In 2022, Rodney Greenblat uploaded a VHS rip to YouTube of the very first animation test of the game's opening cutscene, recorded directly from a Macintosh video output in 1995. The VHS, apparently a Christmas gift, is bookended by messages to Greenblat from the game's producer and co-composer Matsaya Matsuura, has no music, and features placeholder voice acting by Ryu Watabe. The cutscene features an early design for Katy, sporting a grass skirt, a yellow bra and dark blue and white fur, as well as a temporary stand-in design for PaRappa as his main design had not yet been finalized. This placeholder depicts him as a blue man sporting a red jacket and dark green shorts. Unusually, the characters refer to the movie they just saw as "John Wayne" (the name of a famous Golden Age American actor) and not Jet Baby.