Genre: Rhythm-Music
Developer: NaNaOn-Sha
Publisher: SCEI

As the game that, to my knowledge, invented the style of having flat, single-polygon characters that can warp and flex like a sheet of paper, it is difficult to deny the charm of Parappa, his love interest Sunny Funny, and the various friends and foes he meets throughout his adolescent journey, a journey that nearly all of us can relate to on some level. A little texture filtering and 16:9 perspective sweeten the deal.

From the in-rap songs to the tunes in the cut-scenes, Masaya Matsuura's music is fantastically composed, rhythmic, and catchy. It lends the atmosphere, charm, and character that the visuals and memorable story need to make the game bloom. Voice acting is also top-notch, and the in-rap aural cues are well placed and pretty comical, especially when one misses the beat or makes an ill-timed button tap.

As the first rhythm-music game of all time, Parappa is in Super Mario Bros. territory in terms of innovation. To play the game, you proceed through six stages pressing buttons to aural and visual cues on the screen, imitating the rap of a "rap-master", such as a moose driving instructor or an amphibious frog-like flea-market salesman. The game isn't very long and is easily memorized, but it is a game that very nearly becomes more fun as you get better at it.

There are two ways of looking at this PSP port of Parappa the Rapper: on the one hand, it lacks the variety of content that modern rhythm-music games, such as Dance Dance Revolution and Rock Band, provide. On the other hand, the aforementioned modern titles could be considered inferior versions of Parappa-- they still only involve pressing buttons to cues, and they lack the character, charm, and memorable nature of Parappa. The reality probably lies somewhere in-between, which still makes Parappa an experience to have for someone that missed the title around its inception over a decade ago.