Pop’n Music Animelo Vol.2 | Gameplay & Attract Mode [Gameplay]

So this is the final game in this sub-series of the Pop’n series, where they take licensed music and characters, and make exclusive games for them using this gameplay style, the second of which being Mickey Tunes, and the first being Animelo.
This is a strange game, having two exclusive modes, and having commands exclusive to Excite mode, that make the notes have chords to them, making some songs nearly impossible for 1 player, but note that it was designed for the 3 player standard the entire series had around the beginning periods of it’s life.
Honestly I would like to see more of this format for games, like what DDR had with True Kiss Destination, and Dreams Come True.

Notes:

Some information presented here derive from the TCRF or RemyWiki, so credit to them. (https://tcrf.net/Pop%27n_music_Animel... https://remywiki.com/AC_pnm_Animelo_2)

Technically the first game that had Expert mode, where you had to play a set of songs in a row with a Survival Guage.
This would later be added in 6, which added a lot of courses to the series, since those were relegated to modes like Hyper, before 6 came out.

Songs use a different scale for difficulty, the first used musical notes to denote difficulty, while this used a meter and number, this works differently than the mainline Pop’n series, like how the Pump it Up Pro series used the scale from In The Groove, rather than from mainline Pump.

Gun, and Bowling are exclusive to this game, the former only uses 5 buttons, and has Pop-kun appear through doors when sliding down, and you have to “shoot” them by pressing the button when they make it to the crosshair line, and heath pickups and bombs will appear to either aid or hinder the player, as your health gauge increases, so will the playfield, requiring more reflexes to do good.
The latter uses only 9 buttons, and have the Pop-kun glide into the circles, where when they reach the circles, you have to hit the button, or they will slide down into a “gutter like” pit, the challenge really only comes down to the perspective change, and this mode is similar to how Mickey Tunes was originally supposed to play, judging by a mock-up screenshot in the games files.

Double and Triple are separate options for Excite, on the title screen, enter a code to enable either one, then go to Excite, the options should appear depending on which code you enter.
Double chords each note once, while Triple chords each note twice, causing one note to be either two or three, hence the names.
These options are notoriously difficult, and were made for a harder and more engaging multiplayer experience, so it may not have been intended for one player to use.

Nonstop works differently than expert, and requires a code to be entered on the title screen, and a specific older revision to access, this works similarly to Marathon mode in the DanceManiaX series (2nd MIX to Append J-Paradise), this mode has you play every song, and you have to perform exceptionally well, since like Expert, uses a Survival Guage, and it punished you heavily for mistakes made, and I don’t think you can recover health at all.
This was possibly removed due to players using this to play for very long periods without giving others a chance to play for themselves.

The Animelo series is infamous for its Machine License period, since Toei is known for their aggressive copyright and licence protection, this was probably done for copyright protection for their properties and characters.
After around 5 years after boot up, the machine will expire it’s licence, and all references to Toei are removed, as they own the characters and properties presented, not Nippon Colombia, so you can still play the game, but not see the properties.
You can tell easily if the licence has expired, by Toei’s logo not showing up on the title screen, and by the intro not flashing the titles on screen, but immediately going to the title screen.
This can be bypassed however, by older MAME versions below 0.233 (Since that version and later versions before FIREBEAT compatibility completely broke did not use this code), or by hacking, to allow a Forever period for the Machine Licence, by changing this dongle sector for the licence to 00, this will allow a licence period to be indefinite, maybe Toei was a bit gracious, and Konami would have allowed buyers to purchase a permanent licence for a high price???

If you clear a song with no BAD and with a licence active, you can see a little animation based of the Anime property the song is from, this can be skipped with the red button.
The animations of the older songs that return in this game are completely reused from the first game, only with the new NICE PLAY! or similar graphic added in.