PaRappa the Rapper



Playstation
1 Player
Reviewed on May 6, 2008

This is the game that started it all. PaRappa the Rapper is considered the first "modern" rhythm game due to its insane popularity when making its big debut. Created by heavy music oriented Japanese video game company NanaOn-Sha with character designs by distinctive graphic artist Rodney Greenblat, all while featuring an adorable rapping dog; PaRappa was hitting all the points of originality! Add in a 3D paper doll world, a bizarre plot, original creative lyrics and PaRappa’s motto “I gotta believe!” in the face of any dire situation and you have a game with a style all its own.

The eye catching style of PaRappa is the first thing you will notice. Rodney Greenblat’s art has that hand drawn human element to it that makes you feel all warm inside. The graphic style reminiscent to that you would find in children’s book early 90s. Just look at the cover art of the game if you do not believe me. PaRappa’s marketing team knew all that had to do was slap PaRappa’s body on the cover and “Bam,” their job was done and their check was in the mail. Once the colorful nature brought you in, that is when you see the game in motion that your interest would have peaked. All the characters were 3D paper dolls. As in all the artwork actually lifted themselves off the paper and came to life! This is 1996-1997 people; this was something that had not or at least rarely been done. This was really cool. Having all these characters talking, singing and moving around was nothing short of amazing. Whether it was a design choice or the technical limitations of the Playstation, it worked out and set the game a part from all the others.

The basic premise is your Boy tries to get the girl story. Except the boy is a rapping dog, the girl is a sunflower, with a fat teddy bear DJ as a best friend. PaRappa is trying to win the girl’s (Sunny) heart which leads him to many a dilemma that proceeds as follows:

  • Bullies bother PaRappa and friends, so he tries to learn martial arts (Instructor Mooselini's Rap).
  • PaRappa figures car will impress Sunny hence he tries to get a license (Instructor Mooselini's Rap).
  • PaRappa crashes his dad’s car and needs to money quick. (Prince Fleaswallow's Rap).
  • PaRappa is out of money and decied to bake a cake for Sunny’s Birthday party. (Enter annoying Cheep Cheep Cooking Chicken's Rap).
  • While spending time with Sunny, PaRappa ate to much cake and needs to rush to the bathroom only to find a long line filled with all the previous charcters. A remix of all the previous songs in one song! (All Masters' Bathroom Rap Battle).
  • At this point PaRappa is at nearly at his peak. He gets a date with Sunny and takes her to a concert hall where PaRappa is the main attraction and will be rapping (MC King Kong Mushi's Rap).

    The final song is my favorite. It is very uplifting and fun to play. The main theme is about PaRappa’s motto "I Gotta Believe."

    There are only six songs and the game is extremely simplistic by nature. A series of buttons will be displayed on the top and when you see PaRappa’s head scroll over said button, you press it. That’s it. You can improvise and add extra button presses but if you mess up, you will suffer in two ways: possibly losing the stage and hearing PaRappa stutter terribly causing all people around you to go in a terrible rage strangling you with the second player controller. (If you do not have a second Playstation controller, consider yourself lucky enough to not have to suffer through previous mentioned strangulation.) And I repeat, there are only 6 songs. That may seem to be very few, but please keep in mind there was no rhythm game genre in existence prior to PaRappa. PaRappa was a huge gamble. A gamble I am glad they took.

    So PaRappa was considered by many to be cool and fun. He became a cultural icon. Kick started the rhythm game genre. What else was there left for him to do? Well, two years later (1999) he had a guitar based spin-off UmJammer Lammy and in 2001 he had a direct sequel PaRappa the Rapper 2 in which keeping in the tradition of most sequels; it did very poorly (I will tell you about that one in due time). In 2006, a Playstation Portable Port was made that would include a brand new song "Believe in Yourself!” Completely makes it worth buying the game again, except that the song was cut so all you got was a port. Boo! Boo! Hiss! Hiss! HOWEVER, prior to PaRappa’s spiraling downfall, PaRappa did come out with his own Japanese anime that went 30 episodes! “I gotta believe” that one day PaRappa will pull himself out of the gutter and make a come back, but until then, I will still remember of his good days past.