PaRappa the Rapper 2

PaRappa the Rapper 2 continues the misadventures of everyone's favorite rapping dog and his friends as they are surrounded by noodles. That really shouldn't faze you if you've played the previous two games.

Sub-Pages#

Prototype Info Prerelease Info Off Screen Camera SecretsStretched papers and broken off-screen characters, oh my!

Unused Audio#

LOGO.INT#

A few short unused tunes exist in DATA/LOGO.INT, which may have been used as an alternate loading screen theme or intro sequence.

Boxy Boy Practice#

The game features a notorious practice session before the start of each stage with Boxy Boy as your guide, each in an ST0XHK0.INT (replace X with the given stage number). This unused sound clip is found together with all other vocal clips used to form the lines that Boxy Boy spits to the player. This suggests at one point this game had a similar practice mode to the first game, in which the player just had to hit a note in different places instead of repeating a full pattern. That, or after clearing one line Boxy Boy said this and gave the player another line to repeat. This could've also been used in the VS Mode, placed after each round.

Stage 8 VS Oddity#

Every Battle Mode stage in the game typically begins with Boxy Boy giving a short speech about how to play the Battle Mode, with the Awful version of the following stage's song playing in the background. For Stage 8's Battle Mode, however, the song playing in the background is a completely different song from what the actual stage's Awful song is. Interestingly, this is the same melody that plays when you hover over the level on the map.

When Boxy Boy plays the line that the players use to battle, the Bad version of the stage's BGM plays. Just like the above, the music is completely different in Stage 8.

While it's possible that the songs were changed late in development, another possibility is that the actual stage's songs were considered unsuitable for the battle mode's purposes due to their gimmick (dropping out instruments from the main song, rather than changing the melody), and new songs were composed as a result.

Unused Graphics#

These textures are only present among the game's TM0 files, and are not called for by any models to be rendered in-game.

General#

A font used for debugging purposes.

STMENU.INT#

A texture of Papa PaRappa's head in a similar vein to the spinning signs of the teachers' heads. It may or may not have been the sign for Food Court at one point, as Papa PaRappa plays a prominent role in said stage.

A sandbox meant to be seen somewhere on the map screen. Its palette is currently unknown.

ST09SR0.XTR#

A singular producer credit in the style of the staff credits from Um Jammer Lammy. The actual credits text is rendered in-game, leaving this unused.

Unseen Graphics#

While these are all technically used, they aren't ever seen facing the screen, therefore impossible to see via normal means.

ST03GM0.INT#

coin.spm, the coin held by Guru Ant in stage 3, has an unseen backside.

tv.spm has this texture displayed on the TV screen. It can barely be seen in-game as it's almost completely obscured by the living room table. It's lifted directly from the Joe Chin Foundation for Preserving Nature commercial from Um Jammer Lammy.

ST00SR0.XTR#

para_room.spm has two posters, a trash bin and basketball hoop that are never on-camera.

ST01SR1.XTR#

dining.spm has some unseen posters, a door, and plaque of Beard Burger's company motto. The plaque is barely on-screen and never seen in full.

The heads of the babies in stage 1's cutscene have unseen backsides.

ST02SR1.XTR#

tv.spm has a texture of the SMPTE color bars.

ST04SR0.XTR#

bfM_bf_gun.spm, the banjo gun carried by the soldiers seen very briefly as they run off, has an unseen backside.

ST05SR1.XTR#

The Afro-induced customers outside of the hair salon each have unseen backsides.

para_car.spm has an unseen license plate and taillight texture.

ST06SR0.XTR#

tv.spm has an even higher resolution image of the SMPTE color bars.

ST06SR1.XTR#

Papa PaRappa's honeymoon photo in stage 6's cutscene is impossible to see it as it doesn't face the screen. Even in the brief period when it does, it's too far away from the camera to make sense of.

ST07SR1.XTR#

NmM_NmM.spm, Colonel Noodle's mother, has an unseen leg and backside of her head.

ST09SR0.XTR#

rep_rep.spm, the monkey reporter who is only ever seen in the final cutscene, has an unseen backside.

Unused Models#

General#

Colonel Noodle, typically any model with an Nm suffix, has facial expressions seen in the official guidebook that are never called for in-game. These include an assortment of interchangeable eyes, spirals, blushing cheeks and veins. They can only be seen in-game through memory editing. To access these expressions, go to Cheat Engine in PCSX2 and nop the two addresses that write to 20577AE6 in stage 7 in the NTSC version.

Hairdresser Octopus's model, octB_octB_SPXt.spm, has an unused "noodelized" expression also seen in the aforementioned guidebook.

bxy_bxy_SPXt.spm is an early version of Boxy Boy, resembling how he appears in PaRappa the Rapper. His eyes are a separate file, bxy_eye.spm. These are found in ST02SR0.XTR, ST05SR0.XTR, ST06SR0.XTR and ST07SR0.XTR. Given how these are in the first half of the cutscenes before Boxy Boy gives his notorious practice time, his redesign may have been a late decision into development.

STMENU.INT#

n_st1.spm is a pile of noodles meant to be seen somewhere on the map.

ST01SR1.XTR#

kt_door_all.spm is a red door.

NmUribaBako.spm is a wooden block.

ST02SR1.XTR#

c63tv_in.spm is an unused TV screen for Romantic Karate.

Unused Text#

Debug Messages#

Found in the executable are a few debugging messages.

new vs tap!!
reset moto!!
ERROR! SUBJOB_NO_ID OVER!
tap group PINDEX over
TAP !! tap set pos is OVER!!
KEY STACK OVER!!
score line over!!
!!!mccReqScrGet over!!!
This data isn't TIM2 file
outside draw over!!
Objdat Error!!
WIPE SND REQ OVER!!
CMN FILE NUM OVER
CD SEARCH ERROR!!
Come on Parappa!!!

Regional Differences#

Title Screen#

Japan	US	Europe

Every region has its own title screen and logo. The noodles in the Japanese title screen are much easier to see, and the katakana pops to the beat of the vocals. The noodles are much fainter in the international title screen, but are still there. This also affects the letters that appear in the opening sequence, the loading screen, and the cheese on the pizza that PaRappa puts in the oven at the end.

Changed Lyrics#

Like Um Jammer Lammy, some of the songs in this game have altered lines in the North American version due to stricter rating regulations.

All of the relevant changes also apply to the pre-recorded versions of the songs heard in the Record Shop. Another line seems to have been censored prior to being implemented in the game at all; in the Record Shop, "Food Court" features the lyric "warm the buns," which is changed in-game to "toast the buns." This discrepancy appears in every version of the game.

Rating Meter#

Japan	International

The Japanese version's rating meter has all the letters capitalized, while the International version has only the first letter capitalized.

Stage 4#

Instructor Moosesha is wearing panties in the Japanese and European versions, while in the American version she was given slightly longer shorts.

Japan/Europe	US

The jump rope machines in stage 4 wear a bikini in the Japanese and European versions, while the American version has it in a red dress.

Menu#

The save/load graphic in city hall was given a slash in the American version.

Sunny's Music Video#

If you wait on the title screen after completing the game with yellow hat, a secret music video will be played. This music video does not exist in Japanese version. Watch on YouTube

Cheat Codes#

There are some hidden cheat codes that are only accessible by holding a button when starting a stage in single player.

Boxy Boy Skip#

When holding both the L triggers, you can skip the practice time with Boxy Boy. This is really useful when you don't need to practice if you mastered the game already.

Difficulty Selection#

When selecting a stage, pressing R3 and tilting the right joystick in a specific direction will allow you to choose a specific difficulty. This handy compass shows where the player needs to tilt the stick for the difficulty they want (i.e. to play on the highest difficulty, push R3 and tilt the stick downwards towards 16.).

Shuriken / Easy Mode#

When holding both of the R triggers, you can turn every input into a shuriken instead of a standard Playstation button. In this mode, your points will be halved, but you are able to press any button you'd like without any consequences. You can also turn on this mode in the Options menu, but your points will instead be multiplied by 0.25x. This mode is also present in Um Jammer Lammy.

References#