Cel-Shaded Xtreme Sports

Jet Set Radio

When someone says "Sega Dreamcast", I automatically picture Jet Set Radio in my head. I'm not video game historian or cultural analyst, but I feel like the Dreamcast occupied a very specific aesthetic at very certain time. The time, of course, being late 90s and early 2000s. The aesthetic is something I can't quite put into words. I believe it comes from each game striving to appear unique in its on way. This resulted in many games in the Dreamcast library truly standing out not only from each other, but from other games on other consoles. It's a combination of attitude and rebelliousness along with playfulness and whackiness. The two best titles that I believe more most exemplary of these descriptors is Space Channel 5 (I don't like it, but my sister did) and my absolute favorite on the console and one of my favorites ever: Jet Set Radio.

Love at First Playthrough

I actually acquired my Dreamcast after the console already died in 2002 if I recall. It came with a bundle of games and one of those games was Jet Set Radio. I've seen commercials of it before while I was watching X-Games. It definitely made me want to play it. When I finally got my hands on it, I was immediately hooked. I was a skater boy at the time, so the Tony Hawk series of games was my jam. Those games did not prepare me for JSR. I was expecting to ride around in roller blades performing tricks, completing specific objectives, collecting letters or other icons like "S-K-A-T-E", and generally just trying to rack up a high score like in Tony Hawk. I got something completely different and so much better.The only thing Tony Hawk and JSR share in common is riding around performing tricks and trying to get a high score. That's it.

Unique Story

There isn't much of a story in the first four Tony Hawk games. Jet Set Radio has a unique and cool story. It follows a gang of roller blading grafitti artists, called the "GGs", as they try to muscle their way into the streets of Tokyo-To and fend off rival gangs. One-by-one, they defeat their rival gangs only for things to get increasingly suspicious. It is then revealed that a group calling themselves the Golden Rihnos where pulling their rival's strings. After a few scuffles with the Rhinos, it is then revealed that a man named Goji Rokkaku is behind it all and he plans to use a vinyl record to summon a demon and grant his wish of putting his 21st Century Project into effect. The GGs are the only ones standing the way. This is all being narrated by one of the most spectacular characters ever: DJ Professor K. Yes, it's that crazy. Yes, it's absolutely awesome. Along with the artwork and aesthetics, I feel as though a story this whacky and zany could only live on the Dreamcast.

Baddies

The only objective you really have to complete each level is to spray your grafitt at designated spots throughout. However, you must do this while avoiding the police, competing against rival gang members, and fleeing superpowered bad guys. I love how it continuously escalates each of these confrontations as the story progresses. At first, you're just fighting ordinary police officers. Then it's the motorcyclists. Then it's the SWAT team. Then it's the paratroopers. Then it's the choppers. Then it's the tanks. At first, you're just covering your rival's grafitti with your own. Then your bumping heads throughout the level. Then you have to chase them down and tag their backs in order to finally eliminate them. And when I say super powered bad guys, I'm talking about acrobatic freaks with whips and batons, high-flying electrifiers, enourmous mutants, and freaks on jetpacks. This culminates in a final showdown with Goji Rokkaku in which you have to tag different pieces of a giant mechanical contraption while avoiding huge, robotic rhinos and their rhino headed strippers. At long last, Goji is exposed. You tag him and send him to his doom and listen to the smoothest celebratory music ever.

Roller Blade Controls

The gameplay is ultimately what sells this game. Just like actualy roller blading (I had roller blades as a kid), it takes a bit of getting used to. You stumble and fall at first. Then you understand that you must move your legs in a certain dashing motion in order to propel yourself forward. Doing so generates momentum and you can go even faster. You must be careful, the faster you go, the harder it is to stop. So don't go out mashing into things. Jet Set Radio's handles are a apt metaphor for real rollerblading. It may seem initially clunky at first, but once you acknowledge the motion the game wants you play with, you begin manuevering your character in order to build more momentum by dashing, grinding, and performing aerial tricks. Next thing you know, you're figuring out how to string ramps, rails, and jumps in order to keep the combo going and racking up that high score. It becomes addicting; even more so than Tony Hawk or any other xtreme sports game at the time.

I Still Love It

I played the hell out of this back in middle school. I'm not a completionist at all, but this is one game where I managed to unlock everything. Not that it's difficult or anything. I'm just making a comment on how addicting the game is. I still play it regularly; wether on the Dreamcast or on Steam. It just never gets old to me. Moreover, I still hold this iteration of the cel shaded xtreme sports saga, which also includes Jet Set Radio Future and Bomb Rush Cyberfunk as the absolute best. Not that those games are slouches; they're absolutely amazing. The only edge those two games have over JSR is maybe the controls and BRC has the best tagging system. But that's a discussion for another time. I'm going to give Jet Set Radio another playthrough. You come, too.