PaRappa The Rapper is a title that many will remember from the PlayStation One era. A fantastic and weird rhythm title that brought addictive and fun tracks and qwerky characters to the genre. It’s been 20 years since we experienced the title for the first time and now PaRappa and the gang are back with the remaster on PS4.
The beautiful and colourful world of PaRappa looks great in the remaster, and the upgrades visuals on the gameplay segments are a delight for the eyes. PaRappa was an early instalment to the music range of games and some may say titles like Guitar Hero and Rockband took a page out of PaRappa’s book and many 2D cartoon platformers may have done so too. PaRappa has a very distinct look, and thankfully the gameplay holds up visually thanks to the upgraded visuals.
If you’ve never played PaRappa you wouldn’t know that the title focuses on a rapping 2D dog on a hip-hop adventure. PaRappa is a daydreamer, and a good one at that, and finds himself falling hopelessly in love with Sunny, a sunflower, but does not “believe” in himself to win her heart. PaRappa realises he’s got to believe to win her heart, this means PaRappa has to get his raps together and work his way through bizarre and funny situations to get him closer to his one true love.
This means PaRappa needs a teacher to show him the way to the girl of his dreams. This means a kung-fu master onion steps to the challenge to show PaRappa the way to defend himself against bullies and become a man. Then we have a moose driving instructor who teaches PaRappa how to drive, a cooking chicken to teach PaRappa to make the perfect birthday cake. Yeah, it’s a very weird game, but it is from a much simpler era.
As mentioned, PaRappa The Rapper is a Rhythm game, which means you will need to follow each teacher’s lead, prompting you to press the correct button matching the symbol that is shown at the top of the screen. You will use all four of the main controller buttons and the L1 and R1 buttons as you progress through the story. Hit the right buttons with the right rhythm and you will work your way to be “U Rappin Cool”, which is the best possible outcome. Miss a symbol or go out of beat and your rapping career will soon be heading to “awful”, meaning you will have to replay the mission again.
The songs are as great as before, offering funny rhymes, rap-like jokes and just bizarre nonsense that makes the game stand out from other rhythm titles. The teachers are great too and all of them offer such memorable tracks, you will most likely like them all. The beautiful cartoon design that was originally created by artist Rodney Greenblat is still standing strong even at 1080p on the PS4 and 2160p on the PS4 Pro. It’s very nostalgic for those that have played it, and looks crisp and sharp remastered.
Having the rhythm is key and it’s quite challenging to keep in time, especially if you haven’t experienced the title before. The audio changes depending on the player’s feedback, with certain tracks fading out when you’re performing badly and with the song fading back in when you are doing well. The scene will also change if you are “rappin cool” to how you would be if you were “rapping good”. The gameplay is simple: tap the buttons accordingly throughout the song and earn points for each symbol you hit correctly. The down side is the timing, the timing seems to be very off in the remaster and at times will likely cause more frustration if you are trying to get “rappin cool” on each of the levels. It’s a weird issue and a surprising oversight in the remastered release. The thing is, the game doesn’t take too kindly to mistakes, so you can be in situations where your points start to dramatically drop.
PaRappa The Rapper is a short game, and with only six tracks to play through you can likely complete the game within a 1-3 hour sitting depending on your experience. The challenging aspect as mentioned before is the timing, especially in later levels like the Prince Fleaswallor’s market and onward. It’s frustrating the fact that no matter what TV I have tried or my method of listing to the audio, the responses on certain tracks certainly feel off. You will likely find yourself getting lucky and progressing to the next stage in the last few levels. It would have been nice to have a calibration feature like Rockband or Guitar Hero as I can imagine this is quite an issue. The other issue I have with this remaster is the lack of remastered cut-scenes. It would have been a much more complete package if the cut-scenes were remastered too. It seems a tad lazy and looks very out dated due to the low-res.
PaRappa The Rapper is a title I love and will forever have positive memories of the original on the PS1, and thankfully the PS4 release does the original justice. The gameplay, however, is outdated in comparison to other rhythm games. The lack of depth is also starting to show and will make many question whether it’s worth picking up the title if it can all be completed in a 3 hour sitting. It offers a great experience however, and has some charming colourful visuals, great music and animation. The gameplay is slightly off however, which leaves a bit of a sour taste. I still recommend it for those that have played the title before, newcomers might not find the title as welcoming.