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[ponpo]

i agree with you. and i like how everyone just disagrees, calls you wrong and offers no valuable explanation. Parappa kickstarted the genre in many many many people's eyes, even those who just played that demo. no one knows what the hell Dance Aerobics is besides people who spend their free time making restrospectives and stuff. i collect games and own a couple thousand. i think i have a pretty good over view of gaming history and i cant tell you what thell that game is or even what system its on without using google.

I mean I'm not trying to argue, if I'm wrong I have 0 problem with it! I just didn't know people considered Dance Aerobics to be a rhythm game. That term seems reserved for hitting inputs along to music - something which I was under the impression that Parappa did first.

 

[Daft Punk]

i agree with you. and i like how everyone just disagrees, calls you wrong and offers no valuable explanation. Parappa kickstarted the genre in many many many people's eyes, even those who just played that demo. no one knows what the hell Dance Aerobics is besides people who spend their free time making restrospectives and stuff. i collect games and own a couple thousand. i think i have a pretty good over view of gaming history and i cant tell you what thell that game is or even what system its on without using google.

Would you say you are an expert?

I mean I'm not trying to argue, if I'm wrong I have 0 problem with it! I just didn't know people considered Dance Aerobics to be a rhythm game. That term seems reserved for hitting inputs along to music - something which I was under the impression that Parappa did first.

I'm not arguing the fact that Parappa is the first rhythm game to popularize the genre. I'm just saying that trying to limit the scope of the conversation to "have to follow along to the music" as the determining factor is doing Dance Aerobics a disservice considering you actually had to follow the instructor on screen and got penalized for making mistakes.

 

[ponpo]

I'm not arguing the fact that Parappa is the first rhythm game to popularize the genre. I'm just saying that trying to limit the scope of the conversation to "have to follow along to the music" as the determining factor is doing Dance Aerobics a disservice considering you actually had to follow the instructor on screen and got penalized for making mistakes.

But were you following the instructors movements or the music itself? I'm admitting ignorance here but if you were hitting inputs according to something besides the rhythm then I don't know if that counts.

 

[Daft Punk]

But were you following the instructors movements or the music itself? I'm admitting ignorance here but if you were hitting inputs according to something besides the rhythm then I don't know if that counts.

Both. You were moving along in time with the instructor and music. Here's a video of gameplay.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAOUTCbAPGc

As you can see, the player had to move in time on the Power Pad to the instructor's movements accompanied with cheesy 8-bit music lol.

 

[MattKeil]

I'm not arguing the fact that Parappa is the first rhythm game to popularize the genre. I'm just saying that trying to limit the scope of the conversation to "have to follow along to the music" as the determining factor is doing Dance Aerobics a disservice considering you actually had to follow the instructor on screen and got penalized for making mistakes.

I don't think Dance Aerobics deserves much credit here, frankly. It's much more Simon Says than musically-oriented, whereas PaRappa really crystallized elements of the genre that defined it going forward. In the same way that Sweet Home is an ancestor of Resident Evil but Alone in the Dark is really considered the originator of the survival horror genre, I'd say Dance Aerobics is too primitive to really credit with that level of importance.

Both. You were moving along in time with the instructor and music. Here's a video of gameplay.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAOUTCbAPGc

As you can see, the player had to move in time on the Power Pad to the instructor's movements accompanied with cheesy 8-bit music lol.

I see no moving to the music there. The rhythm of the button prompts is following the instructor's commands, not the music. It's a serious stretch to say this was the ancestor or inspiration for PaRappa in any meaningful way.

 

[Daft Punk]

I don't think Dance Aerobics deserves much credit here, frankly. It's much more Simon Says than musically-oriented, whereas PaRappa really crystallized elements of the genre that defined it going forward. In the same way that Sweet Home is an ancestor of Resident Evil but Alone in the Dark is really considered the originator of the survival horror genre, I'd say Dance Aerobics is too primitive to really credit with that level of importance.



I see no moving to the music there. The rhythm of the button prompts is following the instructor's commands, not the music. It's a serious stretch to say this was the ancestor or inspiration for PaRappa in any meaningful way.

I disagree. It's quite obvious that the moves from the instructor's commands are synced in time with the music being played and is requiring you to follow the commands with respect to the music and the instructor. What is PaRappa doing? Requiring you to follow the commands onscreen with respect to the music. It's more of a stretch to try and ignore Dance Aerobics and try to prop up PaRappa as the progenitor.

 

[jhmtehgamr20xx]

I don't think Dance Aerobics deserves much credit here, frankly. It's much more Simon Says than musically-oriented, whereas PaRappa really crystallized elements of the genre that defined it going forward. In the same way that Sweet Home is an ancestor of Resident Evil but Alone in the Dark is really considered the originator of the survival horror genre, I'd say Dance Aerobics is too primitive to really credit with that level of importance.



I see no moving to the music there. The rhythm of the button prompts is following the instructor's commands, not the music. It's a serious stretch to say this was the ancestor or inspiration for PaRappa in any meaningful way.

Pretty much agreed with this. It's like trying to credit the explosion of platformers to Pitfall when we all know that honor goes to the original Super Mario Bros., no disrespect to Pitfall.

 

[Voost Kain]

What is this?

There are quite a few rhythm games before parappa and they are all extremely easy to find on multiple sites including your list sites such as Moby, faqs, etc.

Ponpos post said it started it, that's not true.

Now the goal post argument of it popularising it or kicking it off is also wrong, the very very popular music games after parappa were their own thing and they didn't even look at parappa and play nothing like it.

Parappa general popularity overall, especially impact wise, is exaggerated in this thread.

Now with that said its a good game, and had some very good idea for modern music games. I do believe it's gameplay execution is uh, off a bit. Considering the button prompts don't match anything and playing the game like DDR may not ever get you past stage 1.

 

[Voost Kain]

Pretty much agreed with this. It's like trying to credit the explosion of platformers to Pitfall when we all know that honor goes to the original Super Mario Bros., no disrespect to Pitfall.

There was an explosion of platformers before Mario (more due to motezuma then pitfall). "scrolling" platformers exploded with Mario.

Also you can't credit parappa for exploding anything. However, your example would fit with Pit Fighter, a popular fighting game back then but it was MK that took some of it's elements and made it a big thing, same with SFII in other areas.

 

[ponpo]

What is this?

There are quite a few rhythm games before parappa and they are all extremely easy to find on multiple sites including your list sites such as Moby, faqs, etc.

Ponpos post said it started it, that's not true.

Now the goal post argument of it popularising it or kicking it off is also wrong, the very very popular music games after parappa were their own thing and they didn't even look at parappa and play nothing like it.

Parappa general popularity overall, especially impact wise, is exaggerated in this thread.

Now with that said its a good game, and had some very good idea for modern music games. I do believe it's gameplay execution is uh, off a bit. Considering the button prompts don't match anything and playing the game like DDR may not ever get you past stage 1.

Quite a few? What games were based solely on hitting inputs in tune with the music being played?

 

[jhmtehgamr20xx]

There was an explosion of platformers before Mario (more due to motezuma then pitfall). "scrolling" platformers exploded with Mario.

Also you can't credit parappa for exploding anything. However, your example would fit with Pit Fighter, a popular fighting game back then but it was MK that took some of it's elements and made it a big thing, same with SFII in other areas.

Put down the beer.

I would assume anyone reading that would also assume I referring to scrolling platformers when I mentioned Mario, and the difference between Mario and Pitfall is literal night and day. All the same, Parappa wasn't the first rhythm game (as I alluded to already), but it was the first one to do the genre justice. It modernized the genre for its time and gave it a soul and sense of character. An identity.

And yes, it did influence a subset of rhythm games: those that were character-driven affairs. Stuff like the excellent Space Channel and Gitaroo Man games are noticeably influenced from Parappa while also being wholly unique unto themselves.

Stop trying to downplay this, b/c it's not working.

 

[Voost Kain]

Put down the beer.

I would assume anyone reading that would also assume I referring to scrolling platformers when I mentioned Mario, and the difference between Mario and Pitfall is literal night and day. All the same, Parappa wasn't the first rhythm game (as I alluded to already), but it was the first one to do the genre justice. It modernized the genre for its time and gave it a soul and sense of character. An identity.

And yes, it did influence a subset of rhythm games: those that were character-driven affairs. Stuff like the excellent Space Channel and Gitaroo Man games are noticeably influenced from Parappa while also being wholly unique unto themselves.

Stop trying to downplay this, b/c it's not working.

No, you are assuming influence based on nothing. Things like Space channel and the like were more influenced by games like DDR which devs and the like site as the actual influence for tons of games.

I mean no offense but you people are giving Parappa way to much credit. You need to go back in time in you brain fro a second.

 

[Einhander]

It's hard for me to listen to Parappa now because of Dred Foxx being a scumbag.

 

[Andrew Korenchkin]

As a Hip Hop Head, I love this game.

Also, OP is wrong. Cheep Cheep is straight up fire.

 

[Any Questions]

Nice OP, will return back to make a fanboy post later.

Remind me... did you ever get your money back?

 

[jhmtehgamr20xx]

No, you are assuming influence based on nothing. Things like Space channel and the like were more influenced by games like DDR which devs and the like site as the actual influence for tons of games.

I mean no offense but you people are giving Parappa way to much credit. You need to go back in time in you brain fro a second.

I'm not the one who's drunk, tho.

The funny thing about influence? Sometimes it isn't consciously a factor, but a subconscious one. The devs don't have to outright say it was an influence for it to be an influence. You never saw EAD mentioning Sonic Adventure 2's gravity planet levels as an influence on some of the game design of the Galaxy games; that doesn't mean they were unaware of it or didn't gleam to it from time to time and build from there (or other similar things).

Influences aren't evenly weighted against each other, either. But pretending Parappa had no influence on the style and presentation of games like Space Channel, Elite Beat Agents, Gitaroo Man etc. is kind of laughable.

 

[Deft Beck]

Parappa is a flawed classic. Um Jammer Lammy is phenomenal. Parappa 2 isn't great.

They're more like playable albums than anything more sophisticated.

 

[Voost Kain]

I'm not the one who's drunk, tho.

The funny thing about influence? Sometimes it isn't consciously a factor, but a subconscious one. The devs don't have to outright say it was an influence for it to be an influence. You never saw EAD mentioning Sonic Adventure 2's gravity planet levels as an influence on some of the game design of the Galaxy games; that doesn't mean they were unaware of it or didn't gleam to it from time to time and build from there (or other similar things).

Influences aren't evenly weighted against each other, either. But pretending Parappa had no influence on the style and presentation of games like Space Channel, Elite Beat Agents, Gitaroo Man etc. is kind of laughable.

Literally all the popular games showed up after DDR, and play similar to DDR, and some eve have said DDR.

You are making assumptions and spouting it as turth with no further info, while I'm using actual history.

 

[jhmtehgamr20xx]

Parappa is a flawed classic. Um Jammer Lammy is phenomenal. Parappa 2 isn't great.

They're more like playable albums than anything more sophisticated.

UmJammer is easily the best of the three, agreed. Huge step up from the first game. If only it had online play.

Literally all the popular games showed up after DDR, and play similar to DDR, and some eve have said DDR.

You are making assumptions and spouting it as turth with no further info, while I'm using actual history.

So Parappa had literally zero influence on other character-driven rhythm games? Because that's all I was really saying, and I don't see how it's an impossible assumption to make. The evidence is there in many of those games!

 

[ponpo]

Quite a few? What games were based solely on hitting inputs in tune with the music being played?

Pls respond.

 

[Camjo-Z]

Peeps up in here trying to suggest that PaRappa was not the progenitor of the modern rhythm game are kidding themselves. While they have clearly evolved since then, even the man behind Space Channel 5 had to give it up for the young pup.

Mizuguchi-san: Parappa the Rapper was definitely fun, though - it was a pioneer of the rhythm game. I respect the game, and Matsura-san [Masaya Matsura, the creator of Parappa] - he is a very good game creator. But Space Channel 5, I think, is the next generation of music games.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2000/03/16/igndc-grooves-with-tetsuya-mizuguchi

It's hard for me to listen to Parappa now because of Dred Foxx being a scumbag.

You gotta separate the work from the artist. I don't wanna live in a world where we can't appreciate lines like "crack crack crack the egg into the bowl" and "you can call me Knuckles, unlike Sonic I don't chuckle" for the masterpieces they are.

Remind me... did you ever get your money back?

lol no