Ok, its a bit late, but its only two days, so shtum.

Anyway, last week i covered Final Fantasy V, this week its the freaky-style PaRappa the Rapper for the PlayStation.

Hit the boost to check it out

This game was pure quality back in the day (September 1998 for the EU to precise) and one of the only rhythm games around. For those that don’t know, you play as PaRappa, a rapping dog that happens to be paper thin (bear with it). The Aim of the game is to win the heart of a flower-like being named Sunny Funny (keep bearing), while trying to detract her attention away for your arch-rival, Joe Chin, the rich narcissistic dog (i really don’t know).

The game has since spawned a 1999 spin-off Um Jammy Lammy, a 2002 direct sequel,PaRappa the Rapper2, a Japanese merchandising campaign and Anime series PaRappa Rappa, and a PSP remake (not a port i might add) is currently in development.

The Game

PaRappa The Rapper was the first true rhythm game of its time, as in previous games, only sequences of buttons had to be remembered. In PaRappa the Rapper, not only was this the case, but the timings of the presses were an issue to. If pressed in the right combination at the right times, the canine hero would imitate rap, if not, he would just spurt garbage all over the place.
If you play through a stage hitting all the buttons correctly, you will obtain a “U rappin’ GOOD” rating. However, this is where the clever bit comes in. If you hit buttons which aren’t in the sequence at all, provided you still hit the sequence correctly at the right timing, you can “Freestyle”. This allows you to obtain a “U rappin’ COOL” rating.
“U rappin’ BAD” and “U rappin’ AWFUL” are also ratings you can obtain, but these do not let you pass through to the next stage.
Completing all stages with a “U rappin’ COOL” rating unlocks an alternate ending and song.

Music

An equally important part of the game, the music in this game is a mixture of cool, catchy, and down right wierd. But i LOVE it. To give you some sort of idea, check out the PaRappa the Rapper 2 site, its got all the tracks streamed.
Check out the lyrics too, they are quite creative.

Story

This.Is.Wierd. But it rocks at the same time.
I won’t ruin anything for you in case you are getting the PSP remake, but ill give you a rundown of the original stages names.
1. Chop Chop Master Onion’s rap
2. Instructor Mooselini’s rap
3. Prince Fleaswallows’s rap
4. Cheep Cheep Cooking Chicken’s rap
5. All Masters’ Bathroom rap battle
6. MC King Kong Mushi’s rap

/10 ratings

Groundbreaking-ness : 8
An orginal attempt at a decent rythm game, beat the crap out of simon.

Gameplay :8
Good, clean controls, and wicked implementation of FreeStyling.

Innovation : 8
The style of the game, especially the art work, was completely new.

Long-Term Impact : 5
Not a direct affector of modern games but obviously had some influences to games such as DDR and Guitar Hero.

Total : 29/40

Higher than FFV, but only by one. A Legendary game, again, i’d recommend purchasing the remake if it is well done.

[This piece also posted on Rhythm Gamer]

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