My memory of the original on PS1 is that it was the same. You can't follow the visual cues at all, just use the song and actually press slightly before you think you should.
Yeah, the more I've played Parappa 1 in its original format (as well as the rest of the series, to some extent), the more I've come to the conclusion that while a lot of hip-hop-listening Parappa players naturally are going to try to rap on the backbeat because it *sounds right*, the game always wants you to rap *on* *the* *beat*, which may sound a bit uptight as you hear it, but it's what the game wants from you, especially for Cheap Cheap.
To erase any doubt, I've hated how evil the Cheap Cheap level was since 1997, and in turn I found the Teriyaki Yoko level in Um Jammer Lammy equally infuriating. It's not (just) the input lag. These games are just really picky about your musical timing (they're made by a professional musician, after all), although I feel like Parappa 2 was a *bit* more forgiving.
And yeah, for what it's worth, slipping in extra syllables has always been what I've done to squeak my way through the extra tricky parts.
