Game Details
Name: Parappa The Rapper
Format: Playstation 1
Genre: Rhythm Action
Region Reviewed: PAL
Year of Release: 1996 (UK)
Reviewer: Megatron's_Fury
Ok so Parappa is like any wafer thin cartoon boy dog, he has his dreams he has his goals and most importantly he has his loves and they are that of becoming the baddest MC Rapper in the town and winning the love of his woman Sunny Funny, but how is young kid from the mean streets going to do this you ask? Especially when his love interest is also desired by another bigger and larger Dawg Joe Chin.
Well as you asked I shall tell you.....
He decides that all chicks love a man (dog) who can fight, drive, cook, make cash and ultimately rock the mic, nothing gets a lady (sunflower girl) in the mood like living up to a stereotype!..........Whaaaaaaaaat??? Now first he needs to learn to fight so its off to the dojo to learn from a certain Master Onion...... Ok so now little bow wow can fight, time to go get those wheel's, his dad has a car but first he is gonna need that licence, dagnamit, more obstacles, ok who do we know that has all the killer need for speed grooves???? Oh I know Instructor Mooselini......
Oh damn son, player got the licence even after freestyle rapping and not touching the car steering wheel at 10 and 2!!! Surely now Sunny Funny will be his right?.....Wrong!
After taking his dads car and picking up the gang Parappa gets carried away dreaming about how much he and Sunny Funny are now an item and loses his concentration......CRASH....... car wreck!! His dad still has payments on this and now Parappa needs to get it fixed, but how is he going to make those bucks? Time to do what retro collectors do so well and get selling rare items down the local car boot with the king of thrifty Prince Fleaswallow.......... Remember the pump over here comes with the truck!!!!
Ok so the car is once again sorted and now the preparations for the party for Sunny Funny's Birthday have begun, parappa is in charge of a killer cake but after buying one and then tripping up into it after seeing what that evil bastard Joe Chin has made for her Parappa has run out of money and now needs to make one.....Cheaply.........CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP.
Ok so Parappa and the TV chef help make a cake made out of seafood, yup thats right......icing and SEAFOOD!!! At the party in the park everyone is having a great time and Parappa is eating most of the cake, turns out your stomach doesnt like sugar cake and Seafood! On a long drive home he cant hold on and drives into a service station to take a monster dump! But there's folks in front of him and a rap off ensues to see who goes first.
Ok phew thats the kids dropped off at the pool........ Time to drive sunny home, seems she doesnt think your cool anymore because your face isnt straining all manly from needing the worlds biggest ****! and cools off on the ride home......Grrrrr Whats going to win her heart now? How about a party invite to the best club in the town....... CLUB FUN!
So there we go, the race is won, by jumping through hoops, making a knob of himself, getting into fights and making much doggie dollar Parappa finally gets his girl by out rapping the king of the MC's, so what have we learned?
Well we learned that this game is......
1.) AWESOME, its still great to play now, simple button pressing in time to the music is still as easy,fun and addictive as it was all those years ago in 1996. Screw guitar hero and all that crap, this is where rhythm action was made and where its best!
2.) Scarily true to how you have to be to get a real life woman, the undertones here are in many ways spot on.
3.) Infectious, play this around someone and they will be nodding away to the music and rapping like crazy almost instantly, having the words on screen really helps make this a great party game even if only 1 person is playing.
4.) A real classic in both design and its originality for its time, even after all these years and a spin-off, a direct sequel and loads of other clones this game still remains the top dog (pun intended).
You can complete this game in literally under an hour and that's including cut scenes and you wont even care a jot that its over because you WILL play this again....And again and again, its utterly iconic in every sense of the word, is the stand out game of its genre by a mile and its wit, charm and sly digs at society make it important in the history of videogames, if you own it you understand what im saying, if you dont then oh my god go and get it.
Because ultimately........ YOU GOTTA BELIEVE!!!
RGG Scores
Graphics
Sound
Playability
Lastability
Overall Score:
9
9
9
3
9
Verdict:- Yes it gets a higher score than the average but thats because the whole is vastly superior than the sum of its parts.
As mentioned before it's iconic, catchy and essential, it's near on perfect and 17 years after release the game is still funny, playable, relevant and the soundtrack which drew from styles of famous rappers from real life ie Queen latiffa, shaggy etc is just immense.
Second Opinion:- Without a shadow of a doubt this insane game for that Greystation console thing is the ultimate 'Marmite' experience. People either love this or they absolutely hate it. It's simple really, if you are down with amazing Hip-Hop then chances are you fall in the first category. For those who fail to appreciate dope beats then go sit in the corner and be all grumpy, cause you ain't my friend.
This is the precise moment when the Playstation obtained 'cool' If Sega released this hipsters would be falling over themselves for a new Dreamcast edition... On Kickstarter! Yeah I said it! What???
Transbot Scores:- 9 out of 10
