SEGA Retrospective: Over the ‘hood, through the streets and right into your brain – It’s Jet Set Radio

JSRweek

We’re transmitting our signal straight to you! Y’all got your antennas on?
Welcome to Jet Set Radio Week – a week long celebration of SEGA’s off-kilter cel shaded Dreamcast classic! Past SEGA Franchise Weeks focused on more than one game, but Jet Set Radio Week is going to be different. Rather than splitting our time between the Dreamcast original and its radically different Xbox sequel Jet Set Radio Future, we’re devoting the next seven days to simply Jet Set Radio. But don’t fret, Jet Set Radio Future will have its own week soon enough!

Like Sonic The Hedgehog on the Genesis, and NiGHTS on the Saturn, Jet Set Radio on the Dreamcast turned heads with amazing visuals, memorable music, and unique gameplay mechanics. Jet Set Radio (Jet Grind Radio in America) may not have taken off like SEGA had hoped, but it did do well enough to warrant the previously mentioned sequel and has since become a SEGA cult classic. After the break, let’s take a look back and how such a crazy concept for a game came to be.

Ryuta Ueda leaves SEGA after 19 years of service

RyutaUeda
Ryuta Ueda leaves SEGA after 19 years of service. While at SEGA he contributed to some masterpieces including being the chief graphic designer for Jet Set Radio, enemy art designer for Panzer Dragoon Orta and  he also worked on the Yakuza series.

Ryuta Ueda shared the news via his Twitter account this morning and as you know, he is going to be missed; the art design behind the Jet Set Radio series was totally ‘Next Level’.

EDIT: According to Hideki Naganuma, Ueda left SEGA on March 31st.

So, what is your favorite game that Ryuta Ueda worked on? 

SEGA releases several Hideki Naganuma soundtracks onto iTunes

There is a God! While we’ve been expecting the Naganuma-centric version of the Jet Set Radio soundtrack to hit, not only did we get that, but Sega also included a JSRF soundtrack with all of Naganuma’s tunes and the soundtrack to Ollie King! Ollie $#@king King! Why are you still reading this?! Shrink this window, go to iTunes, buy the soundtracks, listen, then come back here and comment!

…DO IT NOW!!

Jet Set Radio HD achievements revealed – game to include JSRF tunes?

Achievements for the upcoming release of Jet Set Radio HD have been revealed, and with them comes a hint towards a bonus that SEGA has yet to speak of. At the top of the list of thirty achievements is one titled “Back to the Future” with the description “Unlock all songs in the bonus menu”. To my knowledge, there was never a bonus menu that unlocked songs in the original game. There was a sound test, but that was complete from the start. No unlocking necessary. The achievement’s title mentions “future”, which of course was in the title of the franchise’s second game Jet Set Radio Future. Could SEGA be adding an option to play select tunes from Jet Set Radio Future? Or is it simply a nod to the sequel and nothing more? After the break, the full list of achievements.

Swingin’ Report Show #30: SEGA – Ten Years of First-Rate Third-Party Games

This week on the Swingin’ Report Show we celebrate SEGA’s 10 year anniversary as a third-party publisher. George, Barry the Nomad, Nuckles87, and Shigs discuss great third-party SEGA titles like Jet Set Radio Future, Panzer Dragoon Orta and even Outrun 2. But don’t worry we also discuss stinkers like Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 06 and Virtua Quest. Sit back and get a large drink, this is going to be a long one.

[Download] [Archive] [RSS] [iTunes]

 

Explore the World of Jet Set Radio Future!

In my regular internet browsing, I came across a blog entitled JSRF Inside. The blog is dedicated to ripping models, textures and environments from the XBOX classic Jet Set Radio Future. What is so insanely cool about the blog is that the owner and model ripper provides a number of amazing images and files detailing every character, NPC, animal and piece of graffiti that litters the world of Tokyo-to.

Check out JSRF Inside and read more here

SEGA Sequel Saturdays: JET SET RADIO!!

[The one, the only……..Jet Set Radio]

Few franchises have managed to achieve such iconic status with only two installments, but the Jet Set Radio series (Jet Grind Radio for the first one in North America,) was one that managed to do it. The series represented all that was great about Sega during the Dreamcast era: their incredible ability to take risks and deliver groundbreaking and inventive experiences that you simply couldn’t get anywhere else.

What better series to get a sequel than this one? Here’s how I’d do a sequel if I were in charge.

Fly like a butterfly through the break to read more and comment with your own thoughts/ideas.

Round Table: Our favorite SEGA sequels


There are always big new IPs that are amazing, but then comes the sequel and improves that game to legendary status. We here at the staff have decided to list our favorite SEGA sequels of all time.

If you have a favorite sequel not posted by us, share it in the comments section.

Mister Wilson’s Jet Set single


Terek (Ter-Rek) Wilson, known by his rap name Mister Wilson, is a New Jersey rapper/battle rapper. Above is a video of him having a rap battle with a rapper named Cypher.

Mr. Wilson is a huge SEGA fan, since the age of 3 and even bears a tattoo of Sonic on his left arm. He has released his first single, called Jet Set and it uses a sample of ‘Fly like a Butterfly’ from JSRF. The track here is the experimental version and is currently being remade with producer Calvin the Genius.

[Download: Jet Set by Mister Wilson] [His Youtube] [Follow him on Twitter]

If any other SEGA fans want to share their music, art or anything SEGA related, contact us.