POP 'N MUSIC
REVIEW

Like Beatmania, players choose a song to play (this time through choosing an opponent character), then must play the tune of the song over the backing music. Coloured bars will scroll down the screen, lined up with corresponding buttons. These buttons must be pressed when the bar reaches the bottom. Hitting a button dead-on, results in a 'Great' message, and if constantly achieved, 'Great' combos can run into 100's! Less accurate presses, will result in 'Good', 'Poor' or 'Bad'. As long as you keep getting 'Good' or higher, an accuracy bar will increase. If this bar is in the red, at the end of a song, that level is successfully completed. If it is in the green, then it's game over! Pop 'n Music is a less serious game than Beatmania. The songs are more fun, and each is accompanied by it's own character. These vary from song to song, but all attempt to put you off by obscuring the view of the bars. They don't really serve much more of a purpose than doing little dances as you play! They are well designed, though. The songs, too, are less serious. This, however, does not mean it is less fun. It just makes it even harder to choose which to play next! They are all so good! Expert players are rewarded with even more choice, with a total list of songs numbering over 20! Anime and Japanese fans cannot fail to love the 'Anime Hero' song. It's a typical anime tune from the 1970's! Very catchy, as are nearly all of the songs. A couple are even taken from Beatmania, but require a different play strategy.

The difference between the Dreamcast and Playstation versions are minimal. The Dreamcast one is in high resolution, loads quicker, and has the option to play with 1 to 4 players! The Playstation can only manage 2, unless controllers are shared. 3 player, on the Dreamcast, with 3 buttons each, is brilliant fun, and rivals Beatmania for replayability! Again, like Beatmania, Pop 'n Music has a near infinite life span. You can find yourself playing for hours without realising it! Konami have already released Pop 'n Music 2 for both Dreamcast and Playstation, with future data discs to follow, Beatmania style. But even without them, it has more lastability than most games. The usual extra modes are available. Hidden, makes the bars vanish close to the bottom, so you need to memorise them. Random makes the bars appear in different places every time, and Hard, has the bars moving in mid-play, just as you are ready to press them!

Overall, try this or Beatmania. If you have never played either, then you are missing out on the most fun, and playable games ever! The music caters for all tastes, but none are poor, even if that style is not to your liking. Like Beatmania, a special controller, to match the arcade's, has been released. It is not essential to use them, but can make the whole experience more fun.

Pop 'n Music 2 & 3 offer more of the same, have over 40 music tracks, including all the original's, plus a few extra play modes. Out of the 3 games, the sequels are better, but that's just because they offer the original's and new music! Pop 'n Music 3 requires Pop 'n Music 2 to boot from.

Screenshots (click to enlarge)

Return to Reviews page.