Jet Set Radio

SEGAbits Plays: Jet Set Radio Episode #1

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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!

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Retro Review: Jet Set Radio

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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?

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

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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.

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

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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!

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Ryuta Ueda leaves SEGA after 19 years of service

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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? 

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GamersGate having a huge SEGA PC sale

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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.

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

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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?

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HUGE Sega/Sonic sales on LIVE and PSN

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Time to transfer your titles to digital and save some money while doing it! Both PSN and X-Box LIVE have big savings on some of your favorite Sega titles. On PSN, you get the “Sonic Master Collection”. It’s 7 Sonic titles and their DLC for $29.99. This includes Sonic Adventures 1 & 2, Sonic CD, Sonic 1 & 2 and Sonic 4 Episodes 1 & 2.

But X-Box LIVE has even bigger sales! Get Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Generations, Sega Superstar Tennis or Condemned for only $9.99! Sonic 4 Episodes 1 & 2 are 400 points ($4.99) each while Space Channel 5 Part 2, Sega Bass fishing, Guardian Heroes, Sonic 1, 2, 3 and Knuckles plus Sonic CD are a mere 160 Points ($2) each. Sonic Adventure 1 also comes in at 160 points while Sonic Adventure 2 is 400 points. Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown, Crazy Taxi, NiGHTS, Daytona USA HD and Jet Set Radio Come in at 400 points. Also, check out The Cave and Renegade Ops coming in at 600 and 320 points respectively. There’s big savings on the DLC as well, so hurry up and don’t miss out!

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Announcing the SEGAbits Summer of Art Contest!

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SEGA has created some of the most beautiful games and iconic characters that gaming has ever seen. As such, SEGAbits would like to celebrate SEGA’s legacy of creativity with the Summer of Art contest! We will be taking submissions from across the world from fans expressing their SEGA passion! Not only will we be taking art, we will also be taking poems, original music and short videos! The more creative and passionate, the better! Just, you know, don’t get weird.

The contest will run until July 15th. The winner will receive:

  • A set of Jet Set Radio pins, given out by SEGA during PAX East and E3 2012
  • A set of Valkyria Chronicles 2 pins, given out by SEGA exclusively at PAX Prime 2010
  • A Jet Set Radio music CD
  •   A copy of the Valkyria Chronicle Design Archive
  •   A free commission of a SEGA character drawn by Archie Sonic the Hedgehog artist Tracy Yardley
  •   A free SEGAbits t-shirt

Select pieces of art and music will also be entered into our banner art rotation and featured in Tuesday Tunes.

Four runner-ups will also be receiving Valkyria Chronicles 2 pins and Jet Set Radio pins.
To help inspire you, SEGAbits will be posting an article full of concept art every Sunday! If we get enough submissions, we may also post some samples of what we’ve been receiving. Continue reading for guidelines on what will be accepted and how we will be taking submissions. We may be updating this contest with additional prizes as they become available. Stay tuned!

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Insert Coin Clothing announces more SEGA designs – Sonic, Jet Set Radio and Space Channel 5!

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The folks over at Insert Coin Clothing have added brand new, and in one case revised, SEGA clothing to their collection. The new items include Sonic leggings, t-shirts featuring Sonic, Tails and Green Hill designs, Knuckles and Shadow hoodies, as well as a Space Channel 5 logo vest top and a revised Jet Set Radio Beat t-shirt which finally has the record icon on the back. You can view the full gallery here, or check out the images after the break. Insert Coin Clothing promises more details in the coming weeks. In the meantime, which new design is your favorite?

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Fan made: nikibaby’s sweet Sharpie SEGA drawings

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Third place SEGAbits third anniversary contest winner nikibaby won herself a My Life with SEGA DVD thanks to these two cool photos showing off her unique drawing style. Of course, the contest rules stipulated that the entry would have to be a review, but we left it as open as possible, hoping to see some more unique takes on the guidelines of the contest. As such, nikibaby worked in a short, but sweet, written review of SEGA by proclaiming “I ♥ SEGA”.

But the real stars of the pieces are her takes on iconic SEGA characters Sonic the Hedgehog and Jet Set Radio’s Beat. Using nothing but paper and Sharpie markers, nikibaby depicted Beat by way of bright colors, hatching, and cross-hatching. Sonic, meanwhile, was expertly drawn using a technique called pointillism. Bonus points for not scanning the drawings, but rather displaying them in a photo alongside the markers used. You can see nikibaby’s Sonic drawing after the break.

Great job, nikibaby!

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