Jet Set Radio
From Sega Retro
Jet Set Radio | |||||
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System(s): Sega Dreamcast, Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, PlayStation Vita, iOS, Android, PC | |||||
Publisher: Sega | |||||
Developer: Smilebit (Original Game), Blit Software (Sega Heritage Version) | |||||
Genre: Action | |||||
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Missing Parameter! |
- For the Game Boy Advance game, see Jet Set Radio (Game Boy Advance).
Jet Set Radio (ジェット セット ラジオ), called Jet Grind Radio in North America, is a video game developed by Smilebit for the Sega Dreamcast.
A version was brought to the Game Boy Advance (also called Jet Set Radio) and a sequel was released for the Xbox in the form of Jet Set Radio Future. Jet Set Radio has recently been re-released for digital services under the Sega Heritage label on Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita, Steam, iOS and Android.
Contents
Plot
The game begins in 2000, Shibuya-cho, and is introduced by Professor K, the DJ of a pirate radio station based in Tokyo-to, who explains the basics of life in Tokyo-to for a "rudie", the term he uses to refer to young people who roam the streets spraying and skating. The city is split into three parts—Shibuya-cho, Benten-cho and Kogane-cho, each of which corresponds to a different time of day. Shibuya is a shopping district full of blue skies and daylight, Benten a nocturnal entertainment spot that represents night, and Kogane a mostly residential area, built on the water, where it is perpetually sunset.
In each of these areas the player will encounter a rival gang - the Love Shockers in Shibuya, the Noise Tanks in Benten, and Poison Jam in Kogane - that attempts to usurp the GG's home turf. The player starts off forming a skate gang which also resides in Shibuya-cho, and thus forms a rivalry between the gangs in the area. After completing a set of menial challenges, designed to introduce the player to the control system, Gum and Tab join the gang forming the first 3 members of the GG's. The player starts out as Beat, a 17-year-old rudie who ran away from home like many other Japanese rudies. Beat was first shunned from gang to gang over and over again until he decided to start his own gang. Beat is the leader and founder of the GG's. The player first starts out spraying a little graffiti in Shibuya-Cho looking to recruit members. First Gum joins, then Tab.
The initial stage is set in a Shibuya bus station, in which the player has to "tag" various parts of the bus station, as well as spray over existing tags, so as to gain the area as part of their territory. While tagging these places, the player is pursued by policemen and their leader, Captain Onishima. The police, the S.W.A.T team, and Goji Rokkaku's Golden Rhinos are yet another obstacle to avoid while defeating rival gangs. Also, Professor K narrates specific parts of the game via his eponymous pirate radio station called Jet Set Radio.
Other gangs which feature in the game as opponents are the Noise Tanks, who appear to be semi-cyborgs, Poison Jam, brutish thugs who wear fish costumes, and the Love Shockers, an all-girl gang made up of jilted lovers. Once the protagonist defeats each gang they hand over their belongings and grant the area to the graffiti gang that dethroned them.
Towards the end of the game the protagonist is hunted by the henchmen of Goji Rokakku, leader of The Golden Rhinos. Once the protagonist successfully usurps the areas seized by the Golden Rhinos, the player then must defeat Goji on a giant rooftop record player, on which Goji has assembled "The Devil's Contract", a record which, when played, is supposed to summon a demon. Goji wants to use the demon to take over Tokyo and eventually the world. After defeating him, however, it is revealed that the record is just an unusual indie release.
Gameplay
Each area of Tokyo-to and Grind City have four game types with each one unlocking after completion of a story mode challenge. Periodically a character will randomly arrive to challenge the GG's in a Rival Challenge
- Story Mode - Investigate an area by spray painting all areas marked with red arrows.
- Jet Crush - Chalennge a GG member to race to a graffiti tag spot. The first to tag the spot wins.
- Jet Graffiti - Spray all areas marked with red arrows under the time limit.
- Jet Technique - Obtain the highest score under the time limit.
- Rival Challenge - A random challenge will appear. A character will either initiate a race or want you to copy their moves and tricks.
Each character has three stats. Power, technique and graffiti. Power determines the amount of health a character has, technique determines how many points a character generates while performing tricks and the character's overall speed, and graffiti determines how many points are earned by tagging graffiti spots and how difficult the on screen indicators will be as well as how many spraycans can be carried at once. The higher the gauge, the more points you get and the more difficult a spray is, but the fewer spraycans can be carried.
The main mechanic revolves around spray painting. Collecting enough spray cans will allow you to tag any area marked with an arrow. When near a spot that can be tagged, an icon will appear over the character's head indicating which graffiti type they will put on the spot which can done by pulling the trigger. Depending on the tag's size, either small, large or extra large will determine the amount of time needed to spray the area. Small tags take no time at all, but large and extra large tags will initiate a mini game. Onscreen arrows will appear requiring the player to tilt the control stick in specific directions. Each indicator links with another and grades overall performance. By completing all the on screen indicators, this will add to a combo which provides increasingly difficult motions that provide more points. Tilting the control stick too fast or inputting the wrong direction will automatically lose the spraycan and start the combo over.
During story missions, the police or some other law enforcement will slowly catch on to any vandalism appearing in town. Depending on how many graffiti spots are tagged determine when authorities appear and their difficulty. Drones will try to jump onto you to slow you down and eventually knock you over preventing you from escaping quickly. Other threats such as officers will appear with weapons to try to "regulate" vandalists. Boosting with the trigger makes you invulnerable to most of their attacks, but some can also be tired out from chasing you, or you can knock them over to spray their backs to stun them for a period of time. Other threats such as helicopters, assassins or jetpack patrollers will appear in successive missions and increased threat levels. The general tactic to avoid them is to flee the area or lure any potential away from graffiti tag spots. Some law enforcement types may disappear based on the threat level achieved providing easier access to graffiti tag spots.
Playable Characters
- Beat
- Gum
- Corn/Tab
- Garam
- Yoyo
- Garam
- Mew
- Combo
- Cube
- Piranah
- Slate
- Love Shockers
- Noise Tank
- Poison Jam
- Goji
- Pots
Items
Graffiti
Each environment in the game allows you to tag areas with three types of graffiti sizes. Unlocking characters and collecting Graffiti Soul icons in stages will provide additional graffiti artwork to assign. In addition graffiti can be created from the in-game graffiti error. The Dreamcast version allowed users to create and trade artwork on a Dreamcast VMU and trade locally or online. In addition Sega provided DLC for the game that featured artwork not seen in the game normally. Unfortunately all of Sega's online services for the system have since been shut down rendering the online trade feature useless.
When Sega re-released the game under the Sega Heritage line Sega did not allow graffiti tags to be tradable online, but still allowed users to create their own tags under a finite amount. Mobile versions of the game, as well as the PlayStation Vita version allowed to take stored images or camera snapshots for graffiti tags.
Soundtrack
There are thirty overall tracks that have been made for Jet Set Radio across all regions and versions of the game. The entire soundtrack (Save for one) was brought together in the Sega Heritage release of the game. Most of the main levels have either a random cycle of select songs, or in challenge missions only one song that will play in the background during gameplay. The soundtrack was released on CD in Japan in 2000 by Universal Music Japan and the US version was released in 2012 by Sumthin Else Records.
Name | Artist | Note |
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"Let Mom Sleep" | Hideki Naganuma | |
"Humming the Baseline" | Hideki Naganuma | |
"Moody's Shuffle" | Hideki Naganuma | |
"Rock It On" | Hideki Naganuma | |
"Sneakman" | Hideki Naganuma | |
"Sweet Soul Brother" | Hideki Naganuma | |
"That's Enough" | Hideki Naganuma | |
"Grace and Glory" | Hideki Naganuma | |
"Funky Radio" | B.B. Rights | |
"Mischievous Boy" | Castle Logical | |
"Dunny Boy Williamson Show" | Deavid Soul | Japanese Version Only |
"Miller Ball Breakers" | Deavid Soul | |
"On the Bowl (A. Fargus Remix)" | Deavid Soul | |
"Up-Set Attack" | Deavid Soul | |
"Yappie Feet" | Deavid Soul | Not available in the Sega Heritage Release |
"Yellow Bream" | F-Fields | |
"Magical Girl" | Guitar Vader | |
"Super Brothers" | Guitar Vader | |
"OK House" | Idol Taxi | |
"Bout the City" | Reps | |
"Everybody Jump Around | Richard Jacques | |
"Electric Tooth Brush" | Toronto | |
"Just Got Wicked" | Cold | US Version Only |
"Recipe for the Perfect Afro" | Feature Cast | PAL Version Only |
"Improvise" | Jurassic 5 | US and PAL Versions Only |
"Patrol Knob" | Mix Master Mike | US and PAL Versions Only |
"Many Styles" | O.B. One | PAL Version Only |
"Slow" | Professor Murder Music | US Version Only |
"Dragula" | Rob Zombie | US Version Only |
"Funky Plucker" | Semi Detached | PAL Version Only |
VMU Features
The Dreamcast version supports one save file for gameplay progression, one for system settings, and three types of graffiti images created within the graffiti editor in small, large and extra large sizes.
History
Jet Set Radio was first announced at the 1999 Tokyo Game Show and generated a prodigious amount of press attention due to its use of the then revolutionary rendering technique, "cel-shading". Now commonplace in game design, cel-shading allows for a "cartoon-like" appearance for objects rendered in 3D.
There are four slightly different releases of Jet Set Radio. The original game was considered unappealing by Sega of America and Sega Europe, who both made steps to try and localise the overly-Japanese atmosphere into something that had a better chance of selling in their target markets.
Original Release
The original release of Jet Set Radio first went on sale in Japan on the 29th of June, 2000. This is a bog-standard version of the game which was superseded by later versions.
When brought to North America, the game ran into unforeseen trademark issues, causing it to be renamed "Jet Grind Radio". This was an almost last-minute change, meaning only the title screen and credits were changed - the term "Jet Set Radio" is still heard numerous times in-game. English voice actors were brought in to re-dub the characters and two entirely new levels were created. Some music was also changed, bringing in American hip hop bands to replace Japanese tunes. Online support through SegaNet was also included, allowing users to download tags.
PAL regions received Jet Set Radio shortly afterwards, with all the additions of the North American version, bar the changed name. Once again some of the music was replaced.
De La Jet Set Radio
Not wanting to be left behind, Japan would recieve an updated version of the game titled De La Jet Set Radio. De La contains the additions of the overseas versions, however also tweaks gameplay, fixes several bugs in the process. De La Jet Set Radio is considered to be easier to pick up and play as a result. Its music is adopted from the North American release. De La was orignally only available via Sega Direct, however a full retail version showed up in the months which followed.
Though sales were strong enough in Japan to lead to a Dorikore re-release, Jet Set Radio largely failed to capture the market in the west.
Sega Heritage Digital Release
The Sega Heritage digital re-release, developed by Blit Software, saw an updated control scheme that allowed the camera to be directly controlled. The soundtrack includes 29 of the 30 songs featured in the original game, which includes songs that were only featured in specific regions. It also features a short documentary as well as unlockable songs from Jet Set Radio Future for the console, PC and Playstation Vita versions. Leaderboards and achievements are available based on platform. Some versions allow to import graffiti from an image library or via a camera snapshot. All of the bonus songs are readily unlocked in the mobile versions and omits the documentary to conserve space.
The Rude Awakening
Included with most versions of this release features a documentary that includes interviews with key members of developers including Ryuta Ueda, Masayoshi Kikuchi, Eric Haze, and Hideki Naganuma.
The interview is primarily in English, but has been translated subtitles for several other languages. It also includes footage of the conversion in development stages which include graphical inconsistency and HUD elements not being proportioned to the wide aspect ratio.
It's runtime is 13:29 and can be found under the bonuses menu.
Production Credits
Dreamcast Version
Executive Producer: Shun Arai
Chief Producer: Takayuki Kawagoe
Producer: Osamu Sato
Director: Masayoshi Kikuchi
Senior Planner: Masayoshi Yokoyama
Planners: Toru Oosaki, Norinisa Iwasaki, Takahiro Tabata, Jun Orihara, Yusuke Nakadaira
Chief Programmer: Kazuhisa Hasuoka
Senior Programmer: Outa Sano
Programmers: Kuniniko Mori, Toshihsa Saitou, Touryu Sno, Kenichi Tanase
Chief Graphic Designers: Ryuta Ueda, Kazuki Hosokawa
Senior Graphic Designers: Mano Takayanagi, Tomokazu Honma, Yuichi Higuchi
Graphic Designers: Yusuke Ichikawa, Yousuke Karasawa, Daisuke Tomoda, Hiromi Kawamata, Masato Sekiguchi, Kaori Shoji, Sacniko Morosawa, Nanako Yarimizu, Yuka Warigai, Yumi Morikawa, Makoto Takanasni, Junichi Kakutani, Masamitsu Hayashi
Sound Producer: Yukifumi Makino
Sound Director: Fumitaka Shibata
Music Composer & Sound Effects: Hideki Naganuma
Recording Studio: Wave Master Studio
Chief Recording Engineer: Hirokazu Akashi
Recording Engineer: Yoshitada Miya, Sawako Sogabe
Package & Manual: Kaoru Ichigozaki, Fumiaki Tomura, Toshiki Yamaguchi
Web Site Programmer: Tomonobu Takahashi
Publcity: Miho Masuda
Bgm Performed By: B.B Rights, F-Fields, Reps, Deavid Soul, Idol Taxi, Richard Jacques, Castle Logical, Toronto
Motion Talent: Akira Sakai, Hiroshi Kataoka, Tetsu, Asuka Sekine, Kouros
Logo & Package Design: Graffic Takora Corp.
Graffiti Artists: Erik Haze, Edge, Uecho, Enas, Higuchin, Chikpon, K-Chap
Special Thanks: Michiaki Uchida, Naohiro Warama, Yasuhiro Suzuki, Hisao Oguchi, Takashi Iwade, Tatsuya Andou(Isao Corp. Ltd.), Keiichirou Suzuki, Touru Nishino, Akira Goto, Shuji Hori, Team Andromeda(Original Sega AM6)
Sega of America Dreamcast Inc.
Localzation Producers: Jason Kuo, Klayton Vorlick, Mari N. Snaal
Localzation Manager: Osamu Shinamiya
Product Manager: Rob Alvarez
Associate Product Manager: Dennis Lee
Marketing Director: John Golden
Public Relations: Heater Hawkins, Gwen Marker
Director Creative Services: Robert Schonfisch
Creative Services Specialist: Angela Santos
Promotions: Heater Kashner
Online Senior Producer: A. J. Briones
Online Senior Software Engineer: Alexander Villagran
Online Software Engineer: Shilpa Kulkarni
Lead Tester: Steve Peck
Assistant Lead Testers: Daniel Chang, Adam Terminelld
Sega Europe Ltd.
Director Of Product Development: Naohiko Hishino
Executive Producer: Kats Sato
Producer: Daniel Llewellyn
Assistant Producer: Akiko Koutstal
Test Manager: Jason Cumbersatcn
Lead Testers: Nick Benet, Dawiel Slater, Pete O'brien, Mark Dearsley, Wayne Gardner
Localisation Coordinator: Roberto Parraga-Sawchez
Translators: Anselika Michitscn, Roberto Parraga-Sawchez
European Product Marketing Manager: Jie Pride
European Product Marketing Exective: Mark Fisher
Project Management: Koji Kuroki, Shinobu Shindo
Manual Translation, DTP: Michael Hanna
Voice Director & Casting: Greg Weber (Webtone)
Recording Engineer(Webtone): Greg Weber, David Nowlin
Voice Talent: Andria Batise, Kevin Blackton, Billy Brown, Ryan Canfield, Jeromy Carssow, Matthew Chavez, Errin Clark, Jessica Crispi, Steve Duell, James Gutierrez, Machiko Harashima, Corina Harman, Marcie Henderson, Mike Inouve, Roger Jackson, Jeremy Jones, Jeff Kramer, Resi Mamizuka, Kevin Miller, David Nowlin, Kevin Oshea, Jason Tinker, Andrew Willis, Justin Worsham
Special Thanks: Sandy Castagnola
Cooperation With: ADX
Created By: Smilebit
Presented By: Sega
Sega Heritage Version
Original Game developed by SEGA
Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Playstation Vita, PC, iOS and Android versions by Blit Software
Platform Development: Miguel Angel Horna, Miguel Angel Pastor, Javier Campo, Jorge Cabezas, Juan José Garrido, Ramón Nafria, Tony Cabello, Víctor Castaño, Sergi Díaz
Sega of America
Chairman: Naoya Tsurumi
CEO: Tatsuyuki Miyazaki
CCO: Masanao Maeda
COO/CFO/President: John Cheng
VP of Digital Business: Chris Olson
Director of Digital Planning: Naoki Kameda
Director of Mobile Business: David Zemke
Director of PD: Todd Hartwig
Digital Brand Manager: Ken Balough
Digital Marketing Co-ordinator: Mia Putrino
Digital Campaign Manager: Hilarree Wong
Creative Director: Ethan Eihorn
Senior Business Development: Dai Kudo
Director of Legal: Liana Larson
Legal Counsel: Jerusha Herman
Developing Operations Director: John Merlino
Director of Creative Services: Jen Groeling
Media and Events Manager: Teri Higgins
Production Manager: Mary Disbrow
Graphic Designer: Marco Garcia
Video Production Manager: Carl Smolka
Assistant Video Editor: Greg Ammen
Senior Flash Designer: Mike Dobbins
Community Manager: Kellie Parker, Julian Mehlfeld
Associate Community Manager: Kate Bryant
Sega of Europe
COO: Jurgen Post
CFO: John Ward
Senior Vice President, Business Planning: Yusuke Suai
Director of Digital Distribution (Console and Mobile): Mike Evans
Director of Development Services West: Jim Woods
Senior Producer: Neil Postlethwaite
Producer: Justyn McLean
Head of Studio Localisation and ESD: Charlotte O'Connor
Assistant Producer: Renee Teloka
Director of Legal & Business Affairs: Nicky Ormrod, Theo Shum
Legal Executive: Marine Cabour
Digital PR Executive: Amy White
Head of QA/Localisation QA: Ghulam Khan
Production Manager: Teressa Wright
Resource Manager: Ben Jackson
Localisation Manager: Marta Lois González
Localisation Project Supervisor: Antonella Marras
Lead Translators: Jesús Álvarez, Luis J. Paredes, Nicole Thomer
Translators: Anais Maniaval, Chiara Canu, Daniela Kaynert, Gabriel Casas, Giulia Checchi, Giuseppe Rosa, Ronan Salon, Sebastián Salguero, Tatjana Nath
Mastering, Equipment and Submissions Manager: Dave Pither
Senior Mastering Technicians: Phil Adams, Mike Veness
Assistant Mastering Technicians: Paul Hann, Shaun Young
Project Lead: James Langtry
Language QA Supervisor: Alessandro Irranca
Language Team Lead: Pedro L. Ortega
Language Testers: Caroline Rajcom, Eleonora Willella, Irene Schauermann, David Juanes, Fernando Azevedo
Administration and Finance Coordinator: Chris Bien
QA Administrator: Chris Geiles
Shift Monitors: Chris Bailey, Tony Langan
SEGA UK
UK Managing Director: John Clark
UK Marketing Director: Amanda Farr
UK Senior Product Manager: Ben Walker
UK PR Managers: Fay Burgin, Stefan McGarry
UK Channel Marketing Manager: Clare Hawkins
SEGA International
International Sales Director: Alison Gould
Head of International Sales: Simon Inch
International Account Executive: Ben Prouty
International Sales Administrator: Sally Moulds
SEGA Networks
President and CEO: Haruki Satomi
Corporate Strategy Division, VP and Corporate Officer:Katsuhiro Ichinose
Business Division, VP and Corporate Officer: Minoru Iwaki
Business Development Department: Kazuma Iguchi, Manato Ito
Localization Director: Daisuke Nojiri
Language Testers: Yukihisa Ooba, Masami Murata, Yasuo Komatsu
Lineup Planning Team: Kyoko Ueno
PR/WEB section: Maki Kobayashi
Overseas Digital Business Team: Satomi Okuma
Music Credits
"Slow"
Written by Roman Marisak and Jeff Schartoff
Performed by Professional Murder Music
Courtesy of Geffen Records under license from
Universal Music Enterprises
Published by Professional Murder Music (ASCAP)
"Just Got Wicked"
Written by Ronald Ward Jr., Terry Balsamo,
Samuel McCandless, Kelly Haynes and Jeremy Marshall
Performed by Cold
Courtesy of Geffen Records under license from
Universal Music Enterprises
© Gimme Back My Publishing (ASCAP) admin by Bug,
© 2000 WB Music Corp. (ASCAP) & Into Everything Music (ASCAP)
All Rights obo Into Everything Music (ASCAP) admin by
WB Music Corp. (ASCAP) All Rights Reserved
"Dragula"
Written by Rob Zombie and Scott Humphrey
Performed by Rob Zombie
Courtesy of Geffen Records under license from
Universal Music Enterprises
© 2000 WB Music Corp. (ASCAP) and Demonoid Deluxe Music (ASCAP)
All Rights obo itself and Demonoid Deluxe Music admin by
WB Music Corp. (ASCAP) All Rights Reserved
"Improvise"
Written by Marc Stewart, Charles Stewart, Mark Potsic,
Courtenay Henderson, Dante Givens, Lucas McFadden and Quincy Jones
Performed by Jurassic 5
Courtesy of Interscope Records under license from
Universal Music Enterprises
Published by Macari And Me (ASCAP), Manphibian Music (ASCAP),
DJ Nu Mark Music (BMI), Najla Music (ASCAP), Inshallah Music (ASCAP),
Upper Cut Music (ASCAP), © 2000 Warner-Tamerlane Pub Corp.
(BMI) All Rights Reserved
Contains sample of "The Hot Rock" performed by Quincy Jones
Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp.
"Funky Plucker"
Written and Performed by Ian Taylor and Justin Bennitt
© 1998 Copyright Control Ian Taylor, Justin Bennitt
"Recipe For The Perfect Afro"
Written by Lee Mintram
Performed by Feature Cast
Courtesy of: Catskills Records Ltd.
Published by Paul Rodriguez Music Ltd.
"Patrol Knob"
Written and Performed by Mix Master Mike
Courtesy of Copeland Entertainment
Published by Mike Schwartz
Additional Software Credits
Temolo library
Copyright (C) 2002-2009 Xiph.org Foundation
Changes Copyright (C) 2009-2010 Robin Watts for Pinknoise Productions Ltd
vs-android Copyright (c) 2012 Gavin Pugh
Produced by SEGA Networks
Presented by SEGA
©SEGA/©SEGA Networks
Presented by SEGA ©SEGA
The Rude Awakening Documentary
Written and Produced by Anthony Caulfield and Nicola Caulfield
Contributors: Ryuta Ueda, Masayoshi Kikuchi, Eric Haze, and Hideki Naganuma
US Filming: Matthew Schroeder
Japanese Filming: Flying Penguin Pictures
Graphics: Funkiton Design & Publishing
SEGA: Gary Moore, Justyn McLean, Kim Rogers, Ben Harborne, Nicolas Stemelen, Mike Masuku, Sean Bamberger, Alben Pedroso
Special Thanks: Flying Penguin Pictures, Istvan Tajnay
Artwork
- Jgr logo.jpg
- Jsr professork.jpg
Physical Scans
Dreamcast Version
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Based on 48 reviews |
Dreamcast, BR |
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External Links
- Sega of Japan catalogue pages: Original, De la version