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System:
PlayStation
Genre:
Music
Publisher:
Sony
Developer:
NanaOn-Sha
Players:
1
Release date/year:
12/06/1996
Other systems:
-
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- PaRappa the Rapper
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1997 NanaOn-Sha - Sony - PSX
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One faithful morning, I awoke, I went onto the computer to check up on all my sites. Then, I came across something that made me quite happy. It was a little picture, a little picture of a little man, with a red hat, he was dancing that day he was, an enjoyable sight. Above it there was a little line, I line that said ''Parappa dances into your home.'' I was thrilled to see this, because I was anticipating this game greatly. After reading the story, I wanted it more than ever. I walked over to my dad calmly, looked him in the eye, and said: I need 50 bucks, now. He didn’t give the money to me at first, but upon further explanation, he agreed. We went down to our local EB, and picked this little game up. I played it for hours. Then, I emerged, I emerged with an opinion, an opinion I shall give to you now, so listen little one, as I tell you about Parappa… rappa… rappa…
- {~~Main Scores~~}
Gameplay
The gameplay in this one, is, well, different. Basically, you dance, and you dance a lot. As I go into more detail, we see that the dancing is good. It is done with a rap, parappa and his buddies rap, and dance. There is a little line that goes across the screen, with buttons, telling you which button to press and when. Each button makes Parappa dance. When you fail to press the proper buttons, your rating drops. The ratings are your lifeblood. When you reach the lowest rating, you are done with this level, and must start over. The ratings are: COOL!, Good, Bad, and awful, or something to that effect, after every miss, your score drops, and that drops your rating. As you reach each new rating Parappa and his other dancing friends have different reactions. For example, when you get to awful, parappa will sink to the ground and become very depressed. When you reach COOL! something very special happens, mainly because it is almost impossible to reach. For example, when you get to COOL! on the first level, the roof will blow off, your onion-headed teacher will flip out, and the spectators will let out a gasp and stare. A problem with this game, is that it is too short, there is only six levels, and no bonus or anything. That was one of the few flaws I found with the gameplay. But overall, well done here.
- Story
Horrible, what a horrible story, oh dear god how terrible horrible and frightening. But I suppose I shouldn’t complain too much, we are playing a dancing game. Now, here’s a breakdown of the story. Basically, you are parappa, a dancing dog, and you want to impress a talking flowers girl. And how could possibly do that? Rap! Dance! Get Diarrhea! Yes, very soon into the game you will get diarrhea while driving, and while you make a rap about diarrhea, they will flash to scenes of your intestinal system! Hooray for feces! Anyway, that’s basically your story. Quite a frightening thought, but that’s all you get here, nothing special, but at least it ties together your rap and dance sessions.
- Graphics
Another sad section of the game, the graphics. Or should I say, the paper cut outs flapping in the wind. That’s right, this game suffers from crappy paper cut out graphics syndrome. Okay, so that’s not a real disease, but it describes the graphics well. Characters here are drawings, drawings of onion men, and rapping dogs, all wearing baggy hip hop clothes. At least the drawings are good… Actually, they’re not, the drawings are crap, dammit… Backgrounds Are also drawings. Boy, this game is pretty sad. Drawings for characters, that you can see that they are paper thin. And then the Backgrounds, they are drawings too. Oh well, at least they are still and don’t show their 2D crappiness. Object designs, they aren’t eve there, maybe you’ll see a mic attached to Parappa’s hand, but that’s it, nothing more really.
- Sound
Well, what kind of dancing game would this be if this category was as bad as the others. That’s right! A category I can say good things about! YAY! Wait, the sound isn’t even that good… Oh well, better than the story, even though that’s not hard to do. Music is the lifeblood of the game. Without the music, we wouldn’t have dancing, which means we wouldn’t have a story, which means we wouldn’t have a game, just a bunch of dogs and onion men standing around staring. The game makers realized this, and seriously tried not to mess it up. Luckily, they didn’t. The music is good, even though it is a beat for Parappa to rap to. The lyrics are good to. Well planned out, and quite funny at times. Sound effects are almost non-existent and hard to notice. But they are there, that’s a start. You have car sounds, odd ringing and gongs when you start, and some strange sounds when you reach a new rank, especially ''awful'' where you will get a ''BLARGJHAFUTLIK'' by the people around you, then a ''try again'' when you get to the screen asking if you want to restart. Nothing special, but one of the better aspects of the game.
- Control
This aspect has been deemed the best part of the game by the god of gaming: seifer psx. Although there is not much in the way of controls, they are still good. All the buttons do something, ranging from kick, to pose. All having a part of your dance and rap. Which buttons you are supposed to press scroll across the top of the screen, and hit a certain area, indicating you need to press that button immediately. This all after someone gives an example of your dance. The demo will disappear after a few levels though. Good controls, best aspect of this game, even though most other parts are sad…
- Enjoyability
Now in this, the category telling how much I liked this game in general, the game doesn’t really excel, unfortunately. I enjoyed the gameplay, sound, and control. But not the graphics. In fact even the good parts aren’t great. Damn, I didn’t like this at all did I? Graphics were the worst part though. I think they tried to make them tacky by going with the 2D look. But they failed. Instead of tacky, we have crappy. But I suppose, overall, this game wasn’t bad, the humor and the dancing made it fun to play, all 6 levels.
- BREAKDOWN
Gameplay: 6
Story: 3
Graphics: 2
Sound: 8
Control: 10
Enjoyability: 6
- {~~Other Important Scores~~}
Replay Value: Below Average
The replay value is hilariously low in this one. Mainly due to the fact that the game isn’t even great the first time through, let alone a second. I got through it once, and didn’t play it again for a long time. The only reasons I can think of to play it again, is boredom or to enjoy the music perhaps.
- Challenge: Low
This game is not very challenging, at least for me. I think that this was made for little kids, and not for experienced gamers, such as myself. Now some with bad hand-eye co-ordination or slow reaction time may find this hard, but for your average person, laughably easy.
- Learning Curve: Almost Non-existent
The learning curve is not even comprehendible. Basically, all you need to know is how to press a button to the beat of the rap. Nothing more that that. The only reasons you may take more that 1 minute to learn this game is if you just got a PSX, or have some problems with reactions and small tasks.
- But or Rent: Rent
This is one of the first games that I suggest you rent. My reason for this is simply, it is too short, so you can beat it in a day or two, and once you do beat it, you wont be playing it much more for a long time, in which case you can simply make another one day rental.
- PROS
-Funny
-Good music
-Dancing game
- CONS
-Paper graphics
-Short
-Easy
-Poor dancing system
Overall, this game did not do it for me. There were some good parts, but they weren’t enough to make me enjoy this game very thoroughly. Good for a laugh, and fun to play at first, but nothing more really. Two thumbs down.
5/10
//Seifer psx
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