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Pop'n Music commonly abbreviated as Pop'n, PM or PNM, is a music video game in the Bemani series made by the Konami Corporation. This game is known for its bright colors, upbeat songs, and cartoon character graphics. Originally released in 1998, the game has had fifteen home releases in Japan as well as many arcade versions.
Unlike most of Konami's Bemani series, the Pop'n Music interface is not designed to represent any actual musical instrument. Instead, it uses nine buttons, each three-and-a-half-inches in diameter, laid out in two rows. Five buttons are the bottom row, the other four being the top. Like in most Bemani games, color-coded notes (in this game called "Pop-kun" and anthropomorphized with faces) fall from the top of the screen in nine rows that correspond to the buttons. When a note reaches the red line at the bottom of the screen, the player presses the button, which triggers a sound within the song.
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Arcade Versions
- Pop'n Music (1998)
- Pop'n Music 2 (1999)
- Pop'n Music 3 (1999)
- Pop'n Music 4 (2000)
- Pop'n Music 5 (2000)
- Pop'n Music Animelo (2000)
- Pop'n Music 6 (2001)
- Pop'n Music 7 (2001)
- Pop'n Music 8 (2002)
- Pop'n Music 9 (2002)
- Pop'n Music 10 (2003)
- Pop'n Music 11 (2004)
- Pop'n Music Iroha (12) (2004)
- Pop'n Music Carnival (13) (2005)
- Pop'n Music FEVER! (14) (2006)
- Pop'n Music ADVENTURE (15) (2007)
- Pop'n Music PARTY! (16) (2008)
- Pop'n Music THE MOVIE (17) (2009)
- Pop'n Music Sengoku Retsuden (18) (2010)
- Pop'n Music Tune Street (19) (2010)
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Pop'n Music Mickey Tunes (2000)
Pop'n Music Mickey Tunes contain Disney music. The PlayStation port is known as Pop'n Music Disney Tunes.
Pop'n Music Animelo 2 (2001)
Pop'n Music Animelo 2 is the most expensive Pop'n Music version to date, due to its song list consisting completely of anime as well as television show licensed songs. This version is also the only one with the infamous "double" and "triple" modes. These options were originally provided with the intention of allowing multiple people to play along by adding one or two more notes for every note in the chart, sometimes resulting in a chord of all nine buttons. However, it became a popular challenge for a single player to play a song in "double" or "triple" mode.
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Consumer Software
The following games have only been released in Asia.
First Generation
Pop'n Music 1, Pop'n Music 2, Pop'n Music 3 Pop'n Music 4 were released on the PlayStation and the Dreamcast,, with 9 buttons. It featured an interactive user interferance.
Pop'n Music 5, Pop'n Music 6, Pop'n Music Animation Melody and Pop'n Music Disney Tunes were then released for the PlayStation, but there were no further releases on the Dreamcast. Pop'n Music 5 and 6 could be used as "key discs" to play the append discs mentioned above.
Second Generation
Pop'n Music 7, 8, and 9 were released on the PlayStation 2, along with an anthology version, Pop'n Music Best Hits.
Third Generation
10, 11, Iroha (12), Carnival (13), and FEVER! (14) were also released on the PlayStation 2. These versions are an improvement from the previous PS2 games with their more advanced interfaces and introduction of arcade accurate hi-speed mods ranging from 2 - 6. Pop'n Music 11 introduced hi-speed 5. The recent PlayStation 2 release of Pop'n Music FEVER! (14) as included hi-speed mods at .5 increments, which first appeared on the arcade version of Pop'n ADVENTURE (15). A revised controller was also released for the PS2 at the same time as Pop'n Music 10, though it is also compatible with the original PlayStation.
The Game Boy Color also had three Pop'n Music games: Pop'n Music GB, Pop'n Music GB Animation Melody, and Pop'n Music GB Disney Tunes.
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