PaRappa the Rapper

PaRappa the Rapper is a rhythm game in which the main character, PaRappa, must make his way through each of the game's six stages by rapping. As the teacher raps, a bar at the top of the screen will appear, showing symbols that match up to the teacher's lyrics. The player must then make PaRappa rap in response to the teacher by pressing the buttons with the correct timing to match the teacher's line.

During gameplay, a "U Rappin'" meter determines the player's performance, ranking it as either Awful, Bad, Good, or Cool. By consistently staying on beat, players will stay in the Good ranking area. If the player performs a bad line, a lower ranking will flash, and if the player performs badly twice in a row, they will drop to Bad, followed by Awful. To regain a higher ranking, the player must play well twice in a row to move up a rank.

The player takes on the role of PaRappa, a paper-thin rapping dog, determined to procure the heart of a flower-like girl he has a crush on named Sunny Funny. However, he is intimidated by the presence of Joe Chin, a rich, self-centered dog going overboard making efforts to obtain Sunny's attention. In order to win Sunny, PaRappa learns to do karate at a dojo, and earns a driver's education course to get a license. However, when he crashes his father's vehicle, he has to earn money at a flea market to pay for a replacement vehicle.

When Sunny's birthday comes up, PaRappa has to get her a cake but ends up ruining it after an encounter with Joe Chin. He makes a new one by watching a cooking show and proceeds to eat a lot of it on the day. When spending some time alone with Sunny, he is suddenly overcome with the need to go to the bathroom and has to rap against his former teachers to get to the front of the queue. Then one night, PaRappa is invited to Club Fun, and asks Sunny to go with him, to which she agrees.

S. Matsuura hated appearing in music videos and began working on interactive software as an alternative outlet. Game development started in 1994, before the release of the PlayStation. At the time Sony Computer Entertainment Japan was attempting to produce as many games as they could, which were worked on in two divisions.

One division worked on popular genres and the other, internally known as "Division Zero", according to artist Rodney Greenblat, "just did whatever". PaRappa was a product of Division Zero. Japan Studio assisted on development.

PaRappa the Rapper sold 761,621 copies in Japan during 1997, making it the 7th best-selling video game of 1997 in that region. In May 1998, Sony awarded the game a "Platinum Prize" for sales above 1 million units in Japan alone. As of 2003, the game has sold 1.47 million copies in Japan and 214,398 copies in the United States, for a combined 1,684,398 copies sold in Japan and the United States.

The game received near-universal acclaim from critics, who hailed PaRappa the Rapper as a unique game with irresistibly catchy songs. Dan Hsu of Electronic Gaming Monthly commented, "Several of the tunes are so catchy, you'll be singing them for days." Hsu also made it his pick for "Sleeper Hit of the Holidays". IGN wrote that "while the words may seem a little strange ...

PaRappa the Rapper is considered the first true rhythm game. It was influential in setting the basic template for subsequent titles in the rhythm game genre, including successful franchises such as Konami's Bemani games (including Beatmania, Dance Dance Revolution and GuitarFreaks), Sega's Samba de Amigo, Harmonix games (including Guitar Hero and Rock Band), and Ubisoft's Just Dance.

PaRappa the Rapper was followed by a spin-off titled Um Jammer Lammy, which was released on 18 March 1999 in Japan. The game featured a new cast of characters, multiplayer modes and focused on guitar play, but very similar gameplay. A bonus mode was included in which the entire game could be replayed with PaRappa as the protagonist, complete with his own versions of the game's stages. An arcade version of the game produced by Namco was also released.