Pop'n Music - Design and Difficulty

Design and Difficulty

Unlike most other Bemani games, the games in Pop'n Music do not mimic an instrument in gameplay. The buttons are used to play various instruments throughout any given song. The graphics feature brightly colored and primarily solid shapes, rather than the metallic and textured interfaces of other Bemani games. Players may choose a character to play as. The songs are separated by genres like Reggae, Disco Queen, Spy, or Anime Hero, as well as common Bemani genres of eurobeat and forms of electronica. There are also series of songs with similar elements, like the Classic series (which are medleys of classical music) and the Powerfolk series. Each song has a variety of modes. These include Enjoy Mode (beginner and Easy notes), 5-line Mode (for 5 buttons) and Normal mode (on-beat notes and simple chords). Most songs have a hyper mode (with more notes and harder chords), and some songs have an EXtra mode (with lots of notes and complicated chords). Pop'n Music has no other visuals except for the character the player chose, an opponent character, and the scrolling notes. The characters are animated, and act differently based on the player's performance.

Pop'n Music games can be challenging at high difficulty levels. The higher difficulty levels are considered by some players to be the most challenging of any music game. However, Pop'n Music also features easier content for beginners. In this way, Pop'n Music caters to a wide variety of players.