Collection PaRappa the Rapper

PaRappa the Rapper invented the rhythm game as most people understand it. Before Guitar Hero, before Dance Dance Revolution reached the West, there was a flat cardboard dog on a PlayStation learning to rap so he could impress a flower.

Rodney Greenblat's art is the reason it looks like nothing else. Every character is a two-dimensional cutout moving through 3D spaces, so they turn like paper puppets, and the whole game has the texture of a children's picture book that got into music.

The gameplay is simple call-and-response - the teacher raps a line, you repeat the button pattern - and the difficulty comes from timing windows that were, frankly, a bit unfair. Chop Chop Master Onion's driving lesson successor has ruined a lot of afternoons.

"I gotta believe!" became the game's whole thesis and remains one of the most quoted lines in PlayStation history.

This collection covers PaRappa and his teachers in their flat, colourful style. Kick, punch, it's all in the mind.