Pop'n Music

Pop'n Music
Dreamcast & Playstation FAQ
June 5th 2001, Revision 0.95

Written By : Crono
E-mail : [email protected]
Real Name : Justin Strauss
Home Page : www.tows.org

This document is the intellectual property of the author. It is intended to provide help, to
fellow gamers, on a title that is both entertaining and difficult at various times. Please do
not copy or distribute this file in any format without consent of the author. This means: on
other web pages, as part of another FAQ, in any written or electronic publication, etc. And, to
be crystal clear, this document is legally copyrighted through two or more means. This is
including a publishing firm clause, as well as various websites' legal setups (such as the one
found on GameFAQs). If you have any new tips or info you want us to hear, just drop an e-mail.
And, just in case this comes up, neither Game Cave nor anyone else may distribute this to those
who purchase this title or who are somehow bringing profit to said party.

Pop'n Music is a trademark of Konami Computer Entertainment, Inc. Copyright 1998-1999 by
Konami Computer Entertainment, Inc. Copyright Konami Computer Entertainment Yokohama, Inc.
All related names fall under the same applicable laws. All rights reserved.

You can find the newest version of this FAQ only at the following sites. If you find it
anywhere else, please let me know as soon as possible. It should not be posted anywhere else
but at the following sites:

Game FAQs Videogame Strategies
http://www.gamefaqs.com/ http://vgstrategies.about.com/

Table of Contents:
--------------------------------------

0.0 Revision History

1.0 Game Mechanics

2.0 Options Menu

2.1 Save & Load

3.0 Arcade Mode

3.1 Beginner Mode

3.2 Excite Mode

3.3 Hyper Mode

4.0 Song List and Info

5.0 Free Mode

6.0 Training Mode

7.0 Records List

8.0 Game Variant Setup

9.0 Game Secrets and Hidden Options

10.0 Contributions and Thank-You's

0.0 Revision History
--------------------------------------

V0.5 - 04/05/99 - Bare bones version, soon after release.

V0.8 - 02/15/01 - Pre-Release! Expect typos or grammar problems from it.
- General setup added, for all modes.

V0.9 - 04/16/01 - Initial Release! General information tweaked.
- Secrets confirmed and finished thanks to Konami Studios.
- Layout updated to newest versions.

V1.0 - 06/??/01 - Coming Very Soon!

Coming Soon:

-more detailed info?
-whatever might be left out.

1.0 Game Mechanics
--------------------------------------

The basic gameplay is very simple to learn, despite the difficulty of the hardest songs.
The game is played with nine different buttons, each represented by a distinct color. These
colors come in sets of two, moving outward from the inside (aside from the red center button).
By default, these nine buttons are layed out on the controller just as they are on the game
screen. This applies to the arcade, and there is also a special "pop'n controller" which acts
as this at home. Otherwise, you can simply use the buttons on your control pad to play in any
setup you choose. The standard layout of the buttons is as follows, in these three diagrams.
This applies to the controller, as well as their order from left to right when playing. The
first image below is of the buttons being "lettered" as they are in the config screens. The
second one is of them "numbered" as they are when codes are being entered. The third is of
their "colors" onscreen, which are used to make the game easier to play (abbreviated for red,
blue, green, yellow, and white):

B D F H 2 4 6 8 Y B B Y
A C E G I 1 3 5 7 9 W G R G W

There is a column above each of these nine buttons, colored repectively. During gameplay,
small bubbles (called "popkuns") will move slowly from the top of that "column" toward the
bottom where the buttons are. There is a straight line at that point at the bottom. The basic
premise is to hit the correct colored button whenever the popkuns in that particular column hit
the bottom line. For each pop that you hit, a certain musical note or sound will be played in
the song. You are basically helping to complete the song properly, and make pop music. This is
a similar premise used in the "Bemani" series of games from Konami, where you must hit all the
notes properly. You have a "rhythm level" meter which increases as you do well in the song. It
will decrease, however, as you miss the popkuns. When the song concludes, the meter must be in
the red zone of bars (closer to the top) in order for you to "pass" the stage.

You must listen to the rhythm of the song as well, because the simple sight of the popkuns
can't always tell you exactly when to hit each button perfectly. And whenever a scale of notes
is used, it will usually flow back and forth from one side to another. The pops in the song
that represent musical notes will generally follow the tempo of the song (which can be heard
distinctly). In the tougher variants of a song, however, the pops may come at more sparatic
moments to create sound effects. Either way, knowing and listening to a song will help you
greatly with performing the pops. There will also be times to hit multiple pops at a single
moment. These are very important to identify and learn. There will usually never be more than
four popkuns to press at the exact same time, and there are typically never more than two at
once (since you only have two hands, with limited capabilities). However, the notes can go
extremely quickly, to the point where you must carry multiple percussion parts at one time.

-Pop Rank. Each time you press a button, the game will keep track of how close to the exact
popkun you were. The three ranks are listed in order from best to worst. "Great" is right on
the beat, exactly. "Good" is close to the beat, but not perfect. "Bad" is far off from the
beat, or just missing it altogether. Each of these three possibilities yields more points than
the one before it. At the end of the song, you see how many of each rank you received overall
when executing the song's pops. Not only that, but it will show how many of each pop rank you
received for each of the nine buttons separately. These are tabulated towards your score.

-Score. You receive a score at the end of the level, depending on how well you did. Better
pop ranks get you more points per pop. At the end of a stage, you are given your "stage score"
as well as your "total score" so far. Whenever you play a level, the maximum possible score
will always be 100000 points. If you achieve all greats for the pops, you will get a perfect
score. It takes coordination as well as a sense of rhythm to play this game well, especially
for the later levels. You can set high scores for each of the game's songs, and for each
variant of the song. These are kept (along with your max combo for each) in the records
section. This also gives an incentive to play again, to earn high or perfect scores on every
level variant.

-Song Difficulty. Each song in the game has a difficulty level associated with it. In
addition, there are special variants of certain songs (each with more pops and difficulty, see
other sections). Each song has a different difficulty assigned to it. You can see the
difficulty level below each song genre/title that you can select when playing. The difficulty
level itself is indicated by how many colored bars you will see lined up on the meter (from
left to right). A song can range in difficulty from one (1) to twenty-three (23) bars. These
bars are separated into four colors which show their range of difficulty. The first five are
green, the next six are yellow, then six orange, then six red. This adds to a total of twenty-
three bars for the hardest songs (which will have a full bar of all four colors).

2.0 Options Menu
--------------------------------------

The Options Menu in Pop'n Music is completely in English, and therefore it should be self-
explanatory in most any case. However, some options may be earned through fulfilling certain
objectives or might be difficult to understand. *The "shortcut" option is only available for
Playstation. It removes the graphics from most game menus, and replaces them with text (to help
eliminate a lot of the loading time). Dreamcast has plenty of free memory, and does NOT really
have loading time to begin with... so it does not have/need this option. *As for the
"controller" menu, it is only present on Dreamcast. It manages and automatically detects all
four controllers (and their types or vibration options); and eliminates the later "vibration"
choices seen below on the options menu. When you wish to save and load your game, there is a
separate choice from the game's main menu. The full set of menu options is as follows:

-Game Level: 1-4

-Button Mode: 5Button/7Button/9Button

-Select: Normal/ShortCut *(PSX)

-Vibration 1P: BeatSync/Miss/Button/NoUse *(PSX)

-Vibration 2P: BeatSync/Miss/Button/NoUse *(PSX)

-Controller *(DC)
-Controller [A]: Normal/ArcadeStick/Pop'nController/-
-Controller [B]: Normal/ArcadeStick/Pop'nController/-
-Controller [C]: Normal/ArcadeStick/Pop'nController/-
-Controller [D]: Normal/ArcadeStick/Pop'nController/-
-Vibration [A]: NoUse/Miss/BeatSync/Button
-Vibration [B]: NoUse/Miss/BeatSync/Button
-Vibration [C]: NoUse/Miss/BeatSync/Button
-Vibration [D]: NoUse/Miss/BeatSync/Button

-Key Config
-Player: 1P/2P/3P*/4P*
-Default Type: I-VII
-Setup
-Exit

-Sound
-Sound Mode: Stereo/Monaural
-BGM Volume: 1-5
-SE Volume: 1-5
-BGM Test
-SE Test
-Exit

-Option Reset
-Wish to Continue: Yes/No

-Exit

2.1 Save & Load
--------------------------------------

This is simply for saving and loading your game, as one might have guessed. It is separated
into its own section, however, under the options on the game's main menu. With "Auto Save"
turned on, the game will save data to your memory card after each time you complete Arcade
mode. It will also do so after changing the options, or when exiting any mode in which
pertinent things were changed. *The choice for "VM Sound" is only available on Dreamcast, and
it will activate the beep of the memory card whenever data is saved or loaded. The menu options
are as follows:

-Save
-Want to Save: Yes/No
-Overwrite Old Data: Yes/No

-Load
-Want to Load: Yes/No

-Auto Save: On/Off

-VM Sound: On/Off *(DC)

-Exit

3.0 Arcade Mode
--------------------------------------

This is the primary mode of the game, and it's the place where you will spend most of your
time. You must first choose your "play mode," by pressing the "blue" buttons. This determines
what type of setup the game will use. "Normal" mode is what you play usually, while each
special mode will have its own subsection later in this file. You then select your character,
if you wish, by pressing the "yellow" buttons. Change the character's color by pressing the
"green" buttons. There is a "default player character" for each of the game mode choices.
However, you may also change your player character to that of anyone whose stage you have
already completed. The play mode choices (with their respective player character) are as
follows:

Beginner : Nyami&Mimi
Normal : Mary
Excite : The King

Your standard game will involve playing Three stages, and the game's songs are divided up
among these three. Therefore, there are specific songs which can be played on each stage, and
each stage tends to have harder songs than that before it. For the complete list of songs,
refer to that later section of this file. Otherwise, your next selection is "stage select."
Each of the game's songs is sorted by its "genre" name (although the song title and artist are
also given, but only when the stage itself loads up). For each stage, you are given the list of
genres, along with a character that represents that stage (those with an asterick next to them
are secret stages). The numbers on the right are the difficulty of each stage:

-Stage 1:

POPS Rie-chan |10
RAP Uncle Jam |08
J-TEKNO Shollkee |06
FANTASY Dino |05

-Stage 2:

LATIN Don Mommy |07
DANCE Judy |12
REGGAE Olivia |13
DISCO QUEEN Chamel |18

-Stage 3:

TECHNO POP Kraft |14
ANIME HERO Toru Kamikaze |16
SPY Charly |23
DISCO KING Bamboo |22
* BONUS TRACK Sanae-chan |14
* RAVE Rave Girl |20
* J-POP Pretty |14
* FUSION Sylvester |16
* AFRICA Unbabo |14
* TECHNO'80 Boy |19
* CLASSIC Hamanov |22

3.1 Beginner Mode
--------------------------------------

This mode contains the "easy" variations of some of the game's songs. This is for those who
are new to the game, or who want to practice with all nine buttons for the first time. There
are separate records kept for your best beginner mode scores in the records tables (along with
the standard ones). However, not all of the game's songs are available in this mode. It
consists of two stages rather than three. Before these, you will play a "Lesson" stage which
shows you how to play. This stage can be skipped by holding the "start" button (as well as
"select" if on Playstation). Otherwise, the game plays as normal. The stages, with their songs
and characters, are as follows:

-Stage 1:

POPS Rie-chan |10
RAP Uncle Jam |08
J-TEKNO Shollkee |06
FANTASY Dino |05

-Stage 2:

LATIN Don Mommy |07
DANCE Judy |12
REGGAE Olivia |13
DISCO QUEEN Chamel |18

3.2 Excite Mode
--------------------------------------

This mode is a takeoff on the normal game mode. The selection of songs, high scores, and
all normal aspects of gameplay are handled the same way. In this mode, however, it shakes up
the popkuns a bit. During most of the song (everything but the intro and outro) the game will
go into excite mode, and randomly shuffle the popkuns back and forth as they are falling. You
can see them move back and forth, and they will position themselves before they hit bottom.
This is as usual in normal mode, except now your opponent will also launch their attacks at you
(called "ojama"). These can block your view or such, making it much tougher. The screen will
shake and the background will change when excite time starts, and it will last throughout the
stage in a more intense manner than usual.

3.4 Hyper Mode
--------------------------------------

This mode contains the "expert" variations of some of the game's songs. This is for those
who are veterans of the game, and who want a new and much higher level of difficulty. However,
not all of the game's songs have hyper variants. You must access the hyper mode versions by
playing the normal arcade/free modes. Remember, this will only work when you play on "nine
button" mode. Highlight a song that has a hyper version, then hold down either the "start"
button (for Dreamcast) or the "select" button (for Playstation) and the song's name will glow
in rainbow colors. When you select the song, you will hear a special sound that confirms it
being the hyper version. The songs with hyper mode variants are as follows:

-Hyper Songs:

AFRICA Pretty |23
TECHNO'80 Pretty |23
CLASSIC Pretty |23

4.0 Song List and Info
--------------------------------------

Dif. Genre Song Title Artist

14| AFRICA Con Te Sabi 2119 Hamba Un Aa
16| ANIME HERO The Theme Of Gambler Z Naramcha feat. Ryo
14| BONUS TRACK Sure Chigau Nihito Apresmidi
22| CLASSIC Chaos Age Waldeus Von Dovjak
12| DANCE Hi-Tekno Hi-Tekno
22| DISCO KING Funky Town '75 JV & The Sexy Machine Gun
18| DISCO QUEEN What I Want The Richie Sisters
05| FANTASY Monde Des Songe Bikke
16| FUSION Crossover 12 319
14| J-POP Life Haya-P & Maru
06| J-TEKNO Quick Master Act Deft
07| LATIN El Pais Del Sol Senorita Rica
10| POPS I Really Want To Hurt You Sugi & Reo
08| RAP Young Dream Little Fingers
20| RAVE E-Motion e.o.s.
13| REGGAE Baby, I'm Yours Lisa-T
23| SPY Spicy Piece Original Soundtracks
19| TECHNO'80 Water Melon Woman Nanatek
14| TECHNO POP Electronic Fill Windslope

5.0 Free Mode
--------------------------------------

Free mode does just what it says. In here, you can freely play any songs which you have
already "completed" in Arcade mode. You do not need to have "passed" them, either. So long as
you have fully played a song in Arcade mode, pass or fail, you will now be able to play it any
time you want in free mode. You need not worry about failing, fulfilling requirements, or
anything else. It's just for fun, after you've earned the right. First you choose your game
mode, character, and stage just as in Arcade mode. You play one song at a time, and after each
one you are given these choices:

-Continue
-Stage Select
-Mode Select

6.0 Training Mode
--------------------------------------

Training mode is the place to sharpen your skills on any level that you have accessed,
without fear of losing. When choosing to "start" the level, you can play a chosen segment
(called "phrase") or just the full song. When choosing phrase, the first selection is the
starting point, while the second selection is the ending point. "Auto" will play the level's
notes for you automatically. "Repeat" will set the chosen segment on a constant loop. When
choosing "Speed" on Playstation, you have five choices. Five is the standard, and will play the
song. The other four are slower, but will remove the BGM when playing. On Dreamcast, the normal
speed is zero. It can go down all the way to sixty-four levels of slowness. Better yet, the
song itself will play in slow-motion with whatever speed it is set to. The menu options are as
follows:

-Start

-Music Select

-Setting
-Speed: 1-5 (PSX) ; 0-64 (DC)
-Phrase: All/Segment
-Auto: On/Off
-Repeat: On/Off
-Exit

-Exit

7.0 Records
--------------------------------------

This is the only Pop'n Music game where records are NOT kept in their own dedicated (and
detailed) section. Instead, you can see your high scores for overall game in the demo reel that
runs along with the main title screen. You can also see these scores after completing a game in
any of the three particular modes (as they all have their own score table). This is the point
of entering your initials and such when achieving a high score. The modes kept in records are
as follows, with a top five for each:

-Beginner
-Normal
-Excite

8.0 Game Variant Setup
--------------------------------------

These "game variants" are settings which make the popkuns fall differently (for added
challenge and such). Once this is accessed, this option will appear at the bottom of the main
title screen. (see the secrets section for more on earning). You can switch between one of
these Three variants, or have it set to "Off" (which is normal gameplay). You may not select
more than one at a time, obviously, and pressing the "red" button while on this option will
change between the four settings. "Mirror" means that the usual spot that each popkun appears
will be switched to the opposite side of the screen (left to right). "Random" means that the
popkuns will appear in a random spot each time when playing a level (although there will always
be the same number of popkuns, and at the same times... this just randomizes which color each
one will be). "Hidden" makes the popkuns disappear from sight once they reach the lower part of
the screen (towards the line) so you must rely on timing and your ears to hit them properly.

-Off/Mirror/Random/Hidden

9.0 Game Secrets and Hidden Options
--------------------------------------

-Experience. Most of the secrets to be earned in this game are received once you have
played enough hours in the standard arcade modes of play. The game internally keeps count of
how many hours you have played, and there is no way to view that total number itself. Also, the
counter will ONLY count time that you have spent actually playing the songs. It will not count
time for just leaving the system sitting... or for sitting in the song selection menus. For the
most part, you will "time-release" a new secret song for every hour or so after a certain point
in the game. You may also play secret songs by fulfilling requirements, but that will only make
them appear that one specific time. If you want permanent access to all the secret songs at
once, it's all about the time-release. In the end, you will have nineteen (19) songs total.

-Secret Songs, Earned. The usual way to play the secret songs is by fulfilling certain
requirements as you play the stages in Arcade mode. This may be a "minimum score" on one stage,
or it may be to choose a particular "player character" for yourself at the start. If you
fulfill the listed requirements (while playing stages one and two) then the secret stage will
be available for selection in stage three. This is for that one time, however, and the song
will not be selectable when you return next time. The songs are as follows, with their
requirements listed below them:

J-POP
-stage 1 is POP
-stage 2 is DANCE, REGGAE, or DISCO Q.

AFRICA
-stage 1 is RAP
-stage 2 is REGGAE

CLASSIC
-stage 1 is FANTASY
-stage 2 is LATIN

TECHNO'80
-stage 1 is J-TEKNO
-stage is completed with rhythm meter
right at the boundary of win/lose

FUSION
-player character is Bamboo

BONUS TRACK
-complete a stage where the first
digit of the great, good, & bad
counts is either: 5-7-3 or 3-7-5

RAVE
-stage 1 is J-TEKNO
-stage 2 is DANCE, and
must score 85% or more greats

-Secret Songs, Time-Release. For every certain amount of time you log in playing the normal
arcade game modes, you will earn a new secret song by time-release. Some songs are the secret
ones from the arcade, while the others were added as secret songs for the consumer version of
this game. This is the only method which can release these songs as PERMANENTLY playable at any
time (and all at once). Once you have logged in enough game hours, you will eventually have
access to all of the game's nineteen normal and secret songs at any time you want, without the
need to unlock them anymore. Note, on the Playstation version, the requirements are in terms of
how many times you've completed arcade mode (rather than hours logged in) and these will be
denoted in parenthesis after each time listing. The songs, along with their required
time/amount, are as follows:

J-POP 2:00 (60)
AFRICA 2:30 (100)
CLASSIC 3:00 (90)
TECHNO'80 3:30 (70)
FUSION 4:00 (80)
BONUS TRACK 4:30 (50)
RAVE 5:00 (80)

-Hyper Mode. You can not play the hyper versions of the game's songs right from the start.
If you try to do so too early, nothing that was explained in the hyper section will work
properly. You must first "complete" each song in the game at least one time (pass or fail).
This includes all of the standard songs, as well as each secret song. Once you have played
through all of the game's nineteen songs at least once, you will then be able to select hyper
versions of the songs. It's sort of a reward or a last specialty to earn in the game, for
longtime players. See the dedicated section for more information.

-Secret Game Variants. The main menu option for Mirror/Random/Hidden will not be available
from the start of the game. In order to make it available, you must "complete" each of the
game's twelve normal songs at least once (pass or fail). After doing so, this option will
appear on the bottom of the others on the main menu. It will be set to "Off" by default, and
you must press the red button to change it.

10.0 Contributions and Thank-You's
--------------------------------------

GameFAQs (www.gamefaqs.com) for hosting this FAQ, along with more great gaming info than
most any site out there. Keep up the good work, man. Without GameFAQs... where would we all go
for detailed game help? Sure, lotsa places have great code archives, and some TRY to keep all
the best FAQs. But who succeeds? Only one, my friend ^_^ Jeff "CJayC" Veasey does an
astounding, daily job of organizing these entries (and he writes his own wonderful FAQs). I
must also give a hearty thanks to Al Amaloo, the maintainer of Videogame Strategies
(vgstrategies.about.com). He has completed perhaps the best and most extensive archive of codes
and tricks (www.gamewinners.com) and written extensive guides for games that would go otherwise
un-covered. And what makes these two men (Jeff Veasey and Al Amaloo) so special... is that they
provide an invaluable service to the gaming community out of the goodness of their heart. They
work hard, every day, without the help of any major affiliate. Bravo to both of you!

The wonderful patrons of my own message board, the OtherWorlds Shrine (www.tows.org) which
is sometimes the only refuge for the true gamer. Along with my friend SineSwiper, we keep the
shrine alive as a place for gamers to respectfully speak and get together while online. The
friends that I have made there have meant the world to me, despite how my "real life" sometimes
drags me offline for days at a time. Either way, here's to ya'll... and I won't mention any
names (as there are too many of you to possibly remember them all now. And you'll kill me if I
miss any, hehe). The place has been around for years, and I guarantee that it will always exist
as long as there is an Internet.

The select few of my OFF-line friends who love gaming almost as much as myself, and keep me
inspired to keep on playing. Tacchi, you're as obsessed over games as me. We've been gaming for
well near two decades. We're getting old, dude. And Crystal, well you can kick most of our
sorry arses ^_^ Steffannee... you introduced me to Will in Rival Schools! Scott, you've been a
pal through it all, despite how you suck at games ^_^ Kathryn, your love and understanding will
always be cherished (yes, call me sappy). And Alex, you've been there since we were infants,
when the NES was only a dream in the semi-near future. Chris, you're one of my dearest friends
(as well as one of the most eerily unique). Your love for the Butterfly song and the goofy
dance you do... will always bring a smile to my face.

And of course, thanks go out to Lynn and Donna! You two are a few of the only people who
love Pop 'n Music (and Bust a Move of course) as much as I do. Every time we meet is a
cherished moment. And, speaking of music games, I owe a world of thanks to Malcolm. His
friendship has meant a ton to me, and he's one of those few folks who plays and works hard at
ALL the music game series just like I do (Beatmania, Dance Dance Revolution, Pop 'n Music, Bust
a Move, and the countless other Bemani titles as well). And to the fans of music games,
worldwide, i offer the greatest thanks of all. Our demand is what keeps this amazing genre of
games coming back to us every month.

Konami, Sony, Sega, and all the great companies and people who made the game possible.
Without them, we'd never have been introduced to this wonderous world, beautiful characters,
and a style of gaming that changed our lives. These Bemani games, like Dance Dance Revolution,
are perhaps my favorite genre out there right now. It gives those folks with a "rhythmical
sense" a way to convey that sense through gaming. And besides, it beats having another cookie-
cutter RPG or fighter to deal with.

~End of File~