Pop'n Music 3 Append Disc (Konami, Music Rhythm Game, DCast)
Secrets FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
V1.0 5/31/00
Written by: Richard Uyeyama (ru e ama best com)*
* Instances of the letter "y", the "at" symbol, and all periods have been
removed (replaced with spaces) from the above e-mail address in order to
prevent unscrupulous UCE (unsolicited commercial e-mail) bot processes
from adding to the amount of e-mail I already get...
The latest version of this file can be found at:
Welcome to Club Pop'n - with DJ ruyeyama
http://www.best.com/~ruyeyama/dcast/wtcp.html
Document formatting, organization, and wording Copyright 2000 by Richard
Uyeyama.
Permission granted by author to duplicate (unaltered) this document in its
entirety for NON-PROFIT purposes only. All other rights reserved. Author
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Pop'n Music 3 is Copyright 1998, 2000 by Konami, Co., Ltd. "Konami",
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Table of Contents:
0. Document History
I. Basic Stuff
1. What is this document?
2. What does "Append Disc" mean?
3. What's new/different in Pop'n3 (compared to Pop'n2)?
4. Terminology and notation?
II. Songs and Characters
1. How do I free up the hidden songs?
A. Codes
B. Conditions
C. Time release
2. Can I play Hyper songs in Normal, Excite, and Party modes?
3. Is there anything special in Hyper mode?
A. Secret Course
B. BGM Course variation
4. Do you have a complete song list?
5. Say, are the songs listed in a different order in Free, Training and
Records Modes?
6. Do you have a complete character list?
III. Miscellany
1. Do you know of any other codes?
A. Pop-kun speed
B. Abort song
C. Training Mode in-game song Speed
D. Soft reset
2. What can you tell me about the end credits sequence?
3. How is score calculated?
4. Is there a screensaver?
IV. Thanks and Stuff
-------------------
0. Document History
-------------------
V1.0: 5/31/00
Launch version
(2/10/00: DCast Pop'n Music 3 Append Disc now on sale)
(2/10/00: PSX Pop'n Music 3 Append Disc now on sale)
--------------
I. Basic Stuff
--------------
I.1 What is this document?
This document is an English language informational resource for Pop'n
Music 3 Append Disc (which I shall hereafter refer to as Pop'n3, for
brevity's sake), a music rhythm game (available in Japan) by Konami.
Pop'n Music is a part of Konami's immensely popular "BEMANI" series of
games.
In this document, I'll be covering codes and secrets and other such
information which may be of interest to Pop'n3 fans. This is a Secrets
FAQ, and not a strategy guide, btw, so I won't be including game
strategies, or note patterns, or anything like that in this document...
This document was written for the DCast version of Pop'n3, but I'm
pretty sure that most of the basic secrets information contained herein
(for example, the song release conditions) will probably apply to the PSX
version of the game as well... (note: if you do find any discrepancies
between the DCast and PSX version, feel free to let me know by e-mailing
me at the address listed near the top of this document)
Pop'n Music 3 Append Disc basic info:
1 Disc (T-9591M)
1-4 Players
Works with: Arcade stick, VMU (7 blocks), PuruPuru Pack,
Pop'n Controller.
Pop'n Music 2 (Key Disc) basic info:
1 Disc (T-9590M)
1-4 Players
Works with: Arcade stick, VMU (6 blocks), PuruPuru Pack,
Pop'n Controller.
I.2 What does "Append Disc" mean?
An Append Disc is a disc that cannot be run on its own, and instead
must be loaded through use of another disc (a Key Disc). In other words,
you have to load the Key Disc first, then select a special load option (in
that game), to be able to play the Append Disc. In the case of Pop'n3,
the Key Disc is Pop'n Music 2, so if you don't have Pop'n2, you can't run
Pop'n3. On the plus side, though, Append Discs are usually cheaper than
the average game (Pop'n3 retails for only 2800 (y)en!), so... =)
Note: Pop'n3 is not an add-on to Pop'n2, but is rather a complete and
separate game. The use of Pop'n2 as a Key Disc is probably just to load
the game engine, etc.
I.3 What's new/different in Pop'n3 (compared to Pop'n2)?
New stat: COMBO. Your Combo number is one less than the number of
consecutive Greats you've done. The game will keep track of your Max
Combo (listed under your score), which will be displayed as a fourth Stat
on the summary screen, after you finish the song.
New mode: HYPER. Hyper mode is sort of like Survival Mode from
Pop'n2, except that the Hyper courses are only 3 songs long... and made up
entirely of Hyper versions of songs! Like Survival, Bads will cause your
gauge to go down (one notch at a time), and Goods and Greats will keep
your gauge where it is. Unlike Survival, though, if your gauge hits zero,
your game doesn't immediately end, but rather, you'll have a couple
seconds to try to build your gauge up (Greats can raise your gauge only
during this time), so you can keep playing. Also, after finishing a song,
you'll actually get a minor gauge increase before your next song!
New songs and characters. Also, some (but not all, of course)
returning songs and characters from Pop'n 2. (see character and song lists
later in this document for complete lists)
Different announcer voice.
No Marathon or Survival Mode.
There are some other new things as well, but those are the major
differences...
I.4 Terminology and notation?
Yep. Just so there's no confusion about things, here's some
terminology and notation and stuff which I may make use of in this
document:
Controller info:
For the most part, it will be assumed in this document that you are
playing Pop'n3 with a Pop'n Controller. If you do not have a Pop'n
Controller, I would *strongly* suggest (if you're a fan of the Pop'n Music
series, that is) that you get one; the game is definitely a lot easier,
and imho a lot more fun when playing with a Pop'n Controller. =) Also
note that some of the codes covered in this document might not work with
the standard DCast controller, if the DCast "A" button defaults to a
necessary key...
The two standard ways of referring to the Pop'n controller keys are
by letters, and by numbers:
B D F H 2 4 6 8
A C E G I 1 3 5 7 9
The letter notation is the "official" designation (i.e. it's printed
on the controller), but the number notation is probably slightly more
intuitive to use (even numbers on top, odd numbers on bottom); I've
actually seen the number notation used on parts of the Konami website. =)
Song difficulty ratings:
The difficulty scale is 23 notches wide, with 5 green, 6 yellow, 6
orange, and 6 red notches. The two standard ways of referring to song
difficulty ratings are by relative (how many notches into a particular
color the rating is) and absolute (how many notches total the rating
spans) numbers. Here are the equivalents:
G-1 - G-5 1 - 5
Y-1 - Y-6 6 - 11
O-1 - O-6 12 - 17
R-1 - R-6 18 - 23
Song genre abbreviations:
The game will sometimes refer to "J-Rhythm & Blues" as "J-R&B",
"J-Rhythm & Blues 2" as "J-R&B 2", and "Guitar Pop" as "G-Pop", so if you
see any of those abbreviations in the game (or this document), that's what
they stand for.
------------------------
II. Songs and Characters
------------------------
II.1 How do I free up the hidden songs?
There are five hidden songs in Pop'n3 (Positive, Boys, Lovely,
Jungle, and Prelude), which can be made playable via specific codes,
conditions, or in-song time release.
II.1.A Codes
At the Main Menu (i.e. where you select Arcade Mode, Free Mode,
Training Mode, etc.), input one of the following codes:
Positive A B C D F F G G H H I A A.
Boys F H F H H F H H F H H F C.
Lovely C F H F F I F B F H F.
Jungle G F C G C H D A B B B A G.
Prelude A B C I F D H G A C I F D H G.
Or, if you prefer numerical designations:
Positive 1 2 3 4 6 6 7 7 8 8 9 1 1.
Boys 6 8 6 8 8 6 8 8 6 8 8 6 3.
Lovely 3 6 8 6 6 9 6 2 6 8 6.
Jungle 7 6 3 7 3 8 4 1 2 2 2 1 7.
Prelude 1 2 3 9 6 4 8 7 1 3 9 6 4 8 7.
If you do this right, you'll hear a tone&laugh (same as when you
select a Hyper version of a song), and a small, blinking, colored
star will appear above the title, as follows (locations listed below
are approximate):
Positive green above first "p" in "pop'n music"
Boys purple above "m"
Lovely blue above "o"
Jungle orange above "c"
Prelude red above "i"
So if you did all five codes, the colors would line up, from left to
right, as follows: green, blue, purple, red, orange.
Once you have a star (or stars) showing, select Arcade Mode (if you
select something else, and then come back, the code will no longer be
active) and play Normal, Excite, or Party mode, and the appropriate
song (or songs) will be playable.
- Note that these codes are *temporary* codes, and so will only
remain active for one game. Songs will become permanently
playable, however, according to the time release conditions,
listed below.
II.1.B Conditions
In Arcade Mode, during a Normal, Excite, or Party mode game, if you
fulfill specific conditions, a hidden song will become playable (just
for that game), as follows:
Positive - For Stage 1, defeat a male opponent with a female
character, or a female opponent with a male character, and
Positive will be playable on Stage 2.
Boys - Play as a male character, then defeat male opponents for both
Stages 1 and 2, and Boys will be playable on Stage 3.
Lovely - For Stage 1, pass Guitar Pop with at least 80% Greats, then
for Stage 2, pass Lounge (no special requirements; just pass the
song), and Lovely will be playable on Stage 3.
Jungle - Pass both Stages 1 and 2 with a Max Combo of at least 100
(it doesn't matter which songs you choose, so pick whichever ones
are easiest for you to get 100-Combos on), and Jungle will be
playable on Stage 3.
Prelude - Earn a high score of at least 85000 for Avantgarde (you can
do this in Arcade or Free Mode). Anytime after this (i.e. you
don't have to do the following immediately after), play Normal,
Excite, or Party mode, and pass any song for Stage 1. Then for
Stage 2, pass Classic 3 with a score of at least 90000, and a Max
Combo of at least 40, and Prelude will be playable on Stage 3.
- Fulfillment of an above set of in-game conditions will release the
appropriate song just for that game (i.e. temporarily). Songs will
become permanently playable, however, according to the time release
conditions, listed below.
- Continues don't matter for the above conditions, so if you realize
you're not going to fulfill a particular condition, you can always
Abort your song (hold the START button down for a second or two),
Continue, and try again. Unless you have a really nice high score
going that you don't want to lose by Continuing, of course... =)
II.1.C Time release
Time release appears to be based upon the amount of in-song time (as
opposed to in-game time) that has been logged, so simply leaving the
game idle for six hours or so probably won't time release a thing;
you'll have to actually play the game. =) I think only songs in
Normal, Excite, and Party mode games (in Arcade Mode) will count
towards the time release totals. As far as I know, there is no way
to check your current in-game time logged (besides calculating it
yourself, from the "Play" data for each song in the Chart section of
Records Mode, and approximate song times, etc., that is...). Anyway,
here are what seem to be the totals needed to release each of the
hidden songs: (hrs:min)
Positive 2:00
Boys 2:30
Lovely 3:00
Jungle 3:30
Prelude 6:00
- Once a song has been time released, it will be permanently
playable.
- For approximate song times, see the "complete song list" section of
this document. The most efficient way of logging time, of course,
is simply to play the longest song in the game (Live) over and over
and over, by failing and continuing, failing and continuing... Of
course, imho, actually playing the game is probably more fun (and
less tedious)... =)
- The most time-efficient (longest) set of songs appears to be:
Guitar Pop, Live, Dreamy. Logging about 5'34" per game played,
this set of songs should time release all five hidden songs by the
time your 65th game is complete. Of course, since each game takes
at least 6 or 7 minutes to play, your actual total in-game time
will probably be closer to 7 or 7.5 hours than 6 hours...
II.2 Can I play Hyper songs in Normal, Excite, and Party modes?
You sure can. =)
After all Normal (i.e. non-Beginner and non-Hyper) songs (including
the hidden songs) have been completed (whether passed or failed doesn't
matter (i.e. just make it to the end of the song)) at least once, if you
hold the START button down during song select, certain song choices will
display Hyper songs (easily distinguishable by a pulsating rainbow effect
(song genre and opponent name)) instead of the normal selection, as
follows:
(Note: Holding the START button down will also enable the Hyper selections
in Free and Training Modes...)
Normal Song (opponent) HYPER SONG (opponent)
---------------------- ---------------------
Guitar Pop (Rie-chan) POPS (Rie-chan)
Magicalgirl (Megumi) ANIME HERO (Shollkee)
Kangtong (LingLing)
Rockabilly (Jennifer)
Cute (Anzu) CUTE (Anzu)
Akiba (Shollkee) J-TEKNO (Shollkee)
---------------------- ---------------------
Mondo (Cyber)
Heartful (Candy) ENKA (Ice)
Celt (Poet) CLASSIC (Hamanov)
Jazzy (Charly) SPY (Charly)
Groove Rock (Pepper)
Classic 3 (Hamanov) CLASSIC 3 (Hamanov)
*Positive (Sunny)
New Folk (Flower)
Live (Aya) AFRICA (Aya)
Lounge (Ice) NEO ACO (Ice)
J-Rhythm & Blues (tourmaline)
---------------------- ---------------------
*Lovely (Sanae-chan)
Soundtrack (P-1&P-2) CLASSIC 2 (Hamanov)
New-commer (Kate) J-POP (Aya)
Powerfolk (Ash)
J-Rhythm & Blues 2 (tourmaline)
*Jungle (Bamboo?)
Dancepop (Rave Girl) DANCE (Judy)
Dreamy (Boy) TECHNO'80 (Boy)
Super Pop (Captain Super Pop) URBAN POP (Aya)
*Boys (Hikaru)
*Prelude (Edward) PRELUDE (Edward)
Sexy Girls (May-Fa) SEXY GIRLS (May-Fa)
J-Garage Pop (Kelly) J-GARAGE POP (Kelly)
Avantgarde (Edward) AVANTGARDE (Edward)
II.3 Is there anything special in Hyper mode?
The normal lineup of Hyper Courses is as follows:
Course Songs
Vocal J-POP ANIME HERO ENKA
Cutie Pop POPS URBAN POP NEO ACO
Electric J-TEKNO DANCE TECHNO'80
BGM CLASSIC CLASSIC 2 AFRICA
Pop'n1 J-TEKNO ANIME HERO SPY
There is, however, a hidden sixth course (Secret), as well as a
variation on the BGM Course...
II.3.A Secret Course
From any selection on the Hyper Course select screen, input the
following code:
Dx3, Fx5, Dx2, Fx7, Dx3, Fx4.
(i.e. move the Course select left three times, right five times, left
two times, etc...) If you do this right, you'll end up on a course
called "Secret", which will have been inserted into the lineup
between Pop'n1 and Vocal. The Secret Course consists of: J-GARAGE
POP, CUTE, and SEXY GIRLS.
The above is a temporary code, and so will last only for one game
(i.e. you will have to do the code anew, each time you want to play
the Secret Course).
II.3.B BGM Course variation
(Note: This information has not been tested)
If, after finishing the first two songs (CLASSIC and CLASSIC 2) of
the BGM Course, your Gauge is still at least 2/3 full, then instead
of AFRICA, you'll get to play AVANTGARDE instead.
Note: I don't know if the condition applies to your gauge before or
after your gauge bonus... but I would hope it's after. ^^;
II.4 Do you have a complete song list?
Yep. Here are some nice, organized charts for you:
(notes: songs listed by genre; songs are listed below in the order they
are listed in Arcade Mode; hidden songs marked by *; Beginner songs in
full lowercase; Hyper songs in FULL CAPS; approximate length of song
based upon span from first Pop-kun (or character, if no Pop-kuns are
visible) movement to screen fade (i.e. the full length of time during
which inputs are accepted).)
(note on difficulty ratings: note that difficulty ratings for Beginner
and Hyper songs are not necessarily indicative of their actual (or even
relative) difficulty, since the Beginner difficulty ratings are the
same (in spite of the songs being easier) as their Normal counterparts,
and all Hyper songs are given a difficulty rating of R-6 (23), in spite
of the fact that some Hyper songs are a *lot* easier than others...)
Key:
---
Song genre difficulty approx.time notes opponent
Beginner songs:
--------------
guitar pop Y-5 (10) 1'37" 201 Rie-chan
new-commer R-1 (18) 1'39" 127 Kate
celt Y-6 (11) 1'35" 178 Poet
kangtong O-1 (12) 1'35" 215 LingLing
groove rock O-4 (15) 1'32" 111 Pepper
magicalgirl Y-4 (9) 1'31" 186 Megumi
powerfolk R-6 (23) 1'38" 136 Ash
j-rhythm & blues 2 O-2 (13) 1'28" 105 tourmaline
dreamy O-3 (14) 1'50" 137 Boy
sexy girls R-4 (21) 1'33" 133 May-Fa
Normal songs:
------------
Guitar Pop Y-5 (10) 1'37" 201 Rie-chan
Magicalgirl Y-4 (9) 1'31" 186 Megumi
Kangtong O-1 (12) 1'35" 262 LingLing
Rockabilly O-1 (12) 1'32" 199 Jennifer
Cute G-5 (5) 1'27" 144 Anzu
Akiba O-1 (12) 1'35" 181 Shollkee
Mondo O-2 (13) 1'33" 182 Cyber
Heartful O-3 (14) 1'37" 147 Candy
Celt Y-6 (11) 1'35" 239 Poet
Jazzy O-5 (16) 1'36" 256 Charly
Groove Rock O-4 (15) 1'32" 197 Pepper
Classic 3 O-6 (17) 1'35" 151 Hamanov
*Positive R-5 (22) 1'36" 197 Sunny
New Folk O-4 (15) 1'35" 261 Flower
Live Y-6 (11) 2'07" 238 Aya
Lounge O-3 (14) 1'30" 161 Ice
J-Rhythm & Blues O-2 (13) 1'41" 230 tourmaline
*Lovely O-4 (15) 1'33" 199 Sanae-chan
Soundtrack R-4 (21) 1'34" 270 P-1&P-2
New-commer R-1 (18) 1'39" 236 Kate
Powerfolk R-6 (23) 1'38" 363 Ash
J-Rhythm & Blues 2 O-2 (13) 1'28" 159 tourmaline
*Jungle R-6 (23) 1'36" 343 Bamboo?
Dancepop O-5 (16) 1'38" 296 Rave Girl
Dreamy O-3 (14) 1'50" 242 Boy
Super Pop R-2 (19) 1'43" 360 Captain Super Pop
*Boys R-4 (21) 1'44" 295 Hikaru
*Prelude R-3 (20) 1'36" 214 Edward
Sexy Girls R-4 (21) 1'33" 230 May-Fa
J-Garage Pop O-6 (17) 1'45" 274 Kelly
Avantgarde R-6 (23) 1'30" 187 Edward
Hyper songs:
-----------
POPS R-6 (23) 1'23" 189 Rie-chan
ANIME HERO R-6 (23) 1'34" 325 Shollkee
CUTE R-6 (23) 1'27" 287 Anzu
J-TEKNO R-6 (23) 1'28" 175 Shollkee
ENKA R-6 (23) 1'38" 277 Ice
CLASSIC R-6 (23) 1'58" 425 Hamanov
SPY R-6 (23) 1'30" 350 Charly
CLASSIC 3 R-6 (23) 1'35" 286 Hamanov
AFRICA R-6 (23) 1'52" 414 Aya
NEO ACO R-6 (23) 1'28" 348 Ice
CLASSIC 2 R-6 (23) 1'32" 358 Hamanov
J-POP R-6 (23) 1'53" 323 Aya
DANCE R-6 (23) 1'24" 224 Judy
TECHNO'80 R-6 (23) 1'54" 295 Boy
URBAN POP R-6 (23) 1'36" 338 Aya
*PRELUDE R-6 (23) 1'36" 338 Edward
SEXY GIRLS R-6 (23) 1'33" 295 May-Fa
J-GARAGE POP R-6 (23) 1'45" 385 Kelly
AVANTGARDE R-6 (23) 1'30" 401 Edward
II.5 Say, are the songs listed in a different order in Free, Training and
Records Modes?
Yes, they sure are. And no, I don't know why.
Here is the song order in Free Mode:
Beginner Normal/Excite/Party
-------- -------------------
guitar pop Lovely Kangtong Prelude J-R&B
magicalgirl G-Pop Jungle Positive
new-commer Soundtrack Dancepop Sexy Girls
powerfolk Mondo Jazzy New Folk
j-r&b 2 Magicalgirl Groove Rock J-Garage Pop
celt New-commer Dreamy Cute
kangtong Heartful Super Pop Akiba
groove rock Power Folk Rockabilly Avantgarde
dreamy J-R&B 2 Boys Live
sexy girls Celt Classic 3 Lounge
Hyper
-----
AFRICA TECHNO'80
CLASSIC SEXY GIRLS
J-POP URBAN POP
POPS CLASSIC 2
J-TEKNO J-GARAGE POP
DANCE AVANTGARDE
ANIME HERO CUTE
SPY
ENKA
NEO ACO
The song order in Training Mode bears some similarities:
Lovely Dreamy J-R&B J-TEKNO
G-Pop Super Pop g-pop DANCE
Soundtrack Rockabilly magicalgirl ANIME HERO
Mondo Boys new-commer SPY
Magicalgirl Classic 3 powerfolk ENKA
New-commer Prelude j-r&b 2 NEO ACO
Heartful Positive celt TECHNO'80
Power Folk Sexy Girls kangtong SEXY GIRLS
J-R&B 2 New Folk sexy girls URBAN POP
Celt J-Garage Pop groove rock CLASSIC 2
Kangtong Cute dreamy J-GARAGE POP
Jungle Akibe AFRICA AVANTGARDE
Dancepop Avantgarde CLASSIC CUTE
Jazzy Live J-POP CLASSIC 3
Groove Rock Lounge POPS PRELUDE
Note: Basically, the above is: 1) Normal songs in Free Mode order; 2)
Beginner songs in Free Mode order, except with "sexy girls" being moved
between "kangtong" and "groove rock"; 3) Hyper songs in Free Mode order;
4) CLASSIC 3 and PRELUDE.
And here's the song order in the Chart section of Records Mode:
(N=Normal, B=Beginner, H=Hyper)
Lovely N Dreamy N B J-R&B N
G-Pop N B Super Pop N Africa H
Soundtrack N Rockabilly N Classic H
Mondo N Boys N J-Pop H
Magicalgirl N B Classic 3 N H Pops H
New-commer N B Prelude N H J-Tekno H
Heartful N Positive N Dance H
Powerfolk N B Sexy Girls N B H Anime Hero H
J-R&B 2 N B New Folk N Spy H
Celt N B J-Garage Pop N H Enka H
Kangtong N B Cute N H Neo Aco H
Jungle N Akiba N Techno'80 H
Dancepop N Avantgarde N H Urban Pop H
Jazzy N Live N Classic 2 H
Groove Rock N B Lounge N
II.6 Do you have a complete character list?
Here you go:
(notes: characters are listed below in the order they are listed on
the character select screen; characters not initially available are marked
with a * (to release a character as playable, simply face that character
as an opponent (it doesn't matter if you pass or fail the song); m=male,
f=female)).
Mimi f Judy f Boy m
Nyami f Kate f Anzu f
Mary f LingLing f Flower m
the King m Megumi f Kelly f
Shollkee m Poet f Edward m
Charly m Rie-chan f Jennifer f
Ash m Sanae-chan f *Hikaru m
Aya f Rave Girl f Pepper m
*Bamboo? m P-1&P-2 m *Sunny f
Candy f tourmaline f Captain Super Pop m
Cyber m May-Fa f
Ice m Hamanov m
---------------
III. Miscellany
---------------
III.1 Do you know of any other codes?
Yep.
III.1.A Pop-kun speed
In Arcade or Free Mode, at the mode/character select screen, hold the
START button down to select (use the Blue buttons (D and F)) between
NORMAL, QUICK, and TURBO pop-kun speeds.
imho notes: I find that TURBO is a little too much on the fast side
for normal play, but QUICK is actually playable... and may even be
advantageous for timing purposes. Due to the fact that the pop-kuns
are moving faster, they will be spaced out further, making it easier
to distinguish timing patterns (as well as the individual timing
points). And this can potentially make it easier to properly time
such things as slow sections of a song, or clusters of tightly-packed
notes...
III.1.B Abort song
During a song (Arcade, Free, or Training Mode), if you hold the START
button down for a second or two, you can Abort (i.e. automatically
fail, regardless of the status of your gauge) the song. This will
take you directly to the summary screen, then the "Continue?" prompt
(Arcade) or menu (Free). In Training Mode, Aborting a song will take
you directly to the Training options menu.
Notes: An Aborted song does not count as completed, and so will not
count towards any conditions that require song completion. The Abort
code actually works on the Beginner mode pre-game instructional demo,
so if you're playing Beginner mode, and don't feel like waiting, just
Abort the demo! ^^
III.1.C Training Mode in-game song Speed
In Training Mode, you can actually change your song's Speed setting
*during* the song, simply by using the analog control on the standard
DCast controller. Up is faster (up to standard speed), and down is
slower...
III.1.D Soft reset
On the standard DCast controller, the standard 5-button reset (hold
A+B+X+Y, then press START) will bring you back to the main title
screen (the one that says "PRESS START BUTTON"). On the Pop'n
Controller, a 10-button reset (hold A+B+C+D+E+F+G+H+I, then press
START) will do the same. From the main title screen, if you input
the reset command again, you'll exit the game and go to the main
Dreamcast menu.
III.2 What can you tell me about the end credits sequence?
In Arcade Mode, if you complete an Excite, Party, or Hyper mode game,
you'll be treated to an end credits sequence. For Excite and Party modes,
this basically the same as the Pop'n2 end credits sequence (gameplay
field, "Theme of staff roll - special mix -", character showcase, and
upward-scrolling credits), except with the Pop'n3 characters (and credits)
instead. For Hyper mode, you'll instead be treated to a special "winter"
version of "Give Me Your Pain" (Candy Pop, from Pop'n2), some light snow,
and snapshots of some of the characters during the (upward-scrolling) end
credits.
After all Normal (i.e. non-Beginner and non-Hyper) songs have been
completed (whether passed or failed) at least once, the Excite and Party
mode credits sequence will become the same as the Hyper mode one ("winter"
version of "Give Me Your Pain", etc.).
For those who are interested, here are the character pairings in the
normal credits:
the King Mary
Ash Bamboo?
Candy Cyber
Ice Charly
Kate LingLing
Megumi Poet
Rie-chan Sanae-chan
Rave Girl P-1&P-2
tourmaline May-Fa
Hamanov Boy
Anzu Flower
Kelly Edward
Jennifer Hikaru
Pepper Sunny
Captain Super Pop Shollkee
Aya Judy
Nyami Mimi
Initially, only the King, Mary, Nyami, and Mimi will be shown. The
other characters can be uncovered by playing against that character in all
(which in most cases is just one) of his/her Normal songs. The one
exception to this is Judy, who has no Normal song. Judy can be uncovered
by playing against her in Hyper mode (i.e. play Electric Course, and get
past J-TEKNO; you don't have to defeat DANCE to uncover Judy in the
standard credits sequence).
And for those who are interested, here is the snapshot order for the
special credits:
1. Shollkee
2. Rie-chan
3. the King
4. Mary
5. Ice
6. LingLing
7. Ash
8. Kate
9. Hamanov
10. P-1&P-2
11. Cyber
12. Nyami & Mimi
13. Anzu
14. Kelly
15. Captain Super Pop
16. Judy
17. Group photo: Nyami, Mary, the King, and Mimi
III.3 How is score calculated?
The technical explanation:
For n = total # of notes in a song, the value of a single Great,
Good, or Bad is as follows:
Great = 100,000/n
Good = 20,000/n
Bad = 0
Thus, total score is calculated as follows (A = total # of Greats
earned, C = total # of Goods earned):
Total score = A(100,000/n) + C(20,000/n)
Scores are always rounded down.
The more colloquial explanation:
For any song, if you get all Greats, you will earn the maximum score
of 100,000 points for that song. If you get all Goods, you will earn only
20,000 points. And if you get all Bads, you're obviously not trying. =)
Since the maximum score obtainable for any song is 100,000 points,
the value of each Great/Good will vary from song to song, according to how
many notes that song has (if you're interested, the "complete song list"
section of this document does list the total number of notes for each
song). The more notes a song has, the less each Great/Good will be worth.
Within a song, however, a Great or Good will always be worth the same
amount (you'll probably see an apparent variance of 1 point occasionally,
but this is actually a result of the accumulated decimal values adding up,
as opposed to the Great or Good actually changing value). Additionally,
within a song, a Great will always be worth five times as much as a Good.
So how is score calculated? Take 100,000, divide it by the number of
notes in the song, then multiply that by the total number of Greats you
earned; this is the number of points you've earned from Greats. Now take
20,000, divide it by the number of notes in the song, then multiply that
by the total number of Goods you earned; this is the number of points
you've earned from Goods. Add these two numbers together, and you should
(after rounding the number down to the base integer) have your total
score.
III.4 Is there a screensaver?
Why, yes, there is. More than one, actually.
After 5 minutes of idle time (no inputs, and no reading from the
disc), the standard DCast screensaver (screen darkening) will kick in. At
20 minutes of idle time, one of four game-specific screensavers will start
(one will be chosen randomly). About every 3 minutes thereafter, the
current game-specific screensaver will end, and a new one (or the same one
again, if the same one is (randomly) chosen) will start. (side note: CD
spin stop activation time is 1 hour (60 minutes) of idle time.)
The four game-specific screensavers are all pop-kun screensavers, and
thus, I've designated them as follows: snow-pop, bounce-pop, lob-pop, and
radial-pop.
snow-pop - Pop-kuns will drift gently down the screen, like snow.
There are multiple (at least 4 or 5, I think) layers of "snow"
(Pop-kuns that are farther away will appear to be smaller, and will
drift down more slowly). Nearing the end of this screensaver, the
snow will start to thin, then eventually stop completely, allowing
the next screensaver to start. (Note: Sometimes, after the snow
has cleared, a giant pink pop-kun will fall (quickly) down the
screen before the next screensaver starts)
bounce-pop - 2 pop-kuns of each color (yes, even red) will bounce
diagonally around the screen, leaving temporary echo trails as they
move.
lob-pop - Pop-kuns will be lobbed upward, from below the screen, then
bounce (on the bottom of the screen, and the left and right edges)
a bit (kind of like a soccer ball, or something), before eventually
disappearing. (Note: If you've seen the card bounce sequence at
the end of the standard Win95 Solitaire game, it's sort of like
that, except with pop-kuns)
radial-pop - Pop-kuns will be tossed out radially, from the center of
the screen, in a counter-clockwise rotating pattern. So if you
imagine an extremely fast baseball pitching (or tennis ball
serving) machine at the center of the screen, sitting on a
counter-clockwise rotating platform... that's sort of what it's
like. =)
Leaving the game in attract mode (cycling through the title screen
and demos) will not cause screensavers to activate (the game reads from
the disc every once in a while during attract mode). Leaving the game at
a select screen or menu (I've tested the Mode select and song select
screens) should work just fine, though. =)
--------------------
IV. Thanks and Stuff
--------------------
Thanks to:
The Dreamcast secrets site at
(
http://www.geocities.co.jp/Playtown-Dice/6400/urawaza.html), for
the hidden song in-game conditions, and the Pop-kun speed setting
code...
Shuukan Dreamcast Magazine
(2000, Vol.8, 3/10), for the hidden song codes, the Secret Hyper
Course code, and the BGM Hyper Course variation info...
The Konami webpages
(
http://www.konami.co.jp/), for confirming the Secret Hyper Course
code, and the Lovely and Jungle codes.
ruyeyama dedicates this Secrets FAQ to the people who love music and game.
Peace.
(eof)
