![]() So what happens when a beloved video game goes extinct? The fan works start pouring in.Jet Set Radio Future Added by MonsieurCravate MonsieurCravate Sorry, data for given user is currently unavailable. The Jet Set crew would make sporadic appearances in SEGA crossover titles, but a new entry in the series just wasn’t in the cards. It happens to a lot of beloved series, even if the fan demand for a sequel is there. Nobody really knows why SEGA has left JSR behind most likely, it was simply a business decision after SEGA shifted priorities. Yet while other franchises continued onward, Jet Set seemed to die just as quickly as it hit the scene. (They’re now, of course, Blizzard Albany.)Īll three JSR games were released within a period of four years. The second was a Game Boy Advance port of the original game, done by Vicarious Visions of Tony Hawk GBA game fame. This game expanded the world and added a couple of gameplay features, but otherwise kept the system more or less intact. The first was a sequel for the Xbox, 2002’s Jet Set Radio Future. When the Jet Set Radio wheels stop turningįollowing the original Dreamcast game’s release, SEGA produced two more Jet Set Radio titles. Which it did - but not in the way fans hoped for. (Looking at you, EA Sports.) SEGA made something that felt like a revolution, something that might carry on forever. ![]() This was long before the sports game genre earned the reputation of just being the same product pumped out every year with a different athlete on the cover. But told through a colorful, punk rock, and anime-esque lens was something wholly unique.īut maybe what really made JSR such a big success was that it was simply a fun and different game. Jet Set Radio was nothing new in this regard. Now, plenty of media took an anti-authoritarian tone. In essence, the perfect culmination of the spirit of the 90s. Told through the lens of a gang of skaters fighting back against corrupt authorities, the story captured a sense of innocence, creativity, love, and rebellion. Perhaps what drew in people the most was its representation of the skating and graffiti subcultures. The skating gameplay was fun, building combos was exhilarating, and most importantly, the aesthetics were a highlight. Understand the concept of loveĪlmost instantly, Jet Set Radio was a hit with players and critics. ![]() Taking inspiration from street art and games like Parappa the Rapper, Smilebit created a cartoonish and striking visual flair that made the game stick out to players back in the day.Ĭombined with a killer soundtrack, famously created by composer and DJ Hideki Naganuma, it was a recipe guaranteed for success. With similar gameplay to other contemporary skating games, SEGA and its in-house development team Smilebit instead opted to make the game stand out with its visuals and attitude.Ĭel-shaded graphics were a relatively new invention at the time, and JSR pushed them closer to the forefront than ever before. Not necessarily influenced by THPS, it nonetheless took the same track in how it represented skating. SEGA had even done so once before itself with the 1997 arcade title Top Skater. The game introduced skateboarding to so many households around the globe, and for the gaming industry, it opened up the floodgates to a whole new market. The spirit of creativity, DIY nature, and camaraderie associated with skating appealed to 90s kids - as well as its rebellious, stick-it-to-the-man attitude.Īrguably, no one subject brought skating to the zenith of its popularity more than Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. ![]() The skate culture had been evolving heavily since the 1970s by the time the 90s came around, it was about to go full-on mainstream. In many ways, Jet Set Radio was the right game at the right time. Before that game launches this summer, let’s take a look at how Jet Set Radio remolded the sports game landscape. The upcoming spiritual successor Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is a testament to this. Jet Set continues to leave its legacy, influencing a gaming subculture that is strong and alive today. Despite a few releases over the following few years, the Jet Set Radio franchise fizzled out faster than you could say “surf’s up.” Alongside titles like Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, the game was a watershed moment in the then-mainstream skating movement.Īnd then, it was over. And for many, no franchise hit that note harder than Jet Set Radio.Īt a time when skating and extreme sports were all the rage, JSR came out to help define how skating games were meant to be made. Franchises like Sonic the Hedgehog made it clear that SEGA had the in-your-face attitude that felt so prevalent before the turn of the millennium. Whereas Nintendo felt safer and more approachable, SEGA and Sony focused more on the hardcore crowd with games targeted at older kids and teenagers. Back in the 1990s, SEGA epitomized the cool side of gaming. ![]()
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