PaRappa the Rapper, Um Jammer Lammy, and PaRappa the Rapper 2
パラッパラッパー + ウンジャマ・ラミー + パラッパラッパー2 -- we gotta believe!!
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the original PlayStation (and also the 25th anniversary of the PlayStation 2)… are you ready to jump for excitement?!
Then you gotta believe!!!
U Rappin’ GOOD … with PaRappa the Rapper! I have spouted about this PlayStation game on Spoutible before, but I want to bring this to Substack for more context.
The game was developed by NanaOn-Sha and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation. It was originally released in Japan in late 1996 and worldwide in the fall of 1997. Created by music producer Masaya Matsuura in collaboration with artist Rodney Greenblat, the game features unique visual design and rap-based gameplay and is considered to be the first true rhythm game.
In the game, you play as PaRappa (v.b. John “Dred Foxx” Simpson III; Miyu Irino in the anime series), a square-headed rapping dog with oversized eyes and black floppy ears sticking out from under an orange beanie, wearing a blue sleeveless shirt, dark blue baggy jeans, and red sneakers. 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.
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. To clear a stage, the player must have a good ranking by the end of the song. If the player ends the song on a Bad or Awful ranking or drops below the Awful ranking at any point in the song, they will fail the song and have to start over. PaRappa also appears in the (now-defunct) 2012 crossover fighting game PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale for the PlayStation 3.
Next up is a shy, baggy jeans-wearing lamb named Lammy (v.b. Sara Ramirez), a left-handed guitarist and leader of a rock band named MilkCan, alongside bassist and lead singer Katy Kat and drummer Ma-san. The game is a spin-off of PaRappa the Rapper, and it was released in 1999 on the same console with the same developer and publisher, as well as the same artist. Leave it to… Um Jammer Lammy!
In the Japan/PAL version of the game, upon getting the guitar, Lammy slips on a banana peel and dies, ending up in a Hell-like netherworld. In the North American version, her belt gets snagged on a door handle in the shop, and she is propelled to a volcanic island. After being dragged into performing in a concert for idol Teriyaki Yoko (The Alien Girl), Lammy manages to earn the right to be brought back to Earth using a fax machine, but not before running into her evil twin Rammy, Yoko’s original guitarist. After coming back from the dead (Japan/PAL)/returning from the island (North America), Lammy finally arrives at the concert at the same time as Katy and Ma-san, who had their own set of circumstances causing them to run late as Lammy had been. With the band together, MilkCan go ahead and perform their concert before their adoring fans. Lammy also appears in PaRappa the Rapper 2 as an unplayable character.
2001’s PaRappa the Rapper 2 was released on the PlayStation 2, which was released in early 2002 in North America. Instructor Moosesha, the sister of the first game’s Instructor Mooselini, wears a pink tutu on her army uniform. The game’s plot is PaRappa, the game’s main protagonist, having won a lifetime’s worth supply of instant noodle products from Beard Burger’s burger shop, has become nothing short of weary from eating nothing but noodles for every meal every single day … until everything in the world is noodlelized! It is the third and most recent title in the PaRappa the Rapper series.
Here’s the lose animation compilation in all games (including the 2017 reboot) on YouTube.
If you didn’t know, NanaOn-Sha is a Japanese video game developer founded by Masaya Matsuura (formerly of Psy-S) in 1993. The series’ developer still exists… except that its latest game, Project Rap Rabbit, faced cancellation following the game’s failure to secure financing on crowdfunding website Kickstarter… and that’s it.