HELLO! POP’N MUSIC!
HELLO! POP’N MUSIC! is an arcade exclusive spin-off game in the Pop’n Music series.
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★Release Information
Location test dates:
- November 5th to 10th, 2010
- November 12th to 17th, 2010
- February 22nd to 28th, 2011
- March 5th to 13th, 2011
Release date: March 23rd, 2011
★General Information
HELLO! POP’N MUSIC! was designed with the casual player in mind and only used four buttons in gameplay rather than nine. It was modeled after the American POP’N MUSIC!, an attempt to bring Pop’n Music overseas once again, but was stripped of its ticket redemption features and added e-amusement support as well as having a different song list.
The game had three difficulty levels as opposed to POP’N MUSIC’s two: Easy (かんたん), Normal (ふつう), and Hard (むずかしい) . Points in this game are earned by correctly pressing notes to fill the Groove Gauge but unlike the mainline games, the Groove Gauge never decreases. 700,000 out of 1,000,000 points are required to clear a song. The game also introduces two new note types, “Bonus POP” (a rainbow-coloured pop-kun, where the player has to press all four buttons at the same time) and “Rolled POP” (a long pop-kun that has to be pressed multiple times).
A game mode using both Player 1 and Player 2’s buttons could be played if the player inserted two credits and pressed both the left red and right green buttons during the character select screen. On Easy and Normal difficulty, the player plays a single chart that is mirrored on both sides. On Hard difficulty, there is a proper chart using all eight buttons.
The main incentive to keep playing the game was the character “Tokimeki Meter” that would fill up with every play. When a character’s Tokimeki Meter was filled up to a certain point, the player would be able to view an “Event Still” featuring that character. When the meter was completely full, the player would be able to view a second Event Still of the character offering them a song and the song would become playable from there on out.
Aside from receiving Event Stills and songs, the player could receive emails from their character of choice after playing a game with them with use of their e-amusement pass, though they were limited to one email per day. More information about the email service can be found here as well as translations of the currently archived emails.
★Playable Characters
Milk ★
Lotte* ★
V.B ★
Mimi ★
Nyami ★
Shishamo
Ash ★
Smile ★
Yuli ★
MZD ★
Rie♥chan
★Song List
Click on a song title to watch gameplay of that song
When a character’s Tokimeki Meter was completely filled up, the player could unlock a hidden song.
★Regional Differences
POP’N MUSIC! had many regional differences from its Japanese counterpart.
- Location test: June 2010 - ??? at Boomers! in Irvine, California
- No full release of the game (Presumably because did not perform well)
- No e-amusement support or Tokimeki Meter but instead had a ticket redemption feature
- Players cannot choose their characters
- Two song difficulties: Standard and Expert
- A new note type called “Golden POP” is introduced, which lets the player earn extra tickets when the note is successfully hit
Along with regional gameplay differences came a different and much smaller song list:
| Song Title |
Artist |
Rival Character/Backup Rival |
| 777 |
EeL |
Nyami / Mimi |
| WITHOUT YOU AROUND |
GEILA.Z |
Milk / ? |
| JET WORLD |
Mutsuhiko Izumi |
Ash / ? |
| First Date |
ko-saku |
Ash / ? |
| Charismatic |
Thomas Howard Lichtenstein |
Nyami / ? |
| GO GO AGAIN |
Fu Fu's |
Milk / ? |
| I Want It All |
Benjamin Franklin |
Ash / ? |
| Raining Sunshine |
Nina Lee Kaminsky |
Milk / ? |
| DROP THE BOMB |
Scotty D. |
Ash / ? |
| PULSE |
319 |
Mimi / ? |
★Trivia
- Mary was originally planned to be a playable character in HELLO! POP’N MUSIC!, but was later scrapped.
- In the Yuke Yuke Pop'n Music Character Illustration Book, there exists logos for Chinese and Europian versions of the game, implying that they were pitched or in production but never came to fruition.
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