AC pnm

General Information

• Released: September 1998
• This game ran on the BEMANI DJ-MAIN HARDWARE arcade system, the same one used for beatmania, hence the poor graphic quality as opposed to later games in the series. The series would continue to run on this hardware through Pop'n Music 3. Pop'n Music spinoff Pop'n Stage also used the same hardware.
• Two of the game's composers, Reo Nagumo and Takeyasu Hiroshi, also worked on the original beatmania. This game also marks the first appearance of Hiroki Koga (Naya-n). He arranged The Theme of Gamber Z (ANIME HERO).
• First appearances of Ikeda Tomonori, Youhei Shimizu, Sugimoto Kiyotaka (DJ SIMON), and Sanae Shintani in Bemani.
• Only one difficulty level was present for songs in the original. The easiest was FANTASY (3), and the hardest song is SPY (16).
• Total number of songs: 14

Staff Information

• Sound Director: Takeyasu Hiroshi
• Other information currently unknown

New Songs

First Stage

• POPS / I Really Want To Hurt You / Sugi & Reo (Rie Chan)
• RAP / YOUNG DREAM / Little Fingers (KRAFT?)
• J-TECHNO / Quick Master / Act Deft (Shollkee)
• FANTASY monde des songe / Bikke (DINO)

Second Stage

• LATIN / El Pais del sol / Senorita Rica / Latin (Don Mommy)
• DANCE / Hi-Tekno / Hi-Tekno (Judy)
• REGGAE / "Baby, I'm yours" / Lisa T (Olivia)
• DISCO QUEEN / what i want / The Ritchie Sisters (Chanel)

Third Stage

• TECHNO POP / Electronic Fill / Windslope (Kraft)
• ANIME HERO / 闘え!!ギャンブラーZ / Ryo & Naramcha (Toru Kamikaze)
• SPY / Spicy piece / Original Sound Tracks (Charly)
• DISCO KING / FUNKY TOWN '75 / JV & THE SEXY MACHINE GUN (Bamboo)

Hidden Songs

• BONUS TRACK / すれちがう二人 / Apresmidi (SANAE Chan)
• RAVE / e-motion / e.o.s (Rave Girl)

Rejected designs

The Pop'n Music series has a long history of rejected characters. Some never saw the light of day, and some would later be used many years or mixes later. For the first game, these include

• A green man with an afro (early Bamboo, perhaps?)
• A pink bunny, later used as Pretty in Pop'n 1 CS
• A pumpkin-head guy with jeans and a shirt with a dollar sign on it
• A green-skinned vampire with parted blonde hair, a black jacket, a red shirt, and jeans (early Yuli?)
• A bear with the flag of Great Britain on it
• An angry-looking Native American
• A hippie dog
• A pair of frogs (possibly early version of Anzu)
• A green donkey with a guitar
• A skateboarding snowman with green shorts
• A walking orange with clothes
• A weird-looking yellow man with black overalls and pink shoes and a red hat (face looks similar to that of Troppie)
• A space man in a yellow suit (early Cyber?)
• Male Japanese announcer in a kimono
• Man with a T.V. for a head
• A yellow-skinned man with a blue hat covering his eyes, with a white t-shirt and green pants. Also wears a necklace with a picture of a green hand with four fingers
• An angry-looking chicken wearing glasses, blue shades, a small, tight shirt, green shorts, and multi-colored shoes
• A man in a circus-type costume with a black bandana covering his eyes (similar to the garb Mimi and Nyami wear in Pop'n Music 13 Carnival)
• A red fire with a black biker shirt, a belt, and brown shoes

Also notable are various color designs for already established characters. For example, Judy's hair was originally brown.

Related Links

• Pop'n Music 1&2 Official Site
• Pop'n Music Original Soundtracks Information
• Rejected Pop'n Music 1 designs