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PaRappa Rappa (パラッパラッパー), or simply PaRappa, is a fictional character created by Japanese musician Masaya Matsuura and American artist Rodney Greenblat. PaRappa first appears as the title character of the 1996 rhythm video game PaRappa the Rapper, developed by NanaOn-Sha for Sony Interactive Entertainment's PlayStation console. Within the series, PaRappa is depicted as a paper-thin two-dimensional anthropomorphic dog with wholesome personality traits and is enthusiastic about rap music. Matsuura came up with the character's musical style and cut-out visual concept, whereas Greenblat is responsible for the character's final appearance and art style, which is similar to his prior children's books and CD-ROM projects. After 1996's PaRappa the Rapper met with significant commercial success and critical acclaim, PaRappa was for a time considered to be a mascot for the fledging PlayStation brand in its native Japan. PaRappa's popularity spawned a media franchise that included the 1999 spin-off title Um Jammer Lammy, the 2001 sequel PaRappa the Rapper 2, and a number of media adaptations outside of video games. The character is generally well received by critics in retrospective assessments and is often cited as one of the most memorable video game characters associated with the PlayStation brand. Development PaRappa is presented as a square-headed dog with oversized eyes and black floppy ears sticking out from under an orange knit cap. He wears a blue sleeveless shirt, dark blue baggy pants, and red sneakers. PaRappa's co-creators are Masaya Matsuura, a musician and video game designer who founded the Japanese video game company NanaOn-Sha, and Rodney Greenblat, a graphic artist and illustrator who worked in children's books prior to his involvement in the video game industry. The name PaRappa originated as a word play meaning flat or paper thin in Japanese, which references the character's physical nature. PaRappa is voiced by hip hop artist Dred Foxx in all video game appearances, including the 2012 crossover fighting game PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. In the Japan-exclusive anime, Miyu Irino was PaRappa's voice actor. In an interview with Game Developer, Greenblat described Matsuura as PaRappa's "father", and himself as the character's "mother". During the early-to-mid 1990s, Greenblat was given numerous creative work opportunities by Sony Interactive Entertainment after he gained some recognition for his flair in creating cute characters that appeal to Japanese consumers. On one occasion, a Sony employee who was connected to the company's licensing group invited Greenblat to meet Matsuura's team, who were developing an experimental video game for the then-upcoming PlayStation console. At the time, Matsuura was aware of Greenblat's work from his past children's books and CD-ROM projects, and was already using placeholder characters from Greenblat's 1993 CD-ROM game Dazzeloids for the project. Greenblat noted that the team already knew they wanted to a rap music game, and they were looking for someone to handle its artistic side. Matsuura invited Greenblat to work on the project, a call and response game where different musical samples could be plugged in and played to a rhythm like a DJ box, and its characters would be animated to the rhythm. Greenblat was commissioned by Sony to use some of his existing characters and to create a new protagonist. He described the process of character design to be collaborative by nature: he worked with both Matsuura and Gabin Ito, the project's writer, and would create sketches freely based on their suggestions or ideas for a specific character's personality. According to Greenblat, it takes a short time for him to produce character sketches by himself, but a lot more time for an entire team to decide by consensus. He recalled that character designs were sometimes accepted relatively quickly, while others may involve many attempts and revisions before it is finalized. For example, he only needed a fortnight to finalize PaRappa's design, whereas the lead character of the 1999 spin-off title Um Jammer Lammy took approximately half a year by comparison. In terms of characterization, the team wanted to pursue the concept of a player character who would consult with several mentors or instructors who would teach him how to do a rap; the teacher would say one thing, and the player character would repeat it. Greenblat was asked by Matsuura to design several variations of characters that can rap for the game's lead character, with Matsuura initially proposing an anthropomorphic shrimp as the lead character. Greenblat recalled that the team wanted a character who was "trustworthy, loyal, hardworking, romantic and a little insecure". He believed that a dog embody all of these requested traits, and decided to make several sketches of canine-themed rapper characters, and worked with the team to pick out the best design among the character's iterations. Greenblat noted that prior to the release of PaRappa the Rapper, Sony did not yet have a strong mascot that would serve as the "face" of the company and for the PlayStation console. He believed that PaRappa's music, energy and cool factor made him "the perfect face" and that the character had the potential to be Sony's long term answer to Nintendo's Mario. With regards to PaRappa's short-lived prominence in the video game industry, Greenblat attributed the character's gradual loss of popularity to a series of decisions made by company executives which did not capitalize on the character's potential. He was frustrated with the creative direction of PaRappa the Rapper anime television series in particular: he was asked to work as the show's character designer, but was not allowed to write or be part of the show's production. Greenblat believed that the show undermined the character's appeal with the video game series' core audience, which were predominantly teenagers, as Sony wanted to pursue a marketing strategy that prioritized merchandising opportunities for young children. Greenblat noted that the show never caught on with its target audience, and that when it was cancelled by January 2002, all the involved companies decided to move on from the character and associated intellectual property altogether. Matsuura told Engadget during a pre-Tokyo Game Show meeting in 2011 that the "possibility of remaking or rebuilding or making sequels" starring PaRappa has always been a topic of discussion. He believed that a handheld platform like the upcoming PlayStation Vita represented an incentive to revisit a video game featuring PaRappa with regards to both content and business issues. Matsuura explained that to only do handheld platforms could provide a better experience with regards to risk of latency compared to home consoles, but also a new business model could be attempted with regards to developing a new rhythm game starring PaRappa. Greenblat expressed a hope that Sony would realize PaRapp.... Discover the J C Herz popular books. Find the top 100 most popular J C Herz books.