PARAPPA THE RAPPER

PlayStation’s premier paper pooch returns to rap things up

Here’s something we didn’t expect: PaRappa might well be tearing up the stage that is your PS4 right now. He’s bounced back onto PlayStation way ahead of fellow Japanese remasters LocoRoco and Patapon. It seems appropriate, really: almost everything about Japan Studios’ PaRappa The Rapper came completely out of left field upon its 1997 release. A quirky art style; funky little jams about driving tests and queuing for the loo; and the brutally difficult rhythm-action thumb-tapping it pioneered as an entire gaming genre. The titular, orange-beanied mutt-slash-MC himself has since become a true PlayStation icon – he even appeared in PS3 brawler PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale and managed to bag his own anime series. But there’s no replacement for full-fat PaRappa. The high-definition 4K remaster not only makes our precious pup and his pals look better than ever, it also preserves PaRappa’s terrible sense of timing – although the new ‘Feel The Beat’ feature, which uses the DualShock’s vibrations to help keep you on beat while PaRappa’s fluffing it, is a brilliant feature to keep you rappin’ cool.