History VideoGame / PopnMusic

* SelfImposedChallenge: Challenge Mode's many normas. Before a song, you can select up to two normas, each with their own requirements (such as getting ''x'' points or getting less than ''y'' bads). Fulfilling a norma's requirement will earn you "Challenge Points". Though not necessary to pass songs, getting enough Challenge Points will yield an [[BonusBoss extra stage]].

* RealSongThemeTune: Cover versions of JPop and Anime music that litter the game. Also, the Disney version and Animelo versions of the game.

Currently, the series is up to 23 main arcade installments, along with consoles releases and spin-off releases such as ''pop'n stage'' (which plays more like VideoGame/DanceDanceRevolution), ''pop'n music Animelo'', ''pop'n music Best Hits'' and ''Hello! Pop'n Music''.

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sakuyastheme.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Nyami Best Waifu And My Memes Are Better Than Justin Beiber]]

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%% Note to fellow editors: To avoid confusion, please try to include both title and "genre" when referring to songs. If the song has no genre (which is the case with new songs as of Lapistoria), just use the song title.
%%
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''pop'n music'' is a game series in Konami's VideoGame/{{Bemani}} lineup of {{Rhythm Game}}s, developed as a LighterAndSofter version of ''VideoGame/{{beatmania}}'', another Bemani title.

Like ''beatmania'', notes come down the screen and the object is to "hit" the notes by pressing their corresponding buttons. Hitting notes will play parts of the music, while missing notes will make the music sound not like what it's supposed to be. Instead of 5-7 rectangular keys and a turntable like ''beatmania'', ''pop'n'' uses nine big colorful buttons, requiring you to use your whole hands instead of individual fingers.

''pop'n'' uses a cute, colorful interface to appeal to younger players, but don't let that deceive you; ''pop'n'' is [[SurpriseDifficulty just as hard as other Bemani series]], with songs requiring you to hit as many as 1,000 notes in the span of two minutes.

The SimpleYetAwesome core gameplay of ''pop'n'' and its [[SequelDifficultySpike ever-escalating challenge for veteran players]] has allowed the series to become successful with RhythmGame fans, helped by a wide variety of songs to play and [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters a massive boatload of cute and colorful characters]]. Having first launched in 1998, Konami continues to release new versions and updates, with many updates providing new songs and characters to unlock and new versions providing major game updates and new interface styles.

Sadly, while the series has enjoyed considerable success in Japan, it hasn't done so well overseas, partly because only one arcade version was ever officially released worldwide and only two consumer versions have had overseas releases.

Currently, the series is up to 23 main arcade installments, along with consoles releases and spin-off releases such as ''pop'n stage'' (which plays more like VideoGame/DanceDanceRevolution), ''pop'n music Animelo'', ''pop'n music Best Hits'' and ''Hello! Pop'n Music''.

%% Under construction.
[[folder:Games in the pop'n music series:]]
All entries are arcade releases unless otherwise noted.
* ''pop'n music'' (1998)
* ''pop'n music 2'' (1999)
* ''pop'n music 3'' (1999)
** First arcade version with Hyper charts, which made their debut in pop'n 1's home release.
* ''pop'n music 4'' (2000)
** First version to run on Firebeat hardware.
** Last ''pop'n music'' game to have a UsefulNotes/SegaDreamcast port.
* ''pop'n music 5'' (2000)
** First version with EX charts.
* ''pop'n music 6'' (2001)
** Last ''pop'n music'' game to have a UsefulNotes/PlayStation port. Said port has the most songs of any [=PS1=] ''pop'n'' game, at 104 songs.
* ''pop'n music 7'' (2001)
* ''pop'n music 8'' (2002)
** Theme: Springtime.
* ''pop'n music 9'' (2002)
** Theme: Cafe.
** First version to run on Viper hardware.
* ''pop'n music 10'' (2003)
** Theme: Halloween.
* ''pop'n music 11'' (2004)
** Theme: World travel.
* ''pop'n music 12 Iroha'' (2004)
** Theme: Feudal Japan.
** First version to have a subtitle.
* ''pop'n music 13 Carnival'' (2005)
** Theme: Circus.
* ''pop'n music 14 FEVER!'' (2006)
** Theme: Club.
** Last ''pop'n music'' game to have a UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 port.
* ''pop'n music 15 ADVENTURE'' (2007)
** Theme: Adventure.
** First version to run on Bemani PC.
* ''pop'n music 16 PARTY'' (2008)
** Theme: Party.
* ''pop'n music 17 THE MOVIE'' (2009)
** Theme: Movies.
* ''pop'n music 18 Sengoku Retsuden'' (2010)
** Theme: Sengoku period.
* ''pop'n music 19 TUNE STREET'' (2010)
** Theme: Town.
* ''pop'n music 20 fantasia'' (2011)
** Theme: Fantasy.
** [[SequelDifficultySpike First version in which the COOL judgement is mandatory in the game's "main" mode.]]
* ''pop'n music Sunny Park'' (2012)
** Theme: Park.
** First version to not have a number in the title since the first.
** First version to have the 1-50 difficulty rating system.
** First version to feature the new Easy chart system: 5 Buttons mode is gone, and instead, Easy charts use a variable number of buttons (from 3 to 9).
* ''pop'n music Lapistoria'' (2014)
** Theme: HighSchoolAU
** New art style.
** [[SequelDifficultyDrop The scoring system is overhauled to be more forgiving on GREAT and GOOD judgements.]]
** New songs no longer have genres.
* ''pop'n music éclale'' (2015)
** Theme: Elegance/nobility.
* ''pop'n music Usagi to neko to shounen no yume (Roughly translates to "the rabbit and cat and boy's dream")''
** Theme: SteamPunk
** First mainline pop'n music game to have hold notes.
** First official release to have letter grades.
[[/folder]]

Like most other Bemani series, ''pop'n music'' suffers from serious NoExportForYou-itis. The only games in the series that were released outside of Japan are an extremely rare US version of ''pop'n music 1'', ''Beat'n Groovy'', an XBLA release that many players regarded as being completely awful, and a Wii adaptation (released in Japan, the U.S., and Europe, although renamed in the latter as ''pop'n rhythm'') that swapped out the physical controller for notes triggered with motion gestures (presented on-screen as the character hitting one of five buttons). In the U.S., Konami also tested a ''pop'n music'' redemption game based on the Wii version, using a simplified control scheme with four buttons in a row for each player, but it was quietly shelved and repackaged for Japan as the SpinOff game ''HELLO! POP'N MUSIC''.

As a result, the arcade version is very rare outside of Japan. If you want to play at home, you could buy the official controller for a more affordable experience, but the controller has much smaller buttons, so you might as well play ''VideoGame/BeatmaniaIIDX''. The other way is to spend a few hundred bucks on an arcade-sized controller. New arcade-sized controllers sell for at least $200; one such controller is more expensive than an entire ''VideoGame/RockBand'' set. And this is all without the game or means to play the game on a [=PS2=].

'''Note:''' Unless otherwise stated, all difficulty levels on this page use the 1-50 scale. To convert from the old 1-43 scale to new scale, simply add 6.
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!!Okay! Here we go! Are you ready?
* AllOrNothing: The "COOL or BAD!" ojama disables the GREAT and GOOD judgement ranks, turning any hit below a COOL rating into a BAD even if it would have otherwise resulted in a GREAT or a GOOD.
* AmbiguousSyntax: The song "Spring Pony". Is it a pony in the month of Spring or a pony on a spring? Apparently it's the latter, but that didn't stop it taking on a Spring motif (and performing a CrossOver into VideoGame/ReflecBeat Colette -spring-).
* AmusementPark: The theme for Pop'n Music ''13'' (''Carnival'').
* ArtEvolution:
** The characters had somewhat cruder designs and smaller eyes with bigger pupils in the earlier games in the series. The designs as well as the eyes of the characters managed to look better overtime especially since ''Pop'n Music 7''.
** ''pop'n music Lapistoria'' demonstrates a shift in art style, with more anime-esque visuals than past titles.
* CallASmeerpARabbit: By default, the song wheel lists the song's unique ''genre'' instead of its title, and even the banners put more prominence to the genre. Hence, typically a song/difficulty pairing will be referred to by its genre by players (i.e. "Nadeshiko Rock EX" instead of its actual title, "Rin to shite saku hana no gotoku"; this can become especially useful to English players since many songs have titles written in Japanese), but there are exceptions. However, this practice has since been phased out: beginning on ''The Movie'', songs can be optionally sorted by title, ''Sunny Park'' makes this the default sorting method, and beginning on ''Lapistoria'', new songs do not have any genre listed anymore.
* {{Crossover}}:
** If a song is a remix of something from another Konami game, it'll most likely have one of the characters from that game as its song character. Examples include [[VideoGame/{{Gradius}} Vic Viper]] ("Gradius -Full Speed-" (Gradius) and "A Shooting Star" (Gradius II)), Afro ([[VideoGame/DanceDanceRevolution DDR Megamix]]), [[Franchise/{{Castlevania}} Simon]] [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Belmondo]] ("Akumajou Dracula Medley Hybrid" (Castlevania)), and [[VideoGame/GanbareGoemon Goemon]] ("Ganbare Goemon Medley"). ''Pop'n Music 15 ADVENTURE'' even has a song from ''VideoGame/MitsumeteKnight'', "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_DAiSbdTfU#t=3m44s The Man From]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_QctmDrK6s#t=3m02s Far East]]".
** In one version you can play "[[Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann Break Through The Dream]]", Complete with the characters dressing up as Simon and Kamina.
** Not to mention Nyami & The King were playables in ''VideoGame/KonamiKrazyRacers''.
** One event in ''Sunny Park'' features [[Music/{{VOCALOID}} GUMI]].
** [[{{Manga/HimoutoUmaruChan}} Umaru]] herself (and to a certain extent, Taihei) appears in the game, starting with éclale. She's the representative character of the opening themes from her anime.
* EasierThanEasy: As of ''Sunny Park'', some Easy charts use less than five buttons. Some of these charts are rated 6 or less, which on the old scale would put them at difficulty level 0 or less, turning them into this trope.
* ErmineCapeEffect: Charlotte.
* FakeDifficulty: The usual method of Fake Difficulty used in BEMANI games (make the BPM much faster than it should be to increase the approach rate) is ''inverted'' for "MVA" (Speed Core). The song is intended to be a 540 BPM speedcore track – a figure which would have been a BEMANI series record for songs without BPM changes – but to make it easier to read, it was decreased to 270 BPM.
* GameOver: Averted in ''Lapistoria''; you will always get the full set of stages no matter how many of them you fail.
* GratuitousEnglish: Though less than most other Bemani; song [[strike:names]] genres are written almost exclusively in Japanese characters. Each game in the series has an announcer who talks in English; some speak it [[SurprisinglyGoodEnglish flawlessly]], while some will pronounce, say, "Challenge Mode", as "charenji moodo."
** In ''Adventure'', if you play well enough, the announcer will say "You were cool!" that sounds more like "You waku!". [[spoiler: Waku is the katakana spelling of wac, who is the sound director of ''Pop'n Music'' itself.]]
** Don't forget about "Nice Pray!"
* HarderThanHard:
** Above the "Hyper" chart difficulty is the "EX(tra)" difficulty. In older versions where EX charts exist, you can only play them on Extra Stage. In newer versions that use the [=eAMUSEMENT=] network, you need only play the Hyper chart once to unlock the same song's EX chart.
** ''Lapistoria''[='=]s gauge options include HARD (double damage) followed by DANGER ([[OneHitPointWonder one Bad depletes your entire gauge]]).
* UsefulNotes/HighDefinition: As of ''pop'n music 19 TUNE STREET'', the game is available in a new cabinet with a high-definition monitor, although the game can still be run in a cabinet with a 4:3 SDTV.
* HitboxDissonance:
** The "GOOD to BAD!!" (GOODがBADに!!) ojama will eliminate the "Good" judgement; hits that would have resulted in Goods will convert to Bads. If you play ''VideoGame/{{beatmania}} IIDX'', this is basically the "Gambol Judgement Hyper" of ''pop'n''.
*** "COOL or BAD!!" is the "Gambol Judgement Another": Now ANY judgement other than a Cool wil convert to Bad.
* IdiosyncraticDifficultyLevels: Enjoy, 5-button, Normal, Hyper, EX(tra) up to ''Tune Street'. In ''fantasia'', "Enjoy" is renamed to the simpler-sounding "Easy".
* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming:
** Averted with ''pop'n music'' through ''pop'n music 11''.
** However, from ''12'' through ''20'', games have a subtitle after the number.
** Played fully straight beginning with the 21st main installment, ''pop'n music Sunny Park'', which drop numbers altogether.
* InterfaceScrew: Many of the "ojama" modifiers will do this. Some examples:
** "Dance" (ダンス), in which the song character (or something related to the character) appears in the middle of the screen, partially blocking your view of the notes.
** "Dark" (ダーク) will hide all non-vital interface elements, rendering about 90% of the screen dark. Though the "screw" part is debatable as having less interface elements on screen can make the notes easier to see.
** "Lost" (ロスト) will hide combo counter and note judgement, unless you get a Bad.
** "Trick" (トリック) will cause the wrong lane to light up when you hit a button.
** "Panic" (パニック) will cause incorrect note judgements and combo counters to show up (including [[GoroawaseNumber 573]]). Amusingly, the counter will show up even if the judgement above it displays "BAD", and the fake counter will sometimes display a combo that is higher than the max combo for the current chart.
* LicensedGame: There was a "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Disney Tunes]]" edition for the [=PlayStation=]
** And some of the songs are [[CoverVersion covers from TV shows and anime]]. Later releases give these songs their own category. Even later releases use the originals rather than covers, at the expense of keysounds.
* LifeMeter: Like in ''VideoGame/{{beatmania}}'', the series uses the Groove Gauge system: You start at 22% life and need to get up to 80% or higher, although emptying the gauge in and of itself will not cause stage failure. In addition to this, the meter can change according to particular conditions and ojamas:
** In Expert courses and standard extra stage prior to ''fantasia'', you use a more traditional life meter. It starts out full, and you fail instantly if the meter runs out.
** The "HELL" ojama will cause Bads to damage the Groove Gauge twice as hard.
** The "More HELL" (もっとHELL) ojama will cause Bads to damage the Groove Gauge four times as hard.
** Finally, the "DEATH" ojama will cause a single Bad to wipe your entire life meter. Yes, you can combine this with the "COOL or BAD!!" ojama mentioned above if you are either really good or really hate yourself.
** Starting in ''Lapistoria'', the gauge ojamas are removed, replaced by gauge modifiers: EASY halves the amount of life lost on a Bad, NORMAL is standard gauge behavior, HARD uses the same behavior as the HELL ojama, and DANGER uses the same behavior as the DEATH ojama.
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: About 10-20 new characters with every release. Check out the [[Characters/PopNMusic character page]]!
** The Character page doesn't even begin to convey just how many characters there are. One of the Official Character Illustration books for the series has over 300 pages just devoted to Character bios alone. Granted, the book covers 10 games, but for a rhythm gave to even have characters, let alone 300+, well... you can see why this trope applies. %% Pop'n fans, help us fill it out!
** [[http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/3409/tumblrljlxjuqug61qenmyn.png To think this poster is pretty much outdated.]]
* MeaningfulName: The title "ƒƒƒƒƒ" does not represent your reaction to how much trouble you're having with it, its actually a piano dynamic meaning, essentially "very very very very loud."
* NintendoHard: You really think something this cute and fluffy would be ''that'' hard? Preposterous! ''Any 49'' or 50 on EX mode deserves such a title. Alongside ''VideoGame/{{beatmania}} IIDX'', it's considered one of the hardest commercial {{Rhythm Game}}s in existence, demanding a much higher level of skill than most other rhythm games in order to have a shot at the most difficult songs. The old difficulty scale goes from 1-43, but as of ''Sunny Park'', difficulties go from 1-50. Preexisting songs have their chart ratings increased by 6, with some exceptions, which means the maximum difficulty should be 49...but a few songs, including "Schrodinger's Cat" (Toy Contemporary), "Ongaku" (Silent), and "Shounen wa Sora o Tadoru" (Murakamo), were raised by ''seven'' levels instead, to 50, to reflect how much they stand out compared to other top-tier boss songs. While there are a lot of songs rated 48 or 49, very, ''very'' few songs are rated 50. All of this in a game series intended for younger players.
* NonIndicativeName:
** "Brand New World" is the third song produced in the "Without You Tonight" series, but its VideoGame/ReflecBeat original predecessors, "Survival Games" and "Far Away", are labeled as "Without You Tonight -II-" and "Without You Tonight -III-" because they debuted on ''pop'n music'' later.
** Likewise, "Elemental Creation" is the most recent song in DJ YOSHITAKA's "Hard Renaissance" series, but is the first song in that series to appear in ''pop'n'' so it's simply classified as "Hard Renaissance". Earlier songs "Evans" and "JOMANDA", part of that same series, are labeled "Hard Renaissance 2" and "Hard Renaissance 3" because they were not added to ''pop'n'' until later.
* NonstandardGameOver: Some announcers will give you a unique comment intended for failing a song with just one tick short of enough Groove Gauge to clear.
* RealSongThemeTune: Cover versions of JPop and Anime music that litter the game. Also, the Disney version and Animelo versions of the game.
* RequiredSpinoffCrossover:
** "Rin to shite saku hana no gotoku" (Nadeshiko Rock) ended up being so popular that Konami ended up milking it for all its worth ... by putting it on pretty much ''every'' other Bemani series.
** "FLOWER" (Trance Core) does the same, going as far as to also appear on ''[[VideoGame/DanceMasters DanceEvolution Arcade]]'' and ''Future Tomtom'' as well.
* OneHitPointWonder: The DEATH ojama (up to ''Sunny Park'') and DANGER gauge (''Lapistoria'') deplete your entire gauge upon getting a single Bad. Subverted, in that a wipeout of the gauge doesn't result in a GameOver, though you still must reach the end of the song with at least 80% of your gauge intact.
* ScoringPoints: There are two scoring systems at work:
** The first is the song score system. On each song, you can earn a maximum of 100,000 points, and each note has a fixed number of points that is inversely proportional to the number of notes in the chart. A "COOL" will get you 100% of the note's value, a "GREAT" will get you 70%[[note]]50% until it was changed in ''Lapistoria''[[/note]], a "GOOD" will get you 40%[[note]]previously 10%[[/note]], and no points are awarded for a "BAD". In games and modes where the "COOL" judgement does not appear, "GREAT" is worth 100% and "GOOD" 20%.
** The other is the Challenge Point system. Clearing a song will award you points equal to the song's difficulty level. In addition, you can set up to two Normas ({{Self Imposed Challenge}}s) or Ojamas (modifiers that usually take the form of an InterfaceScrew of some sort, or otherwise make the game more difficult) that add bonus points. Getting at least 125 points by your last stage[[note]]Usually, machines are set to three stages. However, it is possible, though unlikely, to run into a machine that has more than three stages, making the requirement easier to meet, or less than three stages, which will require you to play high-end songs with high-value normas and ojamas at best, and make Extra Stage UnwinnableByMistake at worst[[/note]] will reward you with an Extra Stage.
*** In ''fantasia'', however, the Challenge Point system has been replaced with the new "Extra Point" system. All point values are now multiplied by 10, you now automatically get Normas for score and combo (though BAD-based Normas don't exist anymore), and you need at least 2000 points for an Extra Stage. Fortunately, if you are logged into the e-Amusement network, a fraction of your points will carry over to the next playthrough, unless you got an Extra Stage.
* SelfImposedChallenge: Challenge Mode's many normas. Before a song, you can select up to two normas, each with their own requirements (such as getting ''x'' points or getting less than ''y'' bads). Fulfilling a norma's requirement will earn you "Challenge Points". Though not necessary to pass songs, getting enough Challenge Points will yield an [[BonusBoss extra stage]].
* SequelDifficultySpike: ''fantasia'' forces the COOL judgement in all non-Easy modes. forcing players to use the more difficult scoring system.
** SequelDifficultyDrop: ''Lapistoria'' still has [=COOLs=], but makes GREAT and GOOD judgements worth more points.
* SimpleYetAwesome: The controller. It's simply 9 big slappable buttons. Later games use the [=eAMUSEMENT=] keypad for navigation and options, but the core gameplay mechanics still revolve around those nine buttons. It hasn't stopped the game from being one of the most popular and long-running ones in the BEMANI series, with charts ranging from the newbie-friendly to [[NintendoHard the most limit-pushing]].
* SpinOff:
** ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rnz_YGfvDw pop'n stage]]'', which is essentially a [[DuelingGames subtle clone]] of the Korean dance game (and ''VideoGame/DanceDanceRevolution'' rival) ''VideoGame/PumpItUp'' with the ''pop'n'' mechanics and art style. Much like ''Pump'', the stage has ten panels, with pads in the corners and center of each side of the stage. The game is played in 6-panel (left center, top right and bottom right pads, and right center, top left and bottom right pads. otherwise known in PIU as "half-double") and 10-panel modes.
** The Wii version (which was branded as ''ポップンミュージック'' there) and its arcade port ''HELLO! POP'N MUSIC'', given the revamped art style and slightly different gameplay.
** ''pop'n rhythmin'' is an iOS-exclusive spinoff that eschews the traditional lane-based gameplay in favor of touchscreen-based gameplay involving hitting on-screen notes that can be anywhere on the screen.
* StoppedNumberingSequels: Starting with ''Sunny Park'', new ''pop'n'' games no longer officially have numbers in their title.
* SugarBowl: Uhh, yeah.
* UncommonTime:
** Both songs in the Percussive series have strange time signatures at one point; the first changes to 7/4 at the end, while the second is nominally in 6/8, but with skipped beats dotted around everywhere so it's impossible to tie it to one time signature.
** ZETA ~素数の世界と超越者~ cycles its signature time between 3/4, 4/4, and 5/4. It's IDM anyway.
** Tangeline (Swedish 2) and HEAT-BIT-HIT-BEAT (Lo-Bit Sampling) are entirely in 7/8.
* VariableMix: Similarly to IIDX's "Scripted Connection", "neu" (Niente) has three versions based on the chosen difficulty level; the Hyper and EX versions are, [[ThatOneBoss let's just say]], a severe case of MoodWhiplash in comparison to Normal (which is a slower portion). The full, album version chains them into one song.
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''Nice play!''
----

''pop'n music'' is a game series in Konami's {{Bemani}} lineup of {{Rhythm Game}}s, developed as a LighterAndSofter version of ''VideoGame/{{beatmania}}'', another Bemani title.

** If a song is a remix of something from another Konami game, it'll most likely have one of the characters from that game as its song character. Examples include [[VideoGame/{{Gradius}} Vic Viper]] ("Gradius -Full Speed-" (Gradius) and "A Shooting Star" (Gradius II)), Afro ([[VideoGame/DanceDanceRevolution DDR Megamix]]), [[Franchise/{{Castlevania}} Simon]] [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Belmondo]] ("Akumajou Dracula Medley Hybrid" (Castlevania)), and [[GanbareGoemon Goemon]] ("Ganbare Goemon Medley"). ''Pop'n Music 15 ADVENTURE'' even has a song from ''VideoGame/MitsumeteKnight'', "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_DAiSbdTfU#t=3m44s The Man From]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_QctmDrK6s#t=3m02s Far East]]".

** "FLOWER" (Trance Core) does the same, going as far as to also appear on ''[[DanceMasters DanceEvolution Arcade]]'' and ''Future Tomtom'' as well.

* NintendoHard: You really think something this cute and fluffy would be ''that'' hard? Preposterous! ''Any 49'' or 50 on EX mode deserves such a title. Alongside ''VideoGame/{{beatmania}} IIDX'', it's considered one of the hardest commercial {{Rhythm Game}}s in existence, demanding a much higher level of skill than most other rhythm games in order to have a shot at the most difficult songs. The old difficulty scale goes from 1-43, but as of ''Sunny Park'', difficulties go from 1-50. Preexisting songs have their chart ratings increased by 6, with some exceptions, which means the maximum difficulty should be 49...but a few songs, including "Schrodinger's Cat" (Toy Contemporary), "Ongaku" (Silent), and "Shounen wa Sora o Tadoru" (Murakamo), were raised by ''seven'' levels instead, to 50, to reflect how much they stand out compared to other top-tier boss songs. While there are a lot of songs rated 48 or 49, very, ''very'' few songs are rated 50. All of this in a game series intended for younger players.

* NintendoHard: You really think something this cute and fluffy would be ''that'' hard? Preposterous! ''Any 49'' or 50 on EX mode deserves such a title. Alongside ''VideoGame/{{beatmania}} IIDX'', it's considered one of the hardest commercial {{Rhythm Game}}s in existence, demanding a much higher level of skill than most other rhythm games in order to have a shot at the most difficult songs. The old difficulty scale goes from 1-43, but as of ''Sunny Park'', difficulties go from 1-50. Preexisting songs have their chart ratings increased by 6, with some exceptions, which means the maximum difficulty should be 49...but a few songs, including "Schrodinger's Cat" (Toy Contemporary), "Ongaku" (Silent), and "Shounen wa Sora o Tadoru" (Murakamo), were raised by ''seven'' levels instead, to 50, to reflect how much they stand out compared to other top-tier boss songs. While there are a lot of songs rated 48 or 49, very, ''very'' few songs are rated 50. All of this in a game series dressed up to look like a children's game!
* NonIndicativeName:
** "Brand New World" is the third song produced in the "Without You Tonight" series, but its VideoGame/ReflecBeat original predecessors, "Survival Games" and "Far Away", are labeled as "Without You Tonight -II-" and "Without You Tonight -III-" because they debuted on ''pop'n music'' later.
** Likewise, "Elemental Creation" is the most recent song in DJ YOSHITAKA's "Hard Renaissance" series, but is the first song in that series to appear in ''pop'n'' so it's simply classified as "Hard Renaissance". Earlier songs "Evans" and "JOMANDA", part of that same series, are labeled "Hard Renaissance 2" and "Hard Renaissance 3" because they were not added to ''pop'n'' until later.
* NonstandardGameOver: Some announcers will give you a unique comment for failing a song with just one tick short of enough Groove Gauge to clear.
* RealSongThemeTune: Cover versions of JPop and Anime music that litter the game. Also, the Disney version and Animelo versions of the game.
* RequiredSpinoffCrossover:
** "Rin to shite saku hana no gotoku" (Nadeshiko Rock) ended up being so popular that Konami ended up milking it for all its worth ... by putting it on pretty much ''every'' other Bemani series.
** "FLOWER" (Trance Core) does the same, going as far as to also appear on ''[[DanceMasters DanceEvolution Arcade]]'' and ''Future Tomtom'' as well.
* OneHitPointWonder: The DEATH ojama (up to ''Sunny Park'') and DANGER gauge (''Lapistoria'') deplete your entire gauge upon getting a single Bad. Subverted, in that a wipeout of the gauge doesn't result in a GameOver, though you still must reach the end of the song with at least 80% of your gauge intact.
* ScoringPoints: There are two scoring systems at work:
** The first is the song score system. On each song, you can earn a maximum of 100,000 points, and each note has a fixed number of points that is inversely proportional to the number of notes in the chart. A "COOL" will get you 100% of the note's value, a "GREAT" will get you 70%[[note]]50% until it was changed in ''Lapistoria''[[/note]], a "GOOD" will get you 40%[[note]]previously 10%[[/note]], and no points are awarded for a "BAD". In games and modes where the "COOL" judgement does not appear, "GREAT" is worth 100% and "GOOD" 20%.
** The other is the Challenge Point system. Clearing a song will award you points equal to the song's difficulty level. In addition, you can set up to two Normas ({{Self Imposed Challenge}}s) or Ojamas (modifiers that usually take the form of an InterfaceScrew of some sort, or otherwise make the game more difficult) that add bonus points. Getting at least 125 points by your last stage[[note]]Usually, machines are set to three stages. However, it is possible, though unlikely, to run into a machine that has more than three stages, making the requirement easier to meet, or less than three stages, which will require you to play high-end songs with high-value normas and ojamas at best, and make Extra Stage UnwinnableByMistake at worst[[/note]] will reward you with an Extra Stage.
*** In ''fantasia'', however, the Challenge Point system has been replaced with the new "Extra Point" system. All point values are now multiplied by 10, you now automatically get Normas for score and combo (though BAD-based Normas don't exist anymore), and you need at least 2000 points for an Extra Stage. Fortunately, if you are logged into the e-Amusement network, a fraction of your points will carry over to the next playthrough, unless you got an Extra Stage.
* SelfImposedChallenge: Challenge Mode's many normas. Before a song, you can select up to two normas, each with their own requirements (such as getting ''x'' points or getting less than ''y'' bads). Fulfilling a norma's requirement will earn you "Challenge Points". Though not necessary to pass songs, getting enough Challenge Points will yield an [[BonusBoss extra stage]].
* SequelDifficultySpike: ''fantasia'' forces the COOL judgement in all non-Easy modes. forcing players to use the more difficult scoring system.
** SequelDifficultyDrop: ''Lapistoria'' still has [=COOLs=], but makes GREAT and GOOD judgements worth more points.
* SimpleYetAwesome: The controller. It's simply 9 big slappable buttons. Later games use the [=eAMUSEMENT=] keypad for navigation and options, but the core gameplay mechanics still revolve around those nine buttons. It hasn't stopped the game from being one of the most popular and long-running ones in the BEMANI series, with charts ranging from the newbie-friendly to [[NintendoHard the most limit-pushing]].
* SpinOff:
** ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rnz_YGfvDw pop'n stage]]'', which is essentially a [[DuelingGames subtle clone]] of the Korean dance game (and ''VideoGame/DanceDanceRevolution'' rival) ''VideoGame/PumpItUp'' with the ''pop'n'' mechanics and art style. Much like ''Pump'', the stage has ten panels, with pads in the corners and center of each side of the stage. The game is played in 6-panel (left center, top right and bottom right pads, and right center, top left and bottom right pads. otherwise known in PIU as "half-double") and 10-panel modes.
** The Wii version (which was branded as ''ポップンミュージック'' there) and its arcade port ''HELLO! POP'N MUSIC'', given the revamped art style and slightly different gameplay.
** ''pop'n rhythmin'' is an iOS-exclusive spinoff that eschews the traditional lane-based gameplay in favor of touchscreen-based gameplay involving hitting on-screen notes that can be anywhere on the screen.
* SugarBowl: Uhh, yeah.
* UncommonTime:
** Both songs in the Percussive series have strange time signatures at one point; the first changes to 7/4 at the end, while the second is nominally in 6/8, but with skipped beats dotted around everywhere so it's impossible to tie it to one time signature.
** ZETA ~素数の世界と超越者~ cycles its signature time between 3/4, 4/4, and 5/4. It's IDM anyway.
** Tangeline (Swedish 2) and HEAT-BIT-HIT-BEAT (Lo-Bit Sampling) are entirely in 7/8.
* VariableMix: Similarly to IIDX's "Scripted Connection", "neu" (Niente) has three versions based on the chosen difficulty level; the Hyper and EX versions are, [[ThatOneBoss let's just say]], a severe case of MoodWhiplash in comparison to Normal (which is a slower portion). The full, album version chains them into one song.
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''Nice play!''
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''pop'n'' uses a cute, colorful interface to appeal to younger players, but don't let that deceive you into thinking this is a kids' game; ''pop'n'' is [[SurpriseDifficulty just as hard as other Bemani series]], with songs requiring you to hit as many as 1,000 notes in the span of two minutes.

Currently, the series is up to 23 main arcade installments, along with consoles releases and spin-off releases such as ''pop'n music Animelo'', ''pop'n music Best Hits'' and ''Hello! Pop'n Music''.

''pop'n music'' is a game series in Konami's {{Bemani}} lineup of {{Rhythm Game}}s, developed as a LighterAndSofter version of ''{{beatmania}}'', another Bemani title.

* LifeMeter: Like in ''{{beatmania}}'', the series uses the Groove Gauge system: You start at 22% life and need to get up to 80% or higher, although emptying the gauge in and of itself will not cause stage failure. In addition to this, the meter can change according to particular conditions and ojamas:

As a result, the arcade version is very rare outside of Japan. If you want to play at home, you could buy the official controller for a more affordable experience, but the controller has much smaller buttons, so you might as well play ''BeatmaniaIIDX''. The other way is to spend a few hundred bucks on an arcade-sized controller. New arcade-sized controllers sell for at least $200; one such controller is more expensive than an entire ''VideoGame/RockBand'' set. And this is all without the game or means to play the game on a [=PS2=].

** The characters looked a bit off in the earlier games with cruder designs and smaller eyes with bigger pupils. The designs managed to look better overtime especially since ''Pop'n Music 7''.

* ArtEvolution: ''pop'n music Lapistoria'' demonstrates a shift in art style, with more anime-esque visuals than past titles.

As a result, the arcade version is very rare outside of Japan. If you want to play at home, you could buy the official controller for a more affordable experience, but the controller has much smaller buttons, so you might as well play ''BeatmaniaIIDX''. The other way is to spend a few hundred bucks on an arcade-sized controller. New arcade-sized controllers sell for at least $200; one such controller is more expensive than an entire ''RockBand'' set. And this is all without the game or means to play the game on a [=PS2=].

* SpinOff: ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rnz_YGfvDw pop'n stage]]'', which is essentially a [[DuelingGames subtle clone]] of the Korean dance game (and ''VideoGame/DanceDanceRevolution'' rival) ''VideoGame/PumpItUp'' with the ''pop'n'' mechanics and art style. Much like ''Pump'', the stage has ten panels, with pads in the corners and center of each side of the stage. The game is played in 6-panel (left center, top right and bottom right pads, and right center, top left and bottom right pads. otherwise known in PIU as "half-double") and 10-panel modes.
** Arguably the Wii version (which was branded as ''ポップンミュージック'' there) and its arcade port ''HELLO! POP'N MUSIC'', given the revamped art style and slightly different gameplay.

* SpinOff: ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rnz_YGfvDw pop'n stage]]'', which is essentially a [[DuelingGames riff]] on the Korean dance game (and ''VideoGame/DanceDanceRevolution'' rival) ''PumpItUp'', with 4 diagonal panels and a center panel on each side of the stage, but with the general ''pop'n music'' gameplay/art style.

* SimpleYetAwesome: The controller. It's simply 9 big slappable buttons. Later games use the [=eAMUSEMENT=] keypad for navigation and options, but the core gameplay mechanics still revolve around those nine buttons. It hasn't stopped the game from being one of the most popular and long-running ones in the BEMANI series.

Like most other Bemani series, ''pop'n music'' suffers from serious NoExportForYou-itis. The only games in the series that were released outside of Japan are an extremely rare US version of ''pop'n music 1'', ''Beat'n Groovy'', an XBLA release that many players regarded as being completely awful, and a Wii release [[InNameOnly that did not involve the series' iconic nine-button controller.]] A simplified four-button-per-player redemption version was location tested in America, but it was quietly shelved and repackaged for Japan as ''Hello! Pop'n Music''.

* CallASmeerpARabbit: By default, the song wheel lists the song's unique ''genre'' instead of its title, and even the banners put more prominence to the genre. Hence, typically a song/difficulty pairing will be referred to by its genre by players (i.e. "Nadeshiko Rock EX" instead of its actual title, "Rin to shite saku hana no gotoku"; this can become especially useful to English players since many songs have titles written in Japanese), but there are exceptions. It was only on version 17 that the game finally lets you sort songs by name. However, ''Sunny Park'' uses name sort by default, and as of ''Lapistoria'', new songs don't have genres anymore.

** In Expert courses and stadnard extra stage prior to ''fantasia'', you use a more traditional life meter. It starts out full, and you fail instantly if the meter runs out.

** "Brand New World" is the third song produced in the "Without You Tonight" series, but "Survival Games" and "Far Away" are labeled as "Without You Tonight -II-" and "Without You Tonight -III-" because they debuted on ''pop'n music'' later.

* UncommonTime: ZETA ~素数の世界と超越者~ cycles its signature time between 3/4, 4/4, and 5/4. It's IDM anyway.

* VariableMix: Similarly to IIDX's "Scripted Connection", "neu" (Niente) has three versions based on the chosen difficulty level; the Hyper and EX versions are, [[ThatOneBoss let's just say]], a severe case of MoodWhiplash in comparison to Normal (which is a slower, waltz-like portion). The full, album version chains them into one song.

** Last ''pop'n music'' game to have a UsefulNotes/{{PlayStation}} port. Said port has the most songs of any [=PS1=] ''pop'n'' game, at 104 songs.

** Last ''pop'n music'' game to have a PlayStation2 port.