By Adam Smith on February 28th, 2012 at 3:08 pm.
Jet Set Radio continues to be an astonishingly good looking game, over there on the last of the Segaboxes and wherever else it may have popped up over the years. It’ll be looking even better on PC soon enough, with announcement that a high definition digital download version of the game is due on XBLA, PSN and my computer this summer. Maybe it will be on your computer as well, or maybe you’re not yet convinced that its scratchy audio treats and cel shaded visuals are for you. Look at this trailer, which is still lovely today several graphical and musical trends after release. This was before all game promotional material legally required use of dubstep or that BWAARRRRR Inception noise.
Music, skating, tagging. That’s how countercultural movements and revolutions began before Twitter and Facebook took over the show.
Thanks to Eurogamer for the news. And, yes, I apologise for the headline.
28/02/2012 at 15:12 Aldehyde says:
I remember playing Jet Set Radio Future on the old Xbox as a launch title I think. Really good game and so I am looking forward to see how this will turn out.
28/02/2012 at 15:14 N'Al says:
This. JSRF was amazing.
28/02/2012 at 15:33 Bhazor says:
JSRF was fun but it was definitely simplified from the original. Some great tracks though.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbWZABnbZxw&feature=related
28/02/2012 at 15:57 tomeoftom says:
OH MY FUCKING GOD THE DAY HAS COME. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA THIS IS MY DREAM COME TRUE
28/02/2012 at 17:54 Nick says:
such a good game, great music too.
28/02/2012 at 18:56 Benny says:
Both are great, though i did prefer the lack of timelimits for a more casual skate about in JSRF. And both soundtracks are superb too.
28/02/2012 at 20:17 DuddBudda says:
loved them both, but only got to play JSR at a mate’s house, happy days :D :D :D :D :D
28/02/2012 at 21:18 ThinkAndGrowWitcher says:
Ahh…those were the days…
A trusty Dreamcast with this game under the bonnet, an H.G Wells HDMI cable (Dreamcast VGA cable), and a fat CRT monitor to reflect the moves of equally stodgy controller-bound fingers in 60hz glory.
Naturally, seeing those Cel-shaded graphs at 480p also required a box of tissues.
28/02/2012 at 23:17 Stupoider says:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSZIej-ZraE
JSRF is my fondest Xbox title. It came with Sega GT on the same disk, I think I might have accidentally put it in one of the boxes for my other games I was selling way back. I’m going to have to hunt it down.
29/02/2012 at 01:32 pydsgfjia says:
I 100%’d JGR end of last year, and have almost completed JSRF again these last two months. Skating around and tagging stuff is still as fun as ever, and genuinely offers fun gameplay. http://tigg.in/21e691
29/02/2012 at 13:25 bill says:
This. I even bought the soundtrack despite one or two of the songs driving me insane through repetition when i was playing it.
I’d buy it.
28/02/2012 at 15:12 trjp says:
Whilst JSR was a great game, JSRF was much, much, much better so I’m holding out for that :)
28/02/2012 at 15:37 chesh says:
Seconded, but hopefully if enough of us buy this they’ll do JSRF too.
Still. OMG. I miss these games so much. I saw a Dreamcast in a thrift store the other day, but didn’t know if it worked :(
28/02/2012 at 20:18 wazups2x says:
Same. I want JSRF so bad!
29/02/2012 at 01:07 adam.jutzi says:
I still have a Dreamcast! Packed away somewheres I think. I should find it and dust off JSR/JGR so’s I’m good at it by the time I can buy it a second time for the prettys.
29/02/2012 at 13:31 bill says:
Only played JSRF – what’s the difference?
Major, or just tweaks? Cos that video looks like JSRF to me.
28/02/2012 at 15:12 DanPryce says:
There are colours other than brown? In a videogame? I’m slightly worried.
28/02/2012 at 15:48 Urthman says:
From Old Man Murray’s epic review of Rune:
Here I am rollerblading on top of a city bus that’s travelling across a layer of concrete beneath which is – presumably – a river of sewage. The Japanese creators of Jet Grind Radio were polite enough not to make me visit it. And that’s after we bombed the darn heck out of them in World War 2! Developers: Note bright colors and sky and sun.
http://www.oldmanmurray.com/longreviews/48.html
28/02/2012 at 15:14 Chizu says:
I loved JSR on the Dreamcast.
Looking foward to this.
28/02/2012 at 15:17 Keilnoth says:
Oh yes, the Dreamcast !
28/02/2012 at 15:25 Antsy says:
It’s still great. Especially with the VGA output.
28/02/2012 at 15:14 Hoaxfish says:
I saw the announcement for this coming to XBLA/PSN… but I didn’t think it’d include PC. Brilliant!
As a sidenote, I really like games that actually try and do something with their music… not just puff it in the background for “atmosphere” or “emotion”.
28/02/2012 at 15:15 Oozo says:
Excellent. I played it on an emulator once, but without a game pad, the analogue stick-tagging got pretty quickly pretty annoying. Looking forward to this, very much.
By the way: I know it was before your times, Adam, so here comes a history lesson for you kids: The silly shoes with the wheels on them were called in-line skates. Skateboards have wheels, too, but they are attached to a board. Crazy times, weren’t they?
28/02/2012 at 15:22 Adam Smith says:
I want it to be known that I fixed that before I read this. I also want it to be known that my age is meaningless in this situation and it is my wandering attention that should be vociferously mocked.
28/02/2012 at 15:39 Oozo says:
As a veteran of the ancient “wood flippers vs. fruit booters”-war (fighting on the doomed side, nonetheless), my scarred and burned skin might have gotten a bit thin. I apologize!
And I’ll gladly stop mocking your age and start mocking your attention instead at the next opportunity.
28/02/2012 at 15:54 Bhazor says:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=424e6jWv3P0
A tribute to the casualties of that war.
28/02/2012 at 15:21 terry says:
I haven’t been this pumped up for pointless grinding since the release of The Old Republic!
28/02/2012 at 15:49 Urthman says:
Haha.
28/02/2012 at 15:54 ankh says:
Nice.
28/02/2012 at 15:22 Chris D says:
It’s been many years since I was down with what the kids were listening to but I’d have to say I think I preferred the dubstep. There’s probably somnething wrong with me.
28/02/2012 at 15:23 Maldomel says:
Never got the chance to play it, but I’ve been in love with the ost for some time now. Great news. Also, the visuals are really pretty.
28/02/2012 at 15:30 Nick Ahlhelm says:
While I love Jet [Grind] Radio, I already own it on Dreamcast and won’t get better at it for PC.
I really want a copy of Jet Set Radio Future though, so I might just buy this one in the hopes that it will convince Sega to release the sequel.
28/02/2012 at 15:32 lordcooper says:
Looks decent, but I’d take a sequel to Airblade over this any day of the week.
28/02/2012 at 17:04 EOT says:
Oh god Airblade….if you need me I’ll be in my bunk.
28/02/2012 at 15:38 Bhazor says:
Smilebit.
One of my all time favourite Japanese developers. Jet Set Radio? Classic. Panzer Dragoon Orta? Super classic. Typing of the Dead?
Want to know what they’ve been doing the past 5 years? Well they were renamed by Sega as Sega Sports R&D. Want to know what products SEGA Sports R&D has released?
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games — (2007) (Wii), (Nintendo DS)
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games — (2009) (Wii), (Nintendo DS)
Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games — (2011) (Wii)
Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games — (2012) (Nintendo 3DS)
Fuck you Sega.
28/02/2012 at 15:58 N'Al says:
On that note, I wonder whether we’ll see a re-release of PDO at some point (particularly since Rez got a HD release a few years ago).
28/02/2012 at 16:51 Vagrant says:
I’m just sad that there is a WORKING PC VERSION of Panzer Dragoon Saga (from
that old game download site I forget the name ofEDIT: Gametap), but alas they never released it before imploding. That was one of the most enjoyable RPGs I’ve ever played.28/02/2012 at 20:05 LennyLeonardo says:
@ Vagrant: Oh my god, yes. It wipes the floor with any other JRPG I can think of. Sigh…..
29/02/2012 at 03:46 Jody Macgregor says:
I love the Mario & Sonic Olympics games. They have a dream mode that’s absolutely mental. The dream version of diving in Beijing has everyone leaping off a flying pirate ship and racing to the ocean while dodging floating blocks and flocks of birds while steering through rings and collecting power-ups. The London Olympics game has a dream longjump event that’s about bouncing off clouds, and dream fencing that has four duellists fighting to knock each other off a cliff while intermittently being attacked by robots.
They’re the best thing that’s been done with either franchise in years.
28/02/2012 at 15:57 JackShandy says:
This is an amazing thing to exist.
28/02/2012 at 16:00 OrbitingEarth says:
YES! One of my favorite games of all time. If you liked JSRF on Xbox, you will love this one. Do yourself a favor and pick it up.
28/02/2012 at 16:14 _PixelNinja says:
Please Jesus/Allah/Buddha — do not tarnish this amazing game with GFWL.
P.S. (Re)release Shenmue after this oh pretty please SEGA!
28/02/2012 at 20:55 neolith says:
“… do not tarnish this amazing game with GFWL.”
This, a thousand times this. Also no other stupid DRM.
28/02/2012 at 16:21 Drayk says:
I just want the soundtrack of this game !
28/02/2012 at 16:25 cassus says:
I’m glad that more people get to try this game. It’s a game that a lot of people have fond memories of, but I can’t help but think that the memories are more due to the style than the substance. I played this on the Dreamcast back in the day, and it kinda blew my mind at the time, but so did Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1. The gameplay in this is even simpler than that… It’s a game worth playing, but more as a history lesson than anything else. Still looks absolutely spectacular, though.
28/02/2012 at 18:13 Gpig says:
It’s possible. I didn’t like JSRF as much when it came out and it may have just been due to nostalgia (and JSRF being objectively worse).
The reason I liked JGR was partially the style, but it was also because I really loved the movement in the game. Being able to move across large portions of levels (on some levels you could do it for the entire level in a loop) without touching the ground just felt so good to me. Every jump I learned rewarded with me with an even farther range of movement that connected me to another jump. I was and am really terrible at Tony Hawk games because all I really want to do is grind forever, and I can’t do that in them without cheat codes. I’ll push it as far as I can and then fall, which is a much less satisfying way for it to end than just running out of rail. When I got JGR I couldn’t believe that there had been a game released specifically targeting my play style.
That and spraying helicopters down was cool.
28/02/2012 at 23:41 aerozol says:
I 100%’d JGR end of last year, and have almost completed JSRF again these last two months.
Skating around and tagging stuff is still as fun as ever, and genuinely offers fun gameplay. Not to mention the soundtrack and graphics.
In my honest opinion the gameplay has only dated slightly- there are some frustrating parts that would probably be glossed over if developed today- but I never felt like there’s a current game out there doing it better (not that there’s any game out there like it, really…). JSRF would probably be much better to port than JGR, considering the possibility of picking up a new fanbase, but even JGR kept me playing to the end so recently.
28/02/2012 at 16:37 WMain00 says:
I’ve still got it on the Dreamcast.
And my Dreamcast is happily VGA plugged into my TV.
Go me!
28/02/2012 at 19:04 The Innocent says:
Heh, me as well. I was just playing JSR a couple months ago actually.
Still, this is great news.
28/02/2012 at 16:53 Vagrant says:
JET SET RADIOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! Second best soundtrack ever, next to Ridge Racer 4. The controls were floaty crap, though.
28/02/2012 at 17:02 Rauten says:
ALL. MY. FUCKING. MONEY.
That is all, you may now continue with your lives.
28/02/2012 at 17:10 hypercrisis says:
the amount of time i spent with this game i could probably draw the layout of each level
28/02/2012 at 17:15 Cinnamon says:
They shouldn’t release this for business reasons. People only want ugly depressing games about doing unpleasant things while listening to “let the bodies hit the floor” by tyrannosaurus skillrex.
28/02/2012 at 17:23 Outright Villainy says:
I played the original at a friend’s pretty often, but I was far too poor at the time to afford a dreamcast (being 11 and all), so this is some good news indeed; I always wanted to play more of this one!
28/02/2012 at 17:25 Davie says:
Well this looks like a beautiful product of the 90s.
28/02/2012 at 18:26 Javier says:
OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG
28/02/2012 at 18:50 eeqiu says:
http://ppt.cc/7mA7
28/02/2012 at 19:12 Tams80 says:
Yeeesss!!! I’m so looking forward to this. A great art style, gameplay and actually decent music.
Also: wub, wub, wub, BWWAARRRR, wub, wub, wub, BWWAARRRR, wub, wub, BWWAARRRR, wub, BWWAARRRR, BWWAARRRR, BWWAARRRR
Too many drops? I don’t actually like this stuff, so I might have got it completely wro… BWWAARRRR!
28/02/2012 at 20:42 LennyLeonardo says:
Yes, you really only need 2 drops: one in the morning and one in the evening before you go to bed. If possible wear an eyemask while sleeping, and try not to stick your finger in there.
28/02/2012 at 20:38 Diogo Ribeiro says:
oly other of od.
28/02/2012 at 21:54 Astrosaur says:
Jet Grind Radio doesn’t seem to be mentioned here. I had it for Dreamcast, but I’m not sure if JSR is the same game. Anyone else play Jet Grind Radio?
28/02/2012 at 21:56 Dominic White says:
JSR is the original name – hence why in-game they keep referring to it as Jet Set Radio. For some reason Sega America thought the game wouldn’t sell unless they shoehorned the word ‘grind’ into the title. I dunno why. They also added Rob Zombie to the US version soundtrack for reasons that I cannot even begin to fathom.
28/02/2012 at 22:15 El Stevo says:
Dreamcast 2
28/02/2012 at 22:54 ChampionHyena says:
This just in: I have completely imploded with joy.
29/02/2012 at 02:03 mda says:
Having never played JSR, the trailer reminds me a lot of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2. Are they so similar?
29/02/2012 at 06:55 rapchee says:
or … you know, you could just play it on an emulator right now, with a controller …
29/02/2012 at 07:09 StonyLogray says:
“tag about tags”
Oh Adam, you card.
29/02/2012 at 12:47 afarrell says:
I was literally just thinking about this game yesterday, when I passed a piece of the city that would’ve made a good level – this and GTA really rearranged how I look at architecture.
Also it’s a great game.
29/02/2012 at 13:19 cosmicolor says:
I hope the port is as good as the port of Rez that found its way onto the Xbox 360 a few years back, If so this is going to be excellent nostalgia.
29/02/2012 at 21:54 PFCskinner says:
The RAGE trailer had a great track written for the trailer by Mark Lanegan
29/02/2012 at 23:48 elnalter says:
Bioware is doing the port, you can only play as Beat and then pay 7.99 for each character unlock. Preordering now gets you Gum.