*Disclaimer: PaRappa the Rapper is almost impossible to play on anything other
than the original PlayStation on a TV that isn't high-def. So there will not be a video playthrough of this game. But you still get the story of why the game means so much to me growing up.
I was a Nintendo child. I did not have any other system. I only played the Genesis and MS-DOS games at my friends house, and I had no way to play any other system that wasn't developed by Nintendo. I initially thought the PlayStation was just another non-Nintendo or non-Sega system that would fall off people's radar after a year, like the 3DO or the Jaguar. But then, my friend who had a Genesis got a PlayStation and invited me to try it. When I saw Final Fantasy VII, I was floored. No game could look or sound like that on any other system I thought. But I didn't need the PlayStation, I had the Nintendo 64! I don't need any other system! ....or so I thought. There was a toy store where I used to live. I don't know if it's still there, and I forgot what it was called. It sold lots of toys, and it had demo kiosks of various systems, including the PlayStation. The PlayStation demo kiosk had multiple demos you could try. One demo stood out to me more than the others, PaRappa the Rapper.
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
I thought Final Fantasy VII was an amazing experience not found on other systems? At least you could play role playing games on other systems. You couldn't play a game like PaRappa on any other system! Immediately after I played the PaRappa demo, my interest in the system increased. I read more about the system through my other favorite magazine, Electronic Gaming Monthly, and for Christmas, I was approached with this option; new computer or new system. Me being the gamer that I am, chose the new system. The PlayStation, with PaRappa the Rapper. At last, a system that Nintendo didn't make made its way to my home. A system that would soon introduce me to some of the most influential experiences of my life, and none of it would have been possible had PaRappa not caught my eye when it did.
​
Unfortunately, this game cannot be adequately experienced on anything outside of its original release inside an original PlayStation One, on an older television set. Any other attempt to play this game would result in unwanted input lag, especially on a computer. However, PaRappa the Rapper's impact on my life cannot be replaced. So instead of trying to play a version of the game with bad input lag, and instead of trying to replace this game with another that didn't have the same impact on my life as PaRappa did, allow me to link to the section of the 1996 VGM Primer episode featuring PaRappa the Rapper.