Parappa the Rapper

[rimsky82]

I'm a good musician with good rhythm and time, and a good enough gamer to play through the Guitar Hero games on hard. However, I just failed at the first level of Parappa like 6 times.

Is this game just hard? Could it be a sync issue playing it on my lcd tv? What the heck?

[Kitsune Sniper]

It takes some getting used to. I was decent at rhythm games too and Parappa kicked my ass at first.

[Tempest]

Same here. I somehow squeaked by the first level and then lost it on the second level. I guess I just don't understand the 'freestyle' part of the game.

Tempest

[jack612]

It is a difficult game for sure, but it could definitely be your LCD. Most LCDs have at least some input lag, and depending on the model it can be as much as 90ms+. For a game that requires such precise timing, even a little lag would make it difficult. That's why modern music games come with a calibration mode.

[jdc]

Parappa isnt necessarily easy. I really have to try and find a copy of this in the wild. I have the demo on an old Playstation Magazine demo disc and the first and only time I tried it I had an epic fail. maybe I'll give it another shot. Now where did I put all those old discs.....

[Aussie2B]

It could be a sync issue. What are you playing it on? PS3 perhaps? I wouldn't play any rhythm game with a wireless controller unless it's modern and designed with that in mind. Parappa and UmJammer Lammy and such are practically impossible on PS3.

[Rob2600]

I'm a musician and Space Channel 5 on the Dreamcast infuriated me. I played it when it first came out, on a CRT TV. The timing in the game was slightly off. When I pressed the buttons perfectly on the beat, the game counted them as errors. However, when I purposely pressed the buttons slightly after the beat, I got a perfect score.

It was annoying and disappointing (a rhythm game in which the player must be slight *off* rhythm to win), but I liked the style of the game so much that I put up with the control issue and beat the game.

[exit]

I've always hated this game, don't think I ever got further than the third level.

[j_factor]

I always thought this game was too easy if anything. I breezed through it the first time I played. And the game's only like an hour long.

[rimsky82]

It could be a sync issue. What are you playing it on? PS3 perhaps? I wouldn't play any rhythm game with a wireless controller unless it's modern and designed with that in mind. Parappa and UmJammer Lammy and such are practically impossible on PS3.

First I tried it on the ps2, which is getting upscaled through my receiver. Then I tried it on my psone plugged straight into the lcd through composite. Later I'll try it on my psx/crt.

If there was only a way to calibrate these old games on original hardware.

[dra600n]

LCD's have some lag, and so do DLP's.

Do you play guitar hero on the same TV? If so, do you notice a lag? I play on Expert, and my DLP was so bad, that song I can 5 star all day I failed in the first 30 seconds, and even calibrating didn't seem to work well for me. Try on a CRT if you have on available.

[drtomoe123]

Parappa, if I remember correctly, doesn't really work if you try to match up the button presses with the commands. I've played through Parappa a lot, and I've noticed that each master has their own distinct style that you have to follow. Fleaswallow makes you move at a much slower tempo, etc....

Regardless, I think Chop Chop Master Onion is one of the few where you can get by with following the commands...so lag may be an issue. Just try playing around and freestyling a bit...when he says "Kick!" try "Kick! Kick Kick Kick Kick!" It sounds like nonsense when Parappa says it (and every time I remember the songs, they're littered with horrible Parappa rapping), but it works!

[j_factor]

You only need to freestyle if you're going for a "cool" rating. If you just want to clear the stage, you can just copy them exactly.

[Zing]

There is definitely a slightly different timing expectation with this game compared to Guitar Hero et al. I have a hard time believing that someone with any video game skills would fail on the first level, but I guess it could be your LCD screwing with you.

I played through the game on a CRT and only really had trouble with the final level. I currently have a "cool" rating on about half of the levels.