Growing up surrounded by all the Parappa memes (chinese), all the music (Big, Toasty Buns, Noodles Can't Be Beat, etc), and the colorful artstyle... I guess you can say I've been Parappa pilled since I was very young. However, I only recently got my hands on a copy Parappa The Rapper 2 (so expensive... oh man) and finally experienced the game for myself.
Before this, all I had played was the brutally unfair first stage of Umjammer Lammy (on an old PS1 Jampack demo disc) and maybe tried the PSP version of Parappa 1, but I was blown away at how much this game helps the player adjust to the button mashing playstyle. Practice mode is extremely helpful and fun, and having the inputs get simpler during a song when you're ranking BAD/AWFUL feels less like an insult (like in the older entries) and more like the game itself is trying to help you. It makes it so much easier to pick up and play.
The soundtrack is, in my opinion, easily better than the first game. Whereas the first game did have some bangers (❗️❗️) I feel like a lot of those songs' lyrics emphasized actions (kick punch chop crack crack left right Blah blah), something that they do a whole lot less in here. I find that it makes the songs WAY more listen-able and they stand strong even as standalone songs. The instrumentals are genuinely godlike, the production is so good that even the BAD/AWFUL versions of each track are worth listening to.
The whole noodle story is so goofy, I wouldn't have it any other way. 2 player mode is so much fun, even if it is just button mashing. I really really miss when games were this colorful, silly, groovy, and fun.
Before this, all I had played was the brutally unfair first stage of Umjammer Lammy (on an old PS1 Jampack demo disc) and maybe tried the PSP version of Parappa 1, but I was blown away at how much this game helps the player adjust to the button mashing playstyle. Practice mode is extremely helpful and fun, and having the inputs get simpler during a song when you're ranking BAD/AWFUL feels less like an insult (like in the older entries) and more like the game itself is trying to help you. It makes it so much easier to pick up and play.
The soundtrack is, in my opinion, easily better than the first game. Whereas the first game did have some bangers (❗️❗️) I feel like a lot of those songs' lyrics emphasized actions (kick punch chop crack crack left right Blah blah), something that they do a whole lot less in here. I find that it makes the songs WAY more listen-able and they stand strong even as standalone songs. The instrumentals are genuinely godlike, the production is so good that even the BAD/AWFUL versions of each track are worth listening to.
The whole noodle story is so goofy, I wouldn't have it any other way. 2 player mode is so much fun, even if it is just button mashing. I really really miss when games were this colorful, silly, groovy, and fun.