slide by.

Normally the game goes something like this.

However, when it gets into demon mode the faces fly by furiously enough to induce epileptic fits. On YouTube or NicoNico you can find several clips of skilled drummers or simply skilled players dominating even this difficult level.

This guy, though, takes it to another level by adding dance to his performances. Even watching the video once, it’s hard to catch everything he does.

Beyond simply hitting the machine he punches it,

gives it some haymakers,

stabs it,

nunchakus it,

does a spinny Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon thing on it,

and of course what drum routine would be complete without throwing the sticks in the air and catching them.

He did all this and more while playing his set of three songs on the hardest difficulty of the game.

Almost as entertaining is the suspense of watching passers-by come ever so close to getting smacked with a taiko stick – an event that must have happened a few times during this guy’s practice sessions.

Source: NicoNico
Video: YouTube – JesseKun92, Zekira Wolfahya Drake

▼  The main video’s quality wasn’t great so here’s clearer example of demon mode Taiko no Tatsujin.