PaRappa the Rapper 2

Gameplay

Gameplay follows that of its predecessors, in which the player must press buttons to make Parappa rap in response to a teacher's lyrics. Players earn points and progress by rapping in time to the music and maintaining a Good rating through to the end of each level. By successfully improvising raps, the player can obtain a Cool rating, during which Parappa will be given the chance to rap freestyle by himself. If the player performs badly, however, they will drop down a rating to Bad and Awful, with the player losing if they drop below Awful or end the song with a Bad or Awful rating. PaRappa 2 features some tweaks to the gameplay, as some of the teacher's lyrics may change based on the player's performance. For example, the lyrics may become simpler if the player is struggling, or become tougher if they perform well.

After clearing two stages in a row, players can participate in a minigame where they must hit targets held out by Chop Chop Master Onion's Tamanegi students, earning bonus points which are added onto the previous level's score. Clearing each level with a Cool rating unlocks music tracks that can be listened to after completing the game. Each time the player clears the game, the color of Parappa's hat changes from blue, to pink, to yellow, with each hat remixing the lines in each level. In addition to the single player campaign, the game features a two-player Vs. Mode, in which players are given a line to rap to, which they must improve upon by freestyling better than their opponent.

Region differences

Similar to UmJammer Lammy, the North American release of Parappa the Rapper 2 features some censorship when compared to the Japanese and PAL versions of the game, replacing lyrics referring to alcohol and religion in order to ensure an E rating from the ESRB.

In Japan, McDonald's released a demo disc alongside its Happy Meal, containing a demo of the first level modelled after a McDonald's restaurant, alongside a demo of Pipo Saru 2001.

Plot

Parappa, having won a 100 years' supply of instant noodle products, has grown sick of eating nothing but noodles for every meal every single day. When Parappa complains about being served noodles by his crush, Sunny Funny, he becomes shocked when she calls him a baby, causing him to question his own maturity. When Parappa and his friend P.J. Berri go to eat at Beard Burger instead, they learn that a mysterious phenomenon is turning all the food in town into noodles. As Parappa and Sunny's respective fathers, Papa Parappa and General Potter, try to develop an invention that can stop the noodles, they inadvertently shrink themselves and everyone else in the process, but they are soon helped out by the Guru Ant and return to normal size. After undergoing army training under Instructor Moosesha, Parappa helps rescue a Hairdresser Octopus from being possessed into giving people afros, discovering "Food Court" a video game cartridge to be the cause. Upon reverse engineering the cartridge, Parappa and the others use sweets to combat against the Noodle Syndicate behind the town's noodlelization. They soon confront the mastermind, Colonel Noodle, who is revealed to be the son of Beard Burger Master who had grown sick of eating burgers all of his life, deciding that noodles should rule the world instead. However, Parappa manages to convince him to be more open-minded about different types of foods, and everyone celebrates with a party, where Sunny assures Parappa that he is more mature than he thinks himself to be. Things soon return to normal, only for Parappa to repeat his turmoil when he ends up winning another lifetime supply of cheese.

Soundtrack

PaRappa the Rapper 2 is the original soundtrack from the game by the same name. The songs contain explicit lyrics and cool moments. Mia Yamasaki remakes the album without score music and called 7 Grand Day.

All tracks written by Yoshihisa Suzuki and Masaya Matsuura.

Reception

The game received "mixed to positive" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.

GameSpot's Jeff Gerstmann gave the game a 6.6, stating that "an almost total lack of innovation makes the game seem pretty dated when compared with other games on the market. ... Even when played to perfection, though, the rapping still sounds just as stuttery as it did in the previous game. While it was excusable then and perhaps even a little charming, it would have been nice to see the developers make better use of the PlayStation 2's higher specs." Though the game "features the same 2D graphical style as its predecessor, but it's not without its share of enhancements," he added, "The music in the game covers a lot more ground, genre-wise, than the original did, but none of it is especially funny or toe-tapping--with the exception of the level that takes place inside an old video game machine. PaRappa 2 isn't a bad game, but it doesn't have as much of the same off-beat charm that the original--and to a lesser extent, Um Jammer Lammy--had." However, IGN's Douglass C. Perry gave the game a slightly better score of 7, saying, "The game concept hasn't changed, leaning neither toward an evolutionary or even a moderate change in the way gamers play music games. ... [PaRappa 2 is] not as hard as Um Jammer Lammy (which may be good for some folks), and it certainly covers familiar territory when it comes to the essentials -- gameplay, graphics, and sound -- but it's still fun and happy-making."