When PaRappa The Rapper first grooved his way onto the gaming scene back in 1997, he brought with him a groundbreaking game that kick-started a whole new genre. If you were around when he first took to the dance floor, you'll probably remember the amazingly fun gameplay, the incredibly colourful graphics and the dangerously catchy tunes. But that was ten years ago, and releasing a last-millennium game on the PSP now is potentially a bit of a stumbling move.

The first game really pushed the envelope, but unfortunately this one just doesn't - in fact, it's easy to suspect that the only envelope that's been pushed around near little old PaRappa recently has been stuffed with cash and had 'easy money' scrawled on the front. Those of us who remember the first game fondly will, probably, be pleased when we fire up the PSP port and see the same introduction that we remember, with PaRappa the little dog and the girl of his dreams, Sunny Funny, at the cinema. The game consists of PaRappa dancing his way through various stages as he seeks to win the girl. If you've played the original, you'll be pleased to see that the menus work in the same way as they always did, while the cardboard cutout 2D graphics look identical. You might grimace a little when you hear the irritating menu selection sounds, which make me imagine a robot cow being hit over the head with an irritated chicken (sort of moo-squawk), but if you've played the original then your initial reaction is likely to be "great, they haven't messed with the formula."

Unfortunately, the developers haven't messed with anything else either. You get the same six levels, the same 'follow the leader' button-bashing gameplay, the same catchy tunes and the same cute characters, who quickly become irritating and progress into downright annoying the more time you spend with them. You'll see them a lot, too, because the difficulty curve is still far too steep. The game progresses from a relatively easy level to a very difficult one, then gets more and more impossible as you continue. There are two difficulty settings - easy and normal - and the easy setting only gives you access to the first three stages. You'd have to be ham-fisted to struggle with easy, but when you make the jump to normal you'll find it much harder. There's no middle setting, which in my opinion the game needs - easy mode is far too easy, normal mode is far too hard. Many players will be put off and things aren't helped by the fact that the controls somehow feel more fiddly on the PSP than they did on a PSOne controller.

The gameplay is simple; you listen to one of the characters singing a line and a series of button-presses is shown. Then it's your turn to repeat the line, by pressing the same buttons at the right times. That's as complicated as it gets, and the difficulty is all in the timing, which has to be completely perfect. This is less than easy when the button presses get more and more frantic in the later levels. As you play, the bottom right part of the screen shows how well you're rappin'; to complete a level you have to finish the song on either Cool or Cood, but it's all too easy to fall into Bad or Awful with just one or two mistimed button presses. If you fall below Awful then you have to stop the song and start all over again.

Each level needs to be played many times to complete it, and you might well end up hating the cute characters (frogs, cows, the famous onion, chickens and so on) and the fun tunes by the time you get to the end. It's a short game that gets its longevity from the difficulty level, rather than the content. When you do eventually complete a level, you can go back and 'freestyle' it, which involves performing your own moves between the ones you must mimic, but this just isn't as much fun as it could have been.

Each song contains various 'lessons', which are like verses with bridge sections in between. I suppose the idea is that you complete a bit of the song and then have a little break while the leading character sings, but the problem is that when you fail a stage you have to start the song all over again, so these mini-stages feel a little pointless. In between songs there are cut scenes that show the story moving along, and these are generally quite good - even funny occasionally.

There is a multiplayer mode that might prolong the experience a bit, but it's difficult to see how. When you hook up with some of your friends, you get to dance at the same time as them - but you don't see them on your screen and the only multiplayer aspect is the fact that at the end one of you wins the dance-off. It's basically the single player game with a score table.

PaRappa isn't the longest game in the world, or the easiest. However, it does have a fair amount going for it. One of the best things, believe it or not, is the graphics - they are the same as the original game, but they've actually aged very well. Because they were never cutting edge, always relying on their style, animation and charm, they still work today. In fact, the PSP's small and vivid screen really brings things to life - everything's sharper and more colourful than ever before. The game still has a unique look, even now.

Of course, the most important thing in any rhythm game is the music, and PaRappa always did have good tunes. The same vibrant and catchy melodies that made your feet tap ten years ago still work well today. If you don't like them then there are downloadable replacements available online, but most people will like the originals, and if you want to know just how good they are then simply ask someone who played the first game to hum one to you. Chances are, they'll still remember the tunes and the words, even now!

The main problem with PaRappa The Rapper is that it's pretty much a straight port of the PSOne original. Ten years is a long time in the gaming world, and what was once a trendy young thing throwing hot moves on the dance floor does, after all this time, now look a bit like a teacher at the school disco. It was a great game and it still has a certain charm today, but I can't help feeling that this would have been better as a free download or part of a retro games pack. If you loved the original then you'll almost certainly enjoy it (although it might not, of course, be as good as you remember). If you're a newcomer to the game then you may end up thinking that there's just not enough content here to go with the retro style.

Reviewed by Dom Turner for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).