PaRappa the Rapper
Encyclopedia
is a rhythm video game
for the Sony
PlayStation created by Masaya Matsuura
(the former leader of the Japanese "Hyper Pop Unit" PSY S
) and his NanaOn-Sha
company.
While the gameplay is not challenging for experienced gamers, the game is remembered for its unique graphic design, its quirky soundtrack and its bizarre plot. Despite being made in Japan, all of the game's songs and dialogue are spoken in English
in all versions. The game is named after its protagonist, Parappa, a rapping
dog with the motto, "I gotta believe!".
It spawned a merchandising campaign in Japan, a spinoff
in 1999, an anime series in 2001, and a direct sequel
for PlayStation 2
in 2002. A PlayStation Portable
port of the original game was released in Japan in December 2006 in North America and Europe in July 2007.
, in which the player is required to repeat a sequence of sounds and buttons. PaRappa the Rapper demands that the player not only get the sequence correct but also the timing of the sequence, in a call and response
format. The game provides small portions of spoken vocals that are triggered when the appropriate buttons are pressed. Pressing the buttons in the correct order, with the correct timing, provides an intelligible imitation of the words spoken by the character; pressing the buttons in an incorrect order or with incorrect timing rewards the player with unintelligible gibberish.
Points are awarded for correctness and "style". By simply following the given sequence, the best a player can attain is the "U rappin' GOOD" rating. To get a higher rating, the player must "freestyle"; that is, to deviate from the given sequence but still keep in time with the song's rhythm. Through this method, the player can attain a "U rappin' COOL" rating. A player needs to have completed a level first before a COOL level can be obtained (this is not the case in its sequels). Alternately, if the player continues to play poorly, they may lose points and attain "U rappin' BAD" and "U rappin' AWFUL" ratings. A player drops down a rank after playing two wrong lines in succession, or on occasion an utterly ridiculous line, and can only go back up a level by getting two consecutive good lines.
If the stage is completed with a BAD or AWFUL rating, or if at any point the "U rappin'" meter falls below AWFUL, the stage is failed and the player can attempt the stage again, or quit. If the stage is completed with a GOOD or COOL rating, the player continues to the next stage. If all stages are completed at COOL rating, the player receives an alternate game ending, and can access a bonus song.
Rank-changing aspects of a level 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 get a shot at COOL mode on the second line. This is fixed in the game's sequels, but not in the PSP remake.
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 watching a cooking show, and proceeds to eat a lot of it on the day. When spending some time alone with Sunny, he is suddenly overcome with the need to go to the bathroom. PaRappa has to rap against his previous teachers in order to get to the front of the line to the toilet.
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.
, an American
graphic artist who is popular in Japan. Like in the Paper Mario
series by Nintendo
, all of the characters appear to be flat, two dimensional beings cut from paper while the surroundings are primarily three dimensional. Greenblat states on his website that the characters were hand-drawn, and that they were paper-flat to preserve the style of his artwork. While the setting is a bright interpretation of an urban city, the characters range from anthropomorphic animals such as frogs, spiders, and dogs, to lively versions of normally inanimate objects including onions, hammers, and flowers.
in Japan in December 2006 and in North America and Europe in July 2007 for the game's tenth anniversary. It is a port of the original game with an added ad-hoc multiplayer
mode for up to four players and an ability to download remixed versions of the existing songs. However, it does not fix some of the faults of the previous game, such as missync in lipsync or the rank meter, and does not improve the graphics. In conjunction with the PSP release, Sony, for a limited time, freely released the soundtrack for the game through the PSP Fanboy website. It was recently revealed in an interview with Masaya Matsuura
published in Famitsu
that a bonus song created for the PSP release, "Believe in Yourself," was cut due to development time constraints. The song featured Parappa training with Chop Chop Master Onion at a Buddhist temple on top of a mountain.
re-release has sold 306,261 copies meaning it has sold nearly 1.4 Million copies total.
At the first annual Interactive Achievement Awards in 1998, PaRappa the Rapper won the awards for Outstanding Achievement in Interactive Design and Outstanding Achievement in Sound and Music, and was nominated for Interactive Title of the Year. In the final issue of the Official UK PlayStation Magazine, the game was chosen as the 3rd best game of all time.
The game was featured as a challenge on the videogame show GamesMaster
in 1998, where the contestants, a team of two people, were given an extra large controller to make the game harder. The size of the buttons were that of the palm of a hand. A sketch based on the game was featured in the Adult Swim
show Robot Chicken
.
, which was released on March 18, 1999 in Japan. The game featured a new cast of characters, multiplayer modes and focused on guitar play, but very similar game play. A bonus mode was included in which the entire game could be replayed with Parappa as the protagonist, complete with his own versions of the game's stages. An arcade version of the game produced by Namco
was also released.
A direct sequel, PaRappa the Rapper 2
, was released on August 30, 2001 for the PlayStation 2
. The franchise has spawned a large range of merchandising and a children's anime
TV series of the same name, which began airing in April 2001 on Fuji TV in Japan.
Rhythm game
Rhythm game or rhythm action is a genre of music-themed action video game that challenges a player's sense of rhythm. Games in the genre typically focus on dance or the simulated performance of musical instruments, and require players to press buttons in a sequence dictated on the screen...
for the Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
PlayStation created by Masaya Matsuura
Masaya Matsuura
is a video game designer and musician based in Tokyo, Japan. He was born in Osaka on June 16, 1961, and majored in Industrial Society at Ritsumeikan University. He has worked extensively with music and images, and has been active with the J-Pop band,...
(the former leader of the Japanese "Hyper Pop Unit" PSY S
PSY S
Psy・S [sáiz] was a popular Japanese progressive pop/rock band, formed in 1983 by Masaya Matsuura alongside female vocal powerhouse Chaka...
) and his NanaOn-Sha
NanaOn-Sha
NanaOn-Sha is a Japanese video game company which created what is widely credited as the first modern rhythm game, PaRappa the Rapper. It was founded by: Masaya Matsuura in 1993. The game's success resulted in the spinoff UmJammer Lammy, which is based on guitar samples, and eventually a proper...
company.
While the gameplay is not challenging for experienced gamers, the game is remembered for its unique graphic design, its quirky soundtrack and its bizarre plot. Despite being made in Japan, all of the game's songs and dialogue are spoken in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
in all versions. The game is named after its protagonist, Parappa, a rapping
Rapping
Rapping refers to "spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics". The art form can be broken down into different components, as in the book How to Rap where it is separated into “content”, “flow” , and “delivery”...
dog with the motto, "I gotta believe!".
It spawned a merchandising campaign in Japan, a spinoff
UmJammer Lammy
is a rhythm video game developed by NanaOn-Sha and published by Sony for the PlayStation video game console. UmJammer Lammy is a spin-off of PaRappa the Rapper, also released for the PlayStation...
in 1999, an anime series in 2001, and a direct sequel
PaRappa the Rapper 2
is a PlayStation 2 rhythm video game and the sequel to PaRappa the Rapper, although it is actually the third game in the series following UmJammer Lammy...
for PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
in 2002. A PlayStation Portable
PlayStation Portable
The is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on , 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...
port of the original game was released in Japan in December 2006 in North America and Europe in July 2007.
Gameplay
Considered ahead of its time in its day, PaRappa the Rapper is somewhat similar to the classic 1980s game SimonSimon (game)
Simon is an electronic game of memory skill invented by Ralph H. Baer and Howard J. Morrison, with the software programming being done by Lenny Cope and manufactured and distributed by Milton Bradley. Simon was launched in 1978 at Studio 54 in New York City and became an immediate success. It...
, in which the player is required to repeat a sequence of sounds and buttons. PaRappa the Rapper demands that the player not only get the sequence correct but also the timing of the sequence, in a call and response
Call and response (music)
In music, a call and response is a succession of two distinct phrases usually played by different musicians, where the second phrase is heard as a direct commentary on or response to the first...
format. The game provides small portions of spoken vocals that are triggered when the appropriate buttons are pressed. Pressing the buttons in the correct order, with the correct timing, provides an intelligible imitation of the words spoken by the character; pressing the buttons in an incorrect order or with incorrect timing rewards the player with unintelligible gibberish.
Points are awarded for correctness and "style". By simply following the given sequence, the best a player can attain is the "U rappin' GOOD" rating. To get a higher rating, the player must "freestyle"; that is, to deviate from the given sequence but still keep in time with the song's rhythm. Through this method, the player can attain a "U rappin' COOL" rating. A player needs to have completed a level first before a COOL level can be obtained (this is not the case in its sequels). Alternately, if the player continues to play poorly, they may lose points and attain "U rappin' BAD" and "U rappin' AWFUL" ratings. A player drops down a rank after playing two wrong lines in succession, or on occasion an utterly ridiculous line, and can only go back up a level by getting two consecutive good lines.
If the stage is completed with a BAD or AWFUL rating, or if at any point the "U rappin'" meter falls below AWFUL, the stage is failed and the player can attempt the stage again, or quit. If the stage is completed with a GOOD or COOL rating, the player continues to the next stage. If all stages are completed at COOL rating, the player receives an alternate game ending, and can access a bonus song.
Rank-changing aspects of a level 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 get a shot at COOL mode on the second line. This is fixed in the game's sequels, but not in the PSP remake.
Plot
The player takes on the role of PaRappa, a paper-thin rappingRapping
Rapping refers to "spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics". The art form can be broken down into different components, as in the book How to Rap where it is separated into “content”, “flow” , and “delivery”...
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
Narcissism
Narcissism is a term with a wide range of meanings, depending on whether it is used to describe a central concept of psychoanalytic theory, a mental illness, a social or cultural problem, or simply a personality trait...
dog who goes overboard with his attempts to impress Sunny.
To impress Sunny Funny, PaRappa learns to fight at a kung-fu dojo
Dojo
A is a Japanese term which literally means "place of the way". Initially, dōjōs were adjunct to temples. The term can refer to a formal training place for any of the Japanese do arts but typically it is considered the formal gathering place for students of any Japanese martial arts style to...
, 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 watching a cooking show, and proceeds to eat a lot of it on the day. When spending some time alone with Sunny, he is suddenly overcome with the need to go to the bathroom. PaRappa has to rap against his previous teachers in order to get to the front of the line to the toilet.
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.
Main cast
- Parappa the Rapper – The hero of the game, trying to impress the love of his life. He motivates himself out of problems with his catchphrase, "I Gotta Believe!" His name comes from the JapaneseJapanese languageis a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
term for 'paper thin'. - Sunny Funny – Parappa's love interest, who generally has a cheery disposition. She appears to be most impressed with Parappa when he needs the bathroom.
- PJ Berri – A lazy bear who loves to eat. He works as a DJ at Club Fun.
- Katy Kat – Parappa's friend who enjoys discoDiscoDisco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
and will generally try to keep things organised. - Joe Chin – A pompous rich guy who goes to extravagant lengths to woo Sunny. Sunny is generally uninterested in him, but Parappa sees him as a threat.
- Papa Parappa – Parappa's father, whose car ends up getting taken, and crashed, by Parappa ten minutes after he gets his driving license.
Teachers
- Chop Chop Master Onion – An onion senseiSensei' is a Japanese word that basically means "person born before another." In general usage, it means "master" or "teacher," and the word is used as a title to refer to or address teachers, professors, professionals such as lawyers, CPA and doctors, politicians, clergymen, and other figures of authority...
, who teaches students karate in his dojo. He is distinctly memorable for his moustache and 'stink lines'. - Instructor Mooselini – A strict driving instructor whose antlers have a habit of getting caught on the car roof. She has a sister who appears in PaRappa the Rapper 2PaRappa the Rapper 2is a PlayStation 2 rhythm video game and the sequel to PaRappa the Rapper, although it is actually the third game in the series following UmJammer Lammy...
. - Prince Fleaswallow – A frog who rules over the flea market, and helps Parappa earn money to replace his Dad's car that he crashed.
- Cheap Cheap the Cooking Chicken – A chicken who hosts a cooking show for people with little money. She is somehow able to get out of the TV to tell off the viewers if they're messing up, or turning off the TV when you get " cool".
- MC King Kong Mushi – A spider who hosts wild parties at Club Fun that get the whole crowd going.
Development
The unique visual style is that of Rodney GreenblatRodney Greenblat
Rodney Alan Greenblat, born August 23, 1960 in San Francisco, California, is an American graphic artist known best in the United States for the visual style of the computer games PaRappa the Rapper and UmJammer Lammy, and in Japan for his comic Thunder Bunny. He was also the character designer for...
, an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
graphic artist who is popular in Japan. Like in the Paper Mario
Paper Mario
Paper Mario, known in Japan as , is a role-playing video game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64 game console. It was first released in Japan on August 11, 2000, in North America on February 5, 2001, and in Europe and Australia on October 5, 2001...
series by Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
, all of the characters appear to be flat, two dimensional beings cut from paper while the surroundings are primarily three dimensional. Greenblat states on his website that the characters were hand-drawn, and that they were paper-flat to preserve the style of his artwork. While the setting is a bright interpretation of an urban city, the characters range from anthropomorphic animals such as frogs, spiders, and dogs, to lively versions of normally inanimate objects including onions, hammers, and flowers.
PSP version
PaRappa the Rapper was released for PlayStation PortablePlayStation Portable
The is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on , 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...
in Japan in December 2006 and in North America and Europe in July 2007 for the game's tenth anniversary. It is a port of the original game with an added ad-hoc multiplayer
Multiplayer game
A multiplayer video game is one which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time. Unlike most other games, computer and video games are often single-player activities that put the player against preprogrammed challenges and/or AI-controlled opponents, which often...
mode for up to four players and an ability to download remixed versions of the existing songs. However, it does not fix some of the faults of the previous game, such as missync in lipsync or the rank meter, and does not improve the graphics. In conjunction with the PSP release, Sony, for a limited time, freely released the soundtrack for the game through the PSP Fanboy website. It was recently revealed in an interview with Masaya Matsuura
Masaya Matsuura
is a video game designer and musician based in Tokyo, Japan. He was born in Osaka on June 16, 1961, and majored in Industrial Society at Ritsumeikan University. He has worked extensively with music and images, and has been active with the J-Pop band,...
published in Famitsu
Famitsu
is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Enterbrain, Inc. and Tokuma. Currently, there are five Famitsū magazines: Shūkan Famitsū, Famitsū PS3 + PSP, Famitsū Xbox 360, Famitsū Wii+DS, and Famitsū Wave DVD...
that a bonus song created for the PSP release, "Believe in Yourself," was cut due to development time constraints. The song featured Parappa training with Chop Chop Master Onion at a Buddhist temple on top of a mountain.
Reception and legacy
PaRappa the Rapper sold 761,621 copies in Japan by 1997, making it the 7th best-selling game of the year in that region. As of December 26, 2004, the original version of the game has sold 937,976 copies in Japan, while its PlayStation the BestThe Best range
The Best is a Sony PlayStation budget range in Japan and parts of Asia. For the PlayStation, The Best was followed by PSone Books when the PSone was released in 2000...
re-release has sold 306,261 copies meaning it has sold nearly 1.4 Million copies total.
At the first annual Interactive Achievement Awards in 1998, PaRappa the Rapper won the awards for Outstanding Achievement in Interactive Design and Outstanding Achievement in Sound and Music, and was nominated for Interactive Title of the Year. In the final issue of the Official UK PlayStation Magazine, the game was chosen as the 3rd best game of all time.
The game was featured as a challenge on the videogame show GamesMaster
GamesMaster
GamesMaster was a British television show, screened on Channel 4 from 1992 to 1998, and was the first ever UK television show dedicated to computer and video games.-Origins:...
in 1998, where the contestants, a team of two people, were given an extra large controller to make the game harder. The size of the buttons were that of the palm of a hand. A sketch based on the game was featured in the Adult Swim
Adult Swim
Adult Swim is an adult-oriented Cable network that shares channel space with Cartoon Network from 9:00 pm until 6:00 am ET/PT in the United States, and broadcasts in countries such as Australia and New Zealand...
show Robot Chicken
Robot Chicken
Robot Chicken is an American stop motion animated television series created and executive produced by Seth Green and Matthew Senreich along with co-head writers Douglas Goldstein and Tom Root. Green provides many voices for the show...
.
Sequels and spin-offs
PaRappa the Rapper is regarded as the first "modern" popular rhythm game. It was followed by a spin-off titled UmJammer LammyUmJammer Lammy
is a rhythm video game developed by NanaOn-Sha and published by Sony for the PlayStation video game console. UmJammer Lammy is a spin-off of PaRappa the Rapper, also released for the PlayStation...
, which was released on March 18, 1999 in Japan. The game featured a new cast of characters, multiplayer modes and focused on guitar play, but very similar game play. A bonus mode was included in which the entire game could be replayed with Parappa as the protagonist, complete with his own versions of the game's stages. An arcade version of the game produced by Namco
Namco
is a Japanese corporation best known as a former video game developer and publisher. Following a merger with Bandai in September 2005, the two companies' game production assets were spun off into Namco Bandai Games on March 31, 2006. Namco Ltd. was re-established to continue domestic operation of...
was also released.
A direct sequel, PaRappa the Rapper 2
PaRappa the Rapper 2
is a PlayStation 2 rhythm video game and the sequel to PaRappa the Rapper, although it is actually the third game in the series following UmJammer Lammy...
, was released on August 30, 2001 for the PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
. The franchise has spawned a large range of merchandising and a children's anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
TV series of the same name, which began airing in April 2001 on Fuji TV in Japan.