PaRappa The Rapper (PSP)

I never played PaRappa The Rapper on PSone. Well not the full game, but I did play a demo many years ago. It looked interesting, but I never got the chance to play the full game because I couldn't find it in any shops. So when Parappa The Rapper was released on PSP I jumped at the chance to see the rapping experience in full. But after playing it I was left thinking "Was the PSone version really this lousy? I hope not." The PSP version is just terrible.

For those who don't know anything about PaRappa, let me fill you in. PaRappa is a teenage-looking dog, with a beanie hat and everything, who has a crush on Sunny Funny, a flower (Don't worry. Dogs falling in love with flowers is totally natural in Japan). PaRappa has to rap his way through six different levels, which include raps in Dojos and on TV cooking shows, in order to win the heart of Sunny.

During raps you have to listen to the lines that the teachers rap to you, and then you have to repeat those lines. You do this by watching the top of the screen for button icons. A little indicator runs from left to right, and when it's over a button icon you press the corresponding button. Your performance is rated on the right side of the screen. The ratings are: Cool, Good, Bad, and Awful. You have to be rapping at least Good by the end of the rap in order to move onto the next level.

The graphics are interesting to say the least. The backgrounds are in 3D, but the characters themselves are in 2D. They look like paper cutouts. Unfortunately you won't really notice the graphics during the levels as you'll be too busy keeping an eye on the icons at the top of the screen, although you will get a chance to see them during the cutscenes.

All six raps are toe-tappingly catchy. But the thing is: Will you get to listen to all of them? Do you really want to take so much mental strain just to listen to them?

The problem with PaRappa The Rapper is that the game just sucks at identifying button presses. In the Normal Mode there are many occasions where the game thinks you missed a button press, even when you timed it to perfection (the shoulder buttons are the worst); and there are also occasions where the button press can be half a second early but still be given as being spot on. In the end you'll find yourself pressing the buttons at random times in the hope that the game will be generous to you.

It just makes your blood boil, and it only gets worse in later levels where more complex button combinations are required. If you do somehow manage to complete this game in Normal mode, it'll be more out of sheer luck rather than gaming skill. The Easy mode is a little more generous and the game will pretty much accept any half-decent button press you make; but you can only play the first three levels in this mode, which only rubs salt into your already gaping wounds.

None of this is helped by the game's unfair insistence that you have to finish the rap whilst rating Good as I mentioned earlier. Even if you rap well throughout the entire level if you mess up the last couple of lines you'll rate Bad, fail the level, and have to start it all over again. It's just plain wrong.

PaRappa The Rapper on PSP stinks worse than haven't-been-washed-in-three-years socks and should be avoided at all costs. I'm still thinking about buying the PSone version, and I'm praying that it's a lot better than this.

This game used to be good on the PS1, but on the PSP the meter at the top of the screen is way to small and way to sensitive to you just slightly missing the symbol. Unfortunatly it hasn't been adapted to the PSP's screen size and is very disappointing. Also the add-on music website just comes up with "Coming Soon" so where's the 8 remixed tracks Sony?? The only time it does ignore being slightly off is when in easy mode, but this mode is way too easy to complete and doesn't contain all the levels from the original, you're limited to the market rap, and I really can't put up with the Onion Guy saying "Again!" any more nor "kick, punch it's all in the mind..."