PaRappa the Rapper is a rhythm video game for the original PlayStation created by Masaya Matsuura (the former leader of the Japanese "Hyper Pop Unit" PSY S) and his NanaOn-Sha company. The game is remembered for its unique graphic design, its quirky soundtrack and its bizarre plot. Despite being made in Japan, all of the game's songs and dialogue are spoken in English in all versions, but has subtitles in languages such as Japanese and German. The game is named after its protagonist, Parappa, a rapping dog with the motto, "I gotta believe!".
The game spawned a merchandising campaign in Japan, a spinoff in 1999, a TV series in 2001, and a direct sequel for PlayStation 2 in the same year. A PlayStation Portable port of the original game was released in Japan and Korea in December 2006 and in North America and Europe in July 2007. |
