Monday, November 01, 2010

10 video games that made my life gayer (#7): PaRappa the Rapper

I wouldn't go so far as to say I tend to choose style over substance when I buy games, but I definitely find the former more important than the latter from time to time.

Case in point: My decision to pick up a copy of the NanaOn-Sha-developed PaRappa the Rapper.

Before this 1997 release, I'd never played (or even heard of, probably) a "rhythm game." After seeing this commercial, though, I decided to give the genre a try--due in large part to PaRappa's paper-cutout aesthetic.

Thankfully, I quickly discovered that the game was not simply another example of "style over substance." Instead, it was an example of "style marrying substance and then populating the earth with a multitude of stylishly substantial offspring." (Or something like that.)

Sure, on the surface PaRappa seems to be little more than Milton Bradley's Simon wrapped up in a pretty polygonal package. Scratch that surface a bit, though, and you quickly discover that this game offers brains as well as beauty.

See also: all of the previous '10 video games that made my life gayer' posts

8 comments:

Viewtiful_Justin said...

Well, Simon can have it's boop boop beep. I'll take PaRappa's lyrics any day.

Bryan Ochalla said...

I agree 100%, Justin. I <3 PaRappa's lyrics (and graphics) :)

Mischievous Lumi said...

Boooo! I played that game at Toys 'R' Us, and because of it I almost never had an interest in Playsation console.

Bryan Ochalla said...

Ha! Well, that just goes to show that we all have different tastes in games. (Which is great!) Anyway, what did you dislike about it so much, if you don't mind me asking?

Mischievous Lumi said...

I HAVE NO RHYTHM! It's a tragic thing, that no matter how many games I play nothing can be done. I can never improve on this. Don't judge me!

Bryan Ochalla said...

I won't judge you, Luminairis! I mean, you really can't help it if you don't have rhythm, and that's kind of essential when playing a game like PaRappa. Hey, at least you can play games like RE and Kuon, etc. :)

Lewis said...

This one is on our list of games to cover over at 101videogames - it deserves a place for Chop Chop Master Onion alone!

Bryan Ochalla said...

Can't wait to read your write-up, Lewis!