If you had a Dreamcast in the early 2000s, you’d be forgiven for believing that SEGA was the coolest game creator in the world. Almost every single high-profile first-party release on the ill-fated console was a window into just how creative the Japanese corporation really was. It’s no surprise, then, that the company has spent a lot of time re-releasing its coveted back catalogue recently.
Jet Set Radio, however, is different from its Dreamcast Classic XBLA predecessors. While
Sonic Adventure,
Space Channel 5 Part 2,
SEGA Bass Fishing and
Crazy Taxi have all been re-released in some form on PlayStation 2 and PC prior to their HD updates, Smilebit’s contemporary skating classic has only ever seen light of day on SEGA’s final home console.
This would mean that SEGA has finally cracked the code to emulating its 128-bit machine on high definition consoles. But I’ve been told that this isn’t just a straightforward emulation job - developers are really digging into the original source material and refitting it to impress a new generation of gamers.
Graphically, the improvements made here will be familiar to anyone who’s experienced a PlayStation 2 HD Collection re-release.
Jet Set Radio’s release in 2000 was notable, however, for its pioneering use of the ‘cel-shaded’ art style - a distinctive look that made you feel like you were playing a living, breathing comic book or animation. In this generation dominated by brown shooters and dark adventure games, SEGA’s vivid colour and striking design is as powerful today - perhaps even more so - than it was when it was originally released.
In terms of gameplay content, nothing’s changed. You play as a member of an in-your-face street gang called the GG’s, which controls a number of territories within the fictional city of Tokyo-to. As you get inducted into the crew, rival gangs try to step on your turf and claim it for themselves. Obviously you can’t have that, so you become embroiled in a nationwide street war that sees you grind, skate and paint the town red to become victorious.
Stages in
Jet Set Radio are set in open, urban areas full of railings, benches, bus terminals, speeding cars and cityscape billboards. The objective is to collect floating spraypaint cans and ‘tag’ specific locations to mark your territory. Some tags only need you to spray once, as you’re grinding down a rail or wall-riding on a billboard - but the bigger tags require you to move the left analogue stick in various ways to ‘directly’ spray your graffiti on. How you tackle each stage is up to you - as long as you survive, that is.
This is where
Jet Set Radio gets a little bit extreme. Spraypainting things seems easy enough, but it doesn’t come without consequences - after a while, the police will come running after you to try and put you in irons. If you avoid the patrolmen for long enough, you’ll encounter a pissed off detective called Onishima. He has a gun, and he wants to put bullets in you. In later levels, Onishima will become so enraged that he’ll start to send out riot police and helicopters armed with missile launchers!
Comical presentation isn’t the only thing that has been maintained in this update. The level design and gameplay mechanics still stand up, twelve years after its original Dreamcast release. There were some graphical glitches that I don’t remember encountering in the original game - SEGA tells me it’s still fixing all the bugs - and there are some welcome controller modifications such as the inclusion of camera control on the right analogue stick (something the Dreamcast controller lacked).
But otherwise, it’s the same colourful game that you remember (and probably loved, if you bought it). I can’t wait to see it in its full glory when its released on XBLA and PSN this Summer.
