Pop'n Music
Pop'n Music, commonly abbreviated as Pop'n, PM or PNM and stylized as pop'n music, is a music video game series in the Bemani series made by Konami. The games are known for their bright colors, upbeat songs, and cute cartoon character graphics. Originally released in 1998, the series has had 22 home releases in Japan as well as 30 mainline arcade versions.
Common elements
Gameplay
Composed of nine colorful buttons, the Pop'n Music interface is not designed to represent any actual musical instrument. Instead, buttons trigger various musical sounds within a pre-recorded song. Players press the buttons in time with in-game objects that fall in nine columns from the top of the screen; once the objects reach the line at the bottom of the screen, players press the button that corresponds to the object's column. These objects are referred to as.The primary objective of Pop'n Music is to achieve a high score; scores increase when players press the correct buttons in time with a song. This is visualized through an on-screen display called the Groove Gauge, which fills up as players increase their score. Players can successfully complete a song by filling the Groove Gauge to a certain point. There are also optional gameplay settings such as Hidden and Sudden, which obscure the top and bottom of the screen, respectively.
In an analysis of rhythm games for The Chopin Review, Tim Summer compared Pop'n Music's musical interface to the piano and noted that advanced players accounted for rubato and hand crossing while performing Chopin songs that were adapted into the series.
Each song is represented by a character, and players are represented by characters too. The player can choose a character by pressing both yellow buttons on the mode selection screen, but as of Pop'n Music 19 TUNE STREET, the character selection screen automatically pops up after choosing a mode. The default player characters are anthropomorphic rabbit Mimi and anthropomorphic cat Nyami.
Modes
From Pop'n Music 20 Fantasia onward, the previous Challenge, Super-Challenge, and Net Battle Modes were consolidated into a single Normal Mode. Challenge Mode was introduced in Pop'n music 5. It included a full roster of songs and options to increase the game's difficulty through through a set modifiers. Up to two modifiers could be selected for any given song. These score-increasing modifiers were called and ; Norma set point quotas to reach for a certain song, while Ojama were periodic obstacles that disrupted gameplay. Super-Challenge Mode, which incorporated the "Cool" accuracy score, and Net Battle Mode, which matched players in online competitions, were introduced in Pop'n Music 12 .Battle Mode was introduced in Pop'n Music 6. It involves two players competing for the higher score on the same song. Each player controls three buttons to play the song's notes and a fourth blue button that can disrupt their opponent's play. After being prompted to do so, players press the blue button to activate a minigame along the bottom of the screen. When one of the players loses the minigame, they are inflicted with a penalty.
Expert Mode was introduced in Pop'n Music 6. Players aimed to complete pre-made courses of four songs; missed notes lowered the Groove Gauge, and the game would end if the Groove Gauge reached zero. The mode introduced the "Cool" accuracy score, which was higher than the previous highest accuracy of "Great". Expert Mode also included an online ranking system, in which players with high scores would appear on a publicly visible leaderboard.
Introduced in Pop'n Music 12 , Enjoy Mode contained a selection of beginner-friendly songs that could be either played with five buttons or all nine buttons. It was renamed Easy Mode in Pop'n Music 20 Fantasia.
Recommendation Mode was introduced in Pop'n Music 9; players who selected the mode were asked a series of questions by the game and played a song that was selected according to their answers. The difficulty of each song was also adjusted according to the players' skill.
Music
Pop'n Music has been noted for its musical input's abstract design and large variety of genres for its songs. Each song name is accompanied by a genre tag, which are rarely shared between songs. While many songs are categorized into existing musical genres, the series also employs idiosyncratic fictional genres in its naming system. The series is heavily influenced by the Shibuya-kei microgenre; notable musicians associated with the genre who have composed for Pop'n Music include Perfume's producer Yasutaka Nakata and members of Cymbals, Plus-Tech Squeeze Box and Round Table.The series employs sound directors who compose new songs and lead the musical development of each game. Directors include Hiroshi Takeyasu, Kiyoshi Murai, Tomosuke Funaki, Wac, Des-Row, and Pon. The sound director for the first three installments, Takeyasu, noted a stronger J-pop influence in Pop'n Music 3 after Konami's record label began being involved in production. Sound directors have invited guest composers to work on the game. In Pop'n Music 20 Fantasia, Yasunori Mitsuda composed a song for the game at the request of Wac. Sound directors also decide the theme of each game; the fantasy theme of Fantasia was decided by Pon and Wac. In Pop'n Music Lapistoria, sound directors Pon and Tag composed songs that matched a particular character's personality and background to fit the game's story-centered theme. In other Pop'n Music games, characters were created to fit a given song.
Media
Arcade versions
Main series
The first installment of Pop'n Music was released in Japan by Konami on September 28, 1998. It featured difficulty-raising obstacles named. Pop'n Music was the second game developed by Konami's Bemani division and used the same arcade circuit board as its predecessor, Beatmania. Pop'n Music 2 was released on March 1999, and introduced gameplay modifiers such as Hidden, Random, and Mirror. The final installment that used the original circuit board, Pop'n Music 3, was released on September 1999 and provided the first instance of a combo tally in the series.The arcade series received a change in hardware on March 2000 with the release of Pop'n Music 4. Using the Firebeat circuit board, it introduced speed modifiers as a difficulty setting. Pop'n Music 5 was released on November 2003; it was the first game in the arcade series to include 5-line mode, in which players only needed to press the center five buttons. Pop'n Music 6 was released on April 2001 and introduced Battle Mode, in which two players controlled three buttons each. After the release of Pop'n Music 7 on November 2001, the series held its first in-game event, named Bingo de 7.
The second change in circuit boards came with Pop'n Music 9, which released on December 2002 and allowed the saving of play data through the e-Amusement system. Pop'n Music 12 was released on December 2004; it introduced Net Battle Mode, in which players could compete online in real time. Released in 2005, Pop'n Music 13 Carnival included Super Challenge Mode, which used "Cool" as an accuracy score.
Pop'n Music 15 Adventure was released in 2007 with the series' fourth circuit board and antialiasing for its graphics. The song was written for Adventure and was covered by Tricot in 2012. On December 2010, the series began to use LCD screens in its arcade cabinets instead of CRT displays with the release of Pop'n Music 19 Tune Street. Pop'n Music 20 Fantasia was released in 2011 and merged the previous Challenge, Super Challenge, and Net Battle modes into Normal Mode.
Pop'n Music , released in 2014, utilized a different art style from the rest of the series and was the first installment to include a story mode. Long Pop-kun, notes that were played by holding the buttons down, were introduced with the release of Pop'n Music in 2016. Pop'n Music UniLab was released in 2022, with the "Lift" option for players to raise or lower the judgement line's position on the screen. Players could also adjust game settings on a per-song basis after the release of Pop'n Music Jam&Fizz in 2024. In 2025, Pop'n Music☆High Cheers!! was released in Japan. It was installed on new cabinets with touchscreens, higher refresh rates and two large Pop-kun buttons on each side of the control panels.
Spin-offs
Several spinoff arcade games have been made from the Pop'n Music series, with the first being Pop'n Stage on September 1999. Similar to Dance Dance Revolution, Pop'n Stage is a dancing game that involves ten switches; players aim to step on switches that correspond with falling notes on the screen. As in Pop'n Music, each correct step activates musical sounds that harmonize with the song being played. Six switches are available in singleplayer mode, while multiplayer mode allows all ten switches. An update named Pop'n Stage EX was released on December 1999. It introduced the Maniac difficulty, which includes Ojama and singleplayer stages that involves all ten switches.Pop'n Music Mickey Tunes was released on March 2000; it uses music and characters from Disney series and is the first Pop'n Music game to implement an online ranking system. It includes three modes: Magical, Normal, and Mania. Magical Mode includes a function that assists players after they hit certain notes, while Mania Mode was designed for advanced players. Pop'n Music Animelo, also released on March 2000, includes songs from anime and television shows. On September 2000, Pop'n Music Animelo 2 was released, with modes such as Gun Mode and Bowling Mode. The gameplay of Bowling Mode relies on depth perception; notes scroll towards players from a perceived distance instead of falling from the top of the screen. Animelo 2 also includes secret options that double or triple the number of notes in a song.
Hello! Pop'n Music, a spin-off game aimed towards beginners, was released on March 2011. It lowered the number of buttons from nine to four and included a system where players could unlock special events by repeatedly using the same character.
Consumer software
Main series
Pop'n Music, released in 1999 for the PlayStation and the Dreamcast, is the series' first home console title. The game includes the console-exclusive Training Mode, and was released with a dedicated nine-button controller. The next three installments, up to Pop'n Music 4, were also released for both the PlayStation and the Dreamcast; Pop'n Music 3 and Pop'n Music 4 were released as expansion packs called Append Discs to the standalone Pop'n Music 2. The mobile mini-game Pop'n Music Anywhere for the VMU and the PocketStation was bundled with Pop'n Music 2. The home console editions of Pop'n Music 5 and Pop'n Music 6 were exclusive to the PlayStation. The remaining home console installments were released for the PlayStation 2, starting from 2002 with Pop'n Music 7 and ending in 2007 with Pop'n Music 14 Fever!. Two main series installments were released as handheld games on the PlayStation Portable; Pop'n Music 15 was released as Pop'n Music Portable in 2010 and Pop'n Music 16 was released as Pop'n Music Portable 2 in 2011.In 2020, a PC port named Pop'n Music Lively was released under a monthly subscription model. The game is based on Pop'n Music Peace'' and can be played with a nine-button controller that was released by Konami in 2021.
Spin-offs
Pop'n Music has given rise to a number of handheld spin-offs. In 2000, Pop'n Music GB was released for the Game Boy Color with a five-button control scheme. Utacchi was released in 2010 for the Nintendo DS and includes a Karaoke mode that uses the console's microphone. The mobile game Konami Pop'n Music was released in South Korea for phones on the SKT network in 2008; it was followed by Pop'n Music 2 Carnival in 2009. In 2011, Pop'n Music M was released in Japan for phones on the FOMA network and was followed by the iOS game Pop'n Rhythmin in 2013.Spin-offs for home devices include Pop'n Music 打!!, a typing game released in 2000 for personal computers. Pop'n Puzzle-dama Online, a Pop'n Music-themed installment of the Taisen Puzzle-dama series, was released for Windows in 2003 and the PS2 in 2004. In 2008, an English-localized spin-off titled Beat'n Groovy was released for the Xbox Live Arcade. The PC game Pop'n Music Be-Mouse was also released in 2008 and was bundled with a Pop'n-themed computer mouse. Pop'n Music for the Nintendo Wii was released in Japan in 2009 and the United States in 2010.