Type:   Music Simulation Release:   1998 Home Status:   active Arcade Status:   active

Pop'n Music is the longest-running game in the BEMANI series, and currently also has the highest numbering. It's bright, cartoony graphics and non-instrument-specific (or dance-specific) gameplay make it appealing to gamers of all ages. Featuring a huge range of styles from pop to heavy metal, Pop'n Music uses 9 large buttons in a beatmania format, where notes (called "Pop-Kuns") decend from the top of the screen. While the game appears to be aimed at younger players, the game's higher difficulty levels are some of the most difficult songs in any BEMANI game.

Pop'n Music also focuses on two aspects of songs that other BEMANI games do not: first, songs tend to be known by their genres instead of their names. While some genres are quite standard (such as "Reggae") others are downright bizarre (such as "Airport" or "Elegoth"). Secondly, each song has a character that goes along with it, and the player also has a character that they choose at the beginning of the game. As such, the characters end up facing off almost as if they would in a fighting game such as Street Fighter - there is, of course, no fighting, with the "winner" being determined by the player either passing or failing the song. Pop'n Music is also the only non-dance BEMANI title to not feature some kind of odd or secondary input (such as Beatmania's turntable, Drummania's bass pedal, or strum button in Guitar Freaks); instead, each button is identical and evenly spaced.

The Pop'n Music series has seen release on three home consoles, as well as the GameBoy Color, with the PlayStation family being the favored platform. It also has seen four official controllers: three are foot-long "mini" controllers (two for the PlayStation family and one for Dreamcast), and the final is a large full-scale arcade-style controller for the PlayStation or PlayStation 2. Pop'n Music releases continue to come, and the game has also seen releases in Konami's "The Best" line of greatest-hits games both for the PlayStation and PlayStation 2.