Parappa M-I-Xes flour into a bowl, LIVE!
by Christopher Grant 
{ Jan 25th 2006 at 12:15PM }
Andreas Wieslander's bachelor thesis, entitled "IN REAL GAME," is "a project about marketing games through live performances, in order to focus on the games feel, rather than its graphics and sfx."
He has chosen the infectious beats and charms of the PlayStation classic Parappa the Rapper to illustrate this concept. They act out the roles of Cheep Cheep and Parappa in a rendition of "Cheep Cheep Cooking Chicken's Rap," complete with seafood cake, live backing band, and Parappa's jerky delivery. "Crack. Crack. Crack. The egg. Into. The bowl."
The idea is clever and captures some of the fun, and certainly the oddity, of Parappa the Rapper, but how well would it work on other games that didn't lend themselves so well to the idea. Try acting out Prince of Persia.
[Via Re:Retro]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Radien @ Feb 13th 2006 6:06AM
While amusing to watch, I think this guy's idea to do it for a bachelor thesis was a bit too much B.S. for me. I don't think this would ever work as a marketing campaign.
Now Pacmanhattan, on the other hand, is an AWESOME way to cleverly turn your last major goofball school project into something that rationalizes the money and time spent on it. ;) Go Google it if you haven't seen it.
Imp @ Jan 25th 2006 12:27PM
Pretty cool.
However, I really loved how the video was imbedded directly into the front page.
Ashok @ Jan 25th 2006 12:37PM
That was great, but it was missing essential parappa greatness. The guy playing parappa should have thrown in a mess up every once in a while (ie, "Put the cake in the Uh-Oh for Uh-ohUHOHUHOH) and the chicken took out all the Buck-cock's. A lot of the fun in the game came when things didn't go right as well as well as getting to laugh at the unsmoothness of parappa compared to the inital rapper. All of parappa's akward pauses while rapping were great. Sigh...memories
C. Grant @ Jan 25th 2006 12:38PM
Thanks, Imp. Something I thought we'd try. Save you the clickthrough, and you can keep reading Joystiq. YouTube also offers this service now, so we'll try it with them as well.
Nij @ Jan 25th 2006 1:28PM
It's especially helpful for those of us who are here at work and can't install the necessary codecs to view things like QuickTime movies.
And might I say, this is one of the greatest videos I've ever seen-- I love PaRappa and I was laughing me arse off at this one.
Rymix @ Jan 25th 2006 1:42PM
Kick, punch, it's all in the mind!
Mr.Ortiz @ Jan 25th 2006 2:14PM
I'm sorry, I loved Parappa, but I never would have given it a chance if this is how it were advertised. The Graphics were a HUGE part of the game. Ask anyone who ever got "U Rappin Cool" on the toilet stage.
Andreas @ Jan 25th 2006 2:16PM
I'm glad you like it ;)
The ZeroCorpse @ Jan 25th 2006 5:34PM
Sorry. This "bands playing retro video game music" trend has to die. It's no more charming than people who play nursery rhymes or Sesame Street songs instead of writing new music.
The video was quaint. I'd still rather just PLAY "Parappa the Rapper" than watch this, though.
The ZeroCorpse @ Jan 25th 2006 5:36PM
My bad. This was a school project, not a group trying to make a name for themselves.
In that case, it's clever and deserves a B.
Hunty @ Jan 26th 2006 5:34PM
Holy crap! I was JUST singing this on the way to lunch today! :)X
deft @ Jan 30th 2006 10:27PM
Heheh, Parappa rules!
Seriously though, they're good.
Stuart @ Jan 30th 2006 10:34PM
A fantastic video. Very creative, especially the thesis.
I only question how well this would work....I enjoyed the Two Thrones Training videos...but I still haven't bought the game.
A marketing video needs to give you reasons to go buy the game. I found that lacking in this video. It only entertained and got me thinking about the game. But it didn't give the extra push that was needed to get me in the store.
If there was a way to combine this video, with some other formats, such as gamefootage, comparisons, as well as a few other twists, I hthink this could be a very marketable idea. This video would be great as apart of a marketing blitz.
That aside, and all thigns considered, a fantastic piece of work, and one that I'm sending to all I know.
Fantastic. I wish I had thought of it.
Seroth @ Jan 31st 2006 12:21AM
It's cool, but I'm disappointed because that cake stage was my least favorite level in the game. What about "In the rain or in the snow"? I loved that frog guy.
Alex C @ Jan 31st 2006 12:51PM
Yo!
Nice performance, i love the idea, i would like to see if any company see this and that would bring them better ideas for marketing. Way to go boys! u got some flow goin on.
Cya
Andreas @ Feb 1st 2006 10:32AM
Stuart, thanks for your constructive feedback! always appreciated
Samsonite @ Feb 3rd 2006 10:19AM
Wow, this is great. The attention to detail of the game font and music is fantastic. I do wonder why you didn't re-enact the 'toilet level' though. :D Top notch.
Thanks for brightening my day.Still can't believe how good this is. But I guess like the main man 'I gotta believe!'
Reibear @ Feb 3rd 2006 9:50PM
Someone linked me to this after I asked for lyrics, because there was a thread with a loop of this and it was pretty cool.
Oh man, this makes me want to play the game so bad, but then again I've been deprived of video games all my life, so it's not that special, besides I like all music games and I never even knew what this game was about. At all.
I think this would be fun to do, though, and for a school project? Wow what. I'd totally do it if I had the chance, too, though I suppose I'd try to do more dancing, even though there wasn't that much space for it. Then again, I'm a chick. Very good, I guess.
myopii @ Feb 4th 2006 6:26AM
i really like his focus on the feel of the game - this project lets us see parappa from an interesting perspective