Uta no Prince-sama: Music 3

Uta no Prince-sama: Music 3 is the third in a series of spin-offs in the Uta no Prince-sama franchise. As the title suggests, it focuses on the music throughout the series in a rhythm game format. The story is centered around Haruka Nanase as she attends Saotome Gakuen, a prestigious school for aspiring young musicians. Haruka happens to have a natural gift for composing, gaining the attention of a group of fellow students looking to become idols and, ideally, sing the songs that she writes. Haruka devises a solution in which she can compose music for the whole group, and they form a successful idol unit called STARISH. However, as a means to have STARISH reach their full potential, the head of Saotome Gakuen recruits a veteran idol unit to train them, called QUARTET NIGHT. Together, the songs of the two idol units comprise the game's music.

Gameplay consists of a track that imitates sheet music (as per the protagonist's occupation), with a marker that moves along the screen horizontally. Notes must be hit by pressing the face buttons or d-pad with correct timing as the marker passes by. Once the marker reaches the end of the track, it moves down to the one under it and continues from the left to the right of the screen, repeating the pattern. Notes are graded depending on their accuracy in timing the button presses to the rhythm of the music, with cool being most accurate, good being enough to maintain a combo, and poor being a miss. Music Points, the game's currency, are rewarded depending on how well the song is performed, graded by letter ranks, with bonuses rewarded on the basis of a full combo. Music Points are also rewarded depending on the song's difficulty, which ranges from three levels of easy to three levels of hard to one level of pro (with difficulty indicated by stars). Obtaining an A rank on each difficulty of a song unlocks an "episode" in which the idols involved in the song interact with each other (or, in the case of a solo song, interact with the heroine). Additionally, costumes and accessories for the idols can be purchased by using the Music Points obtained from performances, along with customization options for the interface of the main gameplay mode.