pop'n music

pop'n music

Release Information

• Release date: September 28th, 1998

General Information

• This game ran on the BEMANI DJ-MAIN HARDWARE arcade system, the same one used for beatmania. The series would continue to run on this hardware through pop'n music 3, as well as spinoff pop'n stage. Also, two of the game's composers, Reo Nagumo and Hiroshi Takeyasu, worked on beatmania.
• This game also marks the first appearance of beatmania sound data analyzer Hiroki Koga (Naya~n) in a song. He arranged ANIME HERO.
• First appearances of Tomonori Ikeda, Kiyotaka Sugimoto (DJ SIMON), and Sanae Shintani in BEMANI.
• pop'n music was released the same day as beatmania 3rdMIX, marking the first time two BEMANI games were released the same day in the arcades.
  • Curiously, despite being released the same day, pop'n music uses the 1986-1998 KONAMI logo (the only game in the series to do so), whereas beatmania 3rdMIX uses the then new logo used until 2003.
• Total number of songs: 14

Staff Information

• Producer: Koji Okamoto
• Director: Seiji Higurashi
• Sound director: Hiroshi Takeyasu
• Composers: Hiroshi Takeyasu, Koji Kazaoka, DJ Nagureo, Bikke, Youhei Shimizu, Kaoko Aoki and Tomomi Ohta
• Sound data analyzer: Ryuichi Nitta
• Programmers: Hiroshi Naraoka and Hideki Hashimoto
• Hardware engineers: Masayuki Senami and Shigeo Kasuya
• Mechanical engineer: Seiji Higurashi
• CG designer: MUKAI
• Industrial designer: Takahiro Nakahara
• Graphics designer: Kyoko Shimada
• Sound tool programmer: Youhei Shimizu
• Guest vocalists: NARAMCHA, Sanae Shintani (KCE JAPAN) and Kiyotaka Sugimoto
• Guitarist: Youichi Iwata
• Special thanks: Kyo, Hideko Shigeta, Hiroki Koga and Shio.

Game Modes

• Beginner
• Normal
• Excite

Non-Rival Playable Characters

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

• Nyami [1]
• Mimi [1]
• Mary [1]
• the KING [1]

Song List

Genre (English)	Genre (Japanese)	Song Name	Artist	Character	Lv.
First Stage
POPS	ポップス	I REALLY WANT TO HURT YOU	SUGI & REO	RIE♥chan [1]	10
RAP	ラップ	YOUNG DREAM	LITTLE FINGERS	UNCLE Jam [1]	8
J-TEKNO	Ｊ−テクノ	Quick Master	act deft	SHOL KEE [1]	6
FANTASY	ファンタジー	monde des songe	Bikke	DiNO [1]	5
Second Stage
LATIN	ラテン	El Pais del sol	Senorita Rica	DON MOMMY	7
DANCE	ダンス	Hi-Tekno	Hi-Tekno	JUDY [1]	12
REGGAE	レゲエ	"Baby, I'm yours"	LISA-T	OLIVIA [1]	13
DISCO QUEEN	ディスコクィーン	what i want	THE RITCHIE SISTERS	CHAMEL	18
Final Stage
TECHNO POP	テクノポップ	Electronic Fill	Windslope	KRAFT [1]	14
ANIME HERO	アニメヒーロー	闘え!!ギャンブラーZ	うた：NARAMCHA さくし：RYO.	TORU KAMIKAZE	16
SPY	スパイ	spicy piece	ORIGINAL SOUND TRACKS	CHARLY	23
DISCO KING	ディスコキング	FUNKY TOWN '75	JV & THE SEXY MACHINE GUN	BAMBOO [1]	22
Hidden Songs
BONUS TRACK	ボーナストラック	すれちがう二人	apresmidi	SANAE♥chan [1]	14
RAVE	レイヴ	e-motion	e.o.s	Rave girl [1]	20

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 music 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 カーニバル)
• 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
• Rejected pop'n music designs