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Climb Inside the Head of Parappa's Papa

I really miss Parappa the Rapper. In fact, I miss him so much that I'm willing to overlook the travesty that was Parappa the Rapper 2, which ruined the franchise by fundamentally breaking the rapping mechanic--if a seasoned Parappa vet can't even rank "Cool" on the first level, there's a serious problem. But that's all water under the bridge at this point; I can still look back at the original Parappa and its sequel, Um Jammer Lammy (one of my most favorite games), and remember them fondly as I possibly don my Parappa hat in a moment of silence. Now that the character-based music game genre is dead in favor of titles featuring "real" songs, all I'm left with are my memories at this point--unless, of course, Parappa creator Masaya Matsuura's newest music game, Major Minor's Majestic March can tap into the unique, feelgood charm that defined his earlier work.

Matsuura's been off the radar for quite some time, outside of his iPod game, musika, so I've been a little worried about how in-touch he's been keeping with the current state of the music games genre. Thankfully, my fears have been quelled by an excellent in-depth interview with Matsuura, posted today by the always-wonderful Gamasutra. In it, the grandfather of music games talks about the state of the genre, Major Minor, and his thoughts on music in general. Definitely an interesting read for anyone looking forward to his new game, or old fans wondering just what the hell he's been up to for most of the decade.

Related Links:

U Marchin’ Good!: The Return of Masaya Matsuura and Rodney Greenblat
No Alternate Soundtrack: Chibi-Robo
Make the Music With Your Games, Kids!

How Chicago Inadvertently Penned an Anthem for Dead Anime Fathers

The other day, I was browsing a retail establishment when Chicago's "You're the Inspiration" came over the store speakers. Suddenly, I felt very sad.

It was an interesting reaction and not one I would have had a few years ago. Having surrendered my youth to the modern day equivilent of potato mines (retail), I'm familiar with the safe music that's piped over the speakers to keep the masters and beasts complacent. I would never give Chicago another thought ever again if not for an Elite Beat Agents scenario involving an anime girl's dead father.

Surely I'm not the only one who's come to associate games with certain licensed songs. The Japanese have been sneaky about it since we were kids: Mario's invincibility music is lifted straight from Jesus Christ Superstar and more than one tune in the early Mega Man games sounded like a tribute to Guns n Roses and/or Metallica. But legitimate songs being used in games (or to advertise games) is quickly becoming popular and I'm increasingly interested in the association aspect. This doesn't apply so much to games like Guitar Hero or Rock Band, which usually have you belting out tunes in a club, or possibly a fancy club. I'm referring to instances where a song is used to define a game, or an in-game scenario like the ones in Elite Beat Agents.

about the blogger

John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Hooksexup, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.

Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines. Based in Toronto, Nadia prizes the certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.

Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.

Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.

Cole Stryker is an American freelance writer living in York, England, where he resides with his archeologist wife. He writes for a travel company by day and argues about pop culture on the internet by night. Find him writing regularly here and here.

Peter Smith is like the lead character of Irwin Shaw's The 80-Yard Run, except less athletic. He considers himself very lucky to have this job. But it's a little premature to take "jack-off of all trades" off his resume. Besides writing, travelling, and painting houses, Pete plays guitar in a rock trio called The Aye-Ayes. He calls them a 'power pop' band, but they generally sound more like Motorhead on a drinking binge.

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