Jet Set Radio’s Gum joins the roster of Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed

Via Nintendo Power scans comes confirmation of another SEGA character joining the racer roster in Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed: Gum of Jet Set Radio. This latest reveal isn’t as exciting as, say, Vyse or Ryo in the first game. Gum has appeared in a past title in the series, SEGA Superstars Tennis, and her game already has representation by way of Beat. Having said all that, I am personally overjoyed to see Gum added to the game. “What!?” you may say, “Blasphemy! She’s taking a slot from an obscure 16-bit game or some Japanese title that nobody really knows about!”. But hear me out. For starters, the game is severely lacking in female characters, and Gum perfectly fills that role of cool gals from SEGA’s past. Secondly, if Sonic gets seven characters, and NiGHTS gets two, why can’t Jet Set Radio have a second racer? Gum herself is a very unique design, which is something you can’t say about Reala or Shadow when comparing them to other characters represented in their respective IPs. Now, I understand if this riles people up because they will now fear MeeMee of Super Monkey Ball joining the roster. But I say wait it out, we still have more than eleven reveals left. Also, Gum is awesome. Disagree? Sound off in the comments below!

Check out the Nintendo power scans here and here.

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.

Live from the SEGA E3 Booth


Hi guys, I’m writing this from the SEGA booth right now. Nothing too newsworthy, but I thought I’d give you guys an update on what’s going down.

Aliens: Colonial Marines is playable for the first time without having to wait in a massive line. It’s still multiplayer only, and I can still only play marines, but you can bet it’ll be written about here.

Joe Musashi is playable in the ASR demo as well, and we also have Jet Set Radio lanyards!

Finally, someone from the Monkey Ball team is at the booth, and it’s not Toshihiro Nagoshi. Does the name Jun Tokuhara ring any bells? He’s been with the series since the beginning, and he is here now for the Vita entry.

Rob Zombie’s Dragula Confirmed for Jet Set Radio

 

SEGA has confirmed another track for Jet Set Radio, this one from Rob Zombie. As far as I’ve heard, this is the first news of Rob Zombie’s track being confirmed for Jet Set’s upcoming digital re-release, meaning that fans of his work shouldn’t be left out in the cold! SEGA has more confirmations for Jet Set Radio’s soundtrack coming in the future, so stay tuned.

SEGA’s list of E3 games goes live

SEGA has posted a list of games they will have at E3. Sadly a few games that are expected are not included. Yep, Anarchy Reigns is missing and Phantasy Star Online 2 is nowhere to be found. I assume some are missing due to being unannounced, like Sonic Adventure 2. Anyway, check out the ‘confirmed’ titles for E3 this year.

Jet Set Radio coming to Vita with touch controls

It has just been revealed that Jet Set Radio will also be available for Vita as well as PSN/360/PC. The Vita version will be an updated version which will feature touch controls for painting graffiti. This pretty much makes it the definitive version to get if you ask me.

The game will be playable on the E3 show floor.

SEGA Tunes: Jet Set Radio’s ‘Bout the City

Over the ‘hood, through the streets, and right into your braaaaain!!!!!

Savor the sweet sounds of Reps, because it’s Jet Set Radio month on Tuesday Tunes! Over the course of the next few weeks you’ll be powering through the wave of nostalgia, energy, and the sheer, absolute, unmistakable musical sexiness that we know of as the soundtrack to Jet Set Radio and its sequel, with a little branching out for good measure.

This week’s chosen song is none other than ‘Bout the City, an infectiously catchy track coming from British artist Reps. Though Kogane-Cho is undoubtedly my least favoite of Jet Set Radio’s three main districts, I can’t help but crack a smile when I drop into the level and this is the first track that plays. To me it embodies everything that makes Jet Set Radio what it is; it was a free spirit in an industry that was growing more gritty and “mainstream” by the year. The punk-flavored ‘Bout the City seems to want nothing more than for the listener to have a total blast, and that to me is everything that Jet Set Radio stood for; Poison Jam may have kidnapped the dog, the Noise Tanks may have flooded the Garage with frogs, and they were constantly pursued by a batshit crazy police captain…yet, you never got the feeling that the GGs weren’t enjoying just about every minute of it all.

Their world was always colorful, the funky melodies were beamed directly into their heads, and the streets of Tokyo-to sure looked beautiful when blasted through on rocket-powered skates. For another upbeat but very different tune, hit the jump for Toronto’s Electric Toothbrush, which pretty much sums up everything awesome about not just SEGA, but hell, the year 2000 as well.

Insert Coin shows off new SEGA shirt designs, including Ryo Hazuki inspired hoodie


The fine folks over at Insert Coin Clothing have now released their concept art for their upcoming SEGA Reloaded shirts (and a hoodie). The hoodie above is inspired by Ryu Huzuki’s brown jacket in Shenmue. In the back it has the Hazuki tiger.

To see more of the shirt designs, hit the jump. Shenmue, Jet Set Radio, Streets of Rage, Shinobi, and Golden Axe? Yes, please.

Insert Coin to add new Sega line of clothing

UK based clothing company Insert Coin is adding more Sega franchises to their Sonic line of clothing. This includes such games as Shemue, Golden Axe, Shinobi, Streets of Rage and Jet Set Radio.

All of these games are very special to us and so it is fantastic to be able to honour them with some slick new tees and hoodies – and hopefully we’ll be able to show you what we have planned very soon!

80% of Jet Set Radio’s soundtrack is intact, says SEGA [Update]

This according to Game Informer Magazine, who recently got some hands-on time with the upcoming digital re-release. They report that SEGA has retained 80% of the original’s soundtrack, and that this HD update will also feature camera controls mapped to the 2nd analog stick, something which, as Dreamcast fans will remember, wasn’t possible with that console’s controller. Region specific added levels will also make it to the digital version, all running at 60 fps.

My thoughts? 80% is unquestionably a majority of the soundtrack, though I’m personally awaiting a list of exactly what was included before getting too excited. I’ll go out on a limb here and assume that the tracks licensed for the North American and European releases aren’t going to make it this time around, but whether or not that’s the extent of the cuts remains to be seen.

Jet Set Radio will be releasing on XBLA, PSN, and PC sometime this year.

[Update] Joystiq confirms that Hideki Naganuma’s music will stay intact. Licensed music that has been confirmed to stay in the soundtrack include “Magical Girl” by Guitar Vadar and “Funky Radio” by B.B. Rights. [/Update]

The SEGA Five: Jet Set Radio Regional Rumble

Continuing the Jet Set Radio hype, this week’s Weekly Five will be taking a look at three regional versions of Jet Set/Grind Radio. Those unacquainted with the US, European and Japanese versions of Jet Set Radio may be thinking: “whats the big deal? A ton of Dreamcast titles were released in three regions.” Well, unlike most Dreamcast games, Jet Set Radio had rather notable differences between regional releases. Each version features unique graffiti tags, unique songs, different stages, different character names and voices and even different titles. Of the three, which is the best? That’s what we’ll try to decide today, by comparing five aspects of the games and choosing a winner! Let’s begin.