very cool and very rough around the edges the more you play and get used to it the better it feels, juking the enemies and trying not to alert them to get to medium and large sprays and routing around doing those first is fine but the flying enemies just make me angry because they can hit you at so many unfortunate times and it always feels like you couldnt have done anything better to avoid it, hoping future is even better and i cant wait to play bomb rush cyberfunk from what ive seen of it because doing skate tricks inbetween grinds and jumps when youre on the ground helps the flow of the game so much from what i can imagine

Thanks again to Pangburn for convincing me to give this another chance and thoroughly looking over my resulting thoughts.

Here’s a fun little drinking game: open up a video of Jet Set Radio’s tutorial, and take a sip for every comment complaining or memeing about the difficulty. As silly as this sounds, there appears to be some veneer of truth to Jet Set Radio’s reputation as a game where you need a “tutorial for the tutorial,” considering that more people have beaten the full story mode on Steam than have actually cleared the tutorial. As a result, the tutorial has become a microcosm of Jet Set Radio’s critical reputation nowadays when judging its gameplay: take a scan around popular circles, and you’ll find that some of the most frequently used descriptors include “jank,” “frustrating,” and “outdated.” I, on the other hand, would like to reintroduce a different descriptor to the conversation: “misunderstood.”

Back in 2017, I was similarly convinced that the game suffered from flimsy controls and level design, but the more I tinkered with it in the last three weeks, the more I came to realize its consistency regarding its mechanical intersections. Jet Set Radio eschews complex input potential in exchange for simple inputs (skating with the left joystick, jumping, and boosting) and context-sensitive movement using rails and walls for grinding. This works in its favor because the game never plants the player into situations of fuzzy context: all grindable walls and rails behave the exact same way throughout the game and are carefully spaced apart in each sub-area to allow players to naturally jump between setpieces as long as they maintain momentum. Additionally, Jet Set Radio has fairly little RNG, and what little there is can usually be mitigated. Enemy patterns and waves (the latter of which can be directly controlled via keeping an eye on the number of sprayed graffitis) play out exactly the same every time, allowing for players to minimize enemy impact. Similarly, stages have practically no moving physical setpieces outside of easily avoidable cars and trains; they are set to a consistent timer, and even if players are unaware of the exact timing, they give enough advance warning via honks upon approaching so players can jump out of the way. Again, some enemies are tougher to pin down, such as the jetpack enemies in “Fight or Flight” with their aerial pathing/tracking or the burly bodyguard enemies sometimes despawning and respawning upon aggroing them, but these are rare exceptions when considering the game’s enemy roster as a whole.

As a result of this general mechanical consistency, the game’s robust level design allows for a great degree of freedom regarding level approaches. This is where the adjacent topic of character selection becomes particularly relevant. Pangburn has brought up that this system acts as a pseudo-difficulty slider, though I would like to expand upon his point regarding graffiti. Characters with less graffiti skills will not gain as many points via completing graffiti QTE chains, but come with the advantage of requiring less sprays. This can be further exploited due to QTE consistency: spray inputs are graffiti-skill dependent and will remain the same for every graffiti in the game. As a result, players can repeat the cycle of spraying the first single input and immediately disengaging the QTE with LT. By doing so, they can “reset” the graffiti QTE and tap LT again to reenter the QTE sequence and bring up the exact same opening prompt. Essentially, you can “speedrun” graffiti by abusing the simple opening inputs of graffiti-weak characters. That said, it is every bit as feasible to use graffiti-type characters like Gum to maximize points by taking more time for full sprays, or disengaging sprays partly through and fleeing to safety once roaming enemies get close, later returning to finish the job once the vicinity is cleared.

Let’s put everything we’ve discussed to the test in the context of an example, comparing two drastically different yet equally viable strategies. Consider the Chapter 3 Kogane-cho level “Fight or Flight,” which is regarded by many to be the toughest “Jet” rank due to flying jetpack enemies that spawn at the halfway mark. Pangburn’s strategy is to commit to spraying down graffitis as quickly as possible with Mew, a technique character that is considered “graffiti-weak” (and thus has a single opening spray input). He starts by entering the sewer sub-area from the opening rooftops, which also lets him abuse an infinite grind loop within the sewers early on to rapidly build up a point buffer as a back-up. Once he’s gained enough points, he then exits the sewers into the construction area, thoroughly sprays through the graffiti there, and then makes his way downhill (spraying all the rooftop graffiti along the way) until he ends up in the residential area for the final graffiti. My game plan, on the other hand, is more committal, and involves direct enemy manipulation alongside spraying back-up graffiti as a buffer (instead of abusing an infinite grind chain) by using Gum to maximize QTE points. The pathing can be thought of as a giant loop: I start by spraying the large street-level graffiti in the rooftops area and then head to the construction site and despawn a sniper to free-up the set of two large graffiti on top of an entrance. From there, I scrounge up some more paint cans around the construction site before descending into the sewers and carefully jumping in-between two groups of enemies with their backs turned, allowing me to spray the set of two graffiti points several feet away from the crowds without them ever noticing. Finally, I enter the residential area and thoroughly spray all the graffiti there, reversing my course from that point on. All that remains are small graffiti, which makes it much easier to avoid the newly spawned jetpack enemies. Looking at our mapped routes, Pangburn and I took almost completely reversed paths, and yet both of us obtained Jet rankings. That, I believe, is the persisting strength of Jet Set Radio: its intricate yet consistent mechanical overlap allows for great depth that makes itself evident via fairly customizable routing.

While I’m confident that Jet Set Radio has great longevity stemming from its potential for creative planning, I’m unsure if every single level in the game contributes to this longevity. The Jet missions unlocked in the post-game present great opportunities for further mastery, but I do find that there’s a degree of overlap involved. For example, the Jet Crush missions are essentially replayable versions of the rival races encountered in-game. They’re justified during the first playthrough as ventures that give the player an idea of how separate sections in a level connect, but in their Jet Crush form, I find that they’re a bit redundant since nothing is changed outside of the raced character. Still, it’s certainly appreciated that the Jet Crush levels bring new content to Bantam Street and Grind Square, two levels that were without rival races in the main game. The other two Jet mission types attempt to stratify further: Jet Graffiti focuses on spraying required graffitis for points, while Jet Technique only has small optional graffiti to spray and prioritizes trick loops instead. Unfortunately, I find that they’re functionally too similar, because it is far too easy to rely on the infinite loop as a crutch in Jet Graffiti (while it is more or less the intended strategy in Jet Technique). This could have been patched up if the Jet Graffiti levels had tighter time limits to discourage infinite loop grinding. Finally, I’d like to highlight the final boss, which sticks out like a sore thumb since it relies so heavily on straight platforming over rotating gears and doesn’t present much room for planning outside of relying upon tanking damage or abusing the aforementioned single spray spam. At least the fight is over in a few minutes, but it is a pity that Jet Set Radio stumbles rather than glides at the end of each playthrough.

I’ve been thinking a lot about Jet Set Radio’s lasting significance upon the gaming community. How for every player like me, who eventually embraced the once alienating mechanics, there exists another new player who slogs through the tutorial and never picks up the game again, or an opposing retrospective that finds only disappointment upon a replay and describes the moment-to-moment gameplay as “archaic.” I can’t help but feel that most of us saw what Jet Set Radio was on the surface: a “style-over-substance” platformer & extreme sports hybrid that revolutionized cel-shading in video games and turned video game OSTs on their head. Many of the game’s future successors (including its immediate follow-up in Future) seem to have fixated upon these qualities, and while I love Jet Set Radio Future for its own reasons, I nevertheless think that it’s a shame that part of Jet Set Radio’s identity was lost somewhere along the way, becoming further embedded and absorbed into mainstream culture despite its original status as a counter-culture icon. No successor has quite captured that imperfect yet intriguing blend of arcade-style skating and robust level and setpiece design, and they’ve instead zoned in on the personality every time. I suppose at the end of the day, the best we can do to honor its influence is to look beyond the surface and highlight exactly what Jet Set Radio means to us. For me, I still can’t believe I squandered this game for half a decade, but at the very least, I’m proud to put the original alongside its successor as one of my favorite games and firmly establish Jet Set Radio as my favorite SEGA franchise. I remain cautiously curious regarding any potential future, but this time, I can look forward without any regrets concerning legacy.

unquestionably one of my favorite games ever, and it will likely always be given how its outlasted my other adolescent favorites. I still love to pop this on at least once a year and just let it wash over me. I'll roll around the free roam levels a bit, play a couple levels at wherever I'm at in the main story, or even clean up 100% on an old file if I've really got time to kill. this is probably the most fortuitous ps+ freebie I've ever been exposed to (on vita originally of all platforms) and one I'll continue playing as long as I continue to game.

at the same time, this game is a jagged, snarling representation of the sea change in technology moving from the fifth gen to the sixth. 3D action games on playstation and saturn were heavily constrained by low draw distances, blocky characters, and sparse level geometry, all of which limited developers looking to make truly immersive 3D spaces and mechanics. with the dreamcast this all changed: sonic adventure exploded with color and variety and speed beyond what competitors could hope to achieve, and a year later shenmue brought a fleshed-out look at suburban japan that emphasized the physicality of the area with a depth that had simply not been achieved up until that point. sega's games charted a course for what true 3D gaming could be in the 21st century with typical fearlessness, and with this fearlessness arose a lot of jank. sega's design chops lie first and foremost in arcade-style experiences that provide rewarding yet highly-challenging gameplay, and they often stumbled when translating these experiences to the home console market. the often bizarre mechanics that resulted from this transition created some of the most enduring early japanese jank, and jet set radio may be the absolute peak of this set; an unbelievably unique and frictional experience that interleaves many disparate gameplay elements with a loving recreation of tokyo.

jet set radio is a platformer.... sort of? where many fall afoul of the controls is with the slippery momentum-based movement that scans as imprecise to a crowd raised on pro skater (remember that this game came out before pro skater 2!). the player character can grind on rails, jump, wall-slide on specific surfaces, and perform context-sensitive tricks; no other real "skating" mechanics exist. with precise handling the player can flip around and begin skating backwards (including out of a mid-air trick), but the practicality of this maneuver is debatable. players also have access to a boost that both gives additional speed as well as rendering the player immune to hazards. using this boost effectively is not explained very well, and given that it is limited and the base speed is not very fast it can feel sluggish. my usual tactic: boost for four strides and then jump, as you'll retain much of your speed in the air and upon landing your boost will be replenished. maintaining the momentum on rails is a different story altogether, as once attached to an edge the player is likely to lose speed if they cannot find a downward slope. jumping is also an option here to retain speed, though its arc can be hard to manage given that past a certain speed threshold a trick is performed in mid-air, drastically increasing the air time. jumping is overall used differently in this game than in a traditional platformer, as while it's a movement technique on its own, it also needs to be strategically used with elements in the environment and the boost in order to smoothly navigate the world. few other games present such an deliberate and weighty toolkit that at the same time can produce such speed and grace when pulled off correctly. the only thing I can't forgive the game for is automatic rail attachment. while it's coyly explained in the lore as "magnetic skates" (which I guess makes more sense than sonic's soap shoes), this game really could've used a grind button; attaching onto rails is far too touchy.

the gameplay loop is unorthodox as well, combining collectathon elements in a constrained area with arcade-style scoring and timing. players must find targets in an open level and spray paint over them, which involves a quick QTE minigame involving analog stick rotation. while skating from spot to spot, a wide variety of ludicrously militaristic police forces (and later privately-hired assassins) assail players, generally with no way to fight back beyond a select group of enemies that can be sprayed - causing a chopper to spiral out by spraying the cockpit is easily the biggest flex you can pull off in this game. successively more difficult waves of enemies arrive at preset times based on how many targets have been graffiti'd, with pre-defined spawn points as well. with this in mind, players are encouraged to plan optimal routes from target to target to frontload areas that will be under heavy surveillance later on in the level. spray paint cans themselves are a limited resource, and the largest graffiti points can take up to 14 cans to finish, which must be factored into the route as well. all of this must be completed under a generally-forgiving time limit that pushes the player towards more precise play.

what is unappealing to many about this game is that you must learn the ins-and-outs of each level to complete a first playthrough. this will likely require plenty of retries; I know I sure went through a few on my first time around. this is not to say jsr is a masochistic game - far from it - but this is not simply a "vibes machine" to muddle through and then discard after enjoying the tremendous audiovisual elements. careful attention to enemy patterns yields fruitful results: even once deployed enemies often won't leave certain zones, leaving some targets completely open no matter how far the mission has progressed. knowing where caches of spray paint cans and health pickups exist eases the difficulty as well. all of this results in a game with a surprisingly nuanced macro and micro strategy. on a macro level, the player must consider their primary path from target to target, along with backup diversions if the enemy AI doesn't play nice and side jaunts to refuel on resources when necessary. on a micro level, players must know the terrain well enough to build up speed and take advantage of rails when possible while also navigating around or away from enemies. there's a lot of flexibility built in as well - the game isn't that demanding - but at the same time the game mechanics intersect in such a way that you're penalized for not considering the totality of your actions. incorrect planning could result in unwanted excursions into dangerous territory to restock health and paint, while indecision and overly-cautious play will cost valuable time. it's undeniably jank at points, but at the same time this is one of the few "platformers" that manages to incorporate arcade elements in a way that isn't totally alienating.

much of this is helped by the level design, which for the most part I think is rather strong. the first chapter of the game focuses on up-and-coming gang the GG's engaging in a tagging turf war with idiosyncratically-themed rival groups in the various areas of tokyo-to. each area retains a unique mood with a surprising amount of detail thrown into the levels. shibuya-cho features the daytime bustle of the scramble and a busy bus terminal, benten-cho switches to a smooth nighttime atmosphere punctuated by blinding neon lights and throbbing kicks and claps, and kogane-cho highlights the yawning twilight of a fishing hub under renovation, with homely shacks put into juxtaposition with looming highways and the daunting concrete of the massive sewer system. these early levels are certainly not small, but they corral the player into an area with enough restrictions that they (hopefully) can learn the intricacies without being overwhelmed. there is a brief middle section with two unique American-inspired stages; personally I can stomach the Roosevelt Avenue-inspired bantam street stage but I have to agree with the consensus that grind square (based off of Times Square) long overstays its welcome with the staggering verticality and frustrating electrified rails. in the final chapter, each subarea within each region combines into large maps now swarmed with flamboyant private corp assassins, leaving the player to tackle each area in one fell swoop. each subarea organically bleeds into the others, and discovering links between areas is rather exciting, especially when the player stumbles into an area not present in the first chapter. for example, kogane-cho has a rooftop run section sandwiched between the construction area and the sea-level village with its own power lines to grind on and tight corridors at street level. thankfully each of these full areas can be roamed freely and safely via persistently available side missions meant for score attack. there are many spots you may never come across in the main campaign without poking around, and often these areas feature collectables that unlock new graffiti designs.

the score attack isn't just a side activity either, as there are scoring mechanics baked into the main campaign as well. pulling off tricks, taking down enemies (when possible), succeeding at the graffiti QTEs, maintaining high health, and finishing quickly all contribute to a stage-end score and rank. out of all of these graffiti will generally make up the biggest chunk, especially for final strokes on the larger graffiti spots. interrupting a graffiti QTE chain by failing a QTE, running out of paint cans, or taking a hit from an enemy will force you to start over again, keeping you from accessing the highest scoring QTEs, making proper enemy avoidance and paint can routing even more essential when aiming for top ranks on a level (known as "jet rank"). this is made more complicated by the fact that there are actually multiple different types of graffiti with varying difficulties that correspond to how much score they offer. accessing the highest-scoring graffiti requires using a graffiti-type character... and now we dig into a criticism I often see of the game: the character selection system.

the selection of characters on offer is relatively vast even without unlocking those hidden behind ranking requirements, and I have seen repeated complaints about how unbalanced the characters are. graffiti-type characters such as gum yield many more points when spraying but actually have a lower paint can carrying capacity, and they often have either poor handling or low health to further compensate. power-type characters have high health but generally poor handling or graffiti skills, and technique-type characters tend to have comfortable handling and can carry many paint cans, making them the characters of choice for new fans. with this in mind, I encourage thinking of character selection as a difficulty system. technique characters should be chosen by new players to acclimate themselves to the game's unique physics and make paint can collecting less of a chore. however, expect low ranks, as the graffiti QTEs will be easier and will thus score less. if the player is interested in unlocking secret characters and achieving jet ranks on each stage, they can then choose a character with a higher graffiti skill while sacrificing talent in one of the other areas. with the quantity of characters, it should be easy to find one that matches the player's preference - I won't lie though, I don't think I've ever had a reason to choose a power-type character. I still play technique characters all the time though, mainly mew... I used to use her as a pfp on forums when I was younger.

of course, you can obtain jet rank without using a graffiti-type character, but you may have a much more difficult time doing it. there are loops in each region where you can grind infinitely and rack up tricks, which requires practice and a good eye but can come in handy. the full-region levels at the end of the game are the perfect playground for these, as their time limit is relatively lax (once you already know the graffiti layout anyway) and each of them has an accessible loop. I find it easier to use this strategy to jet rank these final chapter stages personally, though I'm not sure I enjoy going in a loop for three minutes straight and then bumrushing the rest of the level quite as much the more thoughtful gameplay required for the earlier levels. I also wanted to bring up a major sin this game commits for stage rankings: you can't free-play missions that you've previously played. the campaign loops perpetually, forcing the player to beat and replay the game whenever they want to retry early levels. while in context this choice makes sense (the order in which you do missions slightly changes the story + is used for the final unlockable character), it's not remotely elegant even though the modern versions have a retry option upon finishing a stage. playing the original version where there isn't even a retry is criminal; have fun power cycling your dreamcast to keep it from saving non-jet ranks when going for 100% completion.

while the above content comprises the majority of the game, there's also a variety of other missions to tackle both within and adjacent to the campaign missions. periodically rivals will approach your hideout, prompting you to either take on certain skating challenges or race them. chump astutely noted in their review that these encounters reveal shortcuts, secrets, and techniques that the player may not have considered otherwise. it serves as a nice barometer on the player's abilities, and sets the bar for where the sophistication of their technique should lie in order to succeed against upcoming obstacles. the races can be a bit fiddly however until routes and AI quirks are learned, though thankfully the most frustrating ones are completely optional. there are also chase missions that occur periodically throughout the campaign, in which the player must tag members of an opposing gang in order to knock them out. keeping pace with your rivals here is not difficult, but carefully sliding behind someone, getting close enough to tag them, mashing the tag button, and then sliding out without bumping into their overly generous hitbox simply does not function well in this engine. this is especially obvious given that the tag button also jarringly snaps the camera behind the player, a limitation imposed by the dreamcast's unfortunate lack of a right analog stick. these missions generally won't set back the player too much time, but still are frustrating. there's also a final boss encounter that is not particularly taxing and ends the game on a suitably visually exciting note. very few other games allow you to spin around on a giant turntable dodging beams of fire...

for a sega game in this era, jet set radio is remarkably content-rich. the main campaign lasts seven to eight hours on a relaxed playthrough when characters are still being unlocked, and less than two hours on replays for jet ranks (not counting retrying stages of course). each region has multiple side missions covering graffiti, tricks, and races, and beyond the structured content there are the aforementioned "soul" colletables that unlock hidden graffiti. many of these souls lie in novel places that require ingenuity in order to reach, and some have their own little sections that are never touched in the mission requirements. all of the graffiti in the game was designed by authentic street artists with a wide range of styles and sizes, all of which are cool to scroll through from time to time. you can even design your own tags via a limited editor, which is novel to tool around with a couple of times. between all of these, achieving full completion is a satisfying task for those invested in the mechanics the game has to offer, and the final unlockable characters more than make up for the significant effort required to unlock them.

I also wanted to briefly rave about the soundtrack for this game, and the way it's incorporated into the story. songs in-game play via the fictional jet set radio pirate station, and thus they are properly mixed as if an actual DJ were working the deck. each stage has a unique playlist with prerecorded cuts between tracks, seamlessly blending multiple songs together as if playing to an actual crowd. there are even radio stingers with their own jingle and bellowing title drop, and in-between levels the host professor k will update the player with current news, jovial side storylines, and commentary. it's simply not the same to hear the songs standalone; the game offers an unparalleled and authentic aural link into its world. everyone who contributed did an outstanding job, from sega's in-house team (including lead composer hideki naganuma) to the wide array of off-beat licensed choices. even the american choices put a smile on my face, from rob zombie's deranged classic dragula to the awkward post-grunge of cold and professional murder music to the surprisingly chill hip-hop from mix master mike. there's a lot of bizarre and lovely vocal performances throughout the game, whether quickly laid down by little-known talent or sliced and served via inventive sample use. cruising through a level and hearing a song I forgot about come on will often stop me in place so I can hear a bit before moving on, and there are so few games that grab me as such.

it is unquestionable that this game is singular both in its artistic vision and in its game mechanics. rarely does a game release that so clearly articulates its own form of play; such an unorthodox design palette with radically deemphasized combat, elements of both platformers and extreme sports, nuanced and intersecting elements to track with meaningful tradeoffs and strategizing, and anti-establishment aesthetic and rhetoric has possibly never come into fruition beyond this. it has no true follow-up in terms of design, as jet set radio future opts to compartmentalize its gameplay components and move away from rapid arcade-style scenarios to a grander adventure structure. many formative adolescent gaming memories lie wrapped up in tokyo-to's streets, with not only the same frustrations I see many others post about but also perseverence through the game's steep learning curve, awe at the many sights and spectacles, and satisfaction at mastery. like all japanese jank, it's an acquired taste, but given that much of this team would later explore a different avenue in tokyo's underground in the beloved yakuza series, this origin point sets the context for a lineage of truly stellar and experimental gaming.