Since its release, Friday Night Funkin' has enjoyed success largely in part of social media, Twitch streamers, and simple word-of-mouth. Created and developed by ninja_muffin99 and originally released on Newgrounds, Friday Night Funkin' is a simple rhythm game at its core, taking elements from other related PC rhythm games like Stepmania while being inspired by Dance Dance Revolution's gameplay and music.
The player takes control of Boyfriend as he is challenged by adversaries to a rap battle with the support of his significant other, Girlfriend. Some of the opponents he raps against are cameos from other Newgrounds titles and web-series with more teased in future updates. Thanks to one modder, another cameo from a different game makes his way into Friday Night Funkin' through clever use of the game's mechanics.
There are two versions of Friday Night Funkin'; the Newgrounds website version, and the downloadable itch.io version, with the latter used by modders. Modding the itch.io version is as simple as replacing the sprites in-game with sprites of their own. One such modder, Dr. Minty Fresh, recreated Parappa from PaRappa the Rapper for Friday Night Funkin' in which YouTuber SylverStar took it a step further, importing the Instructor Mooselini level from the rapping PlayStation rhythm game.
There are other edits to the level to make the recreation as close to the original as possible, including replacing the rival rapper with Instructor Mooselini herself. Girlfriend and the boombox that she sits on is replaced by Sunny Funny and Boxy Boy, Parappa's love interest and friend respectively. There are several parallels between PaRappa the Rapper and Friday Night Funkin', specifically the protagonist's desire to woo their love interest via rapping. The call-and-response gameplay in FNF is also influenced by PaRappa, as shown with Mooselini's rap.
Friday Night Funkin' is available for PC and mobile.