AC pnm 3

General Information

• Released: September 1999
• New announcer replaces the one from the first two games. This announcer would be used until pop'n music 9.
• First appearance of Hyper charts in the arcade. None of the new AC songs have them, though.
• First pop'n game to keep track of your note combo.
• First pop'n game with courses, which are only available to play in Hyper mode.
• Tsugumi Kataoka (Parquets, Butapunch), Atsushi Shindo, and Yuki Kume (Q-Mex) make their debut in the series.
• Last arcade version to run on BEMANI DJ-MAIN HARDWARE arcade system.
• The soundtrack in this game is the last one to combine both the arcade and the later CS songs from its PlayStation / Dreamcast counterpart on the same CD.
• The songs Bit of Love, Let me feel so high, and ENDLESS SUMMER NUDE were not released on the pop'n music 3 OST due to licensing issues.
• Total number of songs: 48

Staff Information

• Producer: Koji Okamoto
• Co-producer: Yoshihito Kato
• Director: Ryo Komastu
• Sound Director: Hiroshi Takeyasu
• Music Director: Nazo^2 Suzuki
• Sound Data Analyzers: Jun Wakita, Osamu Migitera, Tomoyuki Uchida
• Character Designer: INUCHIYO
• Programmer: Hideaki Kawashima
• CG Designer: P-CAT, INUCHIYO
• Graphic Designer Shima-Q
• Mechanical Engineer: Kaoru Watanabe
• Hardware Engineer: Keisuke Nozaki
• Special Thanks: Sugimoto Kiyotaka, Homrrine, shio

Song List

Pop'n Music 3 AC Full Song List

Game Modes

• Beginner
• Normal
• Excite
• Party
• Hyper (new mode)

Non-Rival Playable Characters

These characters don't belong to any specific song and are all playable from the get-go.

• Nyami [3]
• Mimi [3]
• Mary [3]
• the KING [3]
• SHOLLKEE [3]

New Songs

Genre (English)	Genre (Japanese)	Song Name	Artist	Character	9L Lv.	Hyper?
First Stage
MAGICAL GIRL	マジカルガール	恋のシャレード	パーキッツ	Megumi	9	-
G-POP	ギターポップ	Take Me To...	Sana	RIE♥chan [3]	10	-
KANGONTG	カントン	和称一起走	Cathy Lau	LingLing	12	-
EURODANCE	ユーロダンス	Bit of Love	Super Wink "fut" Ryo Arche Asakawa	Dia	13	-
Second Stage
SUMMER	サマー	ENDLESS SUMMER NUDE	真心ブラザーズ	JUDY [3]	9	-
CELT	ケルト	水中家族のテーマ	パーキッツ	Poet [3-NEW CHAR.]	11	-
MONDO	モンド	Little Robin's Drawer	Uncle Motchee	Cyber [3-NEW CHAR.]	13	-
HEARTFUL	ハートフル	peppermint	ASAI PROJECT (Vo:M.Fujino)	Candy	14	-
PUNK	パンク	Let me feel so high	Little Bitch.K2	Donna [3-NEW CHAR.]	16	-
Final Stage
J-R&B2	Ｊ-リズム＆ブルース２	愛を探そう	Ma-You	tourmaline [3]	13	-
DANCEPOP	ダンスポップ	Till the end of time	Jullianne & Edison	Rave girl [3]	16	-
NEW-COMMER	?	un-Balance	佐藤千晶	Kate	18	-
SOUNDTRACK	サウンドトラック	宇宙船Q-Mex	Q-Mex	P-1&P-2 [3-NEW CHAR.]	21	-
POWERFOLK	パワーフォーク	なんか変だ	新堂敦士	Ash [3-NEW CHAR.]	23	-
Hidden Songs
LOVELY	ラブリー	8月のサヨナラ	Sana	SANAE♥chan [3]	15	-
JUNGLE	ジャングル	LA LA LA	edison	Bamboo?	23	-
pop'n music 2 PS/DC transplants
CUTE	キュート	取り返してやる！～Again,My Lovely Day～	Akko's	AYA [3-NEW CHAR.]	5	H
NEW WAVE	ニューウェーブ	Don't Disturb	Color Essence	AYA [3]	7	-
URBAN POP	アーバンポップ	Prism Heart	Sana	AYA [3]	8	H
LIVE	ライブ	Theme of staff roll ～special mix～	きまぐれポッパーズ	AYA [3]	11	-
AKIBA	アキバ	E.C.M.	PAPEHINA meets Haya-P	SHOLLKEE [3]	12	-
CANDY POP	キャンディポップ	Give me your pain	Haya-P & Maru	AYA [3]	13	-
FUNNY	ファニー	PULSE	319	AYA [3]	14	-
NEW FOLK	ニューフォーク	走れブン！ブン！	わがまま7	AYA [3]	15	-
CARIBBEAN	カリブ	麗しのカーディガン	Akko's	AYA [3]	16	-
CLASSIC 2	クラシック２	R.C.	Waldeus von Dovjak	AYA [3]	18	H
J-GARAGE POP	Ｊ-ガラージポップ	Miracle Moon(お月様が中継局)	Togo Project feat. Sana	AYA [3]	21	-
SEXY GIRLS	セクシーガールズ	淋しくてLoneliness	ワンダース	AYA [3]	21	H
AVANTGARDE	アバンギャルド	Bee's Eye	Waldeus von Dovjak	AYA [3]	23	H

Removed Songs

The following songs from pop'n music 2 have been removed, all of them from pop'n music:

Song Title	Genre
"Baby, I'm yours"	REGGAE
Electronic Fill	TECHNO POP
e-motion	RAVE
El Pais del sol	LATIN
FUNKY TOWN '75	DISOC KING
monde des songe	FANTASY
what i want	DISCO QUEEN
YOUNG DREAM	RAP
すれちがう二人	BONUS TRACK

Misc.

Due to limited space in the early pop'n music games, similar to pop'n music 2, none of the original backgrounds or sprites from the first two games are re-used in this game, although some of songs from 1 (and all from 2) are in this one. Characters from pop'n music with no match-ups to pop'n 3 characters are replaced by SHOLLKEE, and pop'n music 2 characters who don't have match-ups with pop'n music 3 characters are replaced by ice, who made his debut in this game. Additionally, all pop'n music 1 PS/DC and pop'n music 2 PS/DC songs (except AKIBA) are represented exclusively by AYA, who comes in various colors for each song and made her debut in this game.

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. Character descriptions are taken from the official pop'n music 3 Botsu page. For the third game, these include

• Palette, a squirrel girl in the same clothing LingLing wears. Replaced by her.
• Maron, a quirky schoolgirl.
• Johne, a dog(?) wearing a purple jacket, green shorts, and grey shoes. Possibly the inspiration of Kobe for pop'n music 4 CS.
• Miki, a little, green-haired girl with two plushies to the left and right of her; the former looking like PRETTY, and the other a blue cat. Drawn up by p-cat for MAGICAL GIRL, but was replaced by Megumi. According to staff comments on the Botsu page, she's much more active than her.
• Yuka, who looks much like Megumi from pop'n music 3 but taller and has her hair in two long ponytails. She was created at roughly the same time as Megumi, but was dumped at the end for her.
• Kaede, a tall, fashionable-looking girl.
• Tina, a girl with brown hair originally designed for the song NEWCOMER. She was replaced by Kate, though the staff seemed to favor her over Kate.
• Tom, a spaceman, or possibly a robot. Originally made for the song MONDO under request of Hiroshi Takeyasu for a "space man" character, but was replaced by Cyber.
• Jhony, a cowboy with a hat that covers his eyes and a clover in his teeth. Originally made for SOUNDTRACK oddly enough, but was replaced by P-1&P-2.
• Bikky, a Native American-looking girl. Originally to be used as a non-rival character, but was scrapped.
• Ariel, a nun in purple robes. Possibly an early model for Jessica in pop'n music 6. Scrapped when they couldn't find a song to use her for.
• Tomoko, an average-looking girl in a hoodie, jeans, and a hat. Scrapped for being "too normal".
• Kevin (spelled "Kebin"), who was later put in pop'n music 5. Originally he was intended to be a girl; he was replaced by AYA.
• The Kaiser, a lion with a purple mane. The staff liked the character but never put him in any game.
• Dinos, a giant purple dinosaur who was said to be a relative of DiNO's. Never seen it any game.
• Koon, a punk chicken with human arms rejected for being "too tedious".
• Lucky, a punk mouse with no shirt.
• Yumi, a green-haired girl in a pink dress. Was the prototype for Donna and replaced by her because the staff liked Donna more.
• Ben, a fat, biker-looking guy with a hedgehog on a chain.
• Donna in an alternate costume consisting of a blue, sleeveless vest, yellow shorts, long, white socks, and black shoes. Originally designed as a character to take advantage of the ko-gal craze, a fashion fad in the late 90's in Japan among teenage girls.

Related Links

• Pop'n Music 3 Official Site
• Pop'n Music Original Soundtracks Information
• Pop'n Music 3 rejected characters