pop'n music

pop'n music

Release Information

• Release date: September 28th, 1998
• Soundtrack release date:
  • pop'n music original soundtrack: March 26th, 1999.

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, also worked on beatmania.
• 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.
• Only pop'n music game to use the 1986-1998 KONAMI logo.
  • Later cabinets show the 1998-2003 bold KONAMI logo, though.
• First appearances of Kiyotaka Sugimoto and Sanae Shintani in BEMANI.
  • This game also marks the first appearance of beatmania sound data analyzer Hiroki Koga in a song, as the arranger of The theme of GAMBLER Z.
• System BGM is composed by Hiroshi Takeyasu.
• Total songs: 14

Staff Information

• pop'n music Credits
• pop'n music OST Booklet Credits

Game Modes

• Beginner
• Normal
• Excite

Non-Rival Playable Characters

These characters don't belong to any specific song.

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

Song List

Genre	Genre (Japanese)	Song Title	Artist	Character	Level
First Stage
POPS	ポップス	I REALLY WANT TO HURT YOU	SGI & 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	SHOLL KEE [1]	6
FANTASY	ファンタジー	monde des songe	Bikke	DiNO [1]	5
Second Stage
LATIN	ラテン	El País del sol	Señorita 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 RICHIE SISTERS	CHANEL	18
Final Stage
TECHNO POP	テクノポップ	Electronic Fill	Windslope	KRAFT	14
ANIME HERO	アニメヒーロー	The theme of GAMBLER Z	words:RYO  song:NARAMCHA	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 Final Stage
BONUS TRACK	ボーナストラック	すれちがう二人	aprèsmidi	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 singer in a kimono, which was later used as 風尾課長 in ウキウキWATCHING
• 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 (archived)
• Rejected pop'n music designs (archived)