Anyone know about Pop n' Music on here?

~Kid Icarus~ · Post by **~Kid Icarus~** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 9:52 am

I've been intrigued by this series of games ever seeing that infamous clip of the Japanese guy playing this game at a million miles an hour. Having just got a Japanese PS2 I'm thinking about buying one of the versions of this game and the special controller. Only problem is there are so many versions and I'm not sure which one to get? I'm also worried that the track listings will be related to anime and obscure Japanese TV shows I've never heard of. I want music I know.

So is there anyone on this board that likes rhythm games as well as shooters and can advise me on which Popn' game to get?

Thanks

raiden · Post by **raiden** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 10:48 am

I don´t know about the newer parts, but I used to play this game on Dreamcast, where the best part was 2, because it includes all the songs from part 1, adding up to about 50 songs. 3 was just an add-on that required part 1 or 2 to play it.
The music is pretty well-mixed, of course there are anime songs among them, but also dance, classic, blues, heavy metal, traditional jp. folk, you name it. There was a problem regarding RGB and/or VGA, but s-video was fine, iirc.
Another benefit of the Dreamcast version was the extremely free way to customize input. You could assign all 9 buttons to up to 4 controllers, making it ideal for comfortable multiplayer. The DC arcadestick, if you happen to have one, is very neat for Pop n Music, because the buttons are aligned very similar to the official Pop n Controller. The official Pop n Controller from Konami was not very good, especially the button quality was lacking, which was probably one reason for fans of the game to build their own custom controllers, resembling the huge arcade machine panel.

iatneH · Post by **iatneH** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 5:29 pm

With JPS2, what I hear is that 7 and above are very good. You're in luck because you should be able to get budget re-releases of all these ones at yesasia (I got 9 and 10 from them, it was only like $50 or something)

I haven't gotten around to playing them though since I don't have a controller. This is where it gets expensive. The official controller like raiden said isn't very good; the spacing isn't accurate and the shape of the buttons is flat as opposed to domed, which makes hitting multiple buttons with one hand feel very strange.
Your best option is to go for a professionally made arcade replica, such as Ransai, DesktopArcade, or Controllica. These are the only ones I know. I hear Ransai is pretty good. Made-to-order so very highly customisable, and also one of the cheaper ones.

Skyline · Post by **Skyline** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 10:16 am

pop'n 8 has a really good songlist, and is most notable for having a lot of songs that people know from DDR. 9's is okay, as is 10. 11 has a lot of interesting songs, 12 is pretty much up to user opinion.

sven666 · Post by **sven666** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 10:25 am

i have an original PCB setup for sale if anyones feeling REALLY hardcore...

raiden · Post by **raiden** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 6:02 pm

how much does the PCB cost? How many songs?

kccttzj · Post by **kccttzj** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 3:40 am

As far as I know, a lot of the Pop'n Music releases have songs that are on other Bemani games, so if you've played some other Bemani stuff, you should be familiar with at least some of the songs. The only versions that I think have a lot of Anime are Animelo and Animelo 2 (which is actually the only one I've ever gotten to play), because all the songs are from anime. I was just curious, are you guys talking about the Konami arcade style controller or the just the original controller they had? I've never played a home version, so I don't know much about the controllers or anything. I've always wanted to get it, but I know I'd be spending a lot for a controller.

iatneH · Post by **iatneH** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 4:21 am

Official controller

Official arcade-style controller

Ransai controllers

desktoparcade controllers

Controllica controller

~Kid Icarus~ · Post by **~Kid Icarus~** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 12:21 pm

Many thanks for the replies guys, helpful as always! It's deffo gonna be the cheapo controller for me, I just want to play the game!

Those custom made one look shweeeeet though! Maybe if I really like this series I'' pick one up!

Thanks guys

sven666 · Post by **sven666** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 1:01 pm

raiden wrote:how much does the PCB cost? How many songs?

im not sure about the songs, but its a popn music 1 PCB (with harddrive and all connections included, if you have a cab just plug it in, if you dont just do some wiering), $200 shipped out

Icecap Veiwin · Post by **Icecap Veiwin** » Sun Apr 23, 2006 4:44 pm

All I know about Pop'n is what I've seen from a video, and it looks kinda like Beatmania. That's just me though.

Skyline · Post by **Skyline** » Sun Apr 23, 2006 9:54 pm

That's pretty much what it is, actually. Beatmania with a different design and musical aesthetic, 9 keys, and a more forgiving timing window.