Pop'n Music Wiki is a communicative and informative website based on the pop'n music game series. It is the second wiki to be connected with the BEMANI Wikis.
Why is This Wiki Created?[]
The Pop'n Music Wiki is created to largely cover most of the stuff from the pop'n music series. It is not created for just the Japanese audience, but also English-speaking viewers, regardless of the level of academic knowledge in Japanese.
This wiki actively review and bring most of the information from pop'n music's characters, songs, events, stories, and others. It is that kind of information that RemyWiki, the main citation source, haven't quite touch upon that often, because theoretically, most of the editors from that site recently cover information from either the beatmania IIDX series or the SOUND VOLTEX series.
Visuality[]
The editors, if not the administrators, are working on designing the wiki's visual themes and components that are appropriate for the viewers' needs.
Most of the information are copied and cited from RemyWiki, but do keep in mind that there is a lot of paraphrasing, as well as facts and/or pieces of trivia from pop'n music that RemyWiki have missed. Also, when creating or editing pages there, trivia relating to pop'n music are only presented, including pieces of what could have been. This makes finding interesting info easier and less bloated.
Mobile[]
We haven't touched upon the mechanics for the mobile format of this wiki for now.
What is Pop'n Music?[]
The first Pop'n Music game released on September 28 1998.
Pop'n Music, mainly stylized as pop'n music (abbreviated as PM or PnM) is one of the popular music/rhythm video game franchises published by Konami and developed by Bemani. The series was initially conceived from the idea to create a more playful and childish design for Beatmania. Pop'n Music gained vast popularity early on for targeting younger audiences including children. However, in later installments, the series became gradually more targeted at young adults due to its increasingly complex gameplay.
In September 1998, Pop'n Music debuted at arcades in Osaka, Japan, with a cast of 16 playable characters notably including Mimi, Nyami, The King and Mary. The series then went on to spawn numerous sequels, with 28 main arcade installments, 15 main console installments, and 8 spin-offs released by 2024.
Controller[]
The Pop'n Music controller is iconic for its rectangular or rounded trapezoidal shape with nine colorful buttons: one red, two blue, two green, two yellow and two white.
Growing Legacy[]
The first Pop'n Music PS2 game released.
Eventually, Pop'n Music's console releases evolved from the Sony PlayStation to PlayStation 2, adding new characters, songs, designs and gameplay features. These new releases also added Expert Mode (a course mode) with four songs in each course, Norma Select, Omake, Challenge Mode, Chou Challenge Mode, Battle, and NET Mode.
Pop'n Music 15 ADVENTURE, the first Pop'n Music stand-alone arcade game.
Pop'n Music commonly had console releases after arcade releases until 2007, after Pop'n Music 14 FEVER! was released. Pop'n Music 15 ADVENTURE marked the end of console releases until Pop'n Music portable was later announced. Beginning with the release of Pop'n Music 19 TUNE STREET, Pop'n Music's arcade releases have partnered with Paseli.
International Reception[]
Despite pop'n music's rising popularity in Japan and South Korea, games saw poor turnout in western countries, particularly in the United States. Many players in the west thought that the complex charting (ex. HYPER or EXTRA difficulty) made gameplay too complex for both younger and older audiences. In an attempt to please western players, Konami released Beat'n Groovy, a game based on pop'n music's mechanics at an easier difficulty. The game met generally poor reception, receiving negative and "melancholic" reviews due to slow graphics and poorly detailed background design.
Pop'n Music on Wii.
Konami's next worldwide release of the franchise was simply titled pop'n music, released in Japan, Europe, and North America. Instead of featuring songs primarily from TV and Anime, which would have likely caused licensing issues with certain Japanese music labels, the game's song selection primarily featured North American songs (ex. Bad Day, My Life Would Suck Without You, Pump Up the Volume, etc). The game's opening theme and special song were arranged differently for international audiences as well.
Similar to Beat'n Groovy, the Wii remake of Pop'n Music received heavy backlash. Complaints focused on the altered gameplay style, which consisted of five buttons instead of the original nine with the exception of 2P mode, and the adapted character designs with beanie-shaped bodies and absent limbs. According to Metacritic, critics at release regarded the gameplay as a "frustrating experience". The international releases of the game also contain censorship of religious imagery. Poet, a character who debuted in Pop'n Music 3, has her halo removed in the western release. There were also concerns about one song in the European release of Pop'n Music Wii having uncensored lyrics that were deemed explicit.
Later on, Konami and Bemani released an arcade-exclusive location test in North America that contained an all-new four-button gameplay style based on the infamous Wii installment. The test was later re-modified for Japan and released as HELLO! POP'N MUSIC.
Some arcades and conventions across the Americas and Europe house the western releases of Pop'n Music cabinets as well as both newer and older Japanese BEMANI releases.
pop'n music's prescence in the west nowadays is primarily due to its active fan communities and events, highlighted by talented music/rhythm gamers who share and compete in both home and arcade environments. Fan activity includes screenshots of players' results, fan artwork, and a fanmade simulator based on the original DanceDanceRevolution games, Stepmania, which includes a Pop'n Music counterpart, Step'n Music.
Heavy Road Bumps[]
The criticism for pop'n music games doesn't stop in the Beat'n Groovy spinoff and the Wii remake. The release of pop'n music ラピストリア received mixed reactions from fans and players alike. Some praised the new features, while others complain about the anime-style designs given by the characters. That game is also criticized for the story and the plot relevance from some characters.