PaRappa

PaRappa Rappa is a fictional character created by Japanese musician Masaya Matsuura and American artist Rodney Greenblat. PaRappa first appears as the title character of the 1996 rhythm video game PaRappa the Rapper, developed by NanaOn-Sha for Sony Interactive Entertainment's PlayStation console.

Within the series, PaRappa is depicted as a paper-thin two-dimensional anthropomorphic dog with wholesome personality traits and is enthusiastic about rap music. Matsuura came up with the character's musical style and cut-out visual concept, whereas Greenblat is responsible for the character's final appearance and art style, which is similar to his prior children's books and CD-ROM projects.

After 1996's PaRappa the Rapper met with significant commercial success and critical acclaim, PaRappa was for a time considered to be a mascot for the fledging PlayStation brand in its native Japan. PaRappa's popularity spawned a media franchise that included the 1999 spin-off title Um Jammer Lammy, the 2001 sequel PaRappa the Rapper 2, and a number of media adaptations outside of video games. The character is generally well received by critics in retrospective assessments and is often cited as one of the most memorable video game characters associated with the PlayStation brand.

Development

PaRappa is presented as a square-headed dog with oversized eyes and black floppy ears sticking out from under an orange beanie. PaRappa is voiced by hip hop artist Dred Foxx in all video game appearances, including the 2012 crossover fighting game PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. In the Japan-exclusive anime, Miyu Irino was PaRappa's voice actor.

In an interview with Game Developer, Greenblat described Matsuura as PaRappa's "father", and himself as the character's "mother". During the early-to-mid 1990s, Greenblat was given numerous creative work opportunities by Sony Interactive Entertainment after he gained some recognition for his flair in creating cute characters that appeal to Japanese consumers. On one occasion, a Sony employee who was connected to the company's licensing group invited Greenblat to meet Matsuura's team, who were developing an experimental video game for the then-upcoming PlayStation console. Greenblat noted that the team already knew they wanted to make a rap music game, and they were looking for someone to handle its artistic side. Greenblat recalled that the team wanted a character who was "trustworthy, loyal, hardworking, romantic and a little insecure". He believed that a dog embody all of these requested traits, and decided to make several sketches of canine-themed rapper characters, and worked with the team to pick out the best design among the character's iterations. Greenblat expressed a hope that Sony would realize PaRappa's "golden true potential" in the rhythm game genre, and that he would given further opportunities to design some new games. In 2013, Foxx led a social media campaign to persuade Sony into commissioning a new game in the rhythm action series.

Appearances

Video games

The plot of 1996's PaRappa the Rapper follows PaRappa's attempts to impress his love interest, an anthropomorphic sunflower named Sunny Funny. Each of the game's stages opens with a cutscene establishing a humorous and upbeat scenario that PaRappa needs to resolve, such as learning karate from Chop Chop Master Onion in order to defend Sunny from local bullies, or learning how to drive so he could take Sunny on a trip to the beach. During each sequence, the players must tap a complex sequence of buttons to rhythmically synchronize with the on-screen directions, while watching and listening to PaRappa's raps about his experiences and the repetition of his catchphrase, "I know...I gotta believe!"

A bonus mode was included in the 1999 spin-off title Um Jammer Lammy, which the entire game (excluding Stage 1) could be replayed with PaRappa as the protagonist, complete with his own versions of the game's stages.

PaRappa is the lead character of PaRappa the Rapper 2, which was released for the PlayStation 2 in 2001 in Japan and 2002 in North America and Europe. The sequel's plot revolve around noodles as a plot device, and features the fathers of both PaRappa and Sunny in an expanded role.

PaRappa appears as a playable character in PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, released for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita in November 2012. His quick and agile play style revolves around using his karate taught to him by Chop Chop Master Onion as well as moves inspired by his love of music and skateboarding.

PaRappa makes a cameo appearance in the PlayStation 5 launch title, 2020's Astro's Playroom, a celebration of the PlayStation brand.

In other media

In 2000, Greenblat released a standalone collection of comics called RodneyFun Comic Collection 1, which features PaRappa and several supporting characters dealing with relatable albeit eccentrically portrayed life problems. One of the storylines involve PaRappa trying to get a job to afford a new game. The show was intended as a tie-in with the release of 2001's PaRappa the Rapper 2 and to increase merchandise sales, and

marked the first instance that PaRappa was voiced in Japanese. It consists of a series of short segments featuring supporting character PJ Berri as its lead, which aired as part of Fuji TV's Hi Poul programming block.

Cultural impact

Promotion and merchandise

An arrangement album styled after PaRappa and PJ Berri titled PJ & Parappa – I Scream! was released to promote Um Jammer Lammy, which remixes many of the game's songs from stages and cutscenes to include full-length rap routines performed by Dred Foxx as PaRappa. Some of its tracks were performed by the game's composers and performers for the launch party of Um Jammer Lammy at New York's The Roxy nightclub.

Sony published an interview with Rodney Greenblat on its website to promote the release of the PlayStation Portable (PSP) port of the original PaRappa the Rapper. It featured select questions provided by eu.playstation.com forum members, who were each promised a PaRappa plushie based on Greenblat's design as a reward. Sony also announced several PaRappa promotions throughout the summer of 2007 to promote the release of the first game's PSP port, including a limited edition t-shirt featuring PaRappa by Paul Frank Industries.

In a video uploaded to the Official PlayStation Europe YouTube channel which coincided with the launch of PaRappa the Rapper Remastered for PlayStation 4 in April 2017, several interviewees discuss PaRappa's cultural significance.

In 2021, Japanese skateboard brand WIND AND SEA launched a PaRappa the Rapper "capsule", a collection of clothing items like t-shirts, long sleeves, bucket hats, beanies, cushions, slippers, and keychains which feature the iconography of PaRappa as well as other series characters.

Reception

PaRappa has been featured in a number of "top" character lists by critics. In 2008 MTV named PaRappa the greatest video game canine character. GamesRadar staff ranked PaRappa number 87 in a 2012 list of the best heroes or protagonists in games. IGN ranked PaRappa 8th place in their 2019 list of the "Top 10 Dogs in Video Games".

Critics noted that PaRappa was created at the very moment in which Japanese hip-hop transitioned from a small subculture to a mainstream phenomenon. Noting the character's enthusiasm in spite of his goofy nature, J. C. Herz described PaRappa in an article for The New York Times in 1998 as the "Will Smith of video game characters". He observed that the character "manages to be hip by not being cool, a contrast to the sneering action heroes who have become parodies of themselves". Greg Miller from IGN had a good impression of playing with PaRappa, praising his "rad 2D-like" art style where he folds like a piece of paper to move as well as his arsenal of general uses, but felt he is held back by his "Level 3 Super" move. On the other hand, Jeff Marchiafava from Game Informer considered PaRappa to be among the game's worst characters and mocked him as being inept and out of place. Jim McGrath from Hardcore Gaming 101 praised the reprisal of Dred Foxx as PaRappa and the character's overall presentation, but felt that the shading of his colors to fit in with the rest of the game ends up with a "gauche" look. He also criticized both his moveset and his campaign to be underwhelming. A cast member of the webseries Mega64 appears as PaRappa in a 2008 episode. PaRappa appeared in three sketches in the Adult Swim television show Robot Chicken. In one of the segments of the show, PaRappa is picked over his competitor in a freestyle battle by 50 Cent, who appears as himself, and is signed to his G-Unit label.