Pop'n Music Lapistoria

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Pop'n Music LapistoriaポップンミュージックラピストリアPoppun Myūjikku Rapisutoria
General information
Theme	Parallel World/School/Gemstones
Hardware	Arcade, Paseli
Date Release	2/15/14 5/30/15-6/1/14 (Location Tests) 6/25/14
Number of Licensed Songs	11
Number of Original Songs	106 (If counting both pop'n originals and Story Mode Unlocks)
Number of CS Songs	1 (If counting pop'n rhythmin)
Number of Remixes	2
Number of Cut Songs	1
Total Number of Songs	TBA
Staff
Producer(s)	Yoshitaka Nishimura
Director(s)	PON (SP)
Staff	TAG (SD), wac (Mascot)
Programmer(s)	TBA
Chronology
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Pop'n Music Lapistoria (ポップンミュージックラピストリア, Poppun Myūjikku Rapisutoria^?) is a 2014 Japanese music/rhythm video game developed by KONAMI and BEMANI, and the 22nd release of the Pop'n Music series. Its location test release dates are from February 15th and May 30th to June 1st. Its official release was on June 25th.

Gameplay

Story

A parallel world dubbed as "Lapistoria" is created by the god of Pop'n World, MZD. He then commissioned RETSU, FUGA, HIUMI, and RINKA to investigate the rapid disappearance of Pop-kuns, sending them to Lapistoria. The quartet, with the recruitment of Mimi and Nyami, enter an academy by encountering old and new students as they try to unravel the mystery of the receding numbers of Pop-kuns with their signature lapises. Throughout the story, there are a few antagonists working with the anonymous mastermind to rob magical lapises from their wielders.

New Additions

We now introduce special items called Auras. They are located in the bottom of the song banner chosen. There are six auras shown: gray, blue, green, yellow, orange, and pink. The gray Aura represents a few points, while the pink one represents as specially many (it's only used for expert, and challenging songs). If you clear a song, then you will achieve points, according to which type of aura is used. Some Auras' bits are used for some Normas or options.

Pop'n Challenge occurs, in order for the player to complete challenges. If a challenge is accomplished, the player will receive some prizes, such as item gets, characters, new songs, etc.

Story Mode

See List of Story Arcs.
You only choose one story, before a cutscene appears. If the Story Mode's gauge is full, you will encounter another cutscene. If a secret song is chosen, you will receive a cutscene before playing the song. The song will be available, after you have completed it.

Course Mode

The new Course Mode is extremely analogous to the defunct Expert Mode. Open and close the folder with the green button. Unlike Expert Mode, there are four trophies for ranking. You will receive a gold trophy, if you clear a song without any MISS. Both the gold and silver trophies will be earned when NORMA is used. The bronze is only used for clearing, while the stone trophy represents that you've failed the course.

Song List

See Pop'n Music Lapistoria/Music List.

Cut Songs

Genre	Song	Artist	Character	PnM 20 Folder
12/3/14
Connect コネクト "Konekuto"	コネクト	♪♪♪♪♪	Nyami	TV/Anime (fantasia)

New Charts

See new charts here.

Difficulty Changes

See difficulty changes here.

Trivia

General

• This is the first series to have its trademark title to be decorated in a different border.
• This is the first game release to have an anime opening, unlike its predecessors and succeeding games.
  • The characters who appear in the opening for the teaser at first are MZD, RETSU, HIUMI, FUGA, RINKA, nia, and her twin brother toa, are shown in their new vestments.
    • The finalized version of the opening adds Mimi and Nyami as well, replacing the "ARE YOU READY?" backdrop with nia and RETSU.
    • All four Tsugidoka! characters also appear in the title screen. The marquee also shows them, along with the mainstays Mimi and Nyami.
• The portrait designs of most of the new and returning characters for the new Lapistoria songs have changed to the anime art style (the animation sprites retain the same design style as older games, though).
  • The new character portraits on the banners show visible signs of discontent when they lose or win (except for Zizz, Goku-Sotsu-Kun, SORA HOSHINO and Kagome), with the loser shrunken a bit in the background and colored in dark blue. (This does not apply to the new licensed songs and their characters, since they feature the standard pop'n music designs, and also because the song's album art is shown as opposed to a rival character.)
  • Only characters in their new Lapistoria portraits have their own Lapis shown before gameplay. Whenever you choose a character who received a new portrait for this game, an effect shows up.
  • The anime character designs lasted from this game to うさぎと猫と少年の夢.
• Story Mode is introduced, making this game to be the first to have story arcs.
• Lapistoria is the first arcade-only pop'n game to include Utaite characters in licensed songs, and also Touhou characters in rearrangements.
  • It is the third game of the pop'n music series to include new characters for licensed songs after pop'n music 10, with June for the Cutie Honey license song, and pop'n music 13 カーニバル, with Mr.KATUCCO for the Ajikko license.
• This is the first pop'n game to include other characters as main characters besides Mimi and Nyami. In this case, the Tsugidoka! characters and nia are the main characters who are originally from the previous installment.
• ラピストリア was the first arcade-only game to not include 2P/special color palettes for new debut characters, especially for the recurring characters to Lapistoria. However, previous characters' palettes are kept intact. Albeit this, the 2P palettes were unlocked on an update in 11/21/14 (though they were temporarily unlocked for a bit earlier in late October 2014 due to a bug that was later fixed).
  • The 2P palettes also have their lapises to have their colors altered.
• First pop'n music game since pop'n music 14 FEVER! to not feature a Sota Fujimori song on the default songlist.
• All the hidden songs from pop'n music Sunny Park that weren't unlocked at some point in that game are still hidden. If you didn't unlock them in Sunny Park, you'll have to unlock them in ラピストリア via Story Mode.
• ラピストリア is the first to not include YouTube videos with music previews in the official website.
  • First arcade pop'n music game website since pop'n music 10's to not have any preview music clips for any songs, licenses and KONAMI originals alike.
    • It is also the first pop'n music website since pop'n music 5's to not contain any staff comments on any songs. The one and only exception so far is Harmonia.
    • It is also the first pop'n music game to have a website to separate character comments and music comments from one another, until they are combined soon around fall.
• pop'n music ラピストリア is known as the Earth Purification (大地の浄化, Chikyuu Jouka^?), in PONの運命浄化計画.
• This is the first pop'n music game to have a BeatStream crossover song and character.
• pop'n music ラピストリア is the only arcade-only game to not feature pop'n CS transplant songs from mainline CS games.

Changes and Patches

• pop'n music ラピストリア is the first pop'n music game in which the BGM on the options/modify/ojama/norma splash screen after selecting a song, becomes an actual playable song, Harmonia.
• The Options have many changes:
  • HIDDEN/SUDDEN are now toggled in-game by pressing the 0/00 buttons of the numeric keypad, respectively.
  • HI-SPEED can now be increased/decreased by 0.1 amounts, instead of 0.5 amounts like previous releases.
    • It also displays which will be the new BPM after applying the chosen HI-SPEED; new HI-SPEED options can now go up to 10X.
  • GAUGE TYPE can be set as EASY (half damage), NORMAL, HARD (double damage) or DANGER (1 BAD drains your entire gauge).
  • Several OJAMAs have been removed, including the HI-SPEED/HID-SUD/HELL/DEATH OJAMAs (due to the changes to other options). For more on this topic, see this page here.
  • Eight options can be set now: HI-SPEED, POP-KUN, GAUGE TYPE, RANDOM, HIDDEN, SUDDEN, OJAMA 1 and OJAMA 2.
• None of the banners for the new Lapistoria songs have genres on them.
  • Banners of the old pop'n music songs were kept intact, though.
  • Genre sorting on the songwheel was removed.
• The song selection screen's layout was changed: the songwheel only have the song banners on them, with the song artist below the banners.
• Song backgrounds were removed. Instead, generic animated backdrops are used.
• None of the new songs have Music Comments.
• Scoring ratio was changed from 10:5:1:0 to 10:7:4:0 for COOL:GREAT:GOOD:BAD respectively.
• pop'n music ラピストリア is the first pop'n music game, since pop'n music 5, to have songs exclusive to EXTRA STAGE.
  • EXTRA STAGE is now PASELI-only. EXTRA STAGE is accessed by collecting the E-X-T-R-A letters. You get one letter each time you clear a song.
  • You are now shown how many points you've earned from the stages for the required EXTRA STAGE amount.
• Game Over was removed: now you can fail any stage and continue playing.
• Result screens have been modified:
  • The game informs you if you went over or under your previous record in a song on the bottom right corner of the screen.
• Character Deco, or character customization, is introduced for the first time.
• TV/J-Pop reverts back to TV/Anime, but with an addition of the "etc." word.
• After Expert Mode is defunct for the previous four games, Course Mode is introduced, replacing Expert Mode.
  • Pop'n Music Sunny Park receives its own HELL course first, before reversing back to the previous four games.
  • If one uses PASELI, it's possible to continue playing even if their gauge is empty, though the game will mark the course as failed.
  • None of the courses have artwork but song banners grouping together, unlike Expert Mode.

Etymology

• "Lapistoria" is a portmanteau for "lapis" and "historia".
  • "Lapis" is the Latin term for "stone", even though this word is commonly and fully known as "lapis lazuli", a common gemstone known for its blue color. The "lapis" word plays a central role for this pop'n music installment, with a few new characters named after gemstones.
    • It is obvious that the true antagonist, Lapis, has its name being eponymous for this word.
    • Speaking of lapis lazuli, Lazuli has her name deriving from this gemstone name.
  • "Historia" means "story" in Latin. This word signifies that pop'n music ラピストリア has a main story mode.

Gallery

Merchandise

Pop'n Music Lapistoria Original Soundtrack

Back cover

Mimi and Nyami holding hands in the promotional video

Official Artworks

Video

Pop'n music ラピストリア

Intro

Pop'n music ラピストリア PV

Intro 2

References

Pop'n Music Lapistoria Official Website
JAEPO Special Site