GAME OF THE DAY: JET SET RADIO
Paint the streets in this Dreamcast treat!
The Dreamcast was such an awesome console, I knew it the second I saw footage of it running from a Japanese trade show. In my town however it seemed I was the only one who thought so because nobody purchased one in the only games shop that sold hardware on launch day. I rocked up early to see nobody at all queuing. Sony's PS2 was already doing it's work from a 'wait for it' publicity point of view months before that damn thing hit. A younger Megatron was angry at this... How dare people ignore Sega! And just exactly where had all those Megadrive fans gone... Oh yeah, hold on, Playstation has Fifa doesn't it! never mind... Mystery solved.
Anyway....
Whilst I ended up spending most of my time on Ready To Rumble boxing and Toy Commander rather than Sonic Adventure, eventually the games that would go on to solidify it as a genuinely superb games platform started to emerge. First House Of The Dead 2 and Soul Calibur made my face smile as well as Resident Evil: Code Veronica then eventually a game with cel shaded graphics rocked up and blew my tiny little mind!
Released in 2000 in Japan, North America and Europe Jet Set Radio or Jet Grind Radio as those celebrating Independence Day today called it was the story of a gang of youths who roam the streets of Tokyo-to, rollerblading and spraying graffiti while evading the authorities. Essentially about taking over a rivals turf it managed to get across the complexities of street gang culture in a typically cool and digestible Sega way. On the surface it looked just like a basic arcade style game in the same mold as say a Crazy Taxi but with rollerblades/skates instead of a massive yellow car.
You job was to increase your gangs reputation by 'tagging' your symbol all across public areas to show your dominance of the youth culture. Sounds a bit stupid and pointless, but then so are real life gangs. Sega made it super cool however by introducing Cel Shaded graphics into the mix alongside insanely gorgeous presentation and a soundtrack of incredible hip hop style beats with classic 80's vinyl scratching elements. It's almost like Run DMC and Sega had a baby and all Dreamcast owners got to be parents!
Earning points by grinding all over railings and rooftops and collecting spray cans you worked against a time limit, other rivals and the full force of the police force in order to gain territory, complete the area and move on. A cool story does emerge however that's not something to share on here, that's something to experience yourself.
Jet Set Radio is Sega on full top form as both a creative force for videogaming and making you think about morality and life choices. It also takes the artistic style of Graffiti to a level of more complete understanding. For some people Grafitti is not art and for others it's the truest expression of the times, public mood and an artists personality. A mixture of game, art, musical genius and thought provoking statement it is as important to the Gaming culture of the era and the console it was made for as almost any other videogame out there.
Insanely fun, visually striking and as addictive as a drug it easily sits in the top 5 Dreamcast games for me and has no real equal on any other platform then or since. A sequel which took everything up a notch was later released on the Microsoft Xbox console which in my opinion is even better than this game however that's another article for another day.
For a time I thought that I was the one in the wrong when nobody else in my friends circle purchased a Dreamcast console, like everyone had moved on and I was living in a Sega fuelled past. Obviously that's not true, people just didn't connect to the console then but thankfully it's gained way more love since it's demise. I now see the Dreamcast as not the console that never got a break and more the console that had it all that people simply didn't choose to see. Their loss really, I loved mine! Where else could I spray paint a bus, grind a railing then do a backflip onto a roof and tag some more...
Sega being Sega, being cool. And not a Hedgehog in sight!
Who else spent time with this game? Where are the Dreamcast fans at? Anyone else love tins of paint? Also just how sexy is that Japanese cover eh?
#sega #dreamcast #graffiti #graffitiart #retrogaming #retro #games #gaming #gamers #videogames
