PaRappa the Rapper (1996)

While Miracle Piano Teaching System featured timing windows and input matching, PaRappa the Rapper was the first game to require such inputs to be synchronous – which is to say in time with a background track. Combining these elements makes PaRappa the first music / rhythm game, and laid the foundation for music games to follow. Players match a visual patter in time to music, with their accuracy to pre-planned notes influencing the sound of the music.

Additionally, PaRappa brought something new and equally invaluable - charm. The game’s unique presentation, music, and characters took root with gamers in ways that an empirical or strictly educational music games could not. If you want proof, just ask the next gamer you see wearing an orange beanie if he has to believe. While PaRappa’s background track changed based on the player’s performance, the notes the player hit only laid vocals over an instrumental track. The next game allowed players to truly create an entire song.

Beatmania (1997)

Frequently overshadowed by Dance Dance Revolution, Beatmania both launched Konami’s music game series (dubbed Bemani) and pioneered guided music creation. In Beatmania, a player must match a series of notes with a five-button controller and scratch table. Each note corresponds to a musical sample from the song, so by playing the notes correctly, the player constructs the song as originally written. Without player input, there is no (or very little) music at all – as opposed to a changing background track. This gives the player more ownership and involvement in the music during play, and is of course a key component of modern music games Guitar Hero and Rock Band.

MTV Drumscape (1997)

While several gamers credit Konami games Guitarfreaks and Drummania with innovating fake plastic instruments, the title belongs with MTV Drumscape. The arcade game featured a full electronic drum set on which players could wail at their discretion. Drumscape lacked any sort of evaluation system, so the game’s learning curve was abnormally high – on par with actually playing drums. Aside from allowing players to go Animal on a set of drums, Drumscape could also be loaded with songs like a jukebox. This allowed players to play drums along with songs from The Beatles, Metallica, and equally as important, Semisonic. The use of popular, identifiable music was the most vital element to Guitar Hero’s success, even though the idea was present eight years before its release. Despite having popular music, the game’s inapproachability sabotaged its success. The next game provided the answer to that problem.