Entry 8- Parappa The Rapper

 Sup fellow nerds, Iron Pearl here for entry 8 of this blog. I am very sad to say that this will be the final entry of this blog as the course is coming close to the end, but I am very grateful that I was given the opportunity to run this blog as part of this class, so thank you to everyone who made this possible. I hope this blog has enlightened you on why some of these games are definitely worth picking up in your spare time, as well as inspiring those to share their gaming experiences past and present. Even though the blog will be over, there will be more gaming in life and it will never truly end. So to go off with a bang, I will be looking at one of the very first video games I ever played in my life. Parappa the Rapper on PS1, released in 1997.

I have played with many consoles in my lifetime but the very first one I remember having for myself, was my dad's original PlayStation (PS1) back in 2002. One of the first games I ever remember trying for it was this game off of a demo disc that contained the first stage. I did not quite understand it at the time but fast forward a few years later, to where I got the 2007 PSP remake. It became my go-to game for car rides and waiting around while my parents did whatever they needed to do. The game was developed by NaNaOn-Sha led by Japanese musician Masaya Matsuura. Masaya is often credited as the creator behind the Rythmn/Music game genre that would later involve well known series such as Dance Dance Revolution, Guitar Hero, Rock Band and even continues on today with games like Touhou and Osu. The game has developed a large fanbase in Japan and outside of it with remakes and remasters released as recently for the PS4 in 2017. Now that we got that little exposition out of the way, lets talk about the game itself and see why it is considered as iconic as it is almost 30 years later.

The game's story is simple but perfect enough for a game like this. You play as Parappa a teenage dog boy who wants to become a freestyle rapper. He spends his days hanging out with his three friends, Katy Kat, PJ Bear, and Sunny Funny the Flower. Sunny is Parappa's crush, and the main goal of the story is for Parappa to become appealing to Sunny as a romantic interest. This is done through different levels themed to Parappa learning how to become an adult (Taking karate, drivers education, running a business, learning how to cook etc..) through rapping. Cheesy? Absolutely! But as I stated earlier for a game like this story is not the most important factor. The characters themselves are lovable in both terms of adorable looks and seeing how they interact with each other, you want to root for Parappa as he is such a likable kid who wants to be cool to the girl he likes, which I am sure there are plenty of people who can relate to this. Complemented by the amazing artstyle from American Children's book artist Rodney Greenblatt. The game has 3D environments with 2D paper flat cutout styled characters who bend and twist in the world around them. Parappa itself is a play on words for the Japanese term for paper-thin and this aesthetic works perfectly in this regard.

The gameplay itself, while very short and simple, is very sweet and to the point. There are 6 stages total so it is an incredibly short game, but the replayability comes from mastering each song. Parappa will meet 4 different mentors who teach him how to do his tasks by rapping. Each verse the master drops will involve a series of button combinations that the player must press in time to the music in order to pass it. If the player does a good job or bad job, they will hear different kinds of record scratches. The better the player does the higher their level will stay (good and cool). The worse they do, their level will decrease to bad, awful and then fail the stage having to retry from the beginning. Being a musician, Masaya Matsuura wanted all of the in-game songs to be catchy and memorable, and he succeeds with this immensely. All of the songs are rap based but they range from different kinds of music styles such as hip-hop, Jazz, Funk, R&B, and Soul. As a kid I knew all of these songs word for word from playing this game over and over again and once you start hearing them, you will too. My favorite is definitely the Level 4 Rap, where Parappa learns how to bake a cake for Sunny's birthday, even my family still remembers it. 

The game is very easy to pick up and play the first time around, but in order to get the best results, you gotta learn how to freestyle with the different button combinations you are given. On your 2nd playthrough, doing just the exact combos you are given will get you the passing minimum, but the more you make work in time to the beats, you can unlock cool mode and freestyle for the entire level with all of the buttons, if you finish the level on cool mode the teacher will give you the highest praise possible, but if you mess up do not fear you can continue the song and rework your way back to cool before the song ends. I always loved making up random combinations as well as seeing all of the trippy background imagery that would go on throughout my playthrough. You can even save your replays if you did not catch everything the first time. Beating all 6 levels on cool mode gets you 100 percent and  a little bonus mode, which while it is not much, it is still a fun little timewaster.

The biggest issue with this game (atleast the PS1 original) is that if you want to get the highest points, you need to make sure your reflexes are quick enough to press the button right before your icon touches it on the screen. Once you get the hang of it there will not be that much of an issue, but your instincts the first go around will tell you to hit it exactly at the middle of the button when your icon reaches it, which can confuse players about why their score is lowered despite being right on time. So remember, hit it a second before it reaches the button icon fully and you should get the points.

Overall, I absolutely love this game and consider it one of my favorite games of all time. Despite its  short length and repetitive gameplay, it never outstays its welcome and can be incredibly fun for almost anyone. It is a fairly easily accessible game today as it is available on the PS4 store today, but the PSP and PS1 copies of the game are also fairly cheap if you want to play it on the older hardware. I give this game a 9.5/10. In the words of Parappa himself "I GOTTA BELIEVE!"

Well, that concludes this little blog. Once again, thank you all for reading this semester and I hope my reviews have brought back positive memories for those  who loved these games growing up, or has made those who missed out on them interested in checking them out for the first time. Either way, the story truly never ends and there will be more gaming experiences in the future for all of us to enjoy no matter how old we get. Stay nerdy forever my friends. Iron Pearl out!