PaRappa the Rapper

It may not be the next God of War, but it's a unique diversion and one that is amazingly fun.

Still a great and a highly amusing bemani game. In fact, it pretty much created the genre we know today. A living legend. [Sept 2007]

Parappa has aged well, with the storyline and music still as amusing as ever. The simplistic game play is still fun, although the game feels shorter now that it did in its original release, mainly due to all the other rhythm games released since that time offering more content.

This is a classic in my book, and I'd love to rate it higher than I am. However, time marches on, and by today's standards PaRappa isn't the top dog anymore. [July 2007, p.106]

The game is terrific fun while it lasts, but that’s not long. It took me under two hours to make it through the game’s paltry six songs. While I got a little more mileage by attempting to get a “cool” rating on every song, it is hard to justify paying $30 for a game that offers fewer entertainment minutes than a movie.

PaRappa the Rapper is not only a rollicking trip down memory lane, it reminds you how groundbreaking the game was and the path it has laid down for so many pretenders in its wake. Well worth a look for PSP owners.

Despite the aforementioned low replay value, however, I'm glad PaRappa the Rapper was released. It still holds up even today, and perhaps having some renewed attention given to the Hip-Hop Hero will convince Sony to have a development house revamp PaRappa the way it should have been revamped, instead of the horrific sequel we got five years ago.

A fantastic game, but a short, limited one. Not really worth the asking price, and not as good as "Gitaroo Man." [May 2007, p.66]