PaRappa the Rapper might be one of the most original rhythm games to be released on the original PlayStation. The story and characters were inspired, the music was top notch, and at the time of its release, the entire game felt like something that had never been done before. Unfortunately, it's now 2007, and not only has this game been done before, but it's been parodied, played out and upgraded to near perfection. Although entertaining, PaRappa will ultimately wind up leaving a bad taste in your mouth when the experience is all said and done.

PaRappa follows a rapping dog through six stages, each one kookier than the last. Moving forward, he tries to please his love Sunny, who is a sunflower that can talk, as well as avoid his arch nemesis Joe Chin, who always seems to be just around the bend. Along the way he meets a Rastafarian frog, a talking onion, and a few other memorable characters. His challenges include learning kung fu from the talking onion, getting his driver's license, getting a job, and eventually performing in a concert with the greatest rapper around: MC King Kong Mushi.

The game still looks and sounds pretty good.

The gameplay consists of pressing buttons in combinations that the other person you are rapping with lays out for you. These combinations, however, are untouched relics of the past, simplistic to a point that at some moments, frustration takes over. This is because the PSP's button design does not allow for the accuracy required to play effectively. The triggers are especially hard to hit, and this leads to an extreme level of annoyance when attempting to perform certain songs. Making matters worse, when you are not fighting with the control scheme, the button combinations themselves simply lack variety and simply become boring after awhile.

To get a "cool" rating on any level (which is basically a perfect score), you are given the ability to go back to past levels using the "freestyle" mode. The mode does add some replayability, but it can become more frustrating than the regular game. This is because the only change to the game consists of multiples of the same button combinations you've seen previously. So instead of freestyling, per say, you just press the same buttons more times. It's a flawed system that ultimately falls flat. Add the fact that there are only six levels, and once the game ends, you'll find little reason to bother going back to it.

The music is probably one of the best known features of the game, and most of the songs still sound great. At the time of PaRappa's original release, music in games was generally not this progressive or fun, and there had been no stateside releases of rhythm games like this before. The songs do hold up well, but the unfortunate issue is that they don't sound that great after forty or fifty hearings, which is commonplace in this game. Also, because there are so few levels, the music variety is further limited. What seems catchy and entertaining tends to grow somewhat trite after so many repeats. Graphically, the game has gone through some smoothing but the art still looks great. The 2D sprites on 3D backgrounds are still vibrant, and all the crazy characters jump off the screen. Of course, with so little depth or action past the six levels, retreading over them can grow just as tiring as the music.

The new PSP controls can complicate things.

In terms of multiplayer, it's incredibly standard, with four players being able to play via ad-hoc. Players can compete against each other to achieve the best score, but essentially, that's all there is to do. There is no way to mess up another player's score past throwing something at them from across the room, and that's disappointing. Also included is the ability to download additional tracks in the future, but if they follow the trend of songs previously released, all you'll get are remixes of songs already on the soundtrack, and particularly bad ones at that. The downloadable content has the potential to be a bigger part of the game, but the developers need to release better songs in the future.

The number one issue with the PaRappa the Rapper is its age. Although it translates pretty well in terms of visuals and most of the gameplay, it still feels dated by today's standards. The button combinations end up being overly simplistic, which is annoyingly offset by the poor PSP button layout. People remember PaRappa more for its music and graphics than anything else, but with all of the hindrances this new version provides, what was once fun becomes both boring and frustrating pretty fast. Even the multiplayer addition and the possibility of future downloads does not make this a game worth purchasing. For any nostalgic gamers or people who want to see what all those "greatest games ever" lists are talking about, PaRappa the Rapper is worth a rent. However, with so few features and so many headaches, the game just can't be recommended for purchase.