I already featured Parappa the Rapper in a previous episode of Old Game That Doesn’t Suck Thursday.  But someone asked me the question the other day, “who is your favourite video game character?”

What a tough question, I responded.

A favourite video game character could mean a lot of different things.  One character might be more fun to play over another, but one may have some defining characteristic such as persona or demeanor.  One might just look cool while one might be super powerful and stylish doing so.  There’s so much to take into consideration.

But as you may have guessed, I instantly bring up one character: Parappa the Rapper.

Parappa embodies everything I strive for in life: Honesty and integrity, hard work and positive attitude.  During the game he spends his time preparing to impress a girl by training at a gym, learning to drive, and getting a job to fund all that.  He never faltered even when others shadowed his efforts and when things seemed impossibly hard to overcome.  And in the end it all paid off.

He has incredibly positive attitude and good demeanor; something rarely seen in modern gaming.  The FPS culture of today seems to forget about genuinely good characters and at most resolve to a karma system that relies on a much harder path of being good.  Parappa exerts this quality from start to finish.  He’s awesome.

So Parappa the Rapper is my favourite video game character.  A bit of a diversion from the usual OGTDST but it’s the way I look at my own life.  It’s good to find something in common with a complete stranger, especially a rapping dog.