Despite the rough ride the Dreamcast had back in the day, it definitely brought us some diamonds, didn’t it? Sonic Adventure 1 and 2, Power Stone, Trickstyle and that’s just to name a few personal picks…
Jet Set Radio was the quirky, whimsical, neon-infused sporty, adventure street-art themed video game that first came into our lives via the Dreamcast. And it was arguably one of the standout titles on that platform and later spawned a sequel, Jet Set Radio Future on Xbox in 2002. I’m still not-so-secretly hoping for a reboot someday.
Jet Set Radio is an absolute classic, and it remains so to this day. It had an unlikely, unique premise where you’re part of a graffiti gang, tagging and running away from the cops in a colourful urban playground – all of which proved to make for a very fun video game. It’s a thing of boundless creativity.
Its style – and its genre – is all very much of its time. Skating games were big back in the late 90s and early 2000s, particularly with Neversoft’s Tony Hawk: Pro Skater defining the era in so many ways. Jet Set Radio, though, is a very different take, with its own distinctive aesthetics and colourful swagger. In a very vivid, fictionalised Tokyo, you play as a member of a youth gang and, well, basically tag everywhere with graffiti and not get caught by the cops. The spray-painting turf war is realised with incredible zest.
Jet Set Radio’s thematic influence can still be felt today, almost two decades on in many current generation titles in which street art is used as an exciting video game mechanic. Splatoon is a prime example as many fans draw parallels between the two games, with many fans dubbing Splatoon as Nintendo’s equivalent to Jet Set Radio. Indeed, the turf war mechanic feels like an expansion of Jet Set Radio’s – you could argue that it’s the very heart of both games. Another game where the influence is felt includes the upcoming rollerblading adventure game, Neon Tail, which comes from the people behind Rayman Origins. The game has very similar aesthetics.