PaRappa the Rapper

To progress in the game, each stage has you rapping to complete a task. This is accomplished by having a teacher in each stage rap a line, which you must copy afterward, similar to Simon. To rap, a line of button commands will appear at the top of the screen, which you must match after the teacher shows them to you. The button commands match the flow of each teacher's rap. You are scored on how accurate with each button press.

There are four rankings on how well you are doing during each stage: Cool, Good, Bad, and Awful. At the beginning of each stage, you start off on Good. If you do well on each line, you will remain Good and raise your score. However, if you mess up a line, the Bad indicator will start to blink, signifying that if you mess up the next line again, you will be brought down a ranking. If you continue to do bad, Awful will blink, and another mess up will cause you to drop another rank. If you fall below Awful, the song will end abruptly, asking you if you want to try again. However, if you do good while on Bad or Awful, the above rank will blink, meaning you can get back up after a mess up. In order to get a Cool ranking, you must freestyle two lines in a row during a stage, which means not necessarily following the button commands shown, but still giving a good rap line on your own. Two of that in succession will bring you up to the Cool ranking and cause the current stage teacher to leave, which gives you the rest of the stage your own freestyle solo time using any and all buttons. However, if you begin to do poorly during the freestyle, you will be brought back down to Good, bringing back the teacher.

Story

Parappa is head-over-heels in love with Sunny Funny. Unfortunately, she doesn't seem to notice him all too much. Not only that, but he seems to have some competition with rival Joe Chin, a self-eccentric rich boy who seems to have everything. This leads to Parappa doing everything he can to get the girl of his dreams to notice him, from learning kung-fu to getting his license. Parappa, along with his friends Katy Kat, PJ Berri, and of course Sunny Funny, live in a world where it seems all problems can be solved with hip-hop.

There are 6 stages in the game.

Stage 1: I Need to Become a Hero

Teacher: Chop Chop Master Onion
One day while hanging out at their favorite fast food place, Parappa and the gang are enjoying a meal after watching a movie, when suddenly two bullies walk in and begin to hassle them! Unfortunately, Parappa feels too weak to do anything. Luckily, Joe Chin comes in and begins to go into great length how he will deal with the bullies, giving time for Parappa and his friends to walk out of the restaurant. This whole ordeal causes Parappa to wish he was stronger, leading him to learn karate.

Teacher: Instructor Mooselini
Parappa and his friends wish to go to the beach, but there's only one problem: They have no way of getting there. At this time, Joe Chin pulls up in his brand new stretch convertible and offers them a ride. He has Sunny Funny and Katy Kat sit up with him, while making Parappa and PJ sit in the (far!) back. This makes Parappa wish he had his license.

Stage 5: Full Tank

Teachers: Chop Chop Master Onion, Instructor Mooselini, Prince Fleaswallow, and Cheep Cheep the Cooking Chicken

Trivia

• The word "parappa" is Japanese for "paper thin," hence all the characters' designs.
• All of the art and designs were created by artist Rodney Alan Greenblat.
• The popularity of this game was great enough to generate an anime spin-off series titled Parappa the Rapper. Ironically, the anime has absolutely no rapping or hip-hop in it whatsoever.