Masaya Matsuura, the creator behind cult phenomenon Parappa The Rapper, has said the lovable mutt could make a return at some point in the future, either via new business models or on PlayStation Vita.
Chatting with Joystiq at the Tokyo Game Show, Matsuura said he’d rather have rhythm-based titles such as Parappa on handheld platforms for latency reasons, and reckons there’s “a good chance” he may revisit the franchise on Sony’s new pocket brick.
However, he also noted there exists the issue of whether punters would be happy to fork out full-price for “5, 6 stages.”
Elsewhere, Matsuura revealed that platform holder Sony didn’t initially perceive Parappa as a videogame.
“They sold Parappa as not a game, just an interactive something,” he commented. “Their conservative knowledge about games was Mario, Sega something, Street Fighter — they couldn’t accept Parappa as a game.”
“Finally, the audience and market decided Parappa was a game, not Sony,” he added.
The original Parappa the Rapper released on PlayStation in Japan back in 1996, before arriving in western territories a year later. Since then, it’s spawned a number of spin-offs and sequels, including UmJammer Lammy and Parappa the Rapper 2 for PSOne and PlayStation 2, respectively.