Parappa The Rapper is a totally unique and innovative video game. It is the creation of Masaya Matsuura who is a Japanese musician now working for SCEI in Tokyo as a Producer. Matsuura is responsible for the concept of Parappa The Rapper, its development and also for the composition and production of the music in the game. The presentation of the game has been designed by Rodney A. Greenblat following a request made by Matsuura to the artist whilst visiting New York and seeing the Rodney Fun© range of merchandise. The idea behind using Rodney was to achieve a totally unique look to the game to follow the unique concept of the gameplay. Profiles on Masaya Matsuura and Rodney Greenblat are including later in this section. The graphics for this game are totally unique. They are real-time 3D graphics which depict paper thin 2-dimensional characters. The reason for this is to maintain a consistent appearance of each character at all times - keeping the presentation simple helps to highlight the unique artwork used in the game. Parappa The Rapper requires the player to rap along with a teacher and, depending on the accuracy of the players timing and the creativity of their rapping, points are awarded accordingly and progress is monitored on the 'Rapometer' which gauges the player's performance from Awful to Cool. The teacher in each of the six levels is a named character, each with their own rapping style and musical preference. The player must press certain buttons to say different phrases which when put together, create the rap. The game follows the story of Parappa, the canine hero who is trying to win the love of his sweetheart Sunny Funny. To do this he learns to fight, drive, visits nightclubs, gets a job and learns to cook. Each level is accompanied by FMV CG sequences which tell the next part of the story. There are six levels in Parappa The Rapper the final level showing Parappa rappin' at a live concert with the famous MC King Kong Mushi himself to a packed auditorium. Parappa The Rapper is an excellent game to play in groups and has the ability to appeal to the mass market. It has sold around 800,000 copies in Japan and has been very well received by the specialist press in both Europe and the USA.