Jet Set Radio

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

by

jet-set-radio
 
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.

3 Comments

SEGA Channel Retro: SEGA Multiplayer Showcase & Knuckles’ Chaotix

by

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.

Continue Reading ➜

1 Comment

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

by

banner

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?

No Comments

Sonic Hits collection discounted by Humble Bundle and Jet Set Radio hits 50% off on Steam

by

SonicHitsCollection

If you guys enjoyed our Jet Set Radio week long celebration, you probably have been itching for an excuse to paint the streets of Tokyo-to once again. Don’t fear, Jet Set Radio HD is part of Steam’s week long sales. The game is being discounted by 50%, costing you only $2.49.

On related PC sales news, Humble Bundle store is having their spring sale on PC titles and part of that sale includes the ‘Sonic Hit Collections‘, which is priced at $7.49 and comes with the following 17 Sonic the Hedgehog games:

Continue Reading ➜

No Comments

Round Table: We look ahead to Jet Set Radio’s future!

by

JSRroundtable

Jet Set Radio Week enters the final boss battle that is the SEGAbits Round Table! Despite containing only a few games, Jet Set Radio and its sequel pack in a lot of unique ideas and feature an amazing art style and selection of music. With all this unique content, it’s a shame that the franchise has only seen two and a half games (the half being the Game Boy Advance version). This week, our writers have assembled in the GG’s garage to share their ideas for the Jet Set Radio franchise’s future, and seeing as we’re SEGA fans, we can’t help but reminisce and share a few memories. After the break, join us as we look to the future!

Continue Reading ➜

1 Comment

SEGAbits Plays: Jet Set Radio Episode #1

by

Welcome to the first official episode of our new YouTube series SEGAbits Plays! In this episode, streamed live on our SEGA Channel Retro Twitch channel yesterday at 5:30PM Pacific/8:30PM Eastern, Barry and George play through the Official Dreamcast Magazine demo disc featuring the exclusive Jet Grind Radio demo and the original Japanese version of Jet Set Radio. Aside from the usual chit chat, we show off out some of the regional differences and towards the end attempt to play the game using the Dreamcast maracas and fishing controller.

Stay tuned for future episodes of SEGAbits Plays, in which we’ll play more classics, obscure gems, and show off some stuff you probably have never seen before. Anybody up for some SEGA Pico fishing? After the break, check out our test episode #0 in which Barry and Bartman play the SEGA Pico.

Like this video? Subscribe to the SEGAbits YouTube channel!

Continue Reading ➜

No Comments

Retro Review: Jet Set Radio

by

Jet_Set_Radio_DC_A

From their garage hidden amidst the alleyways of Shibuya, to the neon-drenched streets of Benten-Cho, they ride high on the funky rhythms being streamed directly into their brains. They are the GGs, and when their story was first told on the Dreamcast, it brought the world the beautiful synergy of cel-shaded graphics played to Hideki Naganuma’s incredible soundtrack. It was a game that further cemented the Dreamcast’s place as the platform for artsy and innovative adventures, and while some aspects of its gameplay still frustrate slightly, Jet Set Radio is every bit as fun as it was back in the day.

Continue Reading ➜

6 Comments

Classic SEGA Magazine Corner: The Official Dreamcast Magazine previews Jet Grind Radio

by

jsrodcm

Jet Set Radio Week rolls onwards! Today’s feature dusts off a classic issue of the Official Dreamcast Magazine (ODCM), which was published in the United States from June 1999 (the premiere Issue 0) to March 2001 (the final issue 12). Issue 6, which we’re shining the spotlight on today, released in the summer of 2000 and was a much anticipated issue as it featured an extensive preview of the upcoming Jet Set Radio – which was retitled Jet Grind Radio for the US market at the time the magazine went to print.

The author of the preview, Francesca Reyes (former Editor-In-Chief of the Official Xbox Magazine), is a name SEGAbits readers may remember. Francesca, as well as former ODCM Editor-In-Chief Simon Cox and former Gamespot Editor-In-Cheif Ricardo Torres, joined us for our 50th podcast to celebrate the Dreamcast’s birthday and talk about the history of the magazine. For the preview, Francesca not only flew out to Japan to go hands on with the game, but she also met with SEGA’s ragtag Smilebit team! After the break, let’s crack open this classic issue and see what this wacky cel shaded graffiti game is all about.

Continue Reading ➜

3 Comments

SEGA Tunes: Hideki Naganuma’s favorite Jet Set Radio tunes

by

naganuma

The question of “What makes a SEGA game a SEGA game?” is often debated amongst fans of the company. Some believe it is as simple as looking at the package and spotting the SEGA logo, others believe that there is a magical mix of various elements that give that true “SEGA feel”. While I’ll admit that I believe any game funded by and owned by the company qualifies, I can’t help but feeling that some games have a certain je ne sais quoi (or is that je ne sega quoi?) that elevates them to another level.

Jet Set Radio is one of those games. It is a game that oozes style, featuring unique characters that are adventurous and edgy. The game puts a unique spin on established concepts, and pays tribute to the company’s arcade past by featuring fast paced gameplay. Most importantly of all, the game carries on the grand SEGA tradition of memorable music – so much so that I’d argue that Jet Set Radio is one of the greatest SEGA soundtracks of all time.

Continue Reading ➜

1 Comment

Insert Coin’s SEGA catalog to be updated with new items

by

InsertCoinSonicRunningClub

Insert Coin is a United Kingdom-based clothing company with apparel and accessories featuring various video game franchises. As it is, their catalog of Sega items is fairly expansive and covers a few SEGA franchises including Jet Set Radio, Shinobi, Space Channel 5, and of course Sonic the Hedgehog. SEGAbits has covered some of their offerings previously, including one news post that features a Beat-inspired shirt and a Knuckles-inspired hoodie, and another news post that shows off Dreamcast and Mega Drive-inspired bags.

The company recently updated their blog to show off a new line of SEGA-themed items for this year. These include the above-pictured “Running Club” T-shirt which pays homage to the central title screen icon and release year of the first game. There’s also a “Science Club” T-shirt for future evil geniuses creative and inventive thinkers, and a dress with Sonic the Hedgehog 2’s Casino Night itself as the dress. Rounding out the collection is a Shenmue-inspired Hazuki jacket.

The company hopes to release these new products in Q3 of this year, and plans to release more details and images of the products in the near future.

What sort of SEGA-themed clothing or accessories would you be interested in?

1 Comment

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

by

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.

Continue Reading ➜

4 Comments

Jet Set Radio inspired “Hover : Revolt Of Gamers” Kickstarter begins – stretch goal features Hideki Naganuma music

by

Back in January, a trailer was released for a game entitled Hover : Revolt Of Gamers, and while not SEGA developed or published, the game was clearly inspired by a certain cel shaded Dreamcast classic featuring magnetically driven in-line skates. Created by French indie developer Fusty Game, Hover : Revolt Of Gamers is an open world freerun/parkour game inspired by Jet Set Radio and Mirror’s Edge. Like many indie games these days, the developers have turned to Kickstarter in an effort to fund the game, and at only 1 day into the campaign they’ve already amassed 20k of the 38k goal. Impressive!

Set to appear on PC/Mac/Linux, XboxOne/PS4, as well as the Wii U if a stretch goal is met ($100,000), Hover intends to feature “a fun and cartoon style”, “immersive and dynamic sensations”, a “grandiose and technologic environment”, and (if a $60,000 stretch goal is met) original music tracks from Hideki Naganuma of Jet Set Radio fame!

So parkour on over to their Kickstarter page and pledge your support today!

2 Comments

Ryuta Ueda leaves SEGA after 19 years of service

by

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? 

9 Comments

GamersGate having a huge SEGA PC sale

by

pcsale
If you are looking for some of SEGA’s PC games and want to get them for super cheap, check out the GamersGate SEGA sale. Not only do they have the newer, more often thought about releases but there are also some obscure games like Universe at War: Earth Assault and Space Siege.

Some hot picks: Jet Set Radio for $1.25, NiGHTS: Into Dreams… for $2.50, and Castle of Illusion for $5.10. Make sure you note, that the sale items in this link are the ones listed in red. Have fun gaming.

No Comments

Jet Set Radio will be free for PSN Plus users this July

by

JSRFree
Sony just announced the free stuff PSN Plus members can expect for July and Jet Set Radio joined both Battlefield 3 and Metal Slug XX.

Sony has recently celebrated 1 year of their Instant Game collection, where the games will be available to download whenever the user wants them (of course, you have to be paying for PSN Plus). So, if you are a PSN Plus member, has it been worth it? If not, does Jet Set Radio becoming free make you want to subscribe to the service?

3 Comments