Official Website

Platform: PSP, PlayStation

Genre: Music

Number of Players: 1 - 4

We’ve gotten a little spoiled with music games over the past few years. Franchises like Dance Dance Revolution, Karaoke Revolution, Guitar Hero, and Taiko Drum Master (though it’s only a franchise in Japan) have become all the rage, leaving some of those musical games and heroes as nothing ore than a footnote, at least until now. Back in 1997, Sony released a video game hero of a new sort, a game of a different variety, and the result was an immediate sleeper hit that scores of fans fell in love with. His name; PaRappa the Rapper, and he’s making a come back after a decade.

This isn’t a new version of PaRappa the Rapper however, but instead a dramatic return of the classic title for the PSP. The PlayStation 3 has seen a number of titles make the transition to PSP titles, all available for download, but PaRappa is a game the needs just a little more than a download. This is in fact one of the first musical games released on any console, and the idea is almost like any other. You are PaRappa, a young, rapping dog who has a bad case of puppy love. In order to impress the girl of his dreams, PaRappa has many different elements that he needs to train in, and most importantly, he’s gotta believe.

Like with many music games, the idea is really quite simple behind PaRappa, in theory at least. After a brief cut scene that moves the story along, PaRappa will be placed in a number of training situations such as martial arts training, trying to get his drivers license, and even cooking, and this all sounds quite easy. The stages though are songs and your instructor will be rapping to you, giving you information to help you in your training, and that’s where things get a little more complicated.

During each of the stages songs, a series of buttons will move across the top of the screen. You mission is to not only hit them in sequence, but also in time. This is a rapping game, and rhythm is the essential component to success. In the bottom right corner of the game, you will see an area that ranks how you’re doing. If you mess up too many times, this will drop, and if you stick around in the awful range too long, the stage will end forcing you to start all over again. Score well and get your phrases in at just the right time and you’ll show that not only are you capable of impressing that girl you’re longing after but your instructors will also be overwhelmed and pass you on to the next stage.

Part of what made PaRappa a hit wasn’t the gameplay, but it was the music. This is a game where no matter what you’re musical tastes, the songs are actually fun to listen to. I’m not a fan of rap or hip hop, but I can have a blast playing PaRapp, and who can’t deny the charm of Chop Chop Master Onions song that teaches you the finer points of martial arts or Cheep Cheep the cooking chicken trying to teach you how to properly mix and bake a cake. The original version of the game contained six songs, and these are all present and accounted for, but PaRappa does offer some new features that were not found in the original game.

For starters, there might be some gamers who know nothing of PaRappa the Rapper, but you can make his mad skills known by using the game share feature and allowing them to experience the game for themselves, and this feature works for up to four different PSP systems at the same time. The original release of the game was also a single player title, but not anymore. The PSP version now allows for up to four players to have a “rap off” against one another in order to see who the best out there really is. Many of you have mastered the game, and that’s where the final new option becomes a blessing. Once you’ve beaten PaRappa, you’ll have the option of downloading new songs to rap through, so even though you might know the game inside and out, there is still a new challenge out there just waiting.

PaRappa wasn’t just unique because of its musical gameplay, but the game had a different style and approach when it came to the graphics. Much like the Paper Mario games PaRappa the Rapper features paper thin characters, flat, 2D images. So, when the characters turn, you can see that indeed, they are flat. The game is also bright and visual, but not on the level of distraction that you might find with the DDR games and graphics bounding around everywhere, often just to distract you. PaRappa the Rapper has a very cartoon inspired look to it for the main levels, and the cutscenes blend together both 2D and 3D graphics.

With PaRappa, timing is everything, and Sony picked the perfect time to bring this music game back into the limelight once again. This is the title that sparked what would become a musical revolution in the gaming world. Now get in the car and drive to store, PaRappa the Rapper is the game you must score . . . . and don’t forget to turn and pose.

-mike-