Rap Rabbit - Rythm game could see release on Switch at $1,500,000 in funding

As part of the stretch goal for their Kickstarter, the teams behind the upcoming PC and PS4 title 'Project Rap Rabbit' (homepage available here.) are now hoping to bring the game to the Nintendo Switch as well.

Rap Rabbit is being developed in collaboration by teams NanaOn-Sha (PaRappa the Rapper, Unjammer Lammy) and iNiS (Gitaroo Man, Elite Beat Agents), and will star the rapping rabbit Toto-maru as he travels across a feudal Japanese land battling warlords with raps.

Originally the Kickstarter set the Switch and XBox One versions of Rap Rabbit much farther back on the list of stretch goals, with a multiplayer mode taking priority. However, feedback from Nintendo Switch owners has been so overwhelming that they decided to pull the Switch stretch goal much closer to ensure that the game is available on the platforms where it will have the largest fanbase.

The game needs to first hit its $1.1 Million goal for the game to even be completed. As of today, it has 33 days to meet that goal, and the total is currently at about $124,000.

What makes Rap Rabbit interesting, aside from being created by some of the most well-known rythm game designers in the industry, is that the developers are making the game 'feel' more like actual rap battles than simply 'rythm' games.

During rap battles you can choose which keywords you want to focus on responding to in your opponent's rap, and then decide how you want to approach it. Do you want to provoke? Brag? Joke around? Shrug it off? You can make that call, and see how it impact's your opponent rapper and their swag meter. Then, it's time to match the rythm!

They draw comparisons to the dialogue wheels in games such as Mass Effect, when choosing your different response options. I don't quite understand how it all works without actually seeing gameplay footage, but it still sounds like it goes well above and beyond what most other rythm games have done before it.

Game already looks great in the art department, and even though I'm not a big fan of rap music I can appreciate the work the developers are doing to make this game play out a little more like an actual series of rap battles. (I'm sure the music will be pretty catchy and fun at any rate.)

Really hope Rap Rabbit makes its goal, and then hits its stretches. I would totally like to play it!

What say you, Ninty fans?

parapa the rappa sucked. i don't like rythym games.

it is obvious they want to release on playstation and xbox first. so screw them.

@KBFloYd: They did not prioritize the XBox One, they gave preference to the PS4 and PC. The XBox One was also a stretch goal.

Their original thinking was that the Switch version would come out with all of the bells and whistles included in from the other stretch goals.... But that would have required a grand total of $4.95 Million. That's crazy - the want $1.1 Mil for the PS4 and PC, but that much more just to release the game on every console. That said, they admitted (one day after starting the kickstarter, no less) that they had it wrong and decided to bump the Switch goal up to $1.5 Mil, much more reasonable.

Well, maybe you hated Parappa, but did you enjoy Elite Beat Agents on the DS? I thought it was kinda fun. I never got to play Gitaroo Man, but probably would have if I'd had the chance. I enjoyed what I played of Unjammer Lammy and Parappa as a kid.

no rythym games for me man... i am dreadful at them. i'm too slow or something :P