Video Game / Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA

Hatsune Miku takes center stage!

It started with one dot...

Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA is a series of Vocaloid-themed rhythm games released by Sega. As the title may imply, Hatsune Miku is front and center, although the other Crypton Vocaloids, Rin, Len, Luka, Meiko, and Kaito, get their share of the spotlight, as well.

The aim of the game is simple. Notes fly toward stationary targets on screen and you press their corresponding buttons when they overlap the markers. This task is spiced up by detailed, unique 3D music videos for each song, as well as quite frankly ridiculous bonus difficulties. When you're not engaging in the main game, you can participate in a variety of extraneous activities such as purchasing outfits, befriending the Vocaloids, or creating your own charts in Edit Mode.

The series has had a rather troubled relationship with non-Japanese regions, staying No Export for You for five years since the first game despite international popularity. This ceased when SEGA tested the waters with an online Facebook campaign for the series, as well as an English language demo for F at E3. Due to high turnout for the Facebook campaign signaling fan demand, the series finally made its way to English countries with the release of F in 2014 and has since maintained momentum among Western Vocaloid fans and more with subsequent successful localization of succeeding major titles.

See also Hatsune Miku: Colorful Stage!, a mobile entry in the greater SEGA feat. HATSUNE MIKU Project franchise developed by Colorful Palette and published by SEGA.

Games in the Series

DIVA Series

• Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA (PSP, 2009) — The first game in the DIVA series, and the first foray for the then-blossoming Vocaloids into the video game department. Introduces Hatsune Miku, Kagamine Rin and Len, Megurine Luka, MEIKO, KAITO, Yowane Haku, Akita Neru, and Sakine Meiko, as well as 53 Modules and 32 different songs^note Actually 36 songs, but some are repeats with different singers. Introduces the fundamental gameplay mechanics for the series, including the four-button gameplay with three unique difficulties. Known for being very different from its future installments.
  • Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Dreamy Theater (PS3, 2010) — Add-on DLC for Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA. This software enables players to link their Project DIVA save data and play the game in 60 FPS high definition utilizing overhauled console-tier graphics, but is otherwise the same game. "Sakura Rain" is not playable in this version of the game, however.
• Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA 2nd (PSP, 2010) — The second game in the DIVA series. Introduces Kasane Teto as Downloadable Content. Introduced many of the series' mainstay mechanics, including Wide and Hold Notes, a success system based on COOL and FINE notes hit rather than score, EXTREME difficulty, Titles, character edit for PVs, individual DIVA Rooms for every character, a Shop, and Help Items. Expands upon the pre-existing Module and song list, boasting over 120 Modules and 58 songs. Previously held the record for the largest setlist in a main series game until MEGA39's.
  • Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA 2nd # (PSP, 2011) — Also known as Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA 2nd (Low Price Edition). An Updated Re-release of 2nd that includes a plethora of bugfixes, as well as less Loads and Loads of Loading and all of extend's Modules as a free DLC code.
  • Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Dreamy Theater 2nd (PS3, 2011) — Add-on DLC for 2nd. Functions identically to the first Dreamy Theater, allowing players to play 2nd on the big screen.
• Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA extend (PSP, 2011) — The third game in the DIVA series. Introduced Challenge Items, modifiers that make the game harder but dispense more DIVA Points. Includes 172 Modules and 38 playable songs. Often erroneously described as an Updated Re-release of 2nd, it's better described as the first game's songlist with the second game's gameplay and some extras.
  • Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Dreamy Theater Extend (PS3, 2012) — Add-on DLC for extend. Functions identically to previous Dreamy Theaters, allowing players to play extend through their console.

F Series

• Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA ƒ (Vita, 2012) — The fourth game in the DIVA series. Introduces a host of new mechanics alongside the console upgrade, including Scratch Notes, Technical Zones, and the Grade Point system. Also introduces a graphical upgrade as well as greater special effect capacity. Notable for retiring the majority of old content from previous games, only using new songs and Modules save for the V3 designs. Includes 101 Modules and 38 playable songs. Introduces Mikudayo as an outfit for Miku.
  • Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F (PS3, 2013) — An Updated Re-release of ƒ for home consoles, and the first game to see a worldwide release. Plays similarly to the handheld edition, except Scratch Notes are now controlled by the analog sticks and all previously-released Downloadable Content is included on-disc. Replaces AR Mode from the Vita version with Live Concert Mode, which allows players to view virtual concert versions of various songs.
  • Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA ƒ: Best Price Edition (Vita, 2013/2014) — An Updated Re-release of ƒ for the Vita. Much like 2nd#, Best Price Edition includes updated graphics and added content. Released internationally as Project DIVA ƒ.
• Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F 2nd (PS3/Vita, 2014) — The fifth game in the DIVA series, and the second game released internationally. Introduces further expansions to the Scratch mechanics seen in ƒ, including Wide Scratch Notes and Scratch Links, as well as adjusting Scratch Note timing windows. Challenge Item stacks are introduced, allowing players to combine up to three Challenge Items at once for even higher payouts. F 2nd makes a return to form, mixing new songs with older content now upgraded to modern standards. Includes 160 Modules and 56 playable songs.

X

• Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA X (Vita, 2016) — The sixth game in the DIVA series, and the fourth game released internationally. X returns to the gameplay seen in ƒ, removing the additional Scratch mechanics from F 2nd while introducing Rush Notes, which grant you bonus points for Button Mashing. Prominently features a story mode called Live Quest and a new Voltage mechanic that functions similar to the original scoring system in Project DIVA. The Shop is retired for the first time since 2nd in favor of the Live Quest mechanics. Includes over 310 Modules, 27 songs and 6 Medleys. Currently holds the highest number of Modules in a main series game.
  • Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA X HD (PS4, 2016) — An Updated Re-release of X that brings the series to PlayStation 4. Features enhanced visuals that take advantage of the console's capabilities, including improved lighting and shadow effects, revised shaders, and miscellaneous quality improvements in 1080p, 60 frames per second. A later patch adds VR support to selected parts of the game.

Mega Mix/MEGA39's

• Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA MEGA39's/Mega Mix (Nintendo Switch, 2020) — After going dormant for three years, the series returns on a new console for its 10th anniversary. The sixth game released internationally. Features the largest setlist ever in a main series game at 101 songs^*91 returning, 9 new, and the theme song (beating out DIVA 2nd's previous record of 58 songs) and over 300 Modules. Features two styles of play: Arcade Mode, which is identical to Arcade/Future Tone's gameplay, and Mix Mode, where players use the Joy-Con's motion controls to "catch" falling notes.
  • Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA MEGA39's+/Mega Mix+ (Steam, 2022) — An Updated Re-release of Mega Mix that sees the series on PC for the first time ever. Contains over 170 songs, on top of an additional 70 songs through DLC^note This means the entire song list for Future Tone. Adds the ablity to switch between Mega Mix and Future Tone's visuals.

Arcade

• Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Arcade (Arcade, 2010) — An arcade installment that brings the gameplay of the DIVA series to arcades. Possesses similar gameplay to Project DIVA, although several changes are made that make it unique to the main series. Aesthetically similar to Dreamy Theater. Possessing an Aime card enables players to link to its interconnectivity service known as DIVA.NET, which allows them to access game records and the Shop remotely, as well as redeem prizes and set game options.
  • Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Arcade Future Tone (Arcade, 2014) — The first title update to Arcade. Retains the gameplay of its predecessor while introducing Slide Notes, where the player slides their hand across a glowing bar to complete notes. Introduces Quests, a series of challenges that can be completed for rewards, Cards, collectible virtual trading cards based on in-game content that can be used for various DIVA.NET features, Modifiers that change how notecharts appear, and EXTRA EXTREME, an extension to the present EXTREME difficulty that includes Slide Notes on its charts. Has a total of 236 songs and 394 costumes as of February 2017.

Future Tone

• Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Future Tone (PS4, 2016/2017) — A console version of Arcade Future Tone, and the fifth game released internationally. Retains the gameplay and look of the Arcade installments while re-introducing features familiar to the main series. Introduces Practice Mode, Survival Course, and online leaderboards for high scores. Boasts grand total of 228 songs and 342 modules at launch^note Future Sound and Colorful Tone combined with the other 13 songs and 52 modules being DLC.
  • Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Future Tone Prelude (PS4, 2016) — Prelude acts as a free to play frontend for the Future Tone game, as well as the demo. Includes two songs: "Weekender Girl" and "1/6 -out of the gravity-", as well as 40 Modules.
  • Hatsune Miku: Project Diva Future Tone: Future Sound (PS4, 2016) — One of two DLC Packs for Prelude, this pack focuses on songs from the Project DIVA and F series. Includes 128 songs, and 172 modules.
  • Hatsune Miku: Project Diva Future Tone: Colorful Tone (PS4, 2016) — The second DLC Pack for Prelude, this pack focuses on songs from the mirai series, as well as songs never released outside Arcade. Includes 96 songs and 106 modules.
  • Hatsune Miku: Project Diva Future Tone DX (PS4, 2017) — A physical release of Arcade Future Tone, this contains all the songs from Future Sound and Colorful Tone, including the DLC songs, "Ghost Rule", and "Sand Planet", as well as the Photo function from Arcade Future Tone. Includes 238 songs and 396 Modules. A DLC expansion version of DX was also released for the base game that adds the aforementioned new songs and Photo feature.
    • Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Future Tone DX Memorial Pack (PS4, 2017) — A Limited Special Ultimate Collector's Edition of Future Tone DX. Includes the base game and a celebratory collection known as the Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Memorial Collection, a three-disc Blu-Ray set that features the opening movies of every Project DIVA game remastered in HD, as well as an exhaustive 200-song collection recognizing the history of the franchise.
  • MEGA39's Pack (PS4, 2020) — An additional DLC expansion for Future Tone that adds all 10 new songs featured in Mega Mix.

mirai Series

• Hatsune Miku and Future Stars: Project mirai (3DS, 2012) — The first game in the mirai spin-off series. Introduces Hatsune Miku, Kagamine Rin and Len, Megurine Luka, MEIKO, KAITO, and Internet Co.'s GUMI in adorable Super-Deformed Nendoroid form as they make their debut on a Nintendo console. Gameplay is radically overhauled for the spinoff, as it involves following a line as it hits targets on the edge of a circle. The game notably features the use of MEIKO and KAITO's VOCALOID2 voice banks, which were otherwise unreleased and rolled into their V3 versions. Includes 43 Costumes and 20 songs.
• Hatsune Miku: Project mirai 2 (3DS, 2013) — The second game in the mirai spin-off series. Gameplay is overhauled yet again, opting for a Groove Coaster-esque presentation with notes appearing on a track while adding mechanics from both the main series and Arcade. Introduces Tap Mode, an easier variant of the game that involves tapping colored portions of the bottom screen to hit notes. Brings back the songlist of the first game, adds 26 new songs and 71 new costumes, and introduces new Mirai Room mechanics. Includes 105 Costumes, 5 additional Costumes for GUMI, and 46 songs.
  • Hatsune Miku: Project mirai Deluxe/DX (3DS, 2015) — The third game released internationally, an Updated Re-release of mirai 2 that was Remade for the Export, adding one new song and four new Costumes as well as granting more previous songs new PVs that use the in-game models. Introduces Super Hard mode, a special difficulty unlockable for six select songs that cranks up their difficulty a few extra notches. Also includes additional Mirai Room mechanics, such as Mirai Resort idle events and the Music Player.

Mobile

• Hatsune Miku: Live Stage Producer (iOS and Android, 2012-2015) — A mobile game for iPhone and Android devices. Players take on the role of Miku’s producer who helps train her to be a better performer and hold live events. During live events, players try to slash pink hearts to score while trying to avoid slashing spiked balls. Notably, this is the first game that allows the player to change the stage for the performance. Features 49 2D modules, 15 3D modules and 29 songs, all sung by Miku.
• Miku Flick (iOS, 2012) — A mobile game iteration of the DIVA series. Utilizes the graphics and PVs featured in Dreamy Theater and Arcade while introducing a more linear gameplay system that involves utilizing an on-screen hiragana keyboard to tap and swipe out parts of the song's lyrics as they're performed. Features 14 songs.
• Miku Flick/02 (iOS, 2012) — The sequel to the first Miku Flick. Introduces non-Miku songs and EXTREME difficulty for a harder challenge. Adds Interlude Mini-Game, a second mechanic where you tap a large button to notes during instrumental portions a la a standard rhythm game for bonus points, and Fever Mode, a trigger for reaching 100 Combo that increases the points earned per COOL to 100. Features 11 included songs and 63 DLC songs.
• Hatsune Miku: Colorful Stage! (Mobile, 2020) — A smartphone rhythm game that brings the Vocaloid experience to mobile devices once more. Developed by Colorful Palette, a subsidiary of BanG Dream! Girls Band Party! developers CraftEgg, Project SEKAI introduces a heavy focus on Cover Versions and story, with a large and varied group of original characters joining the Crypton characters. The game also introduces different "SEKAI" versions of the Crypton characters who, rather than being referred to or thought of as "modules" such as in Project Diva, are born from the feelings of the original cast, with their characterization and styles reflecting this. This is alongside the "original versions" of the Crypton characters, who exist independently of the main cast.

VR

• Hatsune Miku: VR Future Live (PS4, 2016) — A "game" exclusively for the Playstation VR that functions more as a tech demo for the hardware. Enables viewing and interacting with Vocaloid concerts in virtual reality, featuring music that appears in the F series, X, and mirai. Sold in three separate iterations:
  • 1st Stage: Features songs sung by Hatsune Miku. Includes seven tracks: "Love Trial", "1/6 -out of the gravity-", "Satisfaction", "Weekender Girl", "39", "Cute Medley ~Idol Sounds~", and "Love Song".
  • 2nd Stage: Features songs sung by Rin, Len, and Luka. Includes seven tracks: "shake it!", "Chaos Medley ~Giga Remix~", "Hello, Worker", "Cat Food", "Tell Your World", "Time Machine", and "LOL -lots of laugh-".
  • 3rd Stage: Features songs sung by MEIKO and KAITO. Includes seven tracks: "Raspberry*Monster", "Amazing Dolce", "Sweet Devil", "erase or zero", "Beginning Medley - Primary Colors", "Name of the Sin", and "The First Sound".

Other

• Miracle Girls Festival (Vita, 2015) — A Massive Multiplayer Crossover game that brings together multiple anime series. While not officially a Project DIVA game, Miracle Girls Festival uses the same engine and gameplay as ƒ and is for all intents and purposes a Dolled-Up Installment.

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This series provides examples of:

# - B

• A-Cup Angst: In F, Rin is this in Rin-chan Now! when Luka dreams of filming Rin in her outfit and making fun of her flat chest. Immediately averted in the next scene with the emergence of Future Style Rin.
• Achievement System: Every game in the series has Titles, which are awarded for performing certain tasks and are purely cosmetic. Starting with F, the PlayStation's Trophy system was integrated, which (rather redundantly) awards Trophies for acquiring Titles. Mirai uses a Stamp Card that functions equivalently to Titles, but with Stamps.
• Adaptation Expansion:
  • Quite a few mirai songs that get ported to Arcade/Future Tone get extra additions to their videos, such as new camera angles and shots.
  • The videos for "Aku no Musume" and "Aku no Meshitukai" incorporate elements from the Story of Evil that aren't mentioned in the songs.
  • Some Edit Mode PVs that get ported to Arcade/Future Tone tend to get extra effects to their videos.
• Adaptation Personality Change: Because of the nebulous nature of what's considered "official" through Crypton's partnership with SEGA, X, which gives the characters far more personality than prior entries had, is careful to mention in the credits that the characterizations were made specifically for the game and differ from Crypton's official characterization (or lack thereof, a policy the company is careful to maintain to promote individual creators' freedom).
• Adaptational Alternate Ending: In the original PV for "Amatsu Kitsune", it was deliberately left ambiguous as to whether or not the celestial fox ever reached heaven and reunited with her lover. In the mirai/Arcade PV, this is changed into a happier ending where Rin learns to fly and manages to ascend to heaven to be with her lover.
• Advertised Extra: In X, Ultimate Miku is a prominent character in the opening, getting more screentime than even Miku -Original- and all of the other Vocaloids combined. She is unlockable from the last song.
• Affectionate Gesture to the Head: In those entries that have the Diva Room, one of two ways to raise a Vocaloid's Affinity is by rubbing their forehead. They don't like it if you do it too long, though. X removed this feature, although you can still poke them, and sometimes they'll poke back!
• After the End: Both "God-Tier Tune" and "Hello Planet" take place after The End of the World as We Know It. In the former case, the world is already over and chibi Vocaloids are trying to revive it with growing plants and cute stuff, while in the latter, we see it happen, and the rest of the song follows Miku's journey to reunite with her long lost master and revive the last surviving plant on Earth.
• All Just a Dream:
  • "Gigantic Girl"'s music video, featuring a giant-sized Miku fighting Godzilla, is all in her head.
  • The Chance Time bonus video for "Kagerou Daze" features Miku waking up with a jump every time she dies, making it appear as her last failure was simply a dream. The context of the original song says otherwise, though.
• All or Nothing: The Do or Die item in Mirai DX instantly causes you to fail the song if you break your combo, but if you succeed, you get double the Mirai Points for it. It also omits Mercy Invincibility at the beginning of the song, but the point is moot since you have to get a Perfect anyways.
• All the Worlds Are a Stage: World's End Dancehall -Live Dance Edition- in Arcade/Future Tone takes Miku and Luka through numerous existing stages throughout the song's duration.
• Amazing Technicolor Battlefield: Holy cow, 2D Dream Fever. This song alone should come with a seizure warning installed.
• Ambiguously Gay: In some of the animated cutscenes, Miku's shown interacting with Rin in a way that would suggest they have romantic feelings for each other, such as them almost kissing before Luka interrupts them and the two holding hands while sleeping on the train. However, it's unknown if this was played up for the sake of Fanservice because the pairing was popular among shippers at the time, whether it's meant to be seen as a Pseudo-Romantic Friendship, or if she and Rin are meant to be dating.
• An Interior Designer Is You: In all the games except the Arcade versions, there's the Diva Room, which lets you decorate the Vocaloids' rooms.
• And Your Reward Is Clothes:
  • Each game has massive amounts of costumes (called "modules") to unlock. At least half the modules belong to Miku in each game. Taken to crazy levels with "Senbonzakura" in Project Diva F, which requires you to play the song multiple times to unlock all of the modules from it.
  • Some of the DLC in Project Diva F 2nd is various outfits, including three costumes for characters who are ALREADY DLC, and one who was merged into another character as of Project Diva F. Notably, two of the DLC costumes in this set is newly created for games from Project Diva F 2nd onwards. ^note Kasane Teto had NO DLC or bundled costumes in any game before Project Diva F 2nd.
  • Taken to ludicrous heights in X, which starts with 70 costumes by default, but also has costumes from F and F 2nd for a total of over 300 costumes, excluding DLC.^note 319 modules including DLC In addition, every costume has a special Skill that tweaks gameplay, such as skills that increase the amount of Voltage you earn from Technical Zones or the odds of getting a Rare Module to drop from completing Chance Time.
  • Arcade tops the reward count, with 342 modules in the initial PS4 release, and extra modules being added MONTHLY, making a total of around 400 costumes!^note 394 as of February 2017 There is zero chance of any player legitimately unlocking every single module in the game without playing the game non-stop in any kind of acceptable rate.
• And Your Reward Is Interior Decorating: The DIVA Room/Mirai Room function allows you to personalize living spaces for the Vocaloids by collecting Room Items and buying furniture and themes to make your favorite room. Depending on the game, you can usually buy these items through the Shop, but in titles like X, they drop from playing the game.
• Anime Theme Song: All Original Generation, of course. ryo is a popular choice for theme song composers. Except for Project Diva X, all of them have a near-perfect copy of their debut game's music video in the arcade release.
  • Project DIVA opened with "The secret garden" by Satoru Kousaki.
  • 2nd opened with "Look This Way, Baby" by ryo.
  • Extend opened with "Sekiranun Graffiti" by ryo.
  • F opened with "ODDS&ENDS" by ryo.
  • F 2nd opened with "DECORATOR" by kz.
  • X opened with "Name of the Sin" by ryo.
  • MEGA39's opened with "Catch the Wave" by kz.
  • mirai opened with "Yumeyume" by DECO*27.
  • mirai 2 opened with "Ageage Again" by Mitchie M.
  • mirai Deluxe opened with "Nice to Meet You, Mr. Earthling!" by pinocchioP.
• Anti-Frustration Features:
  • On 2nd, Extend and F 2nd, you can unlock anything you already have on the previous game by simply transferring the save data. With F 2nd, this includes the ability to download the Extra Characters DLC.
  • In F 2nd, all the Diva rooms are unlocked automatically, instead of requiring you to complete a certain song on NORMAL, and most items for the mode are unlocked through progression in that mode.
  • Want to know how to unlock a particular bonus costume in F 2nd? Each song has a unlock count, plus a new Information Board, which outright explains every single unlockable you still need to get in plain terms.
  • The Weiss Schwarz card "Nice to Meet You!" Hatsune Miku is a PR (Promo Rare) fairly bog-standard Level 0. Its card art is of Miku in front of three AR Marker icons that can be used in ƒ's AR Mode. In case you don't play that card game, the official website has a replica you can download and cut out for your own convenience so you don't have to shell out for one^note Although they're really cheap.
  • Since an entire section of the Stamps in mirai DX are dedicated solely to using the AR Theater, SEGA has downloadable paper cutout versions of the entire AR Card collection on the official website in case you got a regular edition or the digital version, just to make sure you can still get the Stamps.
  • F 2nd onwards and Future Tone allow you to map the special notes (Scratch/Slide) to the analog stick for increased precision and ease of use.
    • Future Tone additionally grants a fully customizable control scheme that includes the ability to map multiple buttons to the same button. This enables players to hit and hold multiple notes simultaneously with a single button, which makes much of the game significantly easier.
  • In Arcade and Mirai, a small chunk of your Life Meter is protected by a "Safety" guard for the first 30 seconds of the song, so even if you struggle with the chart you won't immediately go from loading screen to Game Over. How much is protected, on the other hand, is determined by difficulty; Extreme/EX Extreme/Super Hard has a considerably small "Safety" zone, while Easy has the largest.
  • Mirai DX comes with the option to switch the note colors between those used by Nintendo consoles and those used by Playstation consoles, for people who prefer the latter, and more common, colors. Also handy for avoiding confusing the placement of buttons on a 3DS with the placement on a PlayStation controller. Taken a step further in DIVA Mega Mix, which despite being on a Nintendo platform has the PlayStation button icons available as well.
  • In addition to the "Clear" bar as a holdover from Arcade, Future Tone also shows you "Great" and "Excellent" bars for the score required to achieve that rank, which Arcade does not have.
  • Both F 2nd and X allow you to convert a Japanese cloud save to an English one once only, in case you imported a copy first before buying the localized one.
  • The Stamps in mirai that require clearing all songs on a specific difficulty with SP All do not differentiate between Tap and Button; you can do them all on one mode, or a combination of them. This helps immensely when trying to get the Master Stamp, which requires an SP All on all Hard songs.
  • Future Tone has NONE of the songs needing unlocking up to HARD, the VP being used for modules and accessories.
  • F has star notes triggered by the analog sticks on the PS3, or the touch screen on the Vita, by default. A Rhythm Game item allows the trigger to be switched to the more reliable L1/R1/L2/R2 buttons for no cost.
  • Mega Mix+ does not accept diagonal inputs, unlike Future Tone and Mega Mix. This allows players to "roll" their thumbs across the buttons to perform circular inputs, whereas in previous games this was not possible without hardware mods.
• Apocalypse How: The mirai PV for "Hello, Planet" features a scene of Miku watching the world turn to ashes as meteors rain from the sky and devastate the planet.
• April Fools' Day: 2015 had SEGA feature a video update for Arcade that had Miku performing in the giant Mikudayo head accessory. The head was subsequently made available in-game for 1500 VP.
• Arc Number: 39, pronounced "sankyu"^note Technically "sanjyukyu", but for the purposes of this trope, "39" is treated like two separate numbers, like the English phrase "thank you", can also be read as "miku". As a result, this number runs rampant throughout the franchise; we'd be here all day if every example were listed, but there are some notable ones:
  • It's in the title of Hatsune Miku Project DIVA MEGA39's. Thanks to Alternate Character Reading and Punny Name, "MEGA39's" is pronounced like the word "Megamix".
  • There was a limited edition DIVA 2nd Memory Stick PRO Duo that had an advertised capacity of 3.9GB^note Although it was actually a 4GB card with preloaded data that brought the actual storage capacity down to 3.9GB and sold for ‎¥3939.
  • Dreamy Theater 2nd used to cost ‎¥3900 on the PSN Store and has a very specific file size of 3939 MB. Hilariously, not only is the file size the result of artificially inflating the amount of data in the game by adding useless junk data, there is a specific file in the game that, when read in a hex editor, only shows repeated 39s for the entire file.
    • Project Diva Future Tone revisits that price, with the two packs and season pass costing that each.
  • 39, Miku's anniversary song, whenever she sings san-kyu, has the subtitles displaying "THANK YOU (39)" instead of the phonetic words.
  • Project Mirai 2 and DX includes Puyo Puyo 39 as a minigame.
  • The 39th Stamp in Mirai DX, "Goddess", is for having max Affection with Miku. There's also a stamp for spending 39 hours in-game.
  • The Trophies for Future Tone include those such as spending 39 minutes and 39 seconds in Rhythm Game, getting a 39 Combo in Practice Mode, and earning a total of 3939 VP.
  • A ton of PVs feature the number "39" in some way, shape, or form.
  • In Future Tone, the maximum rank for each song pack is 39.
• Art Evolution:
  • Neru and Haku used to have Miku's face as their own faces in the first game. From 2nd onward, they have their own distinct faces and personalities.
  • The Dreamy Theater DLC and Arcade installments use a notably different graphic style from its handheld counterparts that involves brighter colors and more realistic lighting, shaders, and physics.
  • F greatly revised the look of the series thanks to the console jump, supporting a new engine that allows for sharper models and less saturation with more vivid colors. This carried on into the sequel, where many old songs were remastered in the new style with enhanced graphical and special effects.
  • Several songs released only in mirai were exported to Arcade/Future Tone, with remixed music videos that take advantage of the Diva modules being human scale, and of the immensely superior rendering engine when doing the backgrounds, like Sweet Magic having much more realistic biscuits and Sing And Smile's costumes having the actual Cheerful Japan! logo on them, and the strobe lighting on some songs uses distinctly segmented lighting.
• Art Shift:
  • A handful of songs use either an alternate style separate from that of other songs, or dedicates portions to this. For example, "World's End Umbrella" in F combines the traditional style with an anime video.
  • Several songs in mirai and a few Arcade/Future Tone tracks have music videos which don't use the in-game engine, like "glow" in Mirai DX uses a paper cutout for Miku as opposed to a model, which also prevents the outfit from being changed.
  • A few songs in F 2nd and Future Tone, such as "Two-Sided Lovers" and "Love-Hate," have videos that use the game engine, but their visuals are emulating 2D mediums (like comic strips or paper cut-outs). For these songs, a filter is applied to the character models to make them look more like 2D, cel-shaded, black-outlined cartoon characters.
• Art-Shifted Sequel: While MEGA39's closely resembles the graphical style of the main series, it adds a new cel-shading-like effect that gives the game an animation-style look.
• Art-Style Dissonance: Mirai DX relishes the fact that it has the cutest style in the franchise, and then goes and pairs it with some of the most unfitting songs possible. Standout examples include "Invisible", which is straight-up 99% metal, while "Daughter of Evil" and "Servant of Evil" are quite possibly the darkest pair of songs in the entire franchise. If they had added any of the other songs in either series^note "Invisible" is part of kemu's Pandora Voxx series, while the latter pair are from mothy's Story of Evil, which is part of the Evillious Chronicles, it would have only gotten worse.
• The Artifact:
  • In Project Mirai DX, the room BGM from the original game can be accessed in the game's Side-B music player. You can even toggle between the original and the 2/DX music by holding down the L button while the room is loading. This works in both the Japanese and localized versions.
  • In the first game on PSP, the game uses the PlayStation face button icons for note icons since they're the only way to hit the notes. DIVA 2nd allows using the D-pad to hit buttons, but the face buttons can still be used, and must be used in tandem with the D-pad for Double Notes. When the game hit arcades, the PlayStation button icons were retained due to familiarity for series fans. Although the Project mirai games on 3DS drop them, keeping only the PS button colors available, Mega Mix manages to get the PS icons available on the Nintendo Switch.
• Ascended Meme:
  • The fan-made derivatives, including Hachune Miku, Tako Luka, Akita Neru, Yowane Haku, Sakine Meiko, and Kasane Teto, all ascended thanks to this series, becoming officially recognized by Crypton. Hachune and Tako appear in numerous songs and in opening movies, Sakine is an alt outfit for MEIKO, and Neru, Haku, and Teto usually appear as Downloadable Content, replete with their own outfits^note Except Teto, who is actually owned by TWINDRILL thanks to being UTAU. It wasn't until F 2nd rolled around that she finally got a pair of new outfits, a swimsuit and a pink camo jacket.
  • The tutorial PV for Ievann Polkka involves Hachune Miku performing leekspin for the duration of the track.
  • In addition to the above... Watashi no Jikan in mirai references "Nice Boat".
  • In Puyo Puyo 39, getting to 7-Chain as Rin or Len causes them to drop in on a roadroller while shouting "ROAD ROLLER!" Miku will also wave leeks around when achieving a 3-chain.
  • The descriptions for some of the items in mirai also reference some out-of-series memes, such as the Sonic the Hedgehog statue stating "Gotta go fast!", and the road roller proclaiming "MUDA MUDA MUDA! WRYYYYYYYYYY!"
  • Mikudayo became memetic enough to be added to all games from F 2nd onward as an official Derivative, even being featured as a mascot for mirai DX. The Project Sekai reveal stream also introduced "MEIKOdayo" and "KAITOdayo" mascots, who have the same disproportionate heads/bodies as Mikudayo, except on purpose this time.
• Assimilation Plot: The story of "This is the Happiness and Peace of Mind Committee" from F 2nd. A representative of said committee, the Siren (Miku), wants everyone in the world to be completely, unconditionally, and equally happy. Anyone who isn't... well, it won't end well.
• Auto-Pilot Tutorial: The original retro-styled music video is a form of this for the mini-game included with the first Downloadable Content pack for the first game, showing some of the mechanics which are not made immediately obvious by the game itself. It even shows Miku near-constantly watering the plant, which is how you unlock the orb that is needed to open the final door.
• Auto-Revive: The "Recovery" item in both DIVA and Mirai heals you to max health if you would have died. The former imposes no penalty, allowing you to use it to survive through difficult sections, but the latter negates your high score for using it.
• Award-Bait Song: Several songs, such as "Time Machine" and "Continuing Dream" from F and "Sakura Rain". It's easier to list the songs that aren't, due to the selection being intentionally some of the greatest hits of the Vocaloids.
• Background Music Override: Much like its appearance in another SEGA game, the Hang-On Bike from Mirai DX replaces the BGM with the Hang-On theme when used by a Vocaloid. Additionally, the Panda Kart also replaces the BGM with the track "Panda Kart," and the Virtua Fighter arcade cabinet will play music from Virtua Fighter.
• Badass Driver: In Torinokocity/Urbandonment, a half-materialized bridge won't stop Miku from launching off of it, performing a barrel roll in midair in slow motion, and landing safely on her wheels some distance away.
• Bait-and-Switch:
  • "This is the Happiness and Peace of Mind Committee" is a slow, soft song set in the middle of a bright park surrounded by trees. Then the first verse ends, the facade disappears and everything quickly dissolves into dystopian hell. The producer, Utata-P, is known for doing this with multiple songs.
  • Every verse of "Tokyo Teddy Bear" starts off softly and then dissolves into hell as Rin hits a Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum. On higher difficulties, this is often punctuated by a change in note input.
  • "Break It, Break It!" similarly alternates between Meiko enjoying a sunset cityscape during the verses and dancing in an Eternal Engine for the chorus.
  • "Invisible" is infamous for opening with a jaunty piano piece that sounds like it jumped straight out of a silent film, then suddenly blaring hard rock in your face five seconds later. Players with headphones/speakers at max volume are in for a very rude surprise. It also is one of the hardest songs in the game, having very short delays between notes, even on Easy.
  • On a lesser scale, "Black Rock Shooter" defaults to Miku, and she and BRS have similar (but distinct) twintails. A brief back-to-back shot appears halfway through the song that looks like BRS with her face blocked by Miku's hair, but switching modules to use a shorter-haired character reveals that it's actually just your selected character back-to-back with their own silhouette.
• Beach Episode:
  • In mirai 2/DX, you can pay 100,000 MP to travel to and stay at Mirai Resort for 7 days. The resort features an extra-large villa with many spaces for room items, including a bath item slot not available in any of the homes, and boasts many exclusive idle events such as your character sunbathing on the beach and smashing watermelons. Unlike the Penthouse, which is simply treated as yet another home but with a weekly rent, traveling to Mirai Resort takes you to a new map with every service available except Mirai Estates; you won't be able to return to your homes until your vacation time expires or you choose to forfeit your vacation time to leave early.
  • "Fire Flower" and "Summer Idol" in F, whose videos take place at a pair of beach resorts. The "Fire Flower" video includes scenes of Rin and Len (or the chosen characters if other modules are selected) playing on a beach.
• Bilingual Bonus:
  • The opening of the PV for "Piano Girl" is written entirely in French.
  • The PV for Matryoshka features the title in Cyrillic.
  • "1 2 Fanclub" features a lot of Chinese in its lyrics, since it's about, well, learning Chinese.
  • In the PV for "When the First Love Ends", behind Miku there is a sign that says "Amore finito", that in Italian means "Finished Love".
• Bizzarro Element: X introduces five auras and their respective clouds that together make up the world that the Vocaloids live in, those being Classic, Cool, Cute, Elegant, and Quirky. In gameplay, each of the clouds is inhabited by songs of that aura, and using Modules and Accessories with matching auras give you a boost to Voltage Rate.
• Bland-Name Product:
  • In the mirai series, the Yamaha DX7 seen in the DIVA series is replaced by a similarly-named "Hatsune MI9" synthesizer.
  • The video for "Koneko no Payapaya" has a ripoff of Japanese broadcasting company NHK with "MIK".
  • Subverted in "Sing and Smile" in mirai and Arcade/Future Tone, where the advertising banners flick between Tricolore Airline, another song about a airline, and the game itself, and the Future Tone versions of the modules retain, unedited, the Cheerful Japan! logo.
• Book Ends:
  • From 2nd onward, Miku Hachune joins you for the tutorial and also for the ending credits.
  • The Ultimate Medley starts with Miku wearing broken wings, and ends with Miku wearing angelic wings. It also begins and ends with a cosMo track.
• Boss Rush:
  • The "Ultimate Medley" from X, which includes every single Climax Boss track from its past installments in its set.
  • Future Tone has an exclusive mode known as "Survival Mode" where you play through a setlist of tracks consecutively without stopping. Tracks are only featured on Hard, Extreme, or EX EXTREME, and you have a single LIFE bar that is carried over between songs without refilling. In addition, LIFE regenerates at half the standard rate during tracks.
• Bowdlerise: While it could be attributed to the poor translation the song received, "The Lost One's Weeping" in X changes a rope around someone's neck to a collar.
• Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: Future Tone's version of "LOL -lots of laugh-" uses the Arcade adaptation of the PV from mirai DX but uses the audio from Project DIVA X^note X uses remastered vocals that removes the effect applied to Miku's voice in the original song.
• Break Up Song:
  • Love is War from the first game is about a particularly bad break-up, sung from the break-uppee's perspective.^note Heart Breaker, this song's twin, is the same event from the other point of view.
  • Just Be Friends from 2nd and extend is a softer example, sung from the break-upper's perspective.
  • Kimi no Taion in Mirai DX is a fairly sad version of this, but you wouldn't know just by watching the video.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: "Slow Motion" has some pretty meta instances, especially when Miku references how long the song's been going on.
  • In X, Miku seems to be aware of the screen separating her and the player.
    Miku: If I wasn't digital, I'd be asking you to pinch me.
  • A mild case happens in Doremifa Rondo, when, partway through the song, Hatsune Miku makes a singing cameo, as your Nendoroid Miku effectively collides with her, the voicebank noticeably different from how it's sung everywhere else.
  • Cendrillion and Adolescence are blatantly the same song with different singers. Their note maps aren't just flipped compared to the other, a common way to work with similar songs, at several points, the note trail for the OTHER song appears, crossing over the note trail you're following, to create one symmetrical pattern.
• Bribing Your Way to Victory: In X, in order to unlock all of the modules and accessories, you have to do a lot of grinding... Or buy keys to unlock them all off the Playstation Network.
• Broke the Rating Scale: Due to the usage of bonus points in Arcade/Future Tone, mirai and X, it's possible to get a score rating exceeding 100%^note "100%" constitutes a score of all COOL notes hit, and in mirai, all SP Note bonuses as well. X gives you a bonus item for every score threshold you pass beyond 100%.
• The Bus Came Back: X highlights the return of many aesthetics that made the first game stand out from its successors, such as score-based clear conditions (used only in Live Quest Mode).
• Butt-Monkey: Mikudayo in the "Together with Mikudayo!" promo videos for Mirai 2/DX. Pretty much all of the comedy revolves around tormenting poor Mikudayo.
• Button Mashing:
  • X's Rush Note is a giant note that, upon being hit, allows you to continuously press the button to gain more Voltage. Funny enough, this is the only note type you aren't explicitly required to interact with; hell, in Free Play, you can simply hit the note and ignore the Rush portion, and it will have zero difference to your Grade Points.
  • This can crop up with more intensive songs, such as "Nega*Posi Continues" and "Invisible". "The Intense Voice of Hatsune Miku" is infamous for this.

C - E

• Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp": Points are known as "Voltage" in X. This is plot-relevant, since Voltage functions as an energy source for the Cloud Prisms, and to restore them, Miku and friends must collect Voltage by performing.
• Call-Back:
  • In "Time Machine", the two toys that caused the dream from "Gigantic Girl" are sat on the floor of the treehouse, and Miku is still building her dioramas.
  • The majority of songs from F 2nd are songs that have appeared in the franchise prior to F. You can even get the other games' theme songs as DLC, as well as a "Ha2ne Miku" Module from the first game that depicts a non-idol Miku.
  • "The Ultimate Medley" contains a few references to its predecessor; portions of "2D Dream Fever"'s Extreme chart are reused on the Extreme difficulty, and the outro of the medley is a cleverly modified version of the F 2nd chart of "The Intense Voice of Hatsune Miku", flipping the chart roughly horizontally and swapping Xs for Os and Squares for Triangles and vice versa at certain points.
• Calling Your Attacks: Much like modern Puyo Puyo, characters will do this at 3-Chain to 7-Chain in Puyo Puyo 39. If you give Miku the Arle Nadja outfit, she'll mimic Arle's spells and animations instead.
• The Cameo:
  • F's "Black Rock Shooter" features a quick scene where Miku flies through a fire silhouette of (Insane) Black Rock Shooter herself.
  • F 2nd's Doubleganger has a few scenes where SEGA's Project 575 Vocaloids, Matcha and Azuki, are visible.
  • Blink and you'll miss it, but in Mirai DX's "Aku no Musume", the scene featuring Rin surrounded by a crowd of commoners also has two girls sporting Kasane Teto and Akita Neru's hairstyles hidden amongst the crowd. Yowane Haku also appears in "Aku no Meshitukai" amongst the crowd of green-haired commoners watching the "girl of green" performing a song. This is a reference to the novels and two related songs not in the game, "The Daughter of White" and "Tree Maiden ~Millennium Wiegenlied~", where Haku's character (named Clarith) is revealed to have been best friends (and possibly lovers) with Michaela (Miku's character).
  • Although Miku performs "Senbonzakura" solo in Mirai DX, outlines of the other Vocaloids in their respective costumes from F can be briefly seen in the sky in two different shots.
  • "Nice to Meet You, Mr. Earthling!" in Arcade/Future Tone retains the background in the final chorus, which features images from stages that can't appear in Arcade/Future Tone for one reason or another, such as "Invisible" and the mirai version of "Kokoro".
  • GUMI appears in Project Mirai to give the players gifts, and can show up randomly once per day.
• Camera Abuse: In "Rolling Girl", the camera is occasionally treated like a second character, and considering Miku is visibly pissed off for most of the video, she doesn't treat it very well.
  • Rin also gives the camera a smack in Tengaku.
  • Len fractures it with a finger gun in Holy Lance Explosion Boy.
• Canon Immigrant:
  • Some songs from the Mirai sub-series eventually made it to Arcade through updates, although they lack the Super-Deformed quality of the Mirai games. Some of them even made it to the main series. Notably, some songs also went the OTHER way, with PVs that are much more animated.
  • As for out-of-series immigration...
    • In most cases, outfits that appear in the original video for the song are adapted into Project DIVA accordingly. However, in rare cases where no previously-existing outfit exists, the DIVA designs may become adopted by the song's creator, thus making them official. Examples include the Thousand-Year Solo novel featuring the Violet◊ design, and yuukiss using Blue Crystal◊ in his promotions for Nostalogic.
    • Miku gained a costume for B Who I Want To B, which she performed with Namie Amuro, but, being a real singer, the song and module couldn't EVER be in Project Diva at the time.^note The same regulations are why GUMI isn't in Project Diva, since she is under a different Vocaloid license Then, SEGA and Atlus worked together on Persona 4: Dancing All Night, with Shigenori Somejima coming back to do the costumes... including featuring Miku in the costume from the previous collaboration^note  As Somejima Style . Due to this, SEGA were able to use those rights to add the costume, as P4D Style Miku, to X and Arcade/Future Tone
    • Songs that first premiered in X and then showed up in Crypton's Magical Mirai 2016 concert had their dances directly copy-pasted from the game.
• Cat Girl:
  • The Kitty Cat Module. Notably, for its appearance in F 2nd, the ears and tail are constantly twitching and moving.
  • This same trait is shared by other costumes, like Meiko's Lin Xiao-Mei costume, which have ears and tails. Previous games kept any tail parts static.
  • Miku and Meiko's Koneko no Payapaya outfits in Mirai DX. It's literally half the point of the song, even.
• Celebrity Paradox: Averted In F 2nd. Among the items unlockable using the Extra AR mode are room items which include, of all things, Project Diva, Project Diva 2nd, Project Diva extend and both Project Diva f and Project Diva F, as well as a advertising stand-up Miku for the Miku Graphy Collection, and one of the Gadgets is a genuine Project Diva Arcade cabinet. Notably, Project Diva F 2nd itself cannot appear in the game.
  • Humorously parodied by one of the first modules in Project Diva. The module "Ha2ne Miku" is Miku if she never even became a pop idol!
• Chess Motifs: The "Ultimate" modules in X are based off of chess pieces^*Miku=king, Rin=bishop, Len=knight, Luka=queen, Kaito=rook, Meiko=pawn.
• Classy Cane:
  • "Dream-Eating Monochrome Baku" gives the player character one, with Len being the default.
  • "Miracle Paint" in F 2nd gives the player one. Notably, every other version of the song did not have this and merely had the dancer making movements that pretended that it was there.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Vocaloids wearing Quirky modules in X toe the line between this and Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant, exhibiting rather...odd behavior in a nasal, high-pitched voice.
• Clothes Make the Maniac: X categorizes modules into the five Auras (Classic, Cute, Cool, Elegant, and Quirky), which causes the Vocaloid to change personalities accordingly into exhibiting flanderized versions of that trait (how exactly depends on the character; for instance, Cool Miku simply becomes more assertive and aggressive while Cool Kaito is borderline narcissist). This is hardly considered a bad thing in-universe, since the characters approach this aspect of it with interest and enthusiasm, but can get rather disturbing for the player (especially considering that Quirky characters hardly seem sane)...
• Colour-Coded for Your Convenience:
  • Notes are colored in their corresponding PlayStation symbol colors, while Scratches and Slides are yellow. Special note types add extras such as rainbow outlines for Chance Time Finish and red outline for chords. The PlayStation colors also see use in various other places in-game, such as color-coded difficulties. Note colors are also exploited gratuitously in certain songs as a method of Painting the Medium.
  • The mirai subseries uses corresponding New 3DS face button colors to color notes. These were later reused in Mega Mix using the Arcade/Future Tone-style notes but with the mirai note colors.
  • The Elements in X are done this way. Neutral/Classic is Miku-esque cyan, Cute is pink, Beauty/Elegant is violet, Cool is blue, and Chaos/Quirky is a mix of orange and green. The respective stages for the Medleys are also dyed and hued in their associated colors, except for the Chaos Medley. The Ultimate Medley is color-coded as whites with rainbows, representing the amalgamation of the five Elements.
• Color-Coded Characters: Each character has a particular color they're associated with. In "Aku no Musume/Meshitukai" in Mirai DX, this is also used to represent who is who.
  • Miku = Cyan ^*Formerly Green
  • Rin and Len = Yellow
  • Len = Orange ^*Specific Character Color
  • Luka = Pink
  • KAITO = Blue
  • MEIKO = Red
    • Sakine Meiko = Orange
  • Haku = Purple/ White ^*Haku's name can be translated as 'White'
  • Neru = Yellow
  • Teto = Red
  • Gumi = Green ^*Only in Mirai
• Combos:
  • Maintained as long as you don't score a SAFE or lower on a note hit. Technical Zones in the F series and X require you to not drop your combo to get the Technical Bonus. Getting a full combo on a song produces a unique "PERFECT" ranking.
  • The way scoring works in Future Stars is that for every clock you clear, you receive points based on the number of notes you hit in the clock multiplied by your difficulty level, up to 5x at Level MAX.
• Console Cameo:
  • The music video for "Remote Controller" has a Dreamcast controller as one of the controllers. The color of the controller's logo depends on region, just like the original Dreamcast.
  • A loading screen for F 2nd features a Call-Back to "Remote Controller", this time featuring the Famicom controller that appeared in the original PV as opposed to F's.
  • Handheld consoles that look suspiciously like the PS Vita appear in a few songs and some loading screens. For example, "Negiposi*Continues" uses a console that looks like a white Vita, but all of the buttons are completely wrong.
• Contemplate Our Navels: The lyrics of "DYE" from ƒ, in that distinctly Engrishy way.
• Cover Version:
  • Quirky Medley - Giga Remix uses an existing Giga-P cover of "1 2 Fanclub" with Miku and Len as opposed to the original, which used GUMI, which is the version used in the Project Mirai series...
  • mirai has this as a feature, where swapping out the lead Vocaloid will play a cover of the current song using the selected Vocaloid. For example, changing the lead to Rin in "Mousou Sketch" will play a Rin version of the song instead.
  • Arcade/Future Tone has "Senbonzakura -F Edition-", a variant of Senbonzakura that uses the PV from F and is one of the only non-mirai songs that allows you to change the singer.
  • Travel to The Other Side of The Moon uses Rin and Len version, instead of the original, which used GUMI and SONiKA.
  • Highschool Days -DIVA EDIT uses Miku version and not the original GUMI version.
  • There are several songs across the series that feature a vocal switch option for the other Vocaloids. For example, ME Ik O's "Piano x Forte x Scandal" has a vocal switch for KAITO^note He has an official short version that was used as a demo for his V3 STRAIGHT voicebank, Miku, and Rin.
• Credits Medley: The song playing during the credits sequence of F, F 2nd and X is a medley of instrumental versions of some of the game songs.
• Creepy Doll: Present in "Ashes to Ashes" in F.
• Crossover: 2nd received some collaboration DLC with Namco's The Idolmaster, which included Modules for Miku, Rin, and Luka based on three of the game's characters, as well as two songs from that game redone with the Vocaloids. This coincided with the release of Project DIVA DLC for Idolm@ster 2.
  • And we do not go into the modules, as well as some songs, which reference 7th Dragon, Valkyria Chronicles, Puyo Puyo, Virtua Fighter, Sonic the Hedgehog, Phantasy Star, Virtual-ON... and keep being added to with every new release.
  • Persona 4: Dancing All Night featured Hatsune Miku collaboration content, which gladly returned the favor by featuring her costume from that game in X, Arcade, and Future Tone.
• Crucified Hero Shot:
  • The player character in "Black★Rock Shooter". They get better.
  • The player character strikes this pose at the end of "Break It, Break It."
• Cute Mute:
  • Teto, due to being owned by TWINDRILL instead of Crypton. In some games, Haku and Neru are also mute except when you clear a stage, and most of the games have no songs for them at all.
  • Averted with Gumi in her guest role in Project Mirai 2 and Project Mirai DX, where she features prominently in several songs.
• Damn You, Muscle Memory!:
  • The series has a weird quirk of penalizing you for not releasing hold notes on time, whereas most games generally accept the hold note as long as you held throughout the entire note. This will likely throw players of other rhythm games for a loop the first few times.
  • Players who played later games going back to the first game will likely get a few "Worst" notes because they were trying to use the D-Pad to hit them. You can't do that, here.
  • If you played too much F 2nd on the Vita with analog sticks as Scratches, see if you can finish any Hard/Extreme songs in F without touching the stick.
    • On the flipside, Scratch notes were very forgiving, being able to be done by simply flicking the stick/swiping the screen constantly on F - they were exempt from being judged as safe, meaning you just had to hit them in a reasonable area of their appearance to be given a "fine/good". F 2nd now actually requires you to properly hit the note to get a "fine/good" or "cool", making it much harder to complete Technical Zones or get a Perfect.
  • DIVA Arcade uses a button layout consisting of four buttons in a horizontal line, rather than the two sets of diamonds used by the console and handheld games. Anyone used to the latter, especially someone coming off playing on one of the limited edition arcade-style controllers, will be in for a rude awakening when they attempt Arcade.
    • As a result, Project Diva Future Tone on PS4 allows you to remap the entire controller to recreate the 'horizontal line' play style, or use the standard control style.
  • Going directly from a very fast (or even average paced) song, to a slower song, such as Sakura Rain, can really throw off a player when their still trying to hit buttons at a speed that's twice the speed of the current song.
  • mirai DX avoids this. The notes are colored to match the buttons on a New 3DS, but there is an option to have them match the PlayStation button colors. Even then, having the 'X' button be the top button instead of the bottom can still be confusing.
  • mirai is significantly more lenient with button timing than DIVA, to the point where the kind of timing that nets a FINE in DIVA is still a COOL in Mirai, and so forth. This can be detrimental if you play DIVA right after playing Mirai, which may screw up all your timing because DIVA is much harsher when it comes to grading.
  • Hold Notes in mirai are a weird combination between the main series' version and the kind used in Arcade. They're mandatory notes like in the main series, but you don't actually need to hold them, like in Arcade. Holding a Hold Note grants bonus points, like in Arcade, but the note requires you to both hit the note at the beginning and release at the end with proper timing for it to count, like in the main series.
  • Have fun playing some of the charts in F 2nd or X if you're too used to their original incarnations in an earlier game; some of them change just a few notes, which can throw you off especially on Extreme charts.
• Deal with the Devil: Of a sorts in Dream-Eating Monochrome Baku. Len, a baku (read: dream-eating spirit), makes a contract with a girl to eat all of her bad dreams. After he finishes eating her bad dreams, he continues eating her dreams until the girl can't dream anymore.
• Deliberately Monochrome:
  • "Kagerou Daze" has this as a chart gimmick, where every chart except for Easy uses only O, X, and Scratch Notes. This is a subtle Mythology Gag to Wannyanpu's "Kagerou Daze" PV, which predominantly consisted of red and blue colors.
  • Played more straight in "Aku no Musume" and "Aku no Meshitukai", where the characters are rendered as just black figures with the hair and clothes of the character, except for the singer themselves.
• Demoted to Extra: Everyone besides Miku in X.
• Department of Redundancy Department: Future Tone's last DLC update saw Sand Planet added to the game's expansive songlist. Oddly enough, this as listed in the both versions as "砂の惑星 feat.初音ミク" and "Suna no Wakusei feat. Hatsune Miku in redundant fashion. This is because this version of Sand Planet is the original version using Hatsune Miku, rather than the cover featured on Hachi/Kenshi Yonezu's album Bootleg. To those that don't know this, however, it looks like a silly reminder as to what game they're playing.
• Developer's Foresight:
  • There are several songs in the F series, and in X, where, even though a character may not appear as a selectable module, s/he will still appear in the song. If you select a Vocaloid other than the default, the default character will replace the selected one within the song. The default character will be wearing the appropriate outfit for the song too, if the character they replace had a special outfit (like with "Senbonzakura"). Taken to another level in "Rin-chan Now!", where the selected character's name and color appears correctly on their Twitter-like feed, and "Hello Worker," which displays the correct name and portrait on their resume, even for Neru, Haku, Teto, and Sakine Meiko.
    • Partially averted with Future Tone in a very nice way... For almost every song which, previously, had non-playable Vocaloids featured, ^note This excludes Rin in Rin-chan Now, and the chibified Vocaloids in God Tier Tune as an example you can manually set which Vocaloid appears where for ALL OF THEM. This includes songs with six performers, like Senbonzakura in F.
  • In "God-Tier Tune," if you select a Kaito or Meiko module, they'll still have a super-deformed model to replace Miku's, despite not appearing in the song otherwise.
  • In "I Really Do Understand", even if you have not bought ANY swimwear for the Vocaloids, the same feature that automatically pairs Vocaloids gives you, temporarily, one of the swimwear outfits for the Vocaloid you pick, including with the Extra Vocaloids.
  • If you try to equip a head or face customization item on a module that normally wears a hat or mask, the hat or mask will disappear so the customization item doesn't clip through it, even if you can't normally get a hatless or maskless alt version of that module.
    • Future Tone and X expand on that, allowing you to outright remove 'Exclusive' Accessories, as if they were seperate items.
  • In F 2nd, in the event that you swipe a Chance Time Star with both fingers akin to a Wide Scratch, you will still get the Chance Time Bonus, but you won't get the Chance Time movie.
• Difficulty by Acceleration: In F 2nd's Pattycake minigame, each successive round gets much faster, up to three rounds.
• Difficulty by Region: Downplayed; the first Technical Zone in F 2nd's "Cantarella ~grace edition~" is ten notes longer in localized versions. It's possible this is simply a mistake.
• Disproportionate Retribution: The Daughter of Evil in Mirai DX finds out that the Prince of Blue is in love with a a girl from the Green Country. So what does she do? She destroys an entire kingdom. Overnight.
  • Word of God says that she failed to get to the girl, so she sends her servant to make sure the job is done. He is unable to do so and tries to save her, but she gets killed anyway.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: "Holy Lance Explosion Boy" uses quite a bit of pelvic thrust moves in its routine. The camera even zooms in on the player character's crotch at one point.
• Dolled-Up Installment: Miracle Girls Festival might as well be another Project DIVA game if you took out all of the Vocaloid content and replaced it with anime content instead.
• Double Unlock: Most of the games use a currency system, which allows you to buy items for your Divas, but you must first unlock them by completing a particular Guide Dang It! task. Retired in X, which shifts to completing Quests and Chance Time in Live Quest Mode to unlock Modules, Accessories and Presents, as well as outright gifting you items for getting 100% on a song.
  • Future Tone subverts the latter, by only requiring the song pack to be downloaded, but retains the Arcade version's Vocaloid Point system, so you don't get them literally free.
• Do Well, But Not Perfect: Literally; one of the titles in F requires you to miss a PERFECT by one 'Safe', and another requires you to do it ten times. To add insult to injury, X has a title for achieving this on the last note called "SAFE At Last".
• Downer Beginning: The opening for X is a lot less cheery than the opening of any other DIVA game, featuring scenes such as the Cloud Prisms losing their power, causing the Vocaloids to lose their strength in return, as well as Miku nearly giving up hope until Ultimate Miku comes to her rescue.
• Downer Ending:
  • The regular ending of the "Hello, Planet" subgame in the first game, if you fail to acquire the Orb and take it to the secret exit in Level 4. This results in the normal ending as seen in the original song, where Miku is reunited with her master in heaven, but has passed away.
  • "Kokoro", which ends in the robot (Rin) overloading from the "Kokoro" system and dying. How it's portrayed varies by version; the DIVA/Arcade version lays it out pretty explicitly with an Info Dump, while the mirai version takes a more implied stance, but delivers it with more emotion.
• Downloadable Content:
  • 2nd had an enormous amount of DLC, including character birthday packages, two minigames, new songs, Modules, and The Idolmaster Crossover content. Thankfully, extend came with all of it right out of the box.
  • From 2nd onwards, Yowane Haku, Akita Neru and Kasane Teto are available as bonus characters, with one or all of them included in the DLC packs available each game, if not the game itself. From F onwards, a Mikudayo suit was also made available for purchase in non-console versions.
  • F included a package of brand new songs previously unseen in the main series, such as "Senbonzakura", "Rin-Chan Now!", "Dream-Eating Monochrome Baku", and the Mikudayo hat. The console release included these as default content, although they are optional and not tied to any non-DLC content.
  • F 2nd also brought back numerous songs such as "Electric Angel", "magnet", "Sekiranun Graffiti", and "Look This Way, Baby" as DLC. There were even some special DLC promotions initally only available in the localized version.
  • X includes the typical fare, including two new songs, a Haku/Neru/Teto bundle, extra Modules based on modules released while the game was in development, and Mikudayo. There are also Unlock Keys and Unlock Sets exclusive to this game due to the staggering amount of unlockable content it has to offer.
  • Separate game packages notwithstanding, Future Tone is also kept roughly up to date with the corresponding Arcade installment via DLC packages that add new Songs, Modules, and EXTRA EXTREME tracks according to the relative Arcade updates. In addition to separate availability, you can also purchase the Season Pass for 3900 yen, which not only grants access to all upcoming content, but also includes a set of 40 avatars for your PlayStation Network account.
  • Mega Mix has a Theme Song Pack as DLC, which adds four songs that previously appeared as theme songs, including "The secret garden" and "Yumeyume". It also has six Song Packs that add songs from previous games, as well as a Season Pass that nets you all six Song Packs at a discounted price.
• Droste Image: The PV for "Just Be Friends" occurs on a stage with a giant screen showing whatever is on the camera - twice, side-by-side. Of course, whenever you can see that, you had a double droste image. "The Snow White Princess is..." also has this, because the PV uses the same stage, with some minor differences.
• Dualvertisement:
  • The music video for "The MMORPG Addict's Anthem" takes place at the ARKS Shop Area Stage. If you succeed at Chance Time, Miku is depicted acquiring a Rare Item, which the PV displays as the Rappy Wedding Cake Room Item^*Fun fact: Rare Room Items cannot naturally drop. In PSO2, Room Items can only have a natural maximum rarity of 6★, just one short of Rare. Actual Rare Room Items are only obtained from special promotions.. Afterwards, this item is made available in the shop for purchase. Notably, this is one of the few items that can still be unlocked even if the song is completed on Easy, since Miku unlocked it within the song.
  • The Song "Tell Your World" was originally created for Google to advertise how Hatsune Miku has become a worldwide phenomeon. In the first Project Diva game to come to the West, the song is included. Say it with me. A song made to advertise Miku's popularity worldwide, where she sings of how she wants to sing to everyone, is included in Miku's first worldwide game release, and also appears as Live Mode DLC for the second, with a translation that makes it impossible not to feel you're part of something special.
  • The Module "CA Style A" in X gives Miku a stewardess outfit. It can be acquired from a product code distributed by Japanese airline AIR DO, or by purchasing the game during the first month.
• Dub Name Change: Tends to flip-flop between doing this or not:
  • A handful of song names in F got more liberal translations that were different from more literal fan-established one. "Torinokocity"^note Typically fan-translated as "Left-Behind City" became "Urbandonment", and "Netgame Addicts Sprechchor"^note which was already its official English title according to the Japanese version, no less became "The MMORPG Addict's Anthem", to name a couple.^note Justified in the sequel with the song "Genga Spoofing". The easy translation would be "Gengar Spoofing", but, obviously, with this being a SEGA game on a Sony console, it became "Doubleganger".
  • In Mirai DX, most titles are left completely untranslated. The end result is that some titles can be a mouthful for an English speaker not learned in Japanese pronunciation, such as Arifureta Sekai Seifuku (Common World Domination) or Gaikotsu Gakudan to Riria (Skeleton Orchestra and Lilia). Also averted with the Puyo Puyo! 39 minigame, rather surprisingly.^note In any localization of Puyo Puyo that wasn't a Dolled-Up Installment, the franchise was always called Puyo Pop prior to Mirai DX. Notably, This extended to, in 2017, Puyo Puyo Tetris being localized as such.
  • Some songs also manage to escape this process for the sake of not sounding awkward in English. In these cases, the Japanese title more or less remains intact. For example, the song "Sekiranun Graffiti", which is rarely, but usually English-translated into the strange-sounding "Cumulonimbus Graffiti", is simply "Sekiranun Graffiti" in F 2nd. Other examples include Tengaku^note Rarely translated as "Sounds/Music of Heaven, "Kagerou Daze"^note Sometimes translated into Heat-Haze Daze, "Akatsuki Arrival"^note Sometimes "Daybreak Arrival", and oddly, "Roshin Yuukai"^note Commonly translated into "Meltdown", which is not only the widely-accepted translation, but it's also official.
  • In X, Areas became "Clouds", Neutral became "Classic", Beauty became "Elegant", and Chaos became "Quirky". Live Edit Mode also became "Concert Editor" to better reflect what the mode actually does.
  • KAITO's "Satan" outfit in mirai 2 became "Dark Prince" in DX, similar to translations done for Puyo Pop Fever and Puyo Puyo Tetris.
  • Even better, Sega zig-zagged on some of the titles in Future Tone, such as the case with the aformentioned Urbandonment becoming Torinokocity again. Clockwork Clown/Karakuri Pierrot and Sakura Rain/Sakura no Ame suffer the same fate.
• Duet Bonding: "World's End Dancehall" from ƒ has Miku and Luka facing off in a heated dance battle, only for them to hit it off at the end when they realise the crowd loves it.
• Early-Installment Weirdness:
  • Project DIVA has a whole laundry list of quirks that were excluded by 2nd. These include:
    • Score-based success. 2nd swapped this for different system based on COOL/FINE notes hit, which was later expanded upon with additional mechanics. The only games to revive this system are Arcade and X.
    • Very few "story" PVs, a hallmark of the series that became more abundant in 2nd and gave many songs more identity. Some PVs weren't even dances and were simply slideshows.
    • Hold and Wide Notes didn't exist. These were added in 2nd.
    • The D-pad could not be used to hit normal notes, which is a punch in the gut for left-handed players. This now is standard, and even ENCOURAGED with Future Tone on PS4.
    • Hard was the highest difficulty. Extreme, the series' most iconic difficulty, only came about in 2nd, and Extra Extreme is currently exclusive to the arcade and PS4 versions of Future Tone.
    • Songs were divided into different categories. The first song in each category was unlocked from the start, and to unlock every song, you had to complete each category individually. While this mechanic wasn't completely removed for future games for sake of having more starting tracks, future games dropped the categories and simply put songs into different unlock chains. The only game to renew this mechanic in its entirety is X, which dubs the categories "Element Clouds", and further categorizes modules by assigning them an Element.
    • Only Miku had a Room. This was diversified in 2nd, which renamed "Miku's Room" into "DIVA Room" and gave every Vocaloid their own Rooms. The Rooms were consolidated back into one in X, due to the nature of the menu system.
    • The main game was known as "Free Play". This was later renamed to "Rhythm Game". X brought back the term "Free Play", but now uses it to distinguish itself from "Live Quest"; while the latter uses a new set of progression-based mechanics, Free Play Mode plays much closer to older installments.
    • Many of the songs are simply repeats of the same song sung by a different Vocaloid, and the majority of songs were done by one of four composers who make up almost the entirety of the song's setlist; later games make an effort to include a much larger variety of composers.
    • There is an overwhelming amount of focus on Miku compared to other games in the series. Later games until X made a point of giving the other characters more screentime and songs while still letting Miku have the lion's share of the spotlight.
  • Hatsune Miku and Future Stars: Project mirai was incredibly different from its later games.
    • The most stand-out being that it plays like a completely different game. Future Stars involves clocks appearing on the screen with notes appearing at the edge, with a hand rotating clockwise. When a hand passes over a note, the player is required to push it. Its sequels replaced this with Groove Coaster-like gameplay that functions a lot closer to the other games in the franchise.
    • Bonus notes existed in tandem with SP Notes; these notes had a star design in them and could be hit with any button. These were removed in 2.
    • Hold Notes function like their main series counterparts, in which the player cannot let go or else you'll lose the note. 2 modifies Hold Notes to work like a combination between the main series version and the Arcade version.
    • Instead of being awarded points per note hit, the player is awarded points per clock cleared with an attached Score Multiplier.
    • Mirai Town didn't exist, and all of the Mirai Rooms were completely different.
    • The currency was called "Rhythm Game Points", which was later changed to "Mirai Points" in 2.
    • Future Stars recycled a ton of the original Nico Nico Douga and YouTube PVs for its music videos. 2 replaced "Yumeyume" with in-engine movies, and DX replaced the remaining set. The videos for Yumeyume and Happy Synthesizer can still be viewed from the options menu, however.
  • Chance Time in the DIVA series enabled the player to score big bonus points, but otherwise had no real bearing on song completion. The mechanic was vastly overhauled in F, where it now awards a Chance Time Bonus towards completion percentage and successfully clearing it triggers a modified version of the PV, which includes added sound effects and alternate endings. Or in "Kagerou Daze"'s case, a completely different video.
  • F had no option to hit Scratch Notes with the stick, a feature that was included from F 2nd onward, with Future Tone changing it to that slide notes were done using the same controls as the scratch notes.
  • Arcade was the first game to include Senbonzakura before F added it as DLC; the version initially used in Arcade is one of only a handful of songs in the entire game to recycle a Nico Nico Douga PV^note others include Slump, Pink Moon, and Hibikase.
  • A number of older PVs in Arcade/Future Tone were created using the PSP games' Edit Mode (often created by fans as part of regular contests). These PVs tend to stand out from the rest as distinctly lower-quality with very rigid animations, less-fluid camera movement, recycled assets (stages in particular), and less dynamic facial expressions and lip-syncing.
• Earn Your Fun: To unlock a song's Hard chart, you have to clear its Normal chart first. To unlock the Extreme chart, you need to clear the Hard chart first.
  • Project Diva Arcade and Future Tone are even more cruel. Hard mode is unlocked already, and some songs don't have Easy ''OR'' Normal, but they do sometimes have EXTRA EXTREME...
  • Slightly averted in X. Although you don't unlock any higher difficulties in Cloud/Event Request until you've fully restored each cloud, they are all automatically unlocked in free play.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: The secret ending of the "Hello, Planet" DLC subgame in the first game. Using the potted plant will make Miku water it, causing a counter above it to increase in increments. When reaches 50, it will dispense an orb. This allows you to access the secret exit located behind the regular one in Level 4. This takes you to a secret Level 5, and if you complete it alive, Miku makes it to the boy's grave intact, but trips, falls flat on her face and drops the potted plant, causing the pot to shatter. This causes an angel to appear, who summons the corpse of Miku's master to her. Miku, with the power of the orb and seven rainbow melodies, then begins to sing a slower reprise of the chorus of "Hello, Planet", which causes her deceased master to come Back from the Dead. The credits then shows the two regrowing the Earth's plants together.
• Easter Egg:
  • When you pass the Extra Mode AR marker scan over an image of the box art of any of the first five games on F 2nd, the game scans it, and creates a Bland-Name Product version of all five games as items you can put in the room.
  • In the mirai series, Miku can obtain an Arle Nadja outfit. If you then start up Puyo Puyo! 39 while Miku is wearing it, her voice clips and animations will be based off of Arle, including her spell names^note Except for max chain, where "Bayoen!" is replaced with "Dayo!", as well as her combo bursts.
  • In mirai, put a Vocaloid to sleep, and wait for a while. Given enough time, they will eventually start doing things in their sleep, such as sleepwalking, rolling out of their bed, tossing and turning, and sleepdancing.
  • In mirai's tune synthesizer, setting the audio type to Vocal and holding a single note for an extended period of time will cause your Vocaloid to begin audibly straining their voice, then running out of breath.
  • Wait on mirai DX's title screen until the opening loops. Rin, Len, Luka, KAITO, and MEIKO, in that order, will do the SEGA jingle and the Title Scream for each time the opening is allowed to repeat.
  • Hold L when loading into your Mirai Room, and the music will change depending on the room.
  • In "Nice to Meet You, Mr. Earthling!", during the final chorus, images begin to appear behind Miku of UFO sightings in various stages. One of the images is a fake "Breaking News" screen with a fictional web address underneath. In the Arcade/Future Tone version, where you can see the images much more clearly, and the text would need to be legible, the fictional web address is replaced with a real one, the SEGA feat. Hatsune Miku Project official blog.
  • Highlighting "Random" in Arcade/Future Tone plays a unique "random" song as background music.
• Easy-Mode Mockery:
  • Playing on the Easy difficulty in F and F 2nd prevents you from unlocking the Hard versions of songs, and some modules and items. Future Tone is similar in that Extreme and EX songs can only be unlocked by beating a song on Hard. Additionally, if you choose to use a help item, the rank shown will have a green heart beside it. Some help items go further and automatically give you the CHEAP/LOUSY/SO CLOSE rating regardless of performance, preventing you from unlocking new songs.
  • One of the cheapest, in gaming terms, help items was removed for F 2nd, which allowed you to, on any difficulty, play it with only the basic note types of Easy Mode.
  • "Disruptive Diva" in Future Tone has a rather unfitting blue background in its art if you're playing on Normal, but it's red on anything higher. Ironically, the blue background is the one used in the original video, with the red one not even appearing.
  • Some recent games will have a very obvious marker on songs you completed with help items on, and Future Tone, which only has ONE help item, will not record your completion percentage or score when you have 'No Fail' on, just granting you whatever you earned with little fanfare.
• Embedded Precursor:
  • The aforementioned Easter Egg in F 2nd where scanning any of the previous games with the Extra Marker Scanner gets you knockoff Room Items based on them.
  • Future Tone by its nature has this for the entire, except for X, Project Diva franchise, in that it contains ALL the songs, with as close to their original music video as possible.^note Which means Miracle Paint is missing its cane, since they only managed to code it in with its most recent version. and some songs are missing Chance Time Events.
• Engrish: As the Vocaloid 3 modules were only finished a few weeks before the release of Project Diva F in English, all the songs but one are only translated in that Romanji is used on the karaoke bar. Also, All the Vocaloids, when, as of recent updates, all of them have a english voice bank, still use the original engrish victory announcements. Several fans of Project Diva have took it upon themselves to remix, using the Vocaloid 3 English voicebank, several of the songs from Project Diva F and have so far shown almost half the songs sound just as good, if not better, in english!
  • This is slightly averted by the song 'DYE', in that the song is mostly sung in awkward English.
  • The lack of English is averted, in a very cute fashion, in F 2nd. Luka uses the english Yankee Doodle chant for the new minigame, in all regions, purely since she's always spoken passable English!
    • Then averted even more in a shocking move, as SEGA announced that the subtitles now have an option on all but ONE song to translate faithfully the lyrics into full English, approved by Crypton and the original composers, for the western release!
  • The most stunning development comes from Project Diva X including the Miku Expo 2014 version of Sharing The World, which was one of the beta tracks for Miku V3 English. This means. for the first time ever, Miku uses English on a Project Diva title.
• Everything's Better with Rainbows:
  • The Chance Time Finish note has rainbow filling. In Arcade/Future Tone, this was changed to a rainbow outline.
  • Miku's "Celebration" outfit in Future Tone DX is a 10th anniversary variant of her default outfit that shimmers rainbow, has a rainbow belt strap, rainbow lining on the skirt, and has giant, rainbow music stands tied up in a ribbon design flowing out of her back. Miku's hair also has strands of various colors added to it.
• Everything Trying to Kill You: The PV for "Kagerou Daze". Speeding truck? Discarded liquor bottle? Steel pipes from said truck? Car crash? Slippery staircase? Conveniently broken bridge railing that falls apart when someone leans on it?
• Exact Words: Invoked in a very unique way with "SPiCA 39's Giving Day Edition". It's literally a live band recording of SPiCA, the band being Miku's own house band, from one of the 39's Giving Day concerts, complete with the concert's stage, applause and Miku signing off at the end with a 'Thank you' to the fans.
  • This is taken to a frankly ridiculous level with the Project Diva Arcade version, where the graphics quality is so good, you can actually just about see the walls of the the auditorium where she's supposedly singing. The only thing missing with this version is The 39's themselves. Butterfly On Your Right Shoulder also has a 39's Giving Day version in Acrade/Future Tone.
• Excuse Plot: X's plot is little more than an excuse for the Vocaloids to sing, with little, unconnected events happening in each cloud. Which is odd, since it was heavily advertised in the US before its release.
• Eye Poke: In F2nd, one of the places you can poke the Vocaloids is in their eyes. It doesn't annoy them any more than poking them on the forehead, though they'll blink after you do it.
• Eyes Do Not Belong There: The module Demons and the Dead, which has eyes painted on Miku's palms. Notably, It is meant to be that unsettling, and is a form of (Ancient) Mythology Gag.

F - L

• Fake Difficulty: Quite a few examples. Even if you know a song by heart, some song charts practically require the player to be familiar with them to not slip up on its notes.
  • Songs that change tempo, which can really screw with your timing. Most blatant with "Nyanyanyanyanyanya!", which does this five times. And this version of the song has never existed until now, so practically no one will be familiar with the song the first time through. mirai has a variant with changing the line speed mid-song, which can make it difficult to visually gauge the distance between notes. For example, "Amatsu Kitsune" has a section at the start of the third chorus where the line slows down to a crawl and the notes are suddenly all squished next to each other, but the timing is exactly the same as the rest of the song.
  • Any song with a PV with a lot of colorful movement going around in the background, making it more difficult than it should be for the targets and incoming beats to be seen. 2D Dream Fever is infamous for this; in addition to a particularly nauseating color scheme, the PV often switches between pitch black on 80% of the screen and a color explosion.
  • Songs with extended endings. A particularly evil example happens with World's End Umbrella just after the Chance Time star. The title card appears, the song goes completely dead, as if the song is over. PSP veterans would put the controller down and consider the song over, and that they missed some notes when in actuality, it's a fake ending, and, on Extreme, they'll miss several notes anyway! PoPiPo Special Edition is also devious in this department; the song proper ends right after the Chance Time star, then the video shows Miku, Toro, and Kuro drinking vegetable juice, with Toro and Kuro posing. Then a six-note jingle plays at the end. The gap between the end of the song and the jingle is a whole ten seconds, so if you already put down your Vita, you may find yourself scrambling to hit the last six notes.
  • Overlapping notes. One egregious example is in Luka Luka Night Fever in F 2nd. On Normal/Hard, the "Lu-ka Lu-ka" (Night Fever) parts of the song are overlapping A-B-A-B notes (e.g. square-X-square-X). A little sneaky at first, but entirely manageable after the first instance or so. On Extreme, this trend continues, with the slight twist of making the B-notes doubles instead of singles... until you get to Chance Time, where the notes randomly switch to an A-B-B-A format instead. While still overlapping. Completely out of nowhere. Fake Difficulty at its finest.
  • In F 2nd, gimmicky linked star notes. It's not really clear how fast you need to flick a sequence of linked star notes until you experience it for yourself. One of the best examples is in F 2nd's Knife, which has a simple two-linked-star note sequence, symbolizing a sword slash. There's a fairly long line in between the two notes, but the star travels along the line blindingly fast, so you actually have to flick twice in rapid succession, and not with a pause in between as the line between them would have you expect.
  • In Future Stars, multiple overlapping clocks can make it difficult to tell where you're supposed to go next, especially if you weren't paying attention to their spawn pattern.
  • Adding to the above, there's also linked star notes that overlap. Thankfully, since you're just flicking either way and these usually still follow the beat of the song, combined with the fact that the timing on star notes is more relaxed than regular notes, these usually aren't too bad.
  • A lot of these are lampshaded in the Extreme version of the tutorial song, Ievan Polkka.
  • In the mirai spin-off series, notes appear along a line that meanders around the screen to the general mood of the song rather than all over the screen, which alleviates most of the fake difficulty, but not all. In some songs, such as "Piano x Forte x Scandal," the line will frequently turn very sharp corners with notes on either side, making it difficult to visually gauge the timing, and in many songs, the line will often go off the edge of the screen while notes are spawning on it, giving the player very little time to react when the screen catches up.
  • X's "Urotander, Underhanded Rangers" is the embodiment of this trope, true to the song's title. The fifth note is a Scratch Note flying at sonic speed without warning, and it only gets worse from there. Overlapping notes that are the same and different? Notes spaced so far apart you can't tell that they're consecutive? Notes deliberately placed along the edge of the screen, then arrive from the same edge? Notes coming from multiple sides at the same time with little warning? Speed manipulation? It's like a bad nightmare, multiplied by ten.
• Fake Longevity:
  • To unlock a song's Hard chart, you have to play its Normal chart first. To unlock its Extreme chart, you have to play its Hard chart. This quickly becomes a hassle if you've played other games in the series and can get PERFECTs on Extreme charts, because you're forced to play through charts you are far more than capable of clearing just to get to the challenging charts.
    • X averts this to a degree. Although only easy and normal difficulties can be played until you've completed the "The Third Festival" event request after fully restoring each cloud, those that jump straight into free play will be happy to see Hard and Extreme already unlocked.
  • It's worse in the original: You can only unlock the Hard chart by getting a GREAT rating. If you only get a standard, guess who's going another round.
  • Unlocking 100% of the Modules in the original PSP game requires clearing all of the songs sung by Miku (32 of the 36) and getting either 5 Normals or 1 Great per character! This also has to be done six times, using a character's original module for each run, making it almost a waste to use any of Miku's other costumes.
  • F 2nd restores this aspect somewhat with the Information Board challenges, which include cumulative score or note totals. Notably, some of the challenges are to get NO notes of one of the types. Most of them aren't any worse than having to clear a song 5 times or play it once on each difficulty, but a few in particular require double-digit clears while "I'll Miku-Miku You (Forreals!)" has one that requires a minimum of 20(!) clears.
  • X features over 300 Modules, including both original and F series outfits. There's no Shop anymore. You can unlock exactly one Module for every song you play.^note There is also no Old Save Bonus feature, only a Cloud Import feature for owners of the JP version, which prevents you from simply unlocking 4/5 of the Modules right away. Not to mention Accessories, which you can unlock a handful of per song, depending on how much bonus Voltage you accumulate There is DLC for this to make this far less of a hassle. And to unlock all the crystals that lift all of the drop requirements, you'll have to be playing every song at least eight times.
    • It gets even worse when it comes to the gift items: Each and every one of them Randomly Drops at the end of a song and between 2-5 can be earned depending on the difficulty. Some items multiple room events related to them but just trying to get 1 of said item can result in play the same song over and over and over again.
  • X also made maxing out everyone's friendships much longer by adding more levels and requiring literally hundreds of gifts given to each character.
  • Perfectly exemplified due to the fact that getting the Platinum trophy for X takes longer than F and F 2nd combined despite having significantly less content than either one individually.
• Fanservice: Every game is obligated to have one song that features the lead girls in swimsuits, such as "Summer Idol" from F. Doesn't stop those songs from being difficult, though.
  • Kaito and Len aren't safe either. Both of them have multiple swimsuit modules, including a remarkably small speedo for Kaito, and Len's Punkish module has been likened to something a stripper would wear. Then there's Kaito's Cyber Neko module◊.
• Final Boss: Each game has a song considered this, although it's not necessarily the last unlockable track.
  • DIVA didn't have one, due to the non-linear way the tracks were unlocked. "The Disappearance of Hatsune Miku" can be considered this by some, though, due to being the toughest song in the game.
  • 2nd had "The Intense Voice of Hatsune Miku".
  • Extend also used a non-linear unlock schedule, but "The Intense Voice of Hatsune Miku" is considered this.
  • F had "Sadistic.Music∞Factory".
  • F 2nd had "2D Dream Fever".
  • X had "The Ultimate Medley", which is all of the above in one track, plus "Two-Sided Lovers".
  • Future Tone has the 10★ Survival Course, which is similar to X's Ultimate Medley, but replacing "Sadistic.Music∞Factory" with "Negi*Posi Continues" and including the EXTRA EXTREME version of "The Disappearance Of Hatsune Miku", graded a 10★ and often referred to by fans as the hardest song in the game.
• Final Death Mode: Future Tone introduces Survival Course, a mode where you play through a gauntlet of random songs with only a single life bar that carries over between tracks. You get to pick your first track, but after that, you're at the mercy of the RNG.
• Fission Mailed: Obtaining the Chance Time bonus in "Sadistic.Music Factory" leads to the bad ending that involves failing to escape from the factory.
  • Several Item Events have "Fail" versions where the character messes up what s/he is doing in some fashion.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus:
  • The potted plant from "Hello, Planet" can be briefly seen in exactly two shots near the beginning of "Negaposi*Continues".
  • Towards the end of "Odds & Ends", Miku receives sheet music; during the second she turns around, it can be seen that the sheet music is actually for... "Odds & Ends". In Arcade/Future Tone, it can be seen as accurate to the song as well.
  • For a split second in "Black Rock Shooter", all six Crypton Vocaloids' hands can be seen reaching skyward.
• The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: "Sadistic.Music∞Factory", effectively. During the song's... erm, "first verse", it can be imagined that she's talking to a random worker, but in the accompanying video, she's pointing at the screen, as if talking to the player. Also, the entire ending sequence.
• Fun with Acronyms: The "HD" in "Project DIVA X HD" doesn't stand for "high definition", it stands for "honki no DIVA".
• Fun with Subtitles: F and F 2nd let users create subtitles for their edit data, so naturally you'll find some of this.
• Funny Background Event:
  • During the video for "LOL -lots of laugh-" in Mirai DX, Miku is riding a teacup ride. Briefly in the background, the rabbit leading her through the candy-filled amusement park is flailing around madly in her own teacup.
  • Luka tripping over and falling on her face in Senbonzakura.
  • Towards the end of "Nice to Meet You, Mr. Earthling!", the background starts displaying a bunch of images reporting on UFO sightings in all of the Project mirai DX stages.
• Funbag Airbag: Happens to Rin in one of the gallery images in F 2nd as she dives for a beach ball and ends up with her head on Miku's chest.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation
  • Almost every time a Vocaloid is shown in the opening cutscenes, they are wearing their default costumes. This is subverted with Project Diva, where Miku begins wearing the "Ha2ne Miku" module, later associated with the opening video, and Project Diva X, where Miku is visited by herself wearing the Ultimate Miku module you earn by completing the game.
  • All the cinematic music videos depict the Vocaloids doing several things, like Miku's diorama building, and in places that are not represented by Room Themes or items available in any of the games.
  • Partially subverted by "The MMORPG Addict's Anthem", where the Chance Time event shows Miku winning an item for her successful concert, which is indeed unlocked for completing the song, even on the lowest difficulty, which normally unlocks only the costume.
• Gameplay Grading:
  • Being a rhythm game series, this is obviously present, though with worded grades rather than letter grades. From worst to best, they are MISS×TAKE (DROP×OUT in F's English release)^*fail to finish a song, CHEAP (LOUSY in F's English release or SO CLOSE in F 2nd and later English releases)^*finish a song but fail to get enough rank points, STANDARD, GREAT, EXCELLENT, and PERFECT.
  • mirai forgoes the words and simply uses Rank Inflation, ranging from D to SS/S+^*The latter in US regions.
• G.I.R.L.: "The MMORPG Addict's Anthem" can play this straight or invert it, depending on whose modules are chosen for what. In particular, Miku's "FOnewearl style" module is locked to the Guest module slot until purchased, but the Vocal slot can be changed any time.
• Global Currency Exception: Unlike DIVA, which uses the same currency across all in-game purchases, Mirai DX uses the 3DS' Play Coins for purchasing Items. While it's entirely possible to play the game without ever spending on items, three of the possible items also boost overall Mirai Point acquisition, which can make it tempting to spend on them.
• Goggles Do Nothing: It's GUMI's trademark, of course. Some outfits swap out her goggles for other head accessories.
  • One of the accessories in X is a pair of aviator goggles that the characters wear on their head. They're also a default part of Rin's "Burning Stone" and Len's "Lightning Stone" modules.
• Good-Times Montage:
  • The majority of "Time Machine" is a reel of the viewpoint character's memories with Miku, up until he/she has to depart and leave Miku behind.
  • "Fire Flower" is also similar, as it looks back on Len's memories with Rin while Len is performing on stage for her.
• Goroawase Number:
  • Exploited extensively with the Arc Number "39", which can be read as "miku" or the English words "thank you". MEGA39's is meant to be read like "megamix" ("39's" = "mi-ku-su").
  • The Ha2ne Miku module is a play on the Japanese pronunciation for the number 2 as "tsu", thereby making it "Hatsune Miku".
• Gory Discretion Shot:
  • In "Aku No Musume" and "Aku No Meshitsukai", when the evil princess Riliane (Rin) (actually her twin brother Allen (Len) in disguise) is executed, there is a cut to a black screen with a falling ribbon as the guillotine falls. This was apparently still graphic enough to warrant the game an E10+ rating in America.
  • Miku jerks awake an instant before each moment she'd be killed in the PV for "Kagerou Daze."
• Gotta Catch 'Em All: Arcade has tons of special trading cards you can collect by completing challenges, which can then be used with an online Mini-Game.
• Grass is Greener: "Negaposi*Continues". Turns out living in a video game isn't all it's cracked up to be.
• Gravity Is a Harsh Mistress:
  • Justified in "Amatsu Kitsune", since Rin was attempting to use flight magic. She falls down when her spell fizzles out.
  • Played straight in "Piano Girl", where Miku is running up and down some stairs, only to not notice a shapr drop. Miku turns her head with a shocked expression before she starts falling.
• Gratuitous English: The text scroll at the end of "Kokoro" has some... "grammatical liberties". This was fixed in F 2nd.
• "Groundhog Day" Loop: Miku gets stuck in one in the "Chance Time" version of Kagerou Daze.
• Guest Fighter: GUMI in mirai, who is not a Crypton Vocaloid.
• Guide Dang It!: Averted in F 2nd. A new feature adds a Information Board which tells you what unlockables you can unlock in a song, in a easy to read format. Of course, so it's not TOO easy, it only reveals them in stages.
  • Also played straight in the same game's Diva Room unlocks as there are several unique items unlocked outside of the songs that are only obtained through certain numbers of various events such as visiting it daily, accepting requests and even making up with each Vocaloid after making them angry with no real way to track progress.
  • In mirai, non-song-related outfits and some unlocks fall straight into this category.
    • Miku's Snow Miku series of outfits. You need to place the corresponding Nendoroid in a Mirai Room.
    • Getting a particular Vocaloid's Pajamas. You need to raise a Vocaloid's Friendship to a high enough level, as well as put them to sleep for at least a certain number of hours at least once.
    • The bonus faces. Hatchune Miku requires getting all of the Miku outfits, Super KAITO requires getting all of the KAITO outfits, and Mikudayo requires getting all the outfits.
    • The game's very last unlockable. To get it, you must possess every single outfit in the game and achieve maximum friendship with Miku. This unlocks the Mikudayo body and the "Otoro Cushion" Medium Room Item.
  • Getting trophies. Every trophy in F, F 2nd and X just has the description "You earned the title *trophy name*", which is technically correct since you also unlock the title with the same name along with it, but as titles don't even show up before you earn them and the names usually don't tell you exactly what you're supposed to do... trophy hunters will want to consult Google for this.
    • Future Tone averts this, having all the trophies explicitly describe how to get them, even making it clear that the 100% Completion trophies can be done even with the No Fail mode on.
  • It's never explicitly made clear that you can hit multiple consecutive Wide Notes by simply holding down one of the required buttons and hammering away at the other. The only difference between the two methods is that pushing both buttons simultaneously is the only way to score bonus points for a Wide Note, but otherwise, either method can be used for straight clearing without penalty. This is spectacularly useful for fast songs which feature such a gimmick, like "Secret Police".
• Guilt-Based Gaming: Spend more than a week without selecting a Vocaloid as your partner in Project Mirai, and they will turn around on the partner selection menu. If you select them, you will be forced to verbally apologize or repeatedly tap a button to get them to forgive you. If you stop playing for more than a week, every partner will be angry at you.
  "(partner) is feeling down because you've been gone so long! You should say sorry..."
• Hammerspace: In the "Hello, Planet" game, Miku can apparently hold a ton of stuff that goes apparently nowhere, including a whole hot air balloon.
• Harder Than Hard:
  • Extreme difficulty, home to some of the toughest charts in the series, like Negaposi*Continues, Sadistic Music Factory, and The Intense Voice of Hatsune Miku.
  • Arcade also has EXTRA EXTREME, which gives charts with no Slide Notes Slide Notes. Note that this does not necessarily make the song harder; some songs actually get easier on EXEX.
  • Mirai DX introduces Super Hard difficulty, its equivalent of Extreme in the DIVA series. However, only six songs have the option, and the player must both beat the game and achieve an S Rank or higher on that song's Hard chart to unlock it.
• The Hat Makes the Man: In X, the characters behave differently depending on the attribute of the module equipped.
• Hazardous Water: In "Hello, Planet", Miku's life drains when she's in rain due to being a robot, although she prevents it by picking up an umbrella partway through. In the corresponding game, rain does indeed hurt you, as well as small pits of water. After picking up the Umbrella, you can stop rain damage by equipping it, but while holding it, you can only walk. However, it also causes you to descend a half speed after a jump.
• Healing Potion: In the "Hello, Planet" game, Miku can pick up bottles of clean water. Using one restores a whole heart to your life gauge. Of course, something ELSE needs water more than her...
• The Hero Dies: Some songs. "Hello, Planet" and "Kokoro" are infamous for this.
• Hero of Another Story: Yowane Haku, who makes a very brief cameo in mirai's "Aku no Meshitukai", is a related character in the scope of the "Aku no Musume/Meshitukai" story who is an observer to all of the story's events, but her only role is that of Clarith, Michaela's (Miku) lover and confidant, which fades away after Michaela's death.
• Hidden Depths: The Vocaloids in Project Diva X have a lot to say about the world they live in, and their own troubles, like one of Miku's observations is about how she finds it difficult sometimes to adjust to a new module straight away because of her mood changing sometimes, whenever they speak to you, unlike earlier games, where the interactions were short, never subtitled, or sometimes voiced at all, and the most complex interactions were when they wanted you to change something or their friendship rating increased.
• Hope Sprouts Eternal: Kami Kyoku/God-Tier Tune revolves around chibi Vocaloids tending to the last plant on Earth in order to awaken Goddess Miku.
  • Hello Planet. Miku is tending to the last viable plant on Earth. In either ending, her faith is rewarded at the eleventh hour.
• Hotter and Sexier: F and F 2nd bring us much more fanservice-geared songs such as "Hm? Ah, Yes.", "Nostalogic", "Blackjack", and "Envy Catwalk".
  • An intentional example in extend as "Colorful X Melody" featuring Miku and Rin appears midway down the list, then a reprise with Luka and Meiko titled "Colorful X Sexy" appears near the end.
• Humiliation Conga: The PV for "Grumpy Waltz".
• Idiot Hair: Several modules, though notably you can also unlock one for each of the six characters as customization items in F and F 2nd.
  • Future Tone tops this with several different forms of idiot hair... for literally all the Vocaloids, including Neru, Haku, Teto and Sakine Meiko.
• Improbable Weapon User: Miku has, of course, her signature leeks when you play as her in Puyo Puyo 39!.
• Inconsistent Spelling: The official localizations for F and F 2nd used "Meiko" and "Kaito" (which is standard practice for many localizations dealing with all-caps from Japanese), but starting with X they were rendered again as "MEIKO" and "KAITO" (which is how their names are officially parsed on their software packages).^note Unlike Miku, Rin/Len, and Luka, whose names are normally written in kanji and katakana, the two of them have their names officially written in all-caps romaji when in Japanese. As a result, Sakine Meiko's nane is never written in all-caps, since her forename is actually written in katakana as メイコ to match Miku's name format. The earlier Mirai DX had also used all-caps (along with the similarly-parsed "GUMI") due to having less of a localization job done on it overall.
• Intercourse with You: A lot of the songs. To name a few, there's "magnet", "Romeo & Cinderella", "Hm? Ah, Yes.", "Iroha Uta"...
  • A strange case with "Luka Luka★Night Fever" because it reads completely like this...but it can also be interpreted as dancing without changing anything in the song.
• Interface Screw:
  • Several of the challenge items mess with the notes and targets in various ways, like making them smaller or appear much later than they normally do.
  • The Modifiers in Arcade/Future Tone change how notes appear to the player. Unlike Challenge Items, there is no benefit to turning on Modifiers; completing a song with a Modifier active simply adds a neat icon on the song's plate stating that you beat it with that Modifier on that difficulty. The three Modifiers are:
    • HI-SPEED: Notes arrive very fast.
    • HIDDEN: Notes disappear as they approach the targets.
    • SUDDEN: Both Notes and targets only appear just before they need to be hit.
• Interface Spoiler: Did you buy a physical copy of Project Mirai DX? Don't look at the song AR cards unless you want most of the songlist spoiled for you.
• Jerkass Gods: The goddess of fate in "Name of the Sin" curses a girl with deformity and ugliness just for the hell of it. She gets better.
• Jiggle Physics:
  • Meiko and Luka got it going on in ƒ. Even the modestly-endowed Miku gets in on the action, depending on the outfit.
  • The game even uses some jiggle physics on the hair of Miku, Luka, Haku and Neru, so their ponytails bob about almost realistically.
  • Averted with Mikudayo, who moves like someone wearing a heavy mascot costume would.
• Jump Scare:
  • Tako Luka has some fun with this trope in "Luka Luka★Night Fever"
  • Early in the mirai and Future Tone video for "LOL -Lots Of Laughs-", a bunny mascot's face abruptly fills the screen with no prior warning. If you weren't expecting it and are the kind that gets spooked easily, expect it to throw off your rhythm.
• Later-Installment Weirdness:
  • In F, you could hit Scratch Notes whichever way you wanted, and it would count for at least a FINE. In F 2nd, this was changed to require proper timing, as well as two new types of Scratch Notes that needed to be hit a certain way. Then X went back to the method used in F, meaning that you can once again hit Scratch Notes willy nilly and still get FINEs.
  • X itself is notable for bringing back Early-Installment Weirdness as Later-Installment Weirdness by taking most of Project DIVA's quirks and combining them with elements of the F series.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
  • In the intro for Project Diva F, the DX7 synthesizer is uncovered, gathering dust, that appeared in the PSP intros, and Miku is depicted as moving on, reflecting the fact F and F 2nd are PS3 and Vita games, instead of the original system of a PSP game alongside a Dreamy Theatre upscaling program.
  • Expanding from this is that the first three games are portrayed as being set at a exclusive academy, while Project Diva F and F 2nd are set after they have graduated, with the iconic synthesizer absent completely from F 2nd. Project Diva X meanwhile is set almost exclusively in one of the Diva Rooms, possibly since that's the only place left...
    • In F 2nd's "Sakura Rain", Miku is shown walking around this academy, with several locations seen in the various intros shown prominently. To take it a notch further, the song itself is about saying goodbye after graduation, and that hopefully they'll return to meet again someday.
  • One of the Gadget items for Project Diva F is the plainly named Project Diva Arcade Machine, which is a genuine arcade cabinet for Project Diva Arcade, which can be used to play the credits game constantly. Annoyingly, The Gadget list misnames it as 'Game Console' when selected in the Diva Room.
  • The words and music for The Disappearance Of Hatsune Miku and Tell Your World are incredibly meta, the first having her sing about how she's terrified of the end of the song, and the latter having Miku singing about the fact she's on the stage right now singing for the world.
    • Intense Voice Of Hatsune Miku also has very meta lyrics, in that she outright declares that the song itself is a 'answer' song to Disappearance, which talked of the end of her shelf life, declaring that she has no shelf life, as long as Vocaloid exists. Ever since its english localization, Every revision of Vocaloid has a version of Miku. Yes, Miku, You Are Alive.
  • The music video for Sadistic Music Factory is about someone having escaped a tyrannical factory owner. As the song continues, it's revealed that the person she's looking for is the player themselves!
  • One of the new aids given for The Intense Voice Of Hatsune Miku is that, from halfway through the song, the music video itself, if you complete Chance Time, changes to allow you to more clearly see the arrangement of the notes, purely since the notes might have changed, but the speed most definitely hasn't.
  • Crosses into Painting the Medium with Melt and Glory 3usi9 on Project Diva F 2nd, in that Melt has, for a Chance Time event, Miku's original module appear in front of the menu background of Project Diva on PSP, and one of the two versions of Miku begins stood in the menu system for Project Diva F 2nd itself!
• Level Grinding: X is atrocious about this, forcing you to grind for Voltage to gather crystals, and due to the game having the shortest list of songs since the first game, be prepared to have to play the same song again. And again. And again. Depending on how good you are at getting Voltage, you may have to end up going through the entire setlist the game has to offer at least eight times before you've unlocked anything, and that's only if the Random Drops have been working in your favor.
• Level in Reverse: "Adolescence" is the "Cendrillon" chart but mirrored horizontally. Most A button inputs are also swapped with Y button inputs instead, and vice versa.
• Licensed Game:
  • The Project DIVA series is unique in that it's a doubly licensed game: it's a licensed game for the characters and it's a licensed game for the songs themselves, which are produced by fans. F 2nd and X also had licensed lyrics for their localizations, done for every song in the game except "Kagerou Daze". Ironically, the actual VOCALOID software itself is not part of the deal, which causes some Writing Around Trademarks shenanigans.
  • Future Tone's licensing was an interesting case, where SEGA outright admitted they skipped licensing the English lyrics because you try translating over 200 songs in less than a year...
• Life Meter: Like in many other rhythm games. However, depending on the game, clearing a song requires you not only to get to the end of the song but fulfill an extra requirement:
  • In Project Diva and 2nd, a certain percentage of notes must be scored as COOL or FINE.
  • In F, F 2nd,, Arcade/Future Tone, and X's Free Play mode, you must also score up to at least 80 out of a 100 grade points by hitting COOL or GOOD/FINE notes, (up to 89 points) and completely technical zones (3 points for each zone) and chance time. (5 points)
  • In X's Live Quest, you must also hit a certain Voltage limit to pass.
• Lighter and Softer:
  • The PV for "Kagerou Daze", compared to the song itself.
  • Ditto for "Amatsu Kitsune".
• Little Bit Beastly:
  • Several versions of this are available in F and F 2nd including rabbit, dog, fox and cat parts, with F 2nd adding parts for a nekomata and nine-tailed fox.
  • The costumes for "Animal Fortune-Telling" in Project Mirai 2 and Deluxe, as well as "Amatsu Kitsune". "Animal Fortune-Telling" has Miku as a koala, Luka as a sheep, Rin as a tiger, and Meiko as a Tanuki. "Amatsu Kitsune" has Rin as a fox.
  • "Amatsu Kitsune" has Rin as a one-tailed kitsune girl, complete with ears and tail.
• Logo Joke: The logo screen has Miku singing "Se-gaaaa!", similar to how older Sega games had the "Se-gaaaa!" yell. Later games had Rin, Len, Luka, Kaito and Meiko join in randomly. Later expanded on by having Miku sing the jingle as a chord, which better captures the original jingle. With Future Tone however, there is absolutely no sound at all outside the game itself.
• Love Triangle: "Acute" from F has one between Kaito, Miku, and Luka. As if to drive the point home, the stage is even shaped like a triangle! It doesn't end well, either.
• Luck-Based Mission:
  • The room items in the original game are unlocked by random chance after clearing a song. Many of them require a Great but even then aren't a 100% guarantee. This was averted in F and F 2nd, where they are unlocked by simply completing the songs on NORMAL or higher.
  • Getting a lot of the Mirai Room stamps more or less borders on random chance, as in, the Vocaloid actually has to use the object in question, which is completely decided by the AI. Some stamps take it a step further and require a certain result from using a specific item, which is even more luck-based than getting your Vocaloid to use it in the first place. Then there are the idle events...
  • Provided you aren't great at Puyo Puyo, the fourth opponent in Puyo Puyo 39 basically amounts to hoping that he/she doesn't get a three or four chain.
  • F 2nd has a small handful of items that unlock when you score a specific number of note gradings (cool/fine/safe/etc). Getting these requires either good luck or superhuman precision.
• Lyrical Dissonance:
  • The PV for "Kagerou Daze" is Played for Laughs despite the song being about a Fate Worse than Death.
  • "Amatsu Kitsune" is a bittersweet, heartfelt song about a celestial fox trying to reach her lover in heaven. This is accompanied by a video that involves Rin comedically flubbing a flight spell and engaging in a Training Montage.
  • A common theme with PinnochioP music, "Slow Motion" is upbeat and cutesy but lyrically veers into philosophical and abstract territory.

M - R

• Male Gaze:
  • Present in Meiko's song "Nostalogic" in Project Diva F. The camera often locks on or swing pasts her midriff, rear, or chest.
  • Made even more hilarious if you get the Chance Time for Nostalogic, which causes the camera to become glued to the player character's chest.
  • Luka's "Blackjack" in F 2nd brings this back in full force. Many songs (such as "The World Is Mine") focus on a female Vocaloid's butt every now and again.
  • mirai's opening movie makes a point of giving the player a shot of Luka's bust for no distinct reason.
  • Songs in mirai DX focus on the female characters' rears again, except they're all Super-Deformed and don't have anything to show off as a result.
    • Notably, a lot of these PVs made their way into Future Tone largely unchanged...
• The Many Deaths of You: "Kagerou Daze"'s "Chance Time" video has Miku dying in numerous different ways, including being hit by a car, crushed by steel pipes, falling down a staircase, being in a car crash, or getting crushed by stage props.
• Marathon Level:
  • mirai only uses full versions of songs, unlike the main series, which cuts some songs for time. This mostly sounds like a positive, until you get to tracks like "reverse rainbow", which is possibly the most sparsely populated chart in the entire series; it runs for 5:06 and has only 473 notes on Hard. A typical Hard or Extreme chart in the main series has roughly the same number of notes for half the runtime. The longer lengths also mean that it is more frustrating to obtain a full combo (especially if you use the Do Or Die item), much less an all-Cool run.
  • X introduces the Medleys, six medleys of songs by various composers, which are much longer than normal, as the final concerts in each area. The Ultimate Medley by legendary producer Cos Mo takes the cake; it clocks in at just under four minutes and has a total note count of a whopping 1047 notes, the highest number of notes of any official chart to date.
  • Future Tone has the Miku Live Survival Course. It only features songs ranging from Difficulty 6.5~9.5, but the setlist is ten songs. Every other Survival Course is four to six songs.
  • "39 Music!" is one of the few songs in Mega Mix to run full length, putting it on par with Mirai song length rather than the shortened 3 minute to 3 1/2 minute songs that Future Tone typically features.
• Market-Based Title:
  • Online Game Addicts Sprechchor is renamed The MMORPG Addict's Anthem on English versions of F 2nd and Future Tone, the latter retaining the Japanese transliterated title on the cover art shown alongside the song.
  • Due to the original title being Japanese wordplay, the English localization of Mega Mix decided to drop the subtitle entirely and use the intended word "megamix" instead.
• Meaningful Name:
  • The mirai in Project mirai is a reference to the Alternate Character Reading of "未来", which can also be pronounced "miku".
  • Urotander, Underhanded Rangers is a Super Sentai parody about a group of Sentai who use dirty and cowardly tricks to win fights. True to its name, the note chart pulls off the only case of invoked Fake Difficulty in series history, including notes that come out blindingly fast while you're distracted by another note, or notes that are lined up along the edge of the screen and arrive from the same edge, making it irritatingly difficult to tell when a note begins and ends.
• Making a Spectacle of Yourself: Among Luka's many sets of specs in the Glasses video is a pair with massive swirly-eyes lenses that make her look like Hachune Miku. They appear for two seconds in exactly one point in the song.
• Mercy Invincibility:
  • "Chance Time" temporarily replaces your Song Energy gauge with the Chance Time gauge, which prevents BAD or AWFUL judgements from depleting out Song Energy.
  • In Arcade/Future Tone and mirai, you're granted a brief period of "safety" at the beginning of the song; Song Energy is restrained from falling below a certain amount until the safety wears off.
  • "Break the Limit" mode in Miku Flick is impossible to fail out of.
• Mini-Game:
  • F has Rock Paper Scissors. There's also Mini-Game Credits that you can repeatedly access upon purchasing a Project DIVA Arcade machine.
  • F 2nd brought back Rock Paper Scissors, and added a Patty Cake minigame. The Mini-Game Credits were also brought back, but significantly tweaked to not require repeat plays.
  • mirai 2 has Puyo Puyo! 39, which is Puyo Puyo with Vocaloid characters and background music. DX also introduced Mikuversi, a Vocaloid-themed Reversi clone.
  • Arcade has DIVAPro^note Short for "DIVA Production", an online sub-game accessed through the DIVA.NET portal where you collect trading cards from playing Arcade, then register them and arrange them into squads so they can perform at venues and gain EXP and stats. This is the only use for the cards outside of using them to create digital wallpapers.
• Mission-Pack Sequel: The only game in the series to really avert this was F, which introduced a vast number of mechanical changes, a huge graphical and engine upgrade, and ditched nearly all of the old content from the first three games.
• Model Museum: F has the Photo Studio which allows you to examine and pose Miku's model in all manners of ways with free camera functions. However, putting the camera at any angle that would allow you to look up Miku's skirt will cause the model to suddenly disappear with an error message.
• Modesty Shorts: Miku's De:MONSTAR outfit has red spats underneath the skirt, although it's barely noticeable.
• Money for Nothing:
  • Play the game often enough, and you'll have way more Diva Points than you'll know what to do with.
  • mirai averts this if you decide to move into the Penthouse or the Resort, as you'll have to keep feeding the Vocaloid an extremely gratuitous value of Mirai Points per real-time week to keep staying.
  • Also heavily averted with Arcade, which dispenses Vocaloid Points at such a paltry rate that you'll have to grind for VP at least once every day if you intend on buying all the available outfits.
• Motor Mouth: To varying degrees based on the song, from short spurts in "Secret Police" to constant and nigh-indecipherable in "Rin-chan Now!", "Sadistic Music Factory" and "Two-Sided Lovers". Most blatant in the infamous "Intense Voice Of Hatsune Miku" from 2nd, which not only features high-speed singing in long bursts, but also makes you tap buttons at the same speed. It was later reintroduced in F 2nd, but the difficulty was greatly reduced with a new note chart that features far fewer notes than before.
• Ms. Fanservice: Luka and MEIKO generally serve as this for the series due to having more mature, adult-like bodies than Miku and Rin. That said, it hasn't stopped either of these two from getting fanservicey modules.
• Mr. Fanservice: While not nearly as much as the girls, KAITO has gotten some modules that were clearly capitalizing on his appearance. "Cyber Cat" is a good example.
• Multiple Endings: The Bonus Events from the F series create a form of this; depending on whether or not you succeed at them, you can get alternate scenes and endings for the video. Averted in "Kagerou Daze", where the Bonus Event trigger occurs at the start of the song, and succeeding completely changes the subsequent video.
• Murder the Hypotenuse:
  • "Acute" twists this: the love interest (KAITO) is killed in a murder-suicide. The hypotenuse (Luka) is the sole survivor.
  • "Aku no Musume" takes this to its logical extreme: the Daughter of Evil attempts to murder the hypotenuse by employing genocide. It works, but not exactly the way it was intended.
• Mini-Game Credits: In F's closing credits, and games after it, excluding Future Tone, you play as Hachune Miku, throwing leeks at the credits to score points. Amusingly, after you complete the game on NORMAL, you can buy an item that lets you play it whenever you want, and new features are unlocked as you play the credits game multiple times.
• Motion Capture: Used for PVs in games starting from F (which can make F 2nd occasionally jarring because of how some of the returning P Vs aren't mocapped), allowing for more realistic and intricate dance moves.
• Mythology Gag:
  • In the "Hello, Planet" minigame, the message that the boy finds in the good ending contains the same message as was revealed in the associated PV in 2nd.
  • The ∞ costume. Its design hails from cosMo's compilation song Infinite∞HOLiC, whose video features Miku in this outfit. The costume's name is derived from the series from which Disappearance and Intense Voice hail from, that being "Infinity".
  • In Tell Your World, the cubes that Miku is manipulating several times, and the colours of the links spreading out over the globe represent the Vocaloids themselves, using their character colours.
  • "Negaposi*Continues" incorporates some elements from sasakure.UK's previous song "Nijiiro*Adventure". The recurring door sprite that appears in the video for "Negaposi" is reused from "Nijiiro"'s PV, and the jingle at the end of the song is also reused from the opening of "Nijiiro".
  • Senbonzakura has this twofold. Despite Miku singing the song solo, and there only being one changeable slot for Vocals (in F at least), there are unlockable modules for all six Crypton Vocaloids based on the original PV. The modules in question have a Theme Naming of the pattern "[Number]-no-Sakura [Descriptor]", with the descriptors being a reference to the patterns on each outfit. Miku's outfit is numbered "Ichi-no-Sakura" ('ichi' being 'one'), but Kaito and Meiko's outfits are numbered "Rei-no-Sakura" ('rei' being 'zero'), in reference to the fact that their Vocaloid releases preceded Miku's.
  • In F 2nd's version of The World Is Mine, if you clear the Chance Time, you get a bonus scene of a posing Miku mimicking the now-famous pose from the original cover art, with her lying in a chamber representing that same cover.
  • The mirai version of "The World is Mine" features a new stage based on the album cover that pulls away to reveal the Project DIVA stage at the climax of the song.
  • In Glory 3usi9 on F 2nd, the floating cube which represents the Miku spirit is Green, which is Miku's original character colour, instead of Cyan, which is Miku's modern colour, and the floating cubes which represent the other Vocaloids are depicted prominently.
  • "Kagerou Daze" enforces Deliberately Monochrome on its chart as a reference to the original PV's color scheme.
  • The video for magnet has a segment that mimicks the album cover◊. F 2nd's version adds butterflies for the final segment as its Chance Time bonus event.
  • Saki Fujita is often employed as the narrator for the series' TV advertisements, a reference to her role as Miku's voice provider.
  • One of the button sounds you can select from in mirai is the Scratch Note sound.
  • In the opening for mirai 2, the words MITCHIE M appear in the dressing room, with the same font used on his official content. This is a reference to Mitchie M, who composed "Ageage Again", the theme song of mirai 2.
  • In the opening for mirai DX, Pinocchio-P's mascots appear as a Freeze-Frame Bonus. Pinocchio-P composed the theme song of mirai DX, "Nice to Meet You, Mr. Earthling!".
  • The absolutely final unlockable in mirai DX is the Otoro Button, a giant, plush otoro sushi that appeared in the mirai 2/DX "Together with Mikudayo!" promo trailers, and is also Mikudayo's Trademark Favorite Food. It may make its signature "ding dong" sound when interacted with.
  • The ending shot of "1925" involves Miku kneeling in front of a graphic that forms behind her, causing the final scene to resemble the original accompanying art for the song.
  • "LOL -lots of laughs-" gives Miku a different outfit depending on which game it appears in, both of which are based on the PV: mirai and Arcade/Future Tone feature a hooded "bunny" outfit while X features Miku's pink dress. The latter also has a backpack accessory that has a similar appearance to the bunny in mirai.
  • Yowane Haku's cameo in "Servant of Evil" as a reference to the Evillious Chronicles series, where she was a white-haired girl, Clarith, living in Michaela's (Miku) village, who was apparently her secret lover.
  • At the end of "Invisible"'s first verse, a white cube appears in the background. The white cube is the logo for the "Pandora Voxx" series^note The white cube also appears in every video for all the songs, which "Invisible" is a part of and is also created by kemu.
  • The Stamps "Puyo Popper" and "Puyo Poppist" in mirai DX are a reference to the original Market-Based Title of Puyo Puyo, "Puyo Pop".
  • The Stamp "Bayoen" is the name of Arle Nadja's Signature Attack.
  • In the first half of DX' PV for "Happy Synthesizer", there are four nameplates flying around in the background labelled "DCSG", "SCCP", "OPLL", and "OPN2". All of these refer to the names of sound chips that were used in Sega consoles.
  • Although Mega Mix uses the same "filled" note graphic as the previous main series games and Arcade/Future Tone, the game uses mirai's button colors.
• Nerf:
  • Between 2nd and F 2nd, the abnormally long high-speed chains at the end of 2nd's version of "The Intense Voice of Hatsune Miku" (Hatsune Miku no Gekishou) were replaced with a series of much shorter chains punctuated by a few spaced-out notes. The song is still difficult, especially the ending^note which involves drumming several different notes in extremely rapid succession, but not nearly as much. It's probably because of this that in F 2nd it became the second-to-last song instead of the final, of which F 2nd's is definitely no slouch.
  • Despite only appearing at the very end of the Final Medley, "Intense Voice" was nerfed again; the aforementioned difficult ending section has had two drum chains replaced with Rush Notes, which can be ignored, barring hitting the initial note itself, without penalty.
    • In a funny twist, it's the Normal chart that includes a drum chain at the very end of Intense Voice in the Ultimate Medley.
  • X greatly nerfed Hold Notes. In the F series, Hold Notes typically earned between a few hundred points and a thousand and change. In X, this value was cut to merely a few hundred in order to force players to rely on Rush Notes for Voltage.
  • Project mirai nerfs Hold Notes even further, making them worth maybe a few hundred points at most at the end of most Hard charts. Hold Notes aren't even mandatory to hold down; the game only penalizes you for screwing up the timing of the start of the note or the end of it.
• Never Say "Die": Both played straight and averted in "This is the Happiness and Peace of Mind Committee". An entire portion of the song is dedicated to Miku listing off the numerous ways she'll kill you, but the last word has been partially censored in a form of a Leet: "[)34[)". Same way as in the Japanese version where the kanji of that word is replaced by a circle. ^note On Future Tone on PS4, the Leet Lingo no longer says [)34[).
• Nintendo Hard:
  • Although the games have a fairly simple learning curve, the game gets to be this whenever you have to press different buttons in succession. Additionally, while many games simply have a stage clear requirement of "have this many points" or "keep your Life Meter from hitting zero", in this series both of them are in effect, so you can make it to the end of the song but still fail it.
  • EXTREME difficulty is where the game really cranks up the heat in the difficulty department. Regardless, it still tends to vary by song; for example, "packaged" is mind-numbingly unintensive even on an EXTREME chart, while charts like "The Intense Voice of Hatsune Miku", well...
  • Arcade/Future Tone is on a whole 'nother level in this department. Arcade is home to some of the most punishing charts in the series, especially due to multi-button Wides and Slide Notes proliferating a fair number of charts, in addition to the clear conditions being significantly tighter. In fact, many of the more higher-scale songs can feel like borderline Non-Indicative Difficulty; a good number of HARD charts are hard enough to qualify for EXTREME, and some EXTREME charts take that a step further. Overseas players who have never experienced Arcade (unless they live next to a Round 1) were quick to point out how frustratingly difficult Future Tone was compared to the rest of the localized games.
• No Fair Cheating:
  • A lot of the stronger Help Items limit your maximum rank for a song. For example, in F, Star Killer and Double Killer, which lets Scratch Notes be performed with regular buttons and removes W Notes respectively, prevent you from earning higher than a Standard. Simple Rhythm, which changes all inputs to be O^note Removed in F 2nd, and Training Wheels, which turns all BAD/SAD and AWFUL/WORST into SAFE, prevents the song from being counted as complete.
  • In the mirai series, Recovery^note restores your health after depletion and makes it decrease more slowly prevents your score from being counted, as does Role Model^note demonstrates a perfect play of the song. Averted with Auto-Spin^note automatically spins rainbow notes for you and Special^note turns one SP note into a Super SP note that yields an MP bonus, which only increase MP rewards but not score, as well as Do Or Die^note one SAFE, SAD, WORST, or Miss results in an immediate Game Over, but you get double the MP if you finish the song which is the opposite of an assist item anyway.
• Non-Indicative Name:
  • The "SAFE" judge rank. While it's worth a small amount of points and doesn't drop your Life Meter, for all other purposes it is not a "safe" rank: It breaks your combo, it doesn't count towards the "quota" part of the pass/fail system, and in Project mirai, it's one of four judge ranks (alongside SAD, WORST, and Miss) that will kill you if the Do Or Die item is activated.
  • Despite being called "EXTRA EXTREME", said difficulty is not necessarily harder than Extreme. Many charts are, though.
• Nostalgia Level:
  • Most games after the first artificially inflate the setlist by bringing back old songs. F and X make a point of averting this, with no recycled tracks in F and only one recycled track in X. F 2nd also did this, but didn't catch as much flak for it due to upgrading the old songs with updated graphics and Chance Time.
  • This extends to the modules in the same game, with confirmation of the Nyanko and Heart Hunter modules from the PSP games, the latter being well known due to its use with videos of the first game's rendition of "Two-Sided Lovers", which returns with the PV and module it used in extend.
  • The "Ending Medley" is essentially a Boss Rush of some of the hardest songs to appear in the history of the Project DIVA series. Fittingly, the EXTREME version of the medley recycles entire portions of charts from each song's past appearance with some minor adjustments thrown in.
• Number of the Beast: The EXTREME chart for "Sadistic Music Factory" in Arcade/Future Tone has exactly 666 notes.
• Oddball in the Series: Arcade/Future Tone takes a few liberties from its handheld and console counterparts:
  • Your success or failure is determined completely by score, like the first Project DIVA game. The game helps with this by showing you a visual guide of how many points you have compared to how many points you should have at that point to get a minimum clear.
  • In Arcade, the buttons are arranged in a line, rather than a diamond like the signature PlayStation diamond. Anyone not accustomed to this button setup is advised to play on lower difficulties first to adapt to it.
  • The safety mode at the beginning of each stage, which otherwise only appears in mirai.
  • The game runs at 60 frames per second instead of 30. The main series didn't hit 60 FPS until X released on Playstation 4. ^note The PS4 version retains this frame rate, as well as being in 1080p.
  • The game utilizes a graphical style more in line with Dreamy Theater than the actual DIVA series.
  • Holds are no longer mandatory. Holding a hold note down simply gives you bonus points, up to 3000 (3300 in Future Tone after a balance patch was released) per hold note if another note of the same button doesn't appear early enough to interrupt the hold.
  • Wide Notes use two different buttons instead of two of the same button. On harder difficulties, chords of 3 and 4 buttons are not uncommon.
  • Normal mode actually uses all four buttons.
  • There are no Technical Zones or Chance Times on HARD/EXTREME/EXTRA EXTREME. This factors in to how you succeed at Chance Time mentioned below.
  • The newer revisions of the game have a version of the star note from F, the Slide Note, indicated by a bar across the top of the control area that you slide one direction or another to complete the note.
  • Netting the "Chance Time" ending of any of the ported F/F 2nd tracks only requires you to hit the notes highlighted in rainbow; anything before that is mostly irrelevant^note although it is possible for the rainbow notes to fail to spawn if your prior performance is bad enough to whether you get it or not.
• Off with His Head!: The Daughter of Evil's or rather, her servant-twin-brother who looks identical to her ultimate fate in mirai DX's "Aku no Musume" after a coup overthrows her as ruler. Naturally, the game uses a Gory Discretion Shot.
• Oh, Crap!: Miku has this reaction when being invited into a haunted house in "LOL -Lots of Laughs-" in Mirai DX.
• Old Save Bonus:
  • Having the original game's save on your memory stick will net you all of its costumes for free, plus an exclusive DIVA Room poster and title, in the sequel. Likewise, having a 2nd save will get you all of its costumes and such for extend.
  • Due to the console jump, F doesn't allow this. Its sequel, F 2nd, allows you to carry over all unlocked Modules and Extra Characters DLC if you have F save data.
  • Strangely, X doesn't allow this despite it being on the same console as the F series, possibly because of the console-side of the series moving from the PS3 to PS4.
  • If you happened to import the Japanese version of F 2nd to a non-Japanese region, you may convert the data to the English version once only. This doesn't work the other way around, unfortunately.
    • Project Diva X uses only one cloud server for saving ALL save data for any region, meaning that, if you own it in Japanese, when you cloud sync an English version the first time, it can find your Japanese cloud save.
  • The retail version of Future Tone DX allows you to send over your Future Tone save data. If you purchased any Item Unlock Keys from the PSN Store, you can also send those over.
• Once an Episode:
  • "Sekiranun Graffiti"'s stage is modified every game to display the logo of the game it's appearing in. This even includes the Dreamy Theater expansions and Future Tone on PS4.
  • This extends to the logo in Dear cocoa girls and Magical Sound Shower's PV, with Arcade and Future Tone, and the banners on Sing And Smile.
• Once a Season: The settings of focus for the games' openings change with every sub-series. The DIVA series opted for a very realistic "modern-day Japan" world with high school and trains. The move to the F series updated into a modern-future fusion with contemporary cafes and standard housing mixed with Tron Lines, hover scooters, and space elevators. X then transferred into a "world of music"-esque setting to tie into the now-existent plot, featuring concert halls and The Power of Rock linking worlds apart, together.
• One Game for the Price of Two: Played with; Future Tone has two DLC add-ons that, combined, make up the entirety of the Arcade tracklist. However, both games have completely different individual tracklists, and both have more songs than any DIVA game. Also, when you own both, the game morphs into one single game, with the ability to use all the modules with any song.
• One-Hit-Point Wonder: How the "Do Or Die" item in Project mirai works. Full Combo the song? Congrats, you get a x2 multiplier to your awarded Mirai Points. Get any combo-breaking judgements at all? Instant game over.
• Original Generation:
  • Some songs are created specifically to appear in this series. Highlight examples include most of the theme songs as well as "Nega*Posi Continues", "Amazing Dolce", and "Satisfaction".
  • Notably, the Arcade version has every single intro, even from the Mirai series, with the same modules and set pieces, but takes some artistic license with the dance sequences.
  • DECO*27's "Ghost Rule" and Hachi's "Suna no Wakusei feat. Hatsune Miku" are the only songs to debut specifically in Future Tone via an anniversary DLC pack.
• Out of Focus: KAITO and MEIKO tend to be the most poorly represented Crypton Vocaloids in these games, having the least amount of songs and modules of all the main characters. Though the games have gotten better about adding songs to the roster for them, they are still heavily shafted in this department.
  • MEIKO and KAITO were literally absent from every DIVA opening^note MEIKO was only passively mentioned in Extend as a contact on Miku's cellphone until the F series. The reason for this was never explained officially.
  • In the original Project DIVA, KAITO and MEIKO didn't have any playable songs in the game's roster, only having one song each as background music. Luka began like this as well, until the second DLC for the game added a bunch of songs for her. She would go on to receive a decent amount of songs in the future installments of the series while KAITO and MEIKO would have one or two each up until the more modern games such as Future Tone.
  • KAITO in X, as he only had one song in the entire roster, that being "Urotander, Underhanded Rangers, and was only included in one of the games medleys despite receiving modules and being featured in the art for all of them. Even MEIKO, who is usually also horribly represented in the Project DIVA'' series, was included in "Amazing Dolce" and "Urotander, Underhanded Rangers", and was featured in the "Beginning" and "Elegant" medleys, giving her four songs total.
• Overly Long Gag:
  • "Nyanyanyanyanyanya!" is three minutes of Miku mewling like a cat at 142 BPM, and the PV provides lyrics.
  • "SPiCa - 39's Giving Day Edition" has an incredibly long drumroll finish, accompanied by an incredibly long Hold Note at the end.
• Pacifist Run: Enforced in the "Hello, Planet" game. Miku's only "weapon" is a bubble blower that shoots giant bubbles. The bubbles cannot actually kill enemies, but traps them for a few seconds, allowing you to walk past them unharmed.
• Painting the Medium:
  • Many songs' note patterns are related to the theme or lyrics of the song or Miku and friends' dance moves.
    • If you succeed at Chance Time in the F 2nd version of "Intense Voice", the video will flash boxes and circles across the screen corresponding to the location of notes moments before they appear, allowing the player to anticipate the notes.
    • Lots of Square notes appear in "Sakura Rain", simulating pink petals falling from the cherry blossom trees.
    • "Clover♣Club", with all the Circle (and Triangle in some versions) notes being a reference to the title of the song.
    • On higher difficulties for "Remote Controller", the note inputs during the chorus correspond to the button combos in the lyrics (adapted for a Dualshock controller, natch).
  • Several songs, as well as the intros, feature glowing cubes or elements in the colors of the Vocaloids.
  • From mirai 2 going forward, the track likes to draw out patterns based on the song being played. For example, in "Clover Club", the track will draw clovers, in "LOL -lots of laughs-", the track will draw bunnies, and in "Tricolore Airline", the track will draw airplanes.
  • The "Sadistic.Music∞Factory" chart matches the notes' placement with objects the player (or Miku) is interacting with in the music video.
• Parental Bonus: The lyrics for "Clover Club" include a recipe for the cocktail the song is named after, done in such a way that only someone aware of what Miku is saying would be able to mix one up. The association is more explicit in mirai, which themes the PV after a bar scene and features both a background prop decorated with images of the ingredients in the song, as well as KAITO as a background character shaking a drink for the entire duration of the song.
• Play Every Day: Arcade deposits a DIVA Ticket into your account for every day you play the game. These can be exchanged on DIVA.NET for VP packets, special items, skins, and titles.
• Plot Hole: "Name of the Sin" makes less sense due to half the song being cut out for time reasons.
• The Points Mean Nothing:
  • The mirai PV for "Hello, Planet" features a completely non-functional score system in the top left of the screen. This score display syncs up exactly to the one used in the original video.
  • How scoring works in the F series and in X's Rhythm Game Mode. Points are unrelated to clear percentage, making them more or less meaningless.
• Post-Final Boss:
  • A common practice is to set a very easy song after the game's hardest song, typically a slow and cheery track, as the final track to trigger the credits.
  • mirai 2 and mirai DX are the only games in the entire franchise to unlock a song after the credits; this is because the unlocked song in question is the credits song, "Shake It!".
• Pragmatic Adaptation: Many mirai songs have their videos and/or runtime cut for Arcade/Future Tone.
• Proper Tights with a Skirt:
  • Rin's Trad School module in F and Miku's Noble module in F 2nd.
  • Miku also uses tights with the FOnewearl costume just like the default FOnewearl from Phantasy Star Online 2, when the character generator version omits them as default.
  • Rin's "Astray" from X.
  • Luka's "Fräulein" from 2nd.
• Punny Name: The "Ha2ne Miku" Module from DIVA and F 2nd is a play on the pronunciation of the character "tsu", which sounds similar to the English number "2".^note A pun previously used by the Puyo Puyo series It also references how it depicts an alternate version of Miku. Note that this change is only in the English versions; DIVA simply called it "ハツネミク", which uses the katakana spelling for Miku's last name as opposed to the kanji.
• Rainbow Pimp Gear: As a result of modules and accessories having effects in X, sometimes getting the best bonuses means putting normally mismatched items together, like dog ears, duck beak, and fox tail.
• Randomly Drops: The revised Module acquisition system in X turns unlocking new Modules into this for Live Quest Mode, where succeeding at Chance Time may additionally grant you a random Module, accompanied by a Transformation Sequence and a big honking on-screen display shouting "MODULE GET!". Certain Skills can increase the odds of a Module appearing, such as Miku's "School" Module, which comes with Rare Module UP Lv.1, a skill that slightly increases the odds of acquiring a rare Module.
• Rank Inflation: Project mirai, Arcade, and Future Tone allow the player to go slightly over 100% completion by fulfilling certain "extra credit" actions.^note This is part of a trend in Sega rhythm games; maimai, CHUNITHM, and Ongeki also allow going slightly over what appears to be the maximum sccore.
• Readings Are Off the Scale:
  • In Extend and F 2nd, "The Intense Voice of Hatsune Miku" had the special distinction of having red stars for its difficulty scale as opposed to the normally-white stars, just to remind you how stupidly difficult it is. In F 2nd, "2D Dream Fever" is also subject to the treatment.
  • Super Hard songs in mirai DX have no difficulty rating, and instead are simply marked "MAX" in all caps. Ironically, some of them are still easier than Gaikotsu Gakudan to Riria on hard.
• Rearrange the Song:
  • Almost all of the songs in the "Hello, Planet" subgame either sample the song of the same name or are this.
  • Medleys do this to a lot of well-known classics. Shout-out to Cool Medley -Cyber Rock Jam- in this department; it takes five typically-rock or hard rock songs and injects them with 100% pure electronic rock. And it's badass. Also, the Ending Medley remixes the Climax Boss songs with Miku's V3 voicebank and extra instrumentation, which is most noticeable with Intense Voice, where the song noticeably slows down during the short breather moment.
• Relationship Values:
  • Every iteration of DIVA Room features these, with a separate gauge for each character. You can raise these with Item Events, giving them gifts, or simply interacting with them. The Derivatives do not have access to these features in the F series.
  • mirai also uses this system, although it is no longer precisely measured. It is instead kept track of based on the pattern of the wallpaper backing a character in the Partner Select menu. Increasing their friendship through giving them Mirai Points, giving them food, and simply interacting with them is relevant to unlocking new items.
• Remixed Level:
  • Certain stages of the game are just altered versions of earlier stages like the stage in "Black Gold" is the same as the stage of "When First Love Ends" but with darker lightning and seats with different colors, the stage of "The Snow White Princess is..." is the "Just be Friends" stage but with green glowstick instead of pink and the screens show snowflakes instead of flowers and petals.
  • A lot of Arcade-exclusive songs use multiple existing stages as well for their videos, due to being produced in Edit Mode.
• Retraux: True to sasakure.UK's Signature Style, "Hello, Planet" and "Negaposi*Continues" use chiptune as BGM. The F PV for "Negaposi" and the mirai PV for "Hello, Planet" play the angle for all it's worth.
• Revenue-Enhancing Devices:
  • Don't like repeating songs a gajillion times to unlock every single Module and Accessory in X? Don't worry, you can buy Unlock Keys! For ￥500 each, you can unlock every Module of a particular type, and for ￥250 each, you can do the same for Accessories. Or you could pay ￥1500 and ￥1000 for Unlock Sets, which unlock every Module and Accessory, respectively. This only serves to save time; everything can be unlocked in-game for free, but it's a lot of work.
  • Project Diva Arcade has a major method to make sure that you keep playing. Firstly, You have to play the game at least 10 times per month to earn a online license. Secondly, the module and unlock data for each player is saved on the cloud, which requires online access. And obviously, that also means you have to unlock that song or module you want.
• Rhythm Game: Yes.

S - Z

• Sarashi: Rin wears this over her chest in her "Ame" outfit.
• Satire: The entirety of "The MMORPG Addict's Anthem" is a satirical take on the life and culture of an online gamer, while being set in an online game, Phantasy Star Online 2.
• Scoring Points:
  • Pre-X games have primarily two systems:
    • The first scoring system is the traditional points system. You get points for hitting notes on time, and you also get bonus points for hitting notes during Chance Time and holding down notes.
    • The other is the Grade Point system, which is simply an overall percentage of your note accuracy, with a few bonuses for completing Technical Sections and Chance Time.
  • X uses Voltage in Live Quest Mode, which functions identically to points in both Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA and Arcade, where completion is determined by score. Voltage gain is augmented by both Voltage Rate Bonus acquired by equipping Modules and Accessories and a naturally increasing multiplier that goes up as you perform well. Once you hit the "Voltage Clear!" mark that clears a song, you will enter bonus points territory, where you can continue earning extra Voltage to acquire Accessories and Room Goods. In Free Play, the Grade Point system is reused.
  • The Project Mirai spinoff games features "SP" segments: Occasionally, you'll encounter yellow lines and if you combo every note including the glowing note at the end, you'll get 2500 points. Like X, there's no Chance Time or Technical sections. Compared to other games in the series, holding down hold notes gives very few points.
• Screw Destiny: "Name of the Sin" can be summed up as this in the most literal way possible.
• Screw Yourself: Take any love song with multiple Vocals slots, fill them with the same character, and you have this trope. Alternatively, put one of Rin's modules on "Rin-chan Now!" for a one-sided version of this trope.
• Self-Imposed Challenge:
  • Challenge Items are designed for this. They will make the game harder in exchange for adding a multiplier to your Diva Point acquisition at the end of the song — if you succeed. Highlights include COOL Perfectionist, which reduces your health every time you hit a note with something other than a COOL, Micro Target, which makes all the targets really tiny, and Drunken from X, which makes notes behave very erratically. F 2nd onwards allows you to stack Challenge Items for even tougher charts and even higher multipliers.
  • On another note, getting a Perfect. There's absolutely no gameplay benefit to it - no awards are given other than a title or a trophy - but landing one is much harder than it sounds as long as the "safe" designation exists.
  • "Score Attack", a challenge in Arcade/Future Tone where the player attempts to get the highest score possible. Note that "highest score" and "100% Completion" are not mutual; as a result, Score Attack runs are significantly harder than even Perfects because the player is purposefully obligated to miss notes to continue Hold Notes and only get COOLs on the majority of segments to get maximum score.
  • Another for Future Tone exclusively is "No Macros", which some players feel make Future Tone too easy. "No Macros" is Exactly What It Says on the Tin: finishing a song without mapping multiple face buttons to the same button at once. On a variety of EXTREME difficulty tracks, this is very difficult to accomplish.
• Sequence Breaking: A minor example in F 2nd- it's difficult but not impossible for a skilled player to unlock the alternate version^*The sum of your max combos from each time you've cleared the song is at least 500 of Miku's outfit for Cantarella before the regular version^*Clear the song 5 times
• Set Bonus: In X, you can get an additional voltage rate bonus for wearing accessories of a similar theme together, like all animal parts or the same color.
• Sharp-Dressed Man:
  • Len's default outfit for "Monochrome Dream-Eating Baku" in F, complete with a matching nice hat.
  • Kaito, in many modules: Ivy Phantom, Mysterious Butterfly, White Blazer, Rosa Blue, Phantom Thief, Prince Blanc and so on.
• She Is All Grown Up: Rin's Future Style module.
• Shout-Out: The list that keeps on giving.
• Shown Their Work:
  • With SPiCa 39's Giving Day, on the Arcade version's PV, The auditorium walls are rendered, because the room isn't truly in pitch darkness, there being just about enough light to make out things like the walls.
  • The PVs for "Aku no Musume" and "Aku no Meshitukai" in mirai are actually incredibly accurate in terms of representing the Story of Evil series. Even events and characters from the series that aren't mentioned in the songs proper appear in the videos.
• Sibling Rivalry: "Remote Controller" in F and Arcade/Future Tone just screams this for Rin and Len, though they most-often get along very well in their other duet songs.
  • Rin and Len exhibit this during the Quirky Cloud story portion (although the game is very careful not to identify them as siblings in the text), getting into a squabble about what "quirky" actually means before Miku concludes that the very act of them fighting is quirky enough.
• Significant Reference Date: In the mirai PV for "Kokoro", the date that flashes on a hex the moment Rin receives a heart is December 27, 2007, the real-life date that the Kagamine Rin/Len software was released. During the "run" portion of the PV, the date that appears after December 27, 2007 is March 3, 2008, the real-life day that "Kokoro" was first uploaded to Nico Nico Douga.
• Silly Love Songs: Several. "Melt" and "Ai Kotoba", for example.
  "I ate you. —> baka"
• Singing Voice Dissonance: Pretty much everyone in extend's secret movie sounds somewhat different from their songs. Justified in the sense that Vocaloids often do not sound like their voice providers and producers often have unique ways of tuning them anyway.
• Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer:
  • MEIKO and KAITO were literally absent from every DIVA opening^note MEIKO was only passively mentioned in Extend as a contact on Miku's cellphone until the F series. This is can likely be explained by them not being part of the "Character Vocal series", despite otherwise still being considered Crypton Vocaloids. Even farther back, however, Luka, Rin, and Len don't exist as far as the first game's opening is concerned.
  • GUMI doesn't appear in any of the openings for the Mirai subseries, even though she has top billing in several songs. She also has not been licensed as even DLC for Project Diva, and is completely excluded from Future Tone.
• Sizeshifter: In Gigantic Girl, Miku gradually gets larger as the song continues.
  • On the contrary, the characters in LOL -Lots of Laughs-' Mirai/Arcade PV shrink.
  "We're getting smaller as we go along?"
• Sleep Cute:
  • The end of the anime video of "World's End Umbrella".
  • Invoked by the Alarm Clock room item, in that the Vocaloid themselves goes to sleep so that, when the alarm goes off, they wake up with you.
• Some Dexterity Required: Future Tone is not Dualshock 4-friendly. Highlights go to triple Wide Notes and double/triple holds, which, considering most people only have two thumbs, are rather difficult to do properly without claw gripping your controller. Want to play this game properly? Buy a specialized Project DIVA controller or learn macros.
• Space Elevator: The opening to F 2nd depicts a train that travels to space. This train is also briefly visible in the PV for DECORATOR.
  • 1/6 Out Of the Gravity takes place on a space elevator in the more traditional sense.
• Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Mirai songs that include Gumi are not able to classify her as a lead singer due to how the game (and company politics) works, so songs where she duets with others in an equal fashion are still credited to her duet partner as the "lead" singer. This gets particularly noticeable in "1 2 Fanclub", where Rin's mainly the backup singer and Gumi carries most of the vocals.
  • In the mainline series, Rin is usually the best represented after Miku herself, with the most songs and modules.
• Springtime for Hitler: The song "How'd It Get To Be Like This?" from the arcade game is a meta example. There was a contest where the winners would get their song added to the game, and the song's producer Udongerge submitted it as a joke. He was quite surprised when his nonsensical denpa song actually made it in the game.
• Stalker with a Crush: Miku and Luka big-time for Rin in "Rin-chan Now!"
• The Stinger:
  • Played with. In "World's End Umbrella", after the movie ends, the title card appears as Miku walks outside to an idyllic ruin beyond the movie theater much like the one seen at the end of the movie. However, the song isn't over, which can catch players off guard if they weren't paying attention.
  • Played straight "PoPiPo ~Special Edition~" in F. There's a six-note jingle that plays ten seconds after the song proper ends, which can easily catch you off guard if you don't know about it.
• Stripperiffic:
  • Some modules are borderline, but the clearest example is definitely Meiko's Blue Crystal: Her breasts are covered only by a belt!
  • Miku's "Ambivalence" module is basically elaborate lingerie.
• Stylistic Suck: Miku's animation in Mirai DX's "Hello Planet" is very choppy to emulate a retro game sprite animation until the end, when she reunites with her master in heaven, tying into the whole Retraux style of the song and video.
• Super-Deformed:
  • God-Tier Tune in F uses Nendoroid-based models for Rin, Len, Luka, and the lead singer.
  • The mirai subseries also, and exclusively, uses Nendoroids as a basis for its style.
  • mirai's appearance at Tokyo Game Show also lead to the appearance of Mikudayo, which was supposed to be this... save for the fact that she was disproportionately chubby and lacked a neck, causing the whole outfit to come off as chillingly creepy. After it went memetic in the Japanese fanbase, it later became an Ascended Meme, appearing in every subsequent DIVA and mirai game starting from F as a customization option.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: Future Tone was originally claimed by SEGA to be a straight port of Arcade, but they changed the distribution method to two packs at the last minute, and moved four of the Colorful Tone songs to the first DLC pack.
• Suddenly Voiced:
  • The secret movie in extend recuts the opening, but now fully voiced courtesy of the Vocaloids' individual voice providers.
  • Prior to X, in accordance with the general official policy of avoiding the implication the characters have specific personalities that might conflict with fans' headcanons, the characters had never really had any dialogue and had only "talked" in short clips (mainly in score delivery and when interacting in the DIVA Room) like "thank you!" and "congratulations!" However, X gives the characters actual dialogue; although the actual voices remain as short clips due to the difficulty of reconstructing smooth dialogue manually in the Vocaloid editor, the characters become extremely talkative through the plot and when changing modules. The game is careful to have a disclaimer saying that the lines were made specifically for the game and aren't meant to be official, but since the series itself is still an officially licensed game, this led to quite a bit of discomfort among players more accustomed to the hands-off status quo employed up until then.
• Take That Us: If Meiko finished a song wearing a Cool module in Project Diva X, she says she's glad you're collecting modules, since they're so much better than stamps. The mirai subseries has literal dozens of Stamps to collect.
• That Russian Squat Dance: Miku and Meiko briefly during "Koneko no Payapaya" in Mirai DX.
• Three Minutes of Writhing: Some of the music videos are this. To name some examples, there's "magnet" and "Change me" from 2nd,"Hm? Ah, Yes." and "Nostalogic" from ƒ, and "Brain Revolution Girl" from X.
• Three-Point Landing: In Puyo Puyo 39, KAITO will do this at 6-Chain.
• Title Drop: Notably, all three theme songs for the mirai series use the word "mirai" at least once, which is, of course, the name of the game.
• To the Tune of...:
  • "Cendrillon" and "Adolescence" in mirai use the exact same song, the difference being that the former is performed by Miku and KAITO, the latter by Rin and Len. They also have different lyrics. This is referenced in the PVs themselves, which use an identical dance routine save for the opening, which reflects the theme of the song. They even use the same splitting note track, but a different path is taken depending on the song.
  • "Colorful X Melody" is a poppy duet song sung by Miku and Rin. In extend, it has a reprise entitled "Colorful X Sexy", which utilizes the same melody in a swing style and is performed by Luka and MEIKO.
• Token Mini-Moe: Rin and Len, of course.
• Too Awesome to Use: Depending on how regularly you earn Play Coins, the Items in mirai can be this if you tend to not walk around a lot for Coins, which could be put to more valuable use in, say, StreetPass Mii Plaza.
• Too Long; Didn't Dub: F, mirai DX, and Future Tone all use romaji lyrics instead of translated lyrics. This notably affects plot-heavy songs like "Aku no Musume/Meshitukai", which make far more sense if you know what the song's actually saying.
  • Notably INVOKED by SEGA with Future Tone, which had one of their localization team declare it wasn't happening.^note This is likely because of the fact that to negotiate and implement all the translations for every single song would likely take as long as the development cycle for both the Japanese AND English versions combined. It literally would take too long a time to even do subtitles.
  • Hilariously, this even extends to its depiction in the TCG Weiss Schwarz, in which the flavor text of every single Project DIVA card is left in its original Japanese due to borrowing heavily on song lyrics.
• Too Many Mouths: The default stage and Miku's costume for "Babylon" in X feature giant dentures, referencing the song's original illustration.
• Transformation Sequence:
  • In the first few games, the openings were obligated to have a Vocaloid transform into their performance outfit from their school outfit or casual clothes with a flashy animation. This tradition was dropped by F, when the school setting was replaced and everyone simply wore their normal outfits by default.
  • Acquiring a Module in X is depicted by a scene cut from the video into a view of the five Element Prisms merging into the player Vocaloid, transforming them into the Module you just acquired.
• Trash the Set: Several Vocaloids engage in this, but Rin is the queen of this trope.
  • Tengaku from F has the stage where Rin is playing burst into flames and begin to collapse as part of the Chance Time event, to the point where she's standing in flaming ruins.
  • Tokyo Teddy Bear, also in F, causes what looks like a classroom to dissolve around Rin during the last verse.
  • Rin does it AGAIN in X, this time breaking a guitar and flinging a microphone stand across the stage in Lost One's Weeping.
  • Miku is also guilty of this in extend and F 2nd, slamming music stands and the like to the floor in Rolling Girl.
• Trick Boss: F's "Negaposi*Continues" has all the trappings of a Final Boss track; highest rating for a given difficulty level, lots of very rapid notes, and if you play the tracks in list order than there's a considerable slowdown in unlocks before you get it. Then you clear it... and unlock "Sadistic.Music∞Factory", which puts Continues to shame.
• Truer to the Text: The DIVA PV for "Hello Planet" utilizes a loose adaptation of the original PV that paints a more cohesive tale, but excises the video game aesthetic. Conversely, the mirai PV is a nearly 1-to-1 recreation of the original PV, just with a few added scenes and extensive use of voxels. As well as Miku's new 3D model, of course.
• Twin Switch: How the Servant saves the Daughter of Evil in "Aku no Meshitsukai/Servant of Evil"; he switched places with her at the last second so he would be killed in her place.
• Twin Telepathy: Rin and Len seem to exhibit this in X's story mode (although the game is careful not to actually describe them as twins or even siblings).
• Underground Monkey:
  • Project DIVA officially has 36 songs, but four of them are just rehashes of other songs with another Vocaloid singing it.
  • Arcade/Future Tone has two songs that have variants with a different video and charts:
    • "Butterfly on Your Right Shoulder" has a variant called "Butterfly on Your Right Shoulder -39's Giving Day Edition-", which uses audio ripped directly from the concert in question and has Rin on backup vocals.
    • "Solitude's End" has "Solitude's End -extend edition-", which ports the PV from extend and has the ability to change the lead and guest singers.
    • "Senbonzakura" has "Senbonzakura -F Edition-", which ports the PV from F and features the ability to change the lead singer to any of the six Vocaloids.
• Unexpected Gameplay Change: Break the Limit mode in Miku Flick. Unlike the standard difficulties, where you only have to hit highlighted syllables to pass, Break the Limit allows you to hit every syllable. In addition, you cannot fail out of Break the Limit, and the number of notes you hit in Break the Limit is tracked as a high score. The former stipulation could be interpreted as a form of mercy, since in the first game, The Disappearance of Hatsune Miku is a playable song.
• Unflinching Walk: Luka does this briefly in "DYE" in Diva F as columns of ice shatter around her.
• Unlockable Difficulty Levels:
  • In all main series games, Normal must be cleared to unlock Hard, and Hard must be cleared to unlock Extreme.
  • Arcade/Future Tone relaxes this a bit by making Hard a default difficulty. Extreme must still be unlocked by clearing Hard, though.
  • Difficulties work the same way in mirai. DX adds a twist though; to unlock Super Hard on the six songs that have it, you must first beat the game and have an S Rank or higher on that song's Hard chart.
• Updated Re-release:
  • 2nd# fixes several bugs and niggles, speeds up load times, and comes with a free DLC code that gives you all of extend's costumes to use. extend could be considered this to 2nd, especially seeing as how its working title was Project DIVA 2.5, but its song list is somewhat more divergent than the usual instances of this trope.
  • ƒ Best Price Edition is basically what 2nd# did for 2nd, but for ƒ.
  • Some songs are redone using newer voice banks to make them sound more natural, like the 1st generation song "VOC@LOID In Love", which sounds very different in X due to the song being reproduced in the Hatsune Miku V3 engine.
    • With LOL ~Lots of Laugh~ on Future Tone, the X version of the music is used with the original mirai PV.
  • Zigzagged with Mega Mix+; ostensibly an upgraded version of Mega Mix, in reality it's closer to a straight port of Future Tone with 1/3rd of the song list as DLC and the ability to toggle the cel-shading on/off. The game lacks features from both prior games, such as Survival Course and the titular motion-controlled Mix Mode.
• Variable Mix: Missing a note will cause whatever vocals corresponding to that point in the music to not play. Miss notes repeatedly and the characters will sound like they forgot the lyrics^note This can be turned off in Options.
  • 2nd, extend, and the mirai subseries, do not have this, due to the song library on its own taking up most of the disc or cartridge already.
• Video Game Cruelty Potential: In F2nd the player can poke the Vocaloid on their forehead or in their eyes a number of times. Do it too many times, and they start getting upset. Continue on after that until all of their affinity points deplete and they storm off angrily.
  • Video Game Cruelty Punishment: A rather tame example. In F2nd if you poke the Vocaloids too many times, they start to get upset. They will eventually storm off if you continue to do so until of their affinity points are depleted.
• Villain Protagonist: "Aku no Musume", which features Rin playing the titular "Daughter of Evil" Riliane, a vain, wealthy princess who is a huge Jerkass Hated by All.
• Violation of Common Sense:
  • The "Challenger" Stamp in mirai DX requires you to fail 30 times in Rhythm Game. If you're decent at rhythm games, you will practically never fail out of any chart in the entire game except for the very hardest ones, so getting this Stamp essentially requires you to start songs and then put down the 3DS and let yourself fail.
  • If a hold note in Future Tone is close to maxing out and there's a hold note coming up that has a normal note of the same type shortly after it, it may be more effective for your score if you purposefully miss the note to get the bonus from getting the full score with one note.
• Vocal Dissonance: Can be invoked by the player depending on the character and song combination, since each song will still be sung by the original singer.
• Vomit Discretion Shot: In mirai/Arcade/Future Tone's "LOL -lots of laugh-", during the roller coaster part, the bunny in the rear car makes as if regurgitating his lunch over the side of the coaster, but the shot is blocked by Miku's head.
• Wave-Motion Gun: The train in Mirai DX's "Senbonzakura" has one, used for exorcism, for some reason^*In fairness, the lyrics to the song mention using an intercontinental ballistic missile for the same purpose.
• When She Smiles: The opening movies for the games are some of the few instances where Hachune Miku actually smiles.
• Wholesome Crossdresser: Len's Phoenix Moon module, a feminine kimono, and Rin's Ame module, a masculine happi coat, in F, their default outfits for "Kagamine HachiHachi Flower Fight".
• Word Salad Lyrics:
  • "PoPiPo"'s English verse is absolutely full of this.
    Let's take, you are lovin' it!
    Vegetable juice
    You must love this drink, I've decided now!
    So take now, with true heart, vegetable juice
    It costs just two dollars!
  • "Denparadigm" is a textbook example of a "denpa song", with the nonsensical lyrics to match. The brilliance of its accompanying PV is that it attempts to make sense of the gibberish lyrics as best it can in visual form. The results are about what you'd expect.
• Wretched Hive: "Babylon" in X is about one.
• Writing Around Trademarks: Although nearly everyone should be well aware of the characters' nature, since "Vocaloid" refers to the Yamaha-owned software engine and not the Crypton-owned characters, the games are extremely careful to avoid using the word, even going as far as to censor it to "VOC@LOID" when it appears in song titles or lyrics. This gets taken up to eleven in X when Live Quest Mode has to tiptoe around by referring to Miku and her friends as "digital singers", even though several modules have "VOCALOID" printed on them prominently.
• Your Module Is In Another Playthrough: The costumes done for the Medleys in Diva X are locked via a set of challenges unlocked by completing additional playthroughs of the five clouds.

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