Popira is a simplistic rhythm game released as one of Takara's first "Plug It!" games.
It was the basis for the Play TV Opus, which was released in North America and Europe, and features some of the same songs.
Unused Graphics#
Located with the song selection menu graphics are tiles for an unused second Super Hard song, labeled "KB Candy Ver.". This can be found in both versions of the game.
(Source: tikal.)
Memory Viewer#
Using MAME's debugger, trigger a break, open the memory viewer, and change the value of m_io1_data to 04. The game will halt execution and toggle a memory viewer. Note that this can only be done if the e-Kara Popira Kyouyou Gold Cartridge Best Artist (Morning Musume hoka) Vol. 1 (GC0001-BAT) cartridge is inserted. The controls are as follows:
- 1: Advance 0x8 bytes
- 2: Go back 0x8 bytes
- 3: Go back 0x10000 bytes
- 4: Advance 0x10000 bytes
(Source: David Haywood)
Unlock Code#
Boot the game while holding 1+2+3+4. A "1" display will then be displayed just before the Takara/Sonokong logo sequence begins. Press 1, 2, 3 and 4 in quick succession, increasing the number display to 5 and causing a jingle to play. Afterwards, all of the game's songs will be unlocked.
(Source: tikal.)
Regional Differences#
Title Screen#
The Korean release has different title screen backgrounds for both the default and cartridge inserted/all songs unlocked variants, whereas the Japanese release just shifts the main color (black for the default title screen, white for the cartridge inserted/all songs unlocked variation):
Japan |
Korea |
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Default Songlist#
The Korean release of Popira has a different songlist. Songs in bold are exclusive to a certain version, while songs in italics indicate that its difficulty folder was changed.
Japan |
Korea |
|---|---|
Default |
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The Hard4 |
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SuperHard |
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As a result of this, the song GOOD NIGHT received Easy and Normal charts in the Korean version; the new Hard chart is the same as the previous The Hard4 chart.
Cartridges#
Japanese Popira units are compatible with cartridges for Takara's e-Kara Plug & Play karaoke system, while Korean units are compatible with cartridges of its Korean version, e-Singer. While Japanese cartridges are recognized by Korean units, the display will appear corrupted due to differing graphic resources.