Jet Set Radio

7th Dragon III Code: VFD pays homage to Jet Set Radio

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7thdragonjet.jpgSEGA’s upcoming Nintendo 3DS game 7th Dragon III Code: VFD will launch this summer, launch copies of the game will come with an art book. It seems fans paid close attention to the character art that has been release as a Siliconera reader has pointed out that the male Agent Class in the game has a Jet Set Radio Future themed shirt. Look closely, you see it? Its the Jet Soul symbol!

Miwa Shirow, the character designer for 7th Dragon III Code: VFD is a huge fan of SEGA’s Jet Set Radio franchise and has stated that the goal of the Agent Class is to be “street-wise youth” type of design. The Male Agent’s internal name is actually “Jet” as well, if you needed more to tie it to Jet Set Radio.

That isn’t the only reference to a classic SEGA franchise, if you look at the buttons on his chest there is a symbol from Cyber Troopers Virtual-On Oratori Tangram. Pretty neat stuff.  7th Dragon III Code: VFD hits American store shelves this summer, pre-order it and secure your launch day edition art book!

[Source: Siliconera]

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Jet Set Radio, Hell Yeah! and Golden Axe are free on Steam

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MakeLoveNotWarBundle1SEGA is giving away free PC games as part of their Make War Not Love event this year, which has been running for three consecutive years. SEGA promised PC gamers that the more they play, they more they win and they weren’t kidding. The following SEGA games are free to download (and own) on Steam:

  • Jet Set Radio
  • Hell Year! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit
  • Hell Yeah! Virtual Rabbit Missions (DLC)
  • Hell Yeah! Pimp My Rabbit Pack (DLC)
  • Golden Axe (SEGA Classic)

Download the bundle here. Outside of this, SEGA has also discounted Dawn of War, Company of Heroes and Total War games up to 75% off. According to the site tomorrow we will be unlocking Binary Domain, Alpha Protocol, Condemned: Criminal Origins, and Streets of Rage 2 for free. Even if you don’t have a gaming PC, its worth making a Steam account and adding these to your list. They are free after all.

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Wonder Festival 2015 reveals new Jet Set Radio, Virtua Fighter, Yakuza, 7th Dragon, Persona 3, and SEGA Hard Girls figures

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It seems that this year’s Wonder Summer Festival 2015  was totally worth looking into if you’re a big SEGA fan since they got a ton of figures announced. How many? Seven figures spanning six franchises including Jet Set Radio, Virtua Fighter, Yakuza, 7th Dragon, Persona 3, and even SEGA Hard Girls got represented with a figure (a convention exclusive one no less). Here is the list of figures announced at the event:

As you can tell most of these are very early in production with some figures not being shown painted and some not even having a picture of what the figures looks like. This is a very early announcement and when more photos become available we shall post it on the blog, so stay tuned. I have to be honest, I’m a sucker for the old Virtua Fighter graphics, so I’ll probably end up picking those two figures up. What about you guys?

[Thanks: batfax]

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Here are the 17 mobile games SEGA have pulled for a lack of quality

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We talked about it before that SEGA planned to drop older titles that they either weren’t going to update or didn’t fit their quality of standards.
The following titles are no longer available on Google Play or iTunes:

  • After Burner Climax
  • Jet Set Radio
  • Super Monkey Ball 1 & 2 
  • Super Monkey Ball Tip’n’Tilt 1&2 (older phones)
  • Altered Beast
  • Ecco the Dolphin 
  • Golden Axe 1, 2 & 3 
  • Phantasy Star 2 
  • Streets of Rage 1& 3
  • Space Harrier 2
  • Virtua Fighter 2 
  • Zaxxon Escape

After Burner Climax has also been taken down from XBLA and PSN, so it makes sense that the mobile version would also be dropped. As for those Genesis/Mega Drive games, SEGA has been trying to have higher quality versions of them starting with Sonic CD, Sonic 1 & 2. SEGA did say; “Given the right situation, these titles may return in an updated form,” so you never know if we will see some of these return.

If you paid for any of the games, you can still download them at anytime on iTunes or the Play Store.

[Via: Eurogamer]

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Cook & Becker releases official licensed art prints for Phantasy Star, Shinobi, Streets of Rage, and more

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If you have ever wanted to put some cute retro SEGA art on your wall and show people that you too are a retro gaming art snob, you can now pick up prints over at Cook & Becker. These prints are officially licensed by SEGA and being sold by the Dutch art dealer for $99 dollars unframed.

Check out the pieces here:

More should be coming out this summer, if you wallet wasn’t empty already. My favorite prints are Phantasy Star, Golden Axe and Shinobi (yes, in that order). Which are your favorites?

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Classic SEGA Magazine Corner: GameFan says SEGA’s Jet Grind Radio is “the next BIG THING”

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As Smilebit Month comes to an end, we crack open one more classic magazine for a look at what gaming journalists thought of a SEGA classic. GameFan magazine was quite a unique publication at the time. From 1992 to 2000, GameFan not only covered general gaming news, but also anime, manga, and featured extensive import coverage. It really was the perfect magazine for gaming fans who were also steeped in anime and importing the latest and greatest RPGs and generally more off the wall titles. So, of course, it was only fitting that SEGA’s Jet Grind Radio received the GameFan cover treatment for their August 2000 issue and had a four page preview and interview with the then unknown Smilebit team.

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The merchandise of SEGA’s Jet Set Radio: Collecting that Uki-Uki-Waku-Waku feeling

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Unless you’re a Sonic The Hedgehog fan, collecting merchandise from SEGA franchises can be a difficult venture. Some games simply have little to no merchandise. Bug!, for example, only has a windup figure from SEGA’s Jack in the Box kid’s meal and a few Saturn era promotional pieces. Ecco the Dolphin and Toejam and Earl merchandise is almost non-existent; the former also had a Jack in the Box kid’s meal toy and the latter is just now getting products thanks to the recently funded Kickstarter campaign. Japanese franchises, like Phantasy Star Online, have quite a lot of collectibles but much of it is Japan only and requires importing and ebay hunting. Other franchises, like Shenmue, have had quite a bit of merchandise in the past and in recent years, but good luck finding any of it for a low price point.

Jet Set Radio, meanwhile, has quite a bit to offer fans when it comes to collectibles with several items releasing outside of Japan and many of them being surprisingly affordable. Seeing as Jet Set Radio is one of my favorite franchises, I’ve amassed a small collection over the years which I wanted to show off both because I am incredibly conceited and because I thought it would serve as a nice guide for those wondering what sort of Jet Set Radio merchandise is out there.

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Classic SEGA Ads: Jet Grind Radio’s crazy BIG GO! commercial

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Jet Set Radio had a bit of an identity crisis when it reached the West. When the game was first revealed in Japan, few media outlets knew exactly what to make of the game. Was it rhythm game? Was it a Japanese take on Tony Hawk Pro Skater? From the teases we got, it appeared to be a bit of both. The first real concrete explanation of the game came from America’s Official Dreamcast Magazine, which featured an in-depth interview with Smilebit and a preview of the game. While ODCM did a fantastic job with explaining the game and selling many Dreamcast owners on it, myself included, SEGA of America did a less than fantastic job of letting the general public know what the game was all about.

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Developer Retrospective: The wonderfully unique games of SEGA’s Smilebit

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SEGA’s development team Smilebit existed in the public eye for only four short years, yet in that time they managed to create one of the company’s most unique franchises, revived a classic Saturn franchise, contributed to a long running series of popular Japanese sports titles, and managed to create a few new franchises that have gone on to become true hidden gems. It’s fitting that we follow Team Andromeda Month with Smilebit, as Smilebit was actually the bringing together of the SEGA AM6’s Team Aquila, Team Andromeda, and G9 Team (though some staff ended up moving to United Game Artists). This mix of talent lead to Smilebit being primarily tasked with the Let’s Make series of sports titles, franchises that were largely confined to Japan. Utilizing former Team Andromeda staff, the team spearheaded the latest (and thus far last) Panzer Dragoon game. But what really made Smilebit unique were their new franchises including the Jet Set Radio games, Gunvalkyrie, and Hundred Swords.

All month long we’ll be celebrating Smilebit’s eclectic mix of games, celebrating the classics, the lesser known titles, and the ones that never left Japan. Ready to look back? Let’s go!

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Let’s Get Scratchin’! “Hi☆sCool! Seha Girls” anime Episode 10 is here, Impressions

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“JET SET RADIOOOOOO!” Hi☆sCool! Seha Girls episode 10 has gone up on Crunchyroll, so “let’s look at the funk-” I mean, episode!

Today’s episode sees the girls enter the world of Jet Set Radio (or Jet Grind Radio to those of you in the US)! Asobin gives them two tasks to complete; pull off a cool trick for 5 medals, and be the first to reach a specific goal and spray graffiti of what they want to be in the future, for 15 medals! Mega Drive is unsurprisingly none too happy about the idea of skating, and attempts to fake illness; it fails, and thus the girls enter Shibuya-Cho.

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First 4 Figures SEGA All-Stars statue line expands to include Jet Set Radio’s Beat – pre-orders now open!

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Teased late last week, First 4 Figures have now put their Jet Set Radio Beat statue up for pre-order. Like their Akria Yuki statue, it appears that Beat does not have an Exclusive Edition variant. The statue measures 14 inches tall, and retails for $229.99, limited to 1,250 pieces and due to release Q2 2015. One cool feature is the addition of LEDs which give the illusion of sparks shooting out from his skates as he grinds a rail.

After the break, read the full product description!

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First 4 Figures tease Jet Set Radio Beat statue for November 18th pre-order

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First 4 Figures are expanding their SEGA All-Stars line with a Jet Set Radio statue featuring GG’s leader Beat! The rudie with that uki uki waku waku attitude joins the existing SEGA All-Stars line of statues which includes Shenmue’s Ryo Hazuki, Virtua Fighter’s Akira Yuki, and Skies of Arcadia’s Vyse. While Beat’s price is currently unknown, based on past statues in the line it could range from $170 to $200 or more depending on if there is an exclusive version as well. Pre-orders open November 18th, and we’ll likely have all our details then.

What do you think of First 4 Figures choice? What other SEGA franchises would you like to see in the All-Stars line?

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SEGA pulls Jet Set Radio from the App Store and soon from Google Play

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Jet Set Radio has vanished from Apple’s App Store, and is soon to be pulled from Google Play as well. Don’t blame the Golden Rhinos, as SEGA says the game is being pulled for compatibility issues with iOS 8. I noticed the game disappeared from the App Store a few weeks ago when I attempted to launch the game and it crashed, I navigated over to the App Store to read user reviews to see if crashing was a common issue and the game was nowhere to be found. I assumed the game was temporarily pulled due to stability issues, and it looks like my assumptions were correct. As SEGA told Droid Gamers:

Showed some minor compatibility problems [with iOS 8]. Ensuring that all of our fans have a quality game experience is paramount to us, therefore we’ve decided to take the game off the store. We don’t have yet a fixed date to communicate regarding their return to the App Store and Google Play. – SEGA

Of course, Android does not use iOS 8, so pulling the game from both stores is a bit odd. Perhaps SEGA wants to make additional changes to both games to improve stability? In any case, if you want to snag the game before it is pulled, head on over to Google Play and give it a download before it’s gone.

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SEGA Channel Retro: SEGA Multiplayer Showcase & Knuckles’ Chaotix

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Last weekend saw an extravaganza of rarely seen footage of more multiplayer madness with SEGA featuring me and some of my friends. Last time we went through several Sonic games from the Game Boy Advance line-up rummaging for chao, racing to the finish, exchanging fists and more. This time we’ve not only gone back to Sonic Advance 3 with a full house of four players, we also got to check out the multiplayer mode of the Game Boy Advance conversion of Jet Set Radio from the developers behind the GBA version of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2. Finally our last surprise was us racing in the future with San Francisco Rush 2049 on SEGA Dreamcast.

Also appearing only on Twitch is a silent longplay of Knuckles’ Chaotix running at 60 frames per second as part of SEGAbits’ 32X month. If you missed out on these liveshowings, be sure to subscribe to us on Twitch or YouTube for updates when we go live again or to catch up on our previous showings.

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Summer Games Done Quick 2014 Charity Drive Starts Today, Features Many SEGA Hits

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Speed Demos Archive and Speed Runs Live are teaming up once again this year for Summer Games Done Quick 2014. A charity event hosted by speed runners to help the less fortunate starting today and airs nonstop until the 29th. Once again they’re raising funds for Doctors Without Borders and continue to offer incentives by voting for certain content as well as offering prizes.

You can expect a much bigger turnout for SEGA games this year. With the likes of Jet Set Radio HD, MadWorld, Super Monkey Ball 2, Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse, Disney’s Aladdin, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Tails’ Adventures, Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg, NiGHTS into Dreams, El Viento and many more.

You can watch the stream on the SDA Twitch channel, check out the schedule, ogle the list of prizes, and of course, check out their main site on how you can send your contribution to charity.

Also somebody is running Gex: Enter the Gecko on Nintendo 64. I can’t be the only guy that actually enjoyed the game, right?

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