Cel-Shaded X-treme Sports: Re-Tag

Cel-Shaded Xtreme Sports Saga

I love the "Cel-Shaded Xtreme Sports Saga". That's what I am going to call it. I am not an authority in any capacity, but I am going to make up my own terminology anyways.The Cel-Shaded Extreme Sports Saga consists of three games: Jet Set Radio, Jet Set Radio Future, and Bombrush Cyberfunk. There's probably many more games out there that can be included in the category of Cel-Shaded Extreme Sports, but these are the most obvious selections and they are intimitely linked to one another.All three are absolutely worth playing and among my favorite games ever. If I where to rank them from best to worst, it would be thus: Jet Set Radio, Bombrush Cyberfunk, then Jet Set Radio Future.

Jet Set Radio Future

Jet Set Radio Future is my least favorite. It's still an amazing game that I will always wholeheartedly recommend it. I just prefer Bombrush and the original Jet Set Radio. A big reason is that the story in Future is the least interesting and so are the characters along the way. Hayashi doesn't compare at all to Onishima. That is a wimpy, entitled nerd versus frustrated, cigar chomping, police chief that's undoubtedly putting up with a bitch of a wife and it's not even close. Hell, the police lady in Bombrush, Rietveld is more interesting than Hayashi. She actually had a bit of an arc. I will say, though, that Hayashi made for a fun boss battle. The police where also wimpy in this game. They wheren't even present during the levels. They only appeared once all the tags where cleared and inside of a fenced off area where you had to run them over and tag their backs. Not challenging and it interrupts the flow of the game. Another point of contention is the tagging. They abandoned the directional input mini-game of the first JSR in favor of simply holding the right trigger for all tags, even the large ones. I suspect the intent was to keep the pace of the game going whether you are rolling or grinding or airing. Well, it doesn't always connect, even when you hold down the trigger for the duration. Your best bet is to slow down in order to not miss a tag, which kind of defeats the point of keeping the flow going. My last complaint: JSRF is a little to fast for me. It makes the levels feel cluttered when they really aren't. Maybe I'm just getting old and my reflexes arent' what they used to be. These are my grievances and it's why JSRF is my least favorite. I've complained quite a lot, but I asure you, I love the hell out of this game. I'm only complaining because I'm comparing it to JSR and BRC.

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is definitely better than Jet Set Radio Future and is actually quite close to the original Jet Set Radio in quality. It has the best tagging system. A genius way to hold all your grafitti arts at once and use them whenever you like. The only issue is either having to memorize the directions or having to look up the directions each time. It's still great that they kept a directional input mini-game. However, I always loved the rush of finishing up a tag before the police knock you over. So, I disliked that the whole game freezes so that you can complete a tag. The police is present in this game more so than on Future, but they're also not exactly a menace. It can get a little sketchy when they gang up on you and send their chain-arm robots, but as long as you keep your cool, you won't go down. I also love the controls in BRC. It's a perfect halfway point between those of Future and the JSR. It's perfectly balanced, you can perform mid-air and mid-grind tricks to keep your speed, but you aren't flyoff platforms or over jumping because you're going too fast. The only real knock is that the story has a plot contrivance that bothered me. After trying to kill you for half the game, DJ Cypher is suddenly your friend because, bro, we where just trying to jog your memory? I don't buy it. Also, the music is the weakest in this game.

JET SET RADIOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

The original Jet Set Radio is my favorite game on the Dreamcast and my favorite of the Cel-Shaded Xtreme Sports saga. First of all, the music here is the absolute best. Not only is Naganuma at the top of his game here, but the licensed tracks are nothing but bangers. We're talking Rob Zomie, Cold, Mix Master Mike, Profesional Murder Music, Jurassic 5, and my absolute favorite in all of the Jet Radio universe: Guitar Vader. Guitar Vader rules! And so does Jet Set Radio. I've already elaborated on why I love this game so much. All I'm going to add is that much prefer the rush of having to dodge the police, rival gangs, and super villains while committing petty crimes. None of the other games have this. Not even close. The only lackluster thing about JSR is that the controls can be a bit on the sluggish side compared to the other two. Once you get used to it, though, it's really not that bad.

Guitar Vader

I massively recommend each one of these games. You simply can't go wrong with any of these. Each of their stories is independent of one another. So, you can choose to play them in any order you like. I'm old, so I began with Jet Set Radio on the Dreamcast, followed by Jet Set Radio Future on the orignal Xbox. I was pleased to see a team of developers pay much love and homage to these games in the form of Bomb Rush Cyberfunk. That game did not dissapoint. I just wish I can obtain a CD of Guitar Vader albums. They where impossible to find even back then. I bet if I where to find them now they would be outrageously expensive. Too bad....