History VideoGame / TheIdolMaster

* ''MUST SONGS'', a rhythm game for [[PlayStation Vita]] with ''VideoGame/TaikoNoTatsujin''-style gameplay.

* ''MUST SONGS'', a rhythm game for PSVita with ''VideoGame/TaikoNoTatsujin''-style gameplay.

* ''MUST SONGS'', a rhythm game for PSVita with ''TaikoNoTatsujin''-style gameplay.

* ''Dearly Stars'', a UsefulNotes/NintendoDS spin-off focusing on solely three new idols.

[[folder:'''The iDOLM@STER DS''']]
[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/idol-master-dearly-stars-box-art_01_6972.JPG]]
* BeachEpisode: Ryo's story features a chapter at the beach, where the 876 idols have a photoshoot.
** It does lead to a HotSpringsEpisode when Ryo needs a break from posing in the feminine swimsuit.
* ButtMonkey: Ryo's motivation for becoming an idol in the first place is to shed his girlyboy image and become more popular with the ladies. Naturally, [[DraggedIntoDrag his producer chooses to parade him onstage in a pink dress.]]
* ClarkKenting: Ryo's "disguise" consists of boob pads, make-up, and the removal of his glasses.
* NoIndoorVoice: Ai Hidaka.
* StacysMom: Ai becomes a victim of this. Her mother, an ex-idol herself, becomes nostalgic for the glory days when Ai makes it big and decides to make a comeback. Ai is shortly overshadowed in the public eye by her still incredibly hot mom.
* SuperTitle64Advance: The Idolm@ster Dearly Stars is for the Nintendo DS.
* WholesomeCrossdresser: Ryo
[[/folder]]

* TheChosenMany: Zig-zagged in adaptations. While the classic series' adaptations showed different Producers handling different groups, ''Cinderella Girls'' had ''hundreds'' of idols thanks to their multimedia giant status, and therefore implied there were multiple producers to attend to them all. ''[=SideM=]'' adverts it, since all the manga adaptations and the anime show it really is the one Producer helping them all.

** Applies to the spinoffs' 346 Production ("mi-shi-ro", meaning "beautiful castle") and 315 Production ("sa-i-ko", meaning "ultimate") as well.

Incorporating elements from [[MinigameGame rhythm games]], {{Dating Sim}}s and [[{{Mons}} competitive online battling]], as well as an AllStarCast and a generous helping of {{Moe}}, this game from Namco was an incredible hit in the arcades of Japan and created a whole franchise of sequels and spinoffs:

* ''Dearly Stars'', a UsefulNotes/NintendoDS version about three new idols.

* ''MUST SONGS'', a rhythm game for PSVita with ''Taiko no Tatsujin''-style gameplay.

The franchise has spawned three [[MobilePhoneGame card games for phones]], ''[[VideoGame/TheIdolmasterCinderellaGirls Cinderella Girls]]'', ''[[VideoGame/TheIdolmasterSideM SideM]]'' (for the Mobage platform), ''Million Live'' (for the GREE platform), and ''Shiny Colors'' (Mobile and PC). They feature unique idols and have spawned [=CDs=] and mangas of their own. ''[=SideM=]'' is also noteworthy for being the first game of the franchise with females as its main audience: it features solely male idols. ''Cinderella Girls'' spawned a big enough {{fandom}} to gain an [[Anime/TheIdolmasterCinderellaGirls anime]], that premiered on the Winter2015Anime season. It has also received a RhythmGame for smartphones, ''THE IDOLM@STER: Cinderella Girls Starlight Stage'', with gameplay similar to fellow rhythm phone games such as ''Franchise/LoveLive School Idol Festival'' but using 3D models, and its own ''Gravure 4 You!'' series. It has released another RhythmGame like ''THE IDOLM@STER: Cinderella Girls Starlight Stage'' by using ''Million Live'' as the theme, named ''THE iDOLM@STER Million Live!: Theater Days''. Its PV can be found [[https://youtu.be/0nPXLtNhRrk here]]. ''[=SideM=]'' followed soon after with the announcement of not only a ''Starlight Stage''-like game of their own (''THE iDOLM@STER [=SideM=]: Live on St@ge!''), but an animated adaptation within the same year during the Fall2017Anime season.

Also, as all good successful franchises do, ''The iDOLM@STER'' managed to inspire other series to try and latch on the same crowd. ''VideoGame/DreamCClub'' was [=D3Publishes=]' answer to Namco Bandai's giant, with some unique elements in order to not look like they're the same thing.

* ''Manga/ColorfulDays'' - A prequel manga to the second game.

* ''Anime/TheIdolmasterCinderellaGirls'' - The animated adaptation.
* ''Series/TheIdolmasterKR'' - A South Korean TV drama series produced under the direction of Bandai Namco Entertainment and Interactive Media Mix, Inc.

* ''Anime/TheIdolmasterSideM'' - The animated adaptation.

That's ''The [=iDOLM@STER=]'' by Creator/BandaiNamcoEntertainment. It's a SimulationGame where you play as a producer for the "765 Production" ([[GoroawaseNumber pronounced]] "[[MeaningfulName na-mu-ko]]") studio, and you have nine (technically ten) girls to choose as the company's next big singer.

The franchise has spawned three [[MobilePhoneGame card games for phones]], ''[[VideoGame/TheIdolmasterCinderellaGirls Cinderella Girls]]'', ''[[VideoGame/TheIdolmasterSideM SideM]]'' (for the Mobage platform), ''Million Live'' (for the GREE platform), and ''Shiny Colors''(Mobile and PC). They feature unique idols and have spawned [=CDs=] and mangas of their own. ''[=SideM=]'' is also noteworthy for being the first game of the franchise with females as its main audience: it features solely male idols. ''Cinderella Girls'' spawned a big enough {{fandom}} to gain an [[Anime/TheIdolmasterCinderellaGirls anime]], that premiered on the Winter2015Anime season. It has also received a RhythmGame for smartphones, ''THE IDOLM@STER: Cinderella Girls Starlight Stage'', with gameplay similar to fellow rhythm phone games such as ''Franchise/LoveLive School Idol Festival'' but using 3D models, and its own ''Gravure 4 You!'' series. It has released another RhythmGame like ''THE IDOLM@STER: Cinderella Girls Starlight Stage'' by using ''Million Live'' as the theme, named ''THE iDOLM@STER Million Live!: Theater Days''. Its PV can be found [[https://youtu.be/0nPXLtNhRrk here]]. ''[=SideM=]'' followed soon after with the announcement of not only a ''Starlight Stage''-like game of their own (''THE iDOLM@STER [=SideM=]: Live on St@ge!''), but an animated adaptation within the same year during the Fall2017Anime season.

The franchise has spawned three [[MobilePhoneGame card games for phones]], ''[[VideoGame/TheIdolmasterCinderellaGirls Cinderella Girls]]'', ''[[VideoGame/TheIdolmasterSideM SideM]]'' (for the Mobage platform), ''Million Live'' (for the GREE platform), and ''Shiny Colors''(also for Mobage). They feature unique idols and have spawned [=CDs=] and mangas of their own. ''[=SideM=]'' is also noteworthy for being the first game of the franchise with females as its main audience: it features solely male idols. ''Cinderella Girls'' spawned a big enough {{fandom}} to gain an [[Anime/TheIdolmasterCinderellaGirls anime]], that premiered on the Winter2015Anime season. It has also received a RhythmGame for smartphones, ''THE IDOLM@STER: Cinderella Girls Starlight Stage'', with gameplay similar to fellow rhythm phone games such as ''Franchise/LoveLive School Idol Festival'' but using 3D models, and its own ''Gravure 4 You!'' series. It has released another RhythmGame like ''THE IDOLM@STER: Cinderella Girls Starlight Stage'' by using ''Million Live'' as the theme, named ''THE iDOLM@STER Million Live!: Theater Days''. Its PV can be found [[https://youtu.be/0nPXLtNhRrk here]]. ''[=SideM=]'' followed soon after with the announcement of not only a ''Starlight Stage''-like game of their own (''THE iDOLM@STER [=SideM=]: Live on St@ge!''), but an animated adaptation within the same year during the Fall2017Anime season.

The franchise has spawned three [[MobilePhoneGame card games for phones]], ''[[VideoGame/TheIdolmasterCinderellaGirls Cinderella Girls]]'', ''[[VideoGame/TheIdolmasterSideM SideM]]'' (for the Mobage platform) and ''Million Live'' (for the GREE platform). They feature unique idols and have spawned [=CDs=] and mangas of their own. ''[=SideM=]'' is also noteworthy for being the first game of the franchise with females as its main audience: it features solely male idols. ''Cinderella Girls'' spawned a big enough {{fandom}} to gain an [[Anime/TheIdolmasterCinderellaGirls anime]], that premiered on the Winter2015Anime season. It has also received a RhythmGame for smartphones, ''THE IDOLM@STER: Cinderella Girls Starlight Stage'', with gameplay similar to fellow rhythm phone games such as ''Franchise/LoveLive School Idol Festival'' but using 3D models, and its own ''Gravure 4 You!'' series. It has released another RhythmGame like ''THE IDOLM@STER: Cinderella Girls Starlight Stage'' by using ''Million Live'' as the theme, named ''THE iDOLM@STER Million Live!: Theater Days''. Its PV can be found [[https://youtu.be/0nPXLtNhRrk here]]. ''[=SideM=]'' followed soon after with the announcement of not only a ''Starlight Stage''-like game of their own (''THE iDOLM@STER [=SideM=]: Live on St@ge!''), but an animated adaptation within the same year during the Fall2017Anime season.

* An UpdatedRerelease for the Xbox 360, which included one new idol.

* EndlessGame: It's impossible to "win" in the arcade game, per se... the goal is to keep your idol's career alive for as long as possible. In the XBox version, you "win" if you last a year.

* SkillScoresAndPerks: This game introduced a skill board for each producable idol, with differing stats and distributions for each idol, but all of them get access to trio memory appeals and trio [[LimitBreak burst appeals]], and each idol has [[EveryoneHasASpecialMove her own unique burst skill]].

* CostumePorn
* {{Crossover}}: The cell phone ''Cinderella Girls'' and ''Side:M'' each have their own separate events with the cell phone rpg ''VideoGame/GranblueFantasy'', while ''Million Live!'' and the two aforementioned games got one with ''VideoGame/TalesOfAsteria''.

* MinigameGame

* PigeonholedVoiceActor: Creator/RieKugimiya as [[{{Tsundere}} Iori]].

* MythologyGag: There are six major titles the player can compete for. Of those, four appeared in previous games (Idol Ultimate from ''SP'', Idol Academy from ''2'', Star of Festa from ''One For All'', Idol Extreme from ''Platinum Stars'').

* AscendedMeme: Fans noticed that Ritsuko's outfit resembled the uniform of Lawson's convenience stores, and it became a meme. Bamco and Lawson's noticed the meme, and started a cross-promotion campaign that is still ongoing; you can apparently buy raffle tickets for Idolm@ster goods at Lawson's.

* {{Joshikousei}}:

* {{CrossOver}}: The cell phone ''Cinderella Girls'' and ''Side:M'' each have their own separate events with the cell phone rpg ''VideoGame/GranblueFantasy'', while ''Million Live!'' and the two aforementioned games got one with ''VideoGame/TalesOfAsteria''.

* {{CrossOver}}: The cell phone ''Cinderella Girls'' and ''Side:M'' each have their own separate events with the cell phone rpg ''VideoGame/GranblueFantasy''.

** Prior to these, Miku Hatsune was DLC for Idolmaster 2 as part of a collaboration (Project DIVA 2nd recieved some Idolmaster-based DLC in turn).

* AscendedExtra: Most of the opponents that you run into during rank-up festivals are cameo characters, some with models (Ai, Eri and Ryo from ''Dearly Stars'' and Touma, Hokuto and Shouta from ''TheIdolmaster2''), others {{in name only}} (Cineria, Yumeko[[note]]She's actually named something different, "Dreamy Girl", which is close to the meaning of Yumeko in English, "dream child"[[/note]] and [[spoiler:riola]] also from ''Dearly Stars'', and Hikari, Tsubomi and Nozomi from [[MythologyGag episode 10]] of [[{{Anime/TheIdolmaster}} the anime]]).

The franchise has spawned three [[MobilePhoneGame card games for phones]], ''[[VideoGame/TheIdolmasterCinderellaGirls Cinderella Girls]]'', ''[=SideM=]'' (for the Mobage platform) and ''Million Live'' (for the GREE platform). They feature unique idols and have spawned [=CDs=] and mangas of their own. ''[=SideM=]'' is also noteworthy for being the first game of the franchise with females as its main audience: it features solely male idols. ''Cinderella Girls'' spawned a big enough {{fandom}} to gain an [[Anime/TheIdolmasterCinderellaGirls anime]], that premiered on the Winter2015Anime season. It has also received a RhythmGame for smartphones, ''THE IDOLM@STER: Cinderella Girls Starlight Stage'', with gameplay similar to fellow rhythm phone games such as ''Franchise/LoveLive School Idol Festival'' but using 3D models, and its own ''Gravure 4 You!'' series. It has released another RhythmGame like ''THE IDOLM@STER: Cinderella Girls Starlight Stage'' by using ''Million Live'' as the theme, named ''THE iDOLM@STER Million Live!: Theater Days''. Its PV can be found [[https://youtu.be/0nPXLtNhRrk here]]. ''[=SideM=]'' followed soon after with the announcement of not only a ''Starlight Stage''-like game of their own (''THE iDOLM@STER [=SideM=]: Live on St@ge!''), but an animated adaptation within the same year during the Fall2017Anime season.

The franchise has spawned three [[MobilePhoneGame card games for phones]], ''[[VideoGame/TheIdolmasterCinderellaGirls Cinderella Girls]]'', ''[=SideM=]'' (for the Mobage platform) and ''Million Live'' (for the GREE platform). They feature unique idols and have spawned [=CDs=] and mangas of their own. ''[=SideM=]'' is also noteworthy for being the first game of the franchise with females as its main audience: it features solely male idols. ''Cinderella Girls'' spawned a big enough {{fandom}} to gain an [[Anime/TheIdolmasterCinderellaGirls anime]], that premiered on the Winter2015Anime season. It has also received a RhythmGame for smartphones, ''THE IDOLM@STER: Cinderella Girls Starlight Stage'', with gameplay similar to fellow rhythm phone games such as ''Franchise/LoveLive School Idol Festival'' but using 3D models, and its own ''Gravure 4 You!'' series. It has released another RhythmGame like ''THE IDOLM@STER: Cinderella Girls Starlight Stage'' by using ''Million Live'' as the theme, named ''THE iDOLM@STER Million Live!: Theater Days''. Its PV can be found [[https://youtu.be/0nPXLtNhRrk here]]. ''[=SideM=]'' followed soon after with the announcement of not only a ''Starlight Stage''-like game of their own (''THE iDOLM@STER [=SideM=]: Live on Stage!''), but an animated adaptation within the same year during the Fall2017Anime season.

The franchise has spawned three [[MobilePhoneGame card games for phones]], ''[[VideoGame/TheIdolmasterCinderellaGirls Cinderella Girls]]'', ''[=SideM=]'' (for the Mobage platform) and ''Million Live'' (for the GREE platform). They feature unique idols and have spawned [=CDs=] and mangas of their own. ''[=SideM=]'' is also noteworthy for being the first game of the franchise with females as its main audience: it features solely male idols. ''Cinderella Girls'' spawned a big enough {{fandom}} to gain an [[Anime/TheIdolmasterCinderellaGirls anime]], that premiered on the Winter2015Anime season. It has also received a RhythmGame for smartphones, ''THE IDOLM@STER: Cinderella Girls Starlight Stage'', with gameplay similar to fellow rhythm phone games such as ''Franchise/LoveLive School Idol Festival'' but using 3D models, and its own ''Gravure 4 You!'' series. It has released another RhythmGame like ''THE IDOLM@STER: Cinderella Girls Starlight Stage'' by using ''Million Live'' as the theme, named ''THE iDOLM@STER Million Live!: Theater Days''. Its PV can be found [[https://youtu.be/0nPXLtNhRrk here]]. ''[=SideM=]'' followed soon after with the announcement of not only a ''Starlight Stage''-like game of their own (''THE iDOLM@STER [=SideM=]: Live on Stage!''), but an animated adaptation within the same year, primarily in the Fall2017Anime season.

That's ''The [=iDOLM@STER=]''. It's a SimulationGame where you play as a producer for the "765 Production" (pronounced "[[MeaningfulName na-mu-ko]]") studio, and you have nine (technically ten) girls to choose as the company's next big singer.

--> '''AMI''': I'm a little sister character! So my popularity with [[{{Lolicon}} lo]][[PacMan *wakawaka*]] [[LampshadeHanging is]] [[TokenMiniMoe guaranteed]]!

The franchise has spawned three [[MobilePhoneGame card games for phones]], ''[[VideoGame/TheIdolmasterCinderellaGirls Cinderella Girls]]'', ''[=SideM=]'' (for the Mobage platform) and ''Million Live'' (for the GREE platform). They feature unique idols and have spawned [=CDs=] and mangas of their own. ''[=SideM=]'' is also noteworthy for being the first game of the franchise with females as its main audience: it features solely male idols. ''Cinderella Girls'' spawned a big enough {{fandom}} to gain an [[Anime/TheIdolmasterCinderellaGirls anime]], that premiered on the Winter2015Anime season. It has also received a RhythmGame for smartphones, ''THE IDOLM@STER: Cinderella Girls Starlight Stage'', with gameplay similar to fellow rhythm phone games such as ''Franchise/LoveLive School Idol Festival'' but using 3D models, and its own ''Gravure 4 You!'' series. It has released another RhythmGame like ''THE IDOLM@STER: Cinderella Girls Starlight Stage'' by using ''Million Live'' as the theme, named ''THE iDOLM@STER Million Live!: Theater Days''. Its PV can be found [[https://youtu.be/0nPXLtNhRrk here]]. ''[=SideM=]'' followed soon after with the announcement of not only a ''Starlight Stage''-like game of their own (''THE iDOLM@STER [=SideM=] Live on Stage!''), but an animated adaptation within the same year, primarily in the Fall2017Anime season.