Proto:PaRappa the Rapper 2/McDonald's Original Happy Disc Demo
This is a sub-page of Proto:PaRappa the Rapper 2.
A demo of PaRappa the Rapper 2 was included on the McDonald's Original Happy Disc, a Japanese promotional disc. It's dated May 16th, 2001, which predates the final Japanese build by a little over two months. It only has the first level, themed like a McDonald's restaurant, but has several noticeable differences right off the bat.
Contents
General Differences
Title Screen
Demo | Final |
---|---|
At this point, the title screen is just a flat image, but there's still some minor differences: some of the symbols in the logo are different sizes, the logo is shifted more towards the left, the noodle background is larger, and there's red katakana that simply translates to "McDonald's version" above the logo.
HUD
Demo | Final |
---|---|
Everything about the HUD is different. The rap meter's background gradient is much brighter, the font is different, all the meters on the bottom have a different color, and the prompt bubble at the top is shorter due to the spacing. Additionally, Beard Burger Master's icon in the prompt bubble is instead a McDonald's logo.
Level
The level itself has McDonald's logos added throughout the textures, and Beard Burger Master has a McDonald's logo on his apron. It ends automatically before the final verse of the song with a thank-you screen advertising the full game, before returning you to the title screen.
Sound Effects
Demo | Final |
---|---|
The sounds for succeeding and failing a verse are different.
Animation Debug Menu
A debug menu for viewing animations can be triggered in PCSX2 by launching the debugger and setting a Breakpoint in DrawCtrlInit, following $ra and replacing jal DrawCtrlInit with jal DrawCtrlInitDebug.
Unused Animation
In the retail game during the first level, when a player's input line nets negative points, Colonel Noodle pops out from the corner of the restaurant to laugh at PaRappa while holding a Noodlizer. This isn't present in the demo as flunking a line won't trigger the animation. An earlier version of this animation is still present in the game, which can be seen with the Animation Debug Menu. Compared to the retail version, Colonel Noodle has a different facial expression and is not holding the Noodlizer, but still can be seen holding something. This might mean that the model for the Noodlizer wasn't made yet or it was removed from the demo. The retail version also added a camera pan and Colonel sliding out from the boxes, unlike the demo in which both the camera and Colonel remain in place.
Demo | Final |
---|---|
Unused Graphics
Multiplayer Meters
To do: Get an actual rip of this texture. |
There are textures for the ranking meters showing both PaRappa's and each teacher's face with 3 emotions. This was intended for a scrapped multiplayer mode, as confirmed by Masaya Matsuura.
Unused Code
Unused Difficulty Levels
The dynamic difficulty level system as seen in the retail game is implemented in this demo, including difficulties past the first circuit. Since you can't beat the game in this demo, these difficulties are rendered inaccessible. The other difficulties differ from the final game's, and following the point the demo would normally cut off, match the base difficulty.
Unfinished Cool Mode Coding
When you beat cool mode, the end dialog doesn't show up due to a bug/unfinished coding. It's still present in the ROM.