''I gotta believe!''
-->--Parappa's motto

''Leave it to Lammy!''
-->--Lammy's motto


Released at Halloween of 1997 in the US, ''Parappa the Rapper'' was a Playstation release that created a whole new genre of games. The main point of the game was to follow the adventures of a rapping puppy named Parappa who attempted to improve himself in order to impress the girl he had a crush on. How did he do this? By rapping his way to glory, of course!

The game worked like this: Every stage would have one character who would rap a song and ask you to perform certain tasks, like kicking, punching, etc. in time with the music. You would hit a button at the right moment as indicated on a bar at the screen below. Effectively, it was a video game version of Simon. Do well and you could make it through the song; do too badly and you would have to try again.

It was a very short and simple game (but fairly hard. At least, it was for this editor), but the unique premise and the unbelievably catchy songs made it an instant cult classic. The game is still highly regarded today, with a 88% on [[http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/198264.asp Gamerankings]].

''Parappa'' produced a spinoff in 1999 called ''Um Jammer Lammy'', which was essentially the same thing, but with more songs and a girl in a garage rock band called [=MilkCan=]. A sequel was released on the Playstation 2 which once more focused on Parappa, but was widely considered to be inferior.

Pretty much every RhythmGame created, from ''Dance Dance Revolution'' to ''Guitar Hero'' to ''Beatmania'', owes at least a little to Parappa, if only for [[GatewaySeries starting things off]].
----
[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Both ''Parappa'' and ''Um Jammer Lammy'' examples]]
* AmazingTechnicolorWildlife
* AuthorAvatar: Rodney Greenblat, the character designer of the series, has off-and-on cameo appearances throughout the games, most noticably as a television reporter in ''Parappa 2''.
* AnthropomorphicObjects: Only in [=PaRappa=] Town can a onion teach you kung-fu.
* AnimalGenderBender: The first Parappa game featured a female moose with antlers, as well as the sequel.
** It's even weirder in UmJammerLammy, which not only featured a female lamb with horns, but also a female ram. You'll see the what's weird about it if you Google "Ram".
*BigEater: PJ Berri
*DownloadableContent: The PSP rerelease of ''Parappa'' has downloadable alternate versions of the original 5 songs, while ''Um Jammer Lammy'' was released for download on the Playstation Store.
*EarWorm: Pretty much any song in this game series.
*EnsembleDarkhorse: Chop Chop Master Onion. He was in all 3 [=PaRappa=] games.
*FeatherFingers: Every [=PaRappa=] character has human hands, regardless of species. Except for Cheap Cheap Chicken, but that doesn't stop her from cooking.
*NightmareFuel: [[EverythingsSquishierWithCephalopods Hairdresser Octopus]]. Enough said.
**[[AndZoidberg Don't forget]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tU5kBlENd_0 Kathy Pillar]]!
* LionsAndTigersAndHumansOhMy: Actually, it was more like, "Lions and Tigers and Humans and [[EverythingTalks Inanimate Objects]], Oh my".
* PaperPeople: [[MostTriumphantExample Do we really need to say it?]]
* VariableMix: When you start screwing up, so does the music.
* WidgetSeries: ''Parappa'' may seem fairly normal, even by japanese standards, but ''Um Jammer Lammy'' dives nose-first into full-blown widget territory.
** Normal?! Have you PLAYED Parappa the Rapper?
*** Parappa's pretty nuts, but it's ''nothing'' compared to Um Jammer Lammy.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: ''Parappa''- only examples]]
* ArcWords: "Dojo, casino, it's all in the mind."
** '''"I GOTTA BELIEVE!"'''
* AnimatedAdaptation: ''Parappa'' gained an anime series that lasted for 30 episodes in 2001. It has nothing to do with rapping, nor does it utilize the series' famous "paper-thin" appearance. Lammy and Ma-San are also absent.
* BossRush: The first game's fifth involves engaging the four mentors from the other songs in a rap battle in order to get to the toilet. The sixth level in ''Parappa 2'' had a similar premise, with you facing off with the five mentors in an 8-bit video game.
* ChainsawGood: Paul Chuck and Joe Chin have competing chainsaw businesses.
** Nah, Joe was just selling bicycle chains which Chuck did NOT want used on his chainsaws. Joe also marketed an extremely cumbersome laptop.
* CrowningMomentOfFunny: The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXqteXa5isc Bathroom Rap]]... PERIOD.
* DownloadableContent: The PSP rerelease has downloadable alternate versions of the original 5 songs.
* GRatedSex: There was an entire level in the sequel where [=PaRappa=] practice "[[GettingCrapPastTheRadar Romantic Kung Fu]]".
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: In the first game, there's a level in which the titular character is on a date with the girl of his dreams and suddenly feels the call of nature. Rather than using the facilities at the park he's at, he tries to hold it in for as long as possible, even while driving. Even though his grimace and beads of sweat [[GeekyTurnOn turn his date on for some reason]], he finally can't take it anymore and has to rap his way through a line of the same rap instructors he had just trained with in the previous levels to reach a gas station bathroom. If the player succeeds, Parappa sits on a toilet, says "Ahhh...this is life!" and flushes. If the player fails, there's an animation of a rocket taking off and exploding superimposed on his gut. This level features lyrics such as "I need to go just as bad as you; what I had this morning, I don't even wanna say to you!" and takes up one-sixth of an E-rated game.
**In the second game, Chop Chop Master Onion from the first game has a show that's "Strictly for Adults" and Parappa and his best friend try using the moves on [[HoYay each other]] while unbeknownst to the two of them, Parappa's father and girlfriend's father watch. This is never mentioned again. This time, it's only one-eighth of an E-rated game, but lyrics include "Caress your lover" and "Get it on." [[SarcasmMode Very subtle, Sony. Very subtle indeed.]]
***Now all I need to do is find an UmJammerLammy example of GettingCrapPastTheRadar, and my life will be complete.
* IncredibleShrinkingMan / AttackOfThe50FootWhatever: Parappa and Guru Ant alternate between growing and shrinking in the second game's third level.
* InsectGenderBender: Guru Ant is almost definitely male, based on his Barry White-esque voice.
* InterspeciesRomance: Parappa's a dog who has a crush on a flower named Sunny. An animal is in love with a plant. Am I the only thing who thinks that's weird?
** It gets weirder. According to WordOfGod, [=PaRappa=] could actually '''''[[HotSkittyOnWailordAction impregnate]]''''' Sunny.
* LimitedWardrobe: {{Lampshaded}}
-> Hairdresser Octopus: Hey, Take that [[NiceHat stupid hat]] off! What does it look like in there?
-> [=PaRappa=]: Aaa, I'm not sure myself.
* OldMaster: Chop Chop Master Onion.
* PottyEmergency: First game, level 5 "Full Tank". A ThatOneBoss moment, though technically it's four.
* {{Retraux}}: The sixth level in ''[=PaRappa=] 2''.
* RichBitch: Joe Chin.
* SplitPersonality: Captain Fussenpepper.
* TheTelevisionTalksBack: There was an [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keuNX9gib2M entire level]] in ParappaTheRapper like this.
* UpdatedRerelease: The first Parappa the Rapper game got a rerelease on the PSP.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: ''Um Jammer Lammy''-only examples]]
* AnotherSideAnotherStory: Beating the main game lets you play remixed versions of the songs ''as Parappa!''
* BalloonBelly: This was actually a plot point in Um Jammer Lammy. [[spoiler:After level 2, Lammy eats so much pizza she's MistakenForPregnant by a nurse caterpillar with a [[VomitIndiscretionShot vomiting problem]] who thinks Lammy is in labor. Lammy digests the pizza after being dragged into the maternity ward, so the nurse realizes that Lammy wasn't pregnant, but she insists that Lammy should rock the babies to sleep. No, really.]]
**Wait, a two-dimensional character gets a balloon belly? How's that possible?
* BananaPeel: [[spoiler: A tragic death if any.]]
* BerserkButton: Annoy Ma-San too much and she'll f**k you up.
* {{Bowdlerise}}: ''Um Jammer Lammy'' famously had an entire level's setting changed for the US release. Originally, her sixth stage takes place in [[spoiler:Hell, after she dies from slipping on a banana dropped by P.J. Berri, and Teriyaki Yoko promises to restore her to life if she performs her concert.]] Instead, Sony had her [[spoiler:be launched seemingly back in time through her previous encounters after her clothes snag on a doorknob, landing on a tropical island where Yoko is worshipped as an idol.]] This also affected a song lyric for Chop Chop Master Onion in the first stage
* CallASmeerpARabbit: WordOfGod says she's a lamb, but to this troper, she looks more like a goat or fawn.
** The original Lammy sketches looked a lot more lamb-like, [[ExecutiveMeddling but the game company wanted Lammy to look like a cool college girl]].
* ContinuityNod: In the first level, Lammy is late for her own concert and is desperately trying to think of a good excuse; Specifically, having a PottyEmergency when everyone in line for the bathroom wants to out-rap her. Which she then immediately dismisses.
* FissionMailed: The intro to the Hell stage: [[spoiler:"If I'm dead, that must mean the game's over...[[WhoWritesThisCrap what a stupid game!]]" Roll credits.]]
* RaymanianLimbs: The character [[NurseWithGoodIntentions Cathy Pillar]] is shown to have raymanian ''segments'' when viewed form the side.
* StealthInsult: If you fail the last level, [[SpeciesSurname Katy Kat]] provides this little gem: [[spoiler:"Uh-Oh! I didn't expect you to do '''''that''''' badly!" Take note of the [[BoldInflation emphasis]] on the word "that".]]
* {{Tareme}}: A handful of [=UmJammer=] characters have eyes like this.
* MediumAwareness: If you screw up on Teriyaki Yoko's level on ''Um Jammer Lammy'', she'll say "Start all over! You should be banned from every game!", and Lammy will respond, "From ''every'' game? Even this one?"
* NonMammalMammaries: Kathy Pillar. [[NightmareFuel As if she wasn't freaky enough]].
* SpinOff: ''Um Jammer Lammy'', where Parappa could be unlocked as a playable side character.
* StylisticSelfParody: The paper-thin art style is parodied in UmJammerLammy, when Lammy gets ''faxed'' at one point.
** Which brings up some FridgeLogic. [[JustEatGilligan Couldn't Lammy have just faxed herself to the concert in the first place?]]
*** [[WordOfGod According to the game illustrator,]] she could, but the original stays home. SoYeah
** The famous paper-thin character design was spoofed again [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLWPHkmPoEI&feature=related here]].
* VomitIndiscretionShot: Cathy Pillar is the living embodiment of this trope, much to Lammy's dismay.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tU5kBlENd_0 Check it out in all its chunky, oozing glory.]]
[[/folder]]


----
<<|RhythmGame|>>