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PaRappa The Rapper Creator Interviewed
Gamasutra has an interview up with Rodney Greenblat, graphic designer of PaRappa The Rapper. The article refers to the popular character as Sony's "Almost Mario", and digs into the rationale behind the game and its sequel. From the article: "In the case of Chop Chop Master Onion, he was just supposed to be a karate teacher. I came up with lots of designs of what a karate teacher might be, but the onion thing they just loved, so they changed the whole thing so he was the onion master. It just worked out perfect. I don't think they had an idea of what the driving instructor might be, and I just thought it would be so funny if she were this big moose, and I was thinking of Queen Latifah in a certain way."
PaRappa the Rapper was a game for PSone that had you press button combinations in time with the beat, and it was a runaway success in Japan. Wasn't nearly as popular in the US, more of a "cult classic", I guess. The songs were pretty catchy and hilarious for their bizarre lyrics (lost in translation?). The interview is with the artist who designed the characters.
I've been digging his art for a few years now, but more because of Puffy than Parappa...