Who Killed Parappa? Part One

This is Part One of a two-part article outlining the history of music and rhythm games. By taking an in-depth look at this type of game, we can see how the quality of music and rhythm games is beginning to decline.

I’m a big fan of music and rhythm games. In fact, I probably own more music-related video games than any other genre: Amplitude, Karaoke Revolution, Space Channel 5, Guitar Hero, and E4 are just to name a few. However, recently I realized that games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band unintentionally stunting the development of innovative music games.

The explosion of interest in the music games seems to have killed off much of the quirky, innovative fun that used to be commonplace. Music games have a long-standing tradition of being off the beaten path, but these days the genre has become homogenized. While there is no doubt that the games of today are well-made, there just seems to be something missing. To understand what I’m talking about, we’ll need to go back in time a bit and re-discover where music and video game first met.

The first music game ever developed was actually a generative hybrid game by the name of Otocky (1987). If it doesn’t sound familiar, there’s a good reason: it was only released for the Famicom Disk System in Japan. The term “generative hybrid” refers to the idea that while the player is engaged in the game, they are simultaneously composing the soundtrack. It might sound a little confusing, but if you take a look at the gameplay, it’s actually pretty cool. When the player shoots, it’s automatically put in time with the music. Each of the 8 directions you can shoot in provides a different note, and the player can acquire different instruments to change the sound of the music. This game is widely regarded a precursor to Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s Rez (2002). It was also the first game by Toshio Iwai of Electroplankton fame. This little game had no way of knowing how it would help shape the future of music-based games.

While this may have been the first music game produced, it certainly did not have an immediate effect on the video game industry. In fact, there seemed to be few substantial or innovative music games for the next ten 10 years (it is questionable as to whether or not Iwai’s SimTunes [1996] can be considered game). The game that gave sight-reading music games a kick-start was the PlayStation title Parappa The Rapper (1996). Sight-reading games have the appeal of very straightforward game play: the game gives you a rhythm or pitch that needs to be matched within a specific window of time. Parappa the Rapper is arguably the first sight-reading game; boasting quirky characters and plot integrated with original music and art. The mainstream success of this game opened up music video games as a viable source of success and income.

From there, music and rhythm games only became more popular. They took the form, however, of a more direct simulation of playing an instrument. Beatmania (1997) was publisher Konami’s first foray into the music game genre that they so heavily influenced over the years. In fact, the music game division of Konami called ‘œBemani’ is actually taken from the name (BEatMANIa). Their subsequent arcade games such as Dance Dance Revolution (1998), GuitarFreaks (1998) and DrumMania (1999) continued the trend of musical arcade games. Konami’s contribution to sight-reading games was significant; moving the focus of the game play onto pop music and integrating the use of special controllers. These games, while wildly popular in Japan, seemed to have a far smaller fan base in other areas of the world.

Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s Space Channel 5 (1999) provided a different type of game experience in the category of eidetic music games. It’s pretty much a fancy name for what we all know as Simon Says. You’re given a series of commands and repeat them in time with the music. Like Parappa the Rapper, all of the music was specifically created for the game (although the some inspirations may have been drawn from the Space Michael character). The colorful cast of characters and music inspired by Ken Bookman’s 1965 song “Mexican Flyer” made for one hell of a game.

Also in 1999, Masaya Matsuura (of the previously mentioned Parappa The Rapper) created a reactive music game known as Vib-Ribbon. This game is classified as a reactive music game, since the levels were actually generated by whatever music CD was loaded into the PlayStation system. The obstacles would cross your path in time with the music so, in turn, you would press specific buttons in time to overcome those obstacles. It was a crazy fusion of music rhythm game and platformer that meshed together wonderfully–even if it never got a US release.

The end of this era of plot-driven, innovative music games was the release of Gitaroo Man (2001). The way the game was played differed greatly from its other sight-reading predecessors. With a cursor in the middle of the screen as your guide, a phrase line moved towards the center of the screen. The player had to simultaneously press and hold any button in time while using the analog stick to guide the cursor along the phrase line. Each phrase was categorized as an attack, a defensive move, etc. as you battled your enemies with music.Gitaroo Man was a bit of a sleeper hit in its time, though it gradually gained enough of a cult following to merit a port to the PSP (Gitaroo Man Lives!).

Part 2 will focus on the beginning of Harmonix’s influence on music games, and how they began a completely new era of music games that is still going strong today. Keep checking back for Part Two!