PaRappa the Rapper

PaRappa the Rapper
Ya gotta believe!
Protagonist(s): PaRappa Genre(s): Rhythm Platform(s): PlayStation PlayStation Portable PlayStation 4 Release Date: PlayStation JP: December 6, 1996 EU: September 26, 1997 NA: November 17, 1997 PlayStation Portable JP: December 7, 2006 EU July 6, 2007 NA: July 17, 2007 AU: August 9, 2007 PlayStation 4 WW: April 4, 2017 JP: April 20, 2017 Developer(s): NanaOn-Sha Japan Studio epics Inc. (PSP/PS4) Publisher(s): Sony Computer Entertainment Country: Japan Series: PaRappa the Rapper Successor: PaRappa the Rapper 2

PaRappa the Rapper (パラッパラッパー, PaRappa Rappā) is a rhythm video game developed by NanaOn-Sha (with an additional work by Japan Studio) and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation. Created by music producer Masaya Matsuura in collaboration with artist Rodney Greenblat, the game features unique visual design and rap-based gameplay and is considered to be one of the first modern rhythm games. The game was first released in Japan in 1996 and was later released in North America and Europe in 1997. The game was ported to the PlayStation Portable in 2006 and the remastered version titled PaRappa the Rapper Remastered was released for the PlayStation 4 in 2017.

Plot

The player takes on the role of PaRappa, a paper-thin rapping dog, who is trying to win the heart of a flower-like girl named Sunny Funny. However, he is intimidated by the presence of Joe Chin, a rich, narcissistic dog who goes overboard with his attempts to impress Sunny. To impress Sunny Funny, PaRappa learns to fight at a kung-fu dojo, and takes a driver's education course to get his license. However, when he crashes his dad's car, he has to earn money at a flea market to pay for it. When Sunny's birthday comes up, PaRappa has to get cake, but ends up ruining it after an encounter with Joe. He makes a new one by starring in a cooking show. When PaRappa is at Sunny's party, he proceeds to eat a lot of the cake. When spending some time alone with Sunny, he is suddenly overcome with the need to go to the bathroom and has to rap against his former teachers to get to the front of the queue. Then one night, PaRappa is invited to Club Fun, and asks Sunny to go with him, to which she agrees. PaRappa then raps on stage with everybody, rapping solo at the end of the song and expressing his feelings for Sunny.

Gameplay

The main character, PaRappa, must make his way through each of the game's six stages by rapping. As the teacher raps, a bar at the top of the screen will appear, showing symbols that match up to the teacher's lyrics. The player must then make PaRappa rap in response to the teacher by pressing the buttons with the correct timing to match the teacher's line. During gameplay, a "U Rappin'" meter determines the player's performance, ranking it as either Awful, Bad, Good or Cool. By consistently staying on beat, players will stay in the Good ranking area. If the player performs a bad line, a lower ranking will flash, and if the player performs badly twice in a row, he will drop to Bad, followed by Awful. To regain a higher ranking, the player must play well twice in a row to move up a rank. To clear a stage, the player must have a Good ranking by the end of the song. If the player ends the song on a Bad or Awful ranking, or drops below Awful ranking at any point in the song, they will fail the song and have to start over. After the game has been cleared once, the player can attempt to achieve a Cool ranking. This is achieved by freestyling in a manner different from the predetermined lyric. If the player performs a successfully impressive freestyle when the Cool rank is flashing, they will enter Cool mode. In this mode, the teacher will leave the stage, allowing the player to rap freely and earn some large points. If the freestyling fails to impress twice in a row, the teacher will return and gameplay will resume in the Good ranking. Ending the stage with a Cool rank often results in a special ending for that stage, and clearing all stages on Cool Mode unlocks a bonus mode with characters Katy Kat and Sunny Funny.

Rank-changing aspects of a stage are only apparent during the first of every two lines. If the player successfully times the first line of a pair, but fails on the second, the rank meter will not blink Bad or Awful. Likewise, once the game has been cleared, a Good play is only necessary on the first of every two lines to be able to get Cool mode on the second line.

Why It Can Believe

1. It was the first video game that featured paper-thin character models, predating even Paper Mario.
2. It was also the world's very first rhythm video games, and it undeniably popularised the rhythm genre of video games.
3. Amazing graphics for a PS1 game, even with the paper-thin character models.
4. This video game was insanely addictive.
5. The music in this game is strangely catchy.
   • Great and catchy raps such as "Chop Chop Master Onion's Rap", "Prince Fleaswallow's Rap" and "Cheap Cheap the Cooking Chicken's Rap".
     • Who can even forget one of the most iconic rap "Instructor Mooselini's Car Rap"
6. Likable characters such as:
   • PaRappa Rappa is an adorable, outgoing light-beige dog who gets himself into situations where he has to rap to impress Sunny. His crush on her is quite cute.
   • PJ Berri is an aloof brown teddybear who always have a tired look on his face and has a big appetite. He is best friends with PaRappa and loves working as a DJ at Club Fun.
   • Sunny Funny is a soft and patient humanoid daisy who loves nature. She likes PaRappa as a friend and is fine to have a romantic relationship with him.
     • Even PaRappa's instructors such as Chop Chop Master Onion, Instructor Mooselini, Prince Fleaswallow, Cheap Cheap and MC King Kong Mushi are all memorable.
7. Each cutscenes have hilarious moments.
8. When you reach "Cool rank" your character gets into a more funny situation for the stage and takes over. Cool rank is unlocked by completing all of the stages in the game. You can enter Cool mode by doing a good freestyle beat by following the beat of the song.
9. Creative situations such as rapping to learn how to drive, rapping to bake a cake, and even rapping while waiting in line to go to the bathroom.
10. The PS4 remaster of the game has substantially better graphics than the original release.
11. "I gotta believe!"

"TRY AGAIN!!" Qualities

1. There's a bit of an input lag. This input lag was worsened in the PSP version and worsened even more in the PS4 version. This is especially notable in the 4th stage, where many players ended up getting stuck on in the PSP and PS4 versions.
2. Speaking of which, while the PS4 version isn't exactly terrible, it still has enough bad qualities to be on the now-defunct Crappy Games Wiki.
3. The original version of the game didn't allow you to pause the game. Instead, when you pause the game, it forces you to restart the whole stage or quit the stage. This issue was fixed on the PS4 remaster.
4. The cutscenes, while funny and memorable, are of very low quality and look like a beta version of Adobe Flash. Some examples:
   • The lip syncing is poor and sometimes non-existent.
     • • Some of the cutscenes have a frame or two where PaRappa's pupils disappear outright, which is a little creepy. Something similar happens to half of Sunny's face during the Stage 3 cutscene.
       • The cutscene for Stage 4 has a lot of frame stuttering, and unfitting transitioning effects.
       • The cutscene for Stage 5 during the sunset scene has unflattering facial animation, and the colors of the sky well as PaRappa's clothes are constantly changing. (sometimes his shirt is light pink or brown: that's not how sunset lighting works!)
5. When playing on easy, you can only play through the 3rd stage.
6. While its gameplay is quite addictive, it often suffers from low replay value.

Trivia

• The game spawned several memes, including videos such as "Parappa cooks crack", "I thlammed my penith in the car door" and "This Is Where I Watched My Parents Die, PaRappa."
• It even has an anime series "PaRappa the Rapper" and it was produced by J.C.Staff and aired in Japan on Fuji TV between April 2001 and January 2002.

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