Memorable Music and Rhythmic Games Part 1

Music and rhythm is my favorite genre of video games. I think it’s because I played piano for many years, and this experience helps me pick up these games naturally. Needless to say, I like Dance Dance Revolution, and Guitar Hero. I used to frequent Japanese arcades for Para Para Paradise, Beatmania, Keyboardmania, GuitarFreaks, DrumMania, Samba de Amigo, etc. I’d like to dedicate this post to several games I regard with happiness and nostalgia. =) Rhythmically challenged players, beware!

PaRappa the Rapper (1996)

PaRappa the Rapper is one of the first musical/rhythmic game for its time. The game play is similar to the childhood game “Follow the Leader”, or the game Simon - the computer shows a sequence of moves, and the player must reproduce them correctly in order to advance.

Interesting characters rap back and forth with PaRappa, displaying a bar at the top of the screen that indicates which buttons to press and when. Mess up the buttons or the timing, and your “U rappin’” rating will suffer. If at any point your “U rappin’” meter drops below AWFUL, the stage is failed, and the “leader” offers you to TRY AGAIN or QUIT.

While the game play is simple, it is challenging for those unfamiliar with the controller’s buttons (as was my case). It’s a good form of controller boot camp however - since then I’ve never forgotten the buttons, and that comfortableness has helped my skills as a gamer in future PlayStation games.

The visual style of this game is interesting with 2-dimensional flat characters (as if cut from paper) in 3-dimensional backgrounds. The characters themselves are entertaining - PaRappa is a dog who is trying to impress a girl who is a flower by enrolling in a karate dojo with an onion, getting driver’s test from a moose, working at a flea market with a frog, baking a cake with a chicken, and rapping on stage with a spider. The character designs are by Rodney Alan Greenblat, an American graphic artist whose art is very popular in Japan.

I think the most hilarious stage is the one PaRappa competes with the onion, moose, frog, and chicken for the bathroom. The frantic, urgent look on his face as he searches for a bathroom causes the flower to gush “wow, look at PaRappa’s face. He looks all manly”. While his contrasting thoughts are “man! my tank is empty, but I’m full of gas!”

In terms of replay value, you are unable to score COOL on your rappin’ meter until you’ve passed the stage at least once. Then if you score COOL, interesting things will happen to the characters and the background.

Many gamers will remember this classic game for its well-written songs and visual experience. However, because most gamers this day and age are used to Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero, this game may not offer much of a challenge.

Developers: NanaOn-Sha
Console: PlayStation
Sequels: Um Jammer Lammy, PaRappa the Rapper 2

Vib-Ribbon (1999)

Vib-Ribbon is also from the creators of PaRappa the Rapper. It features Vibri, a squeaky-voiced wireframe rabbit that travels along an obstacle-filled course (the ribbon). There are four buttons to press, and you must press the correct button corresponding to the shape. As you progress in levels, there are hybrid shapes that require two buttons to be pressed.

Here’s a cute tutorial that explains the mechanics of the game. Vibri is speaking Japanese, but you should be able to understand the instructions.

The design of the game is interesting in that it looks like 3D wireframes on a 2D plane, and there are no text on the screen. The score system uses odd shapes instead of numbers that float in circles at the top of the screen. A green/yellow line at the bottom of the screen show your progression.

Vibri’s form represents your life meter in this game. Do poorly and you will regress from a rabbit to a frog to a worm. Do badly as the worm, and the game will end immediately. Execute the correct moves consecutively to form dots that begin to draw a circle around Vibri. Once you have a complete circle, you will evolve up the chain of forms until you hit the last form, which is an angel or fairy.

Six catchy tunes by the Japanese group Laugh and Peace are included in this game. Several of the songs s l o w d o w n and speed up, causing the game to keep pace accordingly. Another interesting aspect of this game is that it can be temporarily stored in memory so that you can swap in a music CD, choose a track, and play Vib-Ribbon with a song of your choice. MP3 CDs probably will not work.

Again, with the advent of DDR and Guitar Freaks, this game is considered very easy for most players these days. An interview with game creator Masaya Matsuura hints of a possible game download for the Playstation 3 in the future. Stay tuned!

Developers: NanaOn-Sha
Console: Playstation
Sequels: Mojib-Ribbon

Bust-a-Move / Bust-a-Groove (1998)

The name can be quite confusing - Japan’s Puzzle Bobble was already called Bust-a-Move in America. So in the US, it’s called Bust-a-Groove, but in Japan, it’s called Bust-a-Move. There are other changes to the US version of the game, but I’ll address those later.

There are 10 characters to choose from the start, each with their own story, themes, personality, and jammer attacks. The songs are excellent, and the game play is a bit more challenging - on top of executing the arrow moves correctly, you must press X or O on the 4th beat. Your moves will control your character’s dance, so if you mess up the moves, your character will stumble.

The point of the game is to out-dance your opponent by making the fewest mistakes, and when given a choice, choosing the more difficult dance moves. The camera starts to focus more on the better dancer, and you are allowed two jam attacks (that the other player can dodge).

The motion-capture for the dancers are top-notch. Heat and Gas-O (breakdancers) are especially entertaining as they pull windmills effortlessly and strike interesting poses. After playing this game for a while, however, the dance moves can get repetitive and boring.

As for the changes, several of the catchy songs were translated into English and re-recorded for the American version, Hiro-kun’s cigarette was removed, Hamm’s song was censored and his black skin was lightened to tan (the color of his lips), Strike - who sometimes drinks from a flask - is seen drinking soda instead.

Developers: Enix (now Square Enix)
Console: PlayStation
Sequels: Bust a Move 2 (only in Japan/Europe), Dance Summit 2001 (only in Japan)

Space Channel 5 (2000)

Space Channel 5 features a cute pink-haired reporter named Ulala who uses snazzy dance moves (and a ray gun) to defeat the aliens who are trying to abduct people. Although the premise is silly, the music is great, the characters are cute, and the dance moves are awesome. This game functions like PaRappa the Rapper but requires more memorization, and instead of rapping, the game is peppered with commands of “up, down, left, right, shoot, shoot, shoot!” For this very same reason, some people find this game annoying.

The stage changes depending on how you are playing. Do poorly, and Ulala will trudge tiredly to off-key horrible music. Do well and watch her strut with her troop of support dancers. During certain areas of the stage, you have dance-offs where your life bar appears as hearts - each time you make a mistake, it’s minus a heart. When you run out of hearts, it’s immediately game over.

But for the rest of the stage, as you’re advancing, your life is represented by TV ratings, which are more forgiving. Make a mistake, and your TV ratings go down, but as long as you have more than the stage’s minimum ratings at the end of the stage, you will continue onto the next stage, otherwise your show gets canceled.

Although I usually prefer Japanese voice acting in Japanese games/anime, this is one of the few where I actually prefer the English edition. Having played both versions, Apollo Smile’s voice acting brings out the pep, cuteness, and attitude that suits Ulala. The Japanese voice actress lacked such enthusiasm, especially with the “Spaaaaace Channel 5!” exclamation at the end of each stage.

Developers: United Game Artists
Console: Dreamcast, PlayStation 2
Sequels: Space Channel 5 part 2

Frequency (2001)

This is a “trippy” looking game where you travel through a tunnel, playing and switching instrumental tracks to create music. Featuring songs by Freezepop, No Doubt, Paul Oakenfold, BT, and many others, the game play is similar to DDR or Guitar Hero, but assaults the senses due to the fact there’s multiple tracks to keep track of.

There are eight tracks that compose the tunnel, two of which are freestyle tracks that aren’t unlocked until the other six tracks are completed. The other six tracks represent instruments that compose the song, such as vocals, guitar, bass, drums, etc. There are three buttons to be aware of, but after capturing a section of the track, you must switch tracks. It can be quite confusing and overwhelming with the distracting backgrounds.

This game also offers an interesting progression path: each stage has five songs, but the fifth song is locked until the previous four songs’ scores add up to a minimum score that then unlocks it. Passing the four songs allow you to continue onto the next stage and is not dependent on unlocking the fifth song.

Be careful of dry eyes when playing this game - I’ve been known to forget to blink because I don’t want to miss a note. Also, avoid this if you’re sensitive to blinking flashing lights.

Developers: Harmonix
Console: PlayStation 2
Sequels: Amplitude

That’s it for now - it’s getting to be a long winded post. I still have more memorable (to me) music and rhythmic games that I’ll post later.