PaRappa the Rapper
The PaRappa the Rapper series comprises of two major games, one spin off that stars a lamb and even an anime in Japan. The series became one of the more popular exclusive IPs of Sony and PaRappa games can be found on PlayStation, PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable.
While the amount of oddness in this series is unique, what is even more unique is the music. The PaRappa the Rapper series is all about the music as it explores styles of RnB, Rap, Reggae and even Rock.
As for gamplay, it is very simple as gamers simply have to press button symbols that flash on screen at the right time in order to keep with the song being played. The game rates players on their timing as throughout the course of a song, one has to maintain a ‘Good’ rating. Missing presses changes the status to ‘Bad’ and that will eventually ruin the song.
As simple as this may sound, the games are immensely addictive and repayable, mainly because the songs are so good that they just have to be listened and played over and over again. As good as the songs are in terms of structure, vocals and rhythm, the lyrics are absolutely nonsense and yet they still work very well.
Notable Composer:
- Masaya Matsuura
And so the weirdness begins…
The original PaRappa the Rapper was the very first of its kind and pretty much gave the rhythm genre a very strong kick start. In PaRappa the Rapper, you played the role of a rapper ‘PaRappa’, a dog who lives in this crazy world full of talking onions, talking cheese, talking sun flowers and sometimes even ordinary humans . The game featured an equally ridiculous plot where PaRappa tries to win the heart of his love interest, a sun flower girl named Sunny Funny. What was brilliant about the game was the humorous and catchy soundtrack.
Funky and groovy, nice 90s reggae beat in this one… the PaRappa the Rapper soundtrack nicely represented the type of music that grew popular during the early and mid 90s.
“Did you check the toilets on the right? Did you check the toilets on the left?” This is pure song writing genius! PaRappa ends the song nicely when he says “Ahhh….this is life!”
Lamb of Rock
After the original PaRappa the Rapper we saw a spin off game titled Um Jammer Lammy, a game where gamers played the role of a guitar wielding lamb named Lammy, the lead guitarist of an all-girl rock band called Milk Can. The key music genre in this game was rock and its may sub genres. It was much different game to PaRappa the Rapper in terms of sound but the gameplay style remained the same, with the minor difference of holding down buttons for some guitar notes. The game featured PaRappa as an un-lockable character, which added rap versions of the rock songs and that made the game very diverse. Overall, Um Jammer Lammy was an awesome rhythm game package with plenty of good music and is perhaps the best game in the series.
An insane singer, odd and random lyrics, unusual structure and plenty of hard hitting and aggressive moments. This sure is a fine metal rock track.
No cutting corners in life! A great song that is quite uplifting, edgy and groovy. The guitar work is solid and the lyrics are actually quite meaningful as they are not about toilets or flipping burgers! This is one of the more mature songs you can find in this series.
It gets even weirder
As if the previous two games weren’t already weird enough with guitar playing lambs and a dog falling in love with a sun flower, PaRappa the Rapper 2 on PlayStation 2 raises the standard of weirdness as the main plot revolved around noodles taking over the world. The game had a decent soundtrack but the songs did not have the same quality and addictiveness as the ones in the original PaRappa the Rapper and Um Jammer Lammy. That said there are a few good songs worth pointing out.
This energetic song was perhaps the best song in PaRappa the Rapper 2 and it really kicked the game off with a bang. In this song a fry cook returns from beyond the grave to teach PaRappa the art of making the ideal burger, no joke.
This dude sounds really creepy… that aside… it is still one of the more mature songs in the series thanks to some cool lyrics.
And finally, a tribute to a Legend
Chop Chop Master Onion! The sensei of sheer awesomeness has appeared and performed a song in all three video games of the series. His song in each game is essentially a karate training session with rhythm and style, but it takes a turn into something very ‘different’ in PaRappa the Rapper 2. Let us take a look at the evolution of his trademark song style.
A simple and straightforward song in terms if lyrics but is delivered with a lot of style and groove.
A much superior version, more instruments and better quality sound in this one. The lyrics are pretty cool and the guitars certainly gives it a lot of edge.
Okay, we have no idea what happened to Sensei Onion here, this just took a turn into something that is very unsuitable for an E rated game. Either our minds are very dirty or this song has way too many innuendos.
Wrapping it up
PaRappa the Rapper is to rhythm games what Mario Bros. is to platformers. Well okay, maybe that is overstating things a bit too much. The game isn’t that great or timeless as a rhythm game but the music alone is stellar. We hope this Sound Test gave you a good taste of the kind of music that made the series so special and unforgettable. It is certainly worth looking into these games again, not just for the music but also for the unique art style, odd story and charm.
LOVE TOGETHER! We need more PaRappa games to make this world a better place!
Loading...
