"PaRappa the Rapper" is a music game in which the main character, PaRappa, must make his way through each of the game's six stages by rapping. On each stage, the game alternates with the rapping teacher to PaRappa. There is a U 'RAPPING meter in the bottom right corner, which will show the player's performance with four levels, from top to bottom: "Cool", "Good", "Bad", and "Awful". The game works by a pattern of buttons (Triangle, Circle, Square, X, L, and R) PaRappa will have to copy. The teacher will set down a pattern and PaRappa will have to copy it. Players will stay on the "Good" ranking when staying to the beat. If he messes up two times in a row, he goes down a level. On the other hand, if he gets a pattern right, he moves up a level, with Good at the maximum. The player must clear the level on Good or Cool. If he clears it on Bad or Awful, or the meter goes below Awful during the game, he will have to try the level again. However, if the meter gets to Cool, the teacher will leave and PaRappa will be able to free-style. This is achieved by freestyling in a manner different to the predetermined lyric. If all of the levels are cleared with the meter on Cool, a bonus level, "K.T and the Sunny Funny Band", will be unlocked. However, the player must complete the game at least once before "Cool" can be reached.