The fans of Jet Set Radio: "Hey we want the sequel; Jet Set Radio Future on Steam and we also want a new JSR game!" Sega: Remakes JSR to the excitement of a lot of fans all over the world and the internet, but then makes the controversial and frankly, stupid decision to delist the original instead of having both be available to purchase when the remake eventually drops, along with a history of 36 years worth of video games because game companies really hate preserving games for whatever reason, including SEGA; ( unless it's the first sonic game. ) I’m not someone who’s good at making long in-depth reviews, but I try my best. I’ve come back and updated this review a few times. I have a lot to say both about this game and the it’s current state as well. I'm hesitantly interested in the remake and wish future was on steam. I first found out about Jet Set Radio, Super Monkey Ball, Skies Of Arcadia and some other SEGA titles when I was a kid, through Sonic and SEGA All Stars Racing, and over 15 years later, I’ve finally played this. I remember being really hyped for the remake when it first leaked and I really liked the new models and I fell to my knees in excitement on a call when it was announced at TGA, but now I just have a sour taste in my mouth; it's a shame sega makes some baffling business decisions. Even if they are remaking the first game along with some other Dreamcast titles, that is not an excuse to delist the games regardless. I don’t see why you guys are so allergic to money. JSR is a great game franchise, is extremely nostalgic, and above all else, made with lots of love and care, which is something you sadly don’t get to see in the current state of gaming before it gets snuffed out by greedy higher ups. The amount of passion and love the fans of this game have for it makes me happy and it’s always great to see. Hopefully the remake will be good and fingers crossed that it’ll be able to become less niche and that the remake will expose the once dormant Jet Set Radio title to a much larger audience and I hope that it will not feel soulless (but I’m sure it’ll have a bunch of overpriced pre-order bonuses and skins and useless trivial items). Just because it’s being remade shouldn’t EVER be a reason to make the original inaccessible. With all that rambling being said and done, It’s high time that I review the actual game; -Despite it being fairly short, this game is very worth it for the price of 10 bucks. The Dreamcast era of SEGA is truely something special, especially to me. It’s far from a perfect era but the SEGA games that released from the late 90’s to the early 2000’s have so much charm and personality. It has aged though in some regards like most Dreamcast titles ultimately would, but classic games set for a cheap and affordable price are always appreciated, which makes it even lamer that it was delisted, instead of simultaneously existing with the upcoming remake like it should. Overall The charm comes in spades. There’s very clearly a lot of soul put into this game, which makes me very curious as to why they didn’t revive this series sooner. -Every single one of the character designs are extremely iconic with super striking cover art to boot, which isn’t surprising as SEGA’s characters have some fantastic designs. They are honestly up there with sega’s other iconic designs like sonic the hedgehog and kiryu kazuma and I completely mean that. Beat, Gum, Combo and DJ Professor K especially. I’ve recreated Beat in other video games because he’s just that simple yet that striking. There’s a reason sonic wearing beat’s clothes is so popular within those communities. I would seriously love to see more crossover stuff between the two franchises outside of the all-stars racing games, and some merch. like for example something along the lines of those recent non sonic figures from Jakks; the altered beast, streets of rage and monkey ball ones. -The soundtrack for this franchise is absolutely phenomenal; whether it’s either the licensed music with somewhat of a surprising lineup like remixes of Rob Zombie songs or the incredible and infamous original music composed for this game. It makes fantastic uses of some extremely iconic hip hop samples and almost never fails to put me in a good mood. SEGA, please let Hideki Naganuma work with you guys again on something, even the man himself would like that from the looks of it. Your games have some great soundtracks and He’s composed some of the best ones in the lineup. -There’s a decent amount of challenge in the game even if it’s seemingly somewhat short at first like I mentioned above. It takes sometime to get a handle on the controls and how to play, at least for me. I’ve spent far longer on the tutorial level than I would like to admit, but once you get the hang of things, it’s super fun to speed around and pull of satisfying tricks. However, there’s a lot of times where the movement is annoying and janky due to being a product of its time. Not to mention, It is very surprising and honestly a big shame that this game sadly only has about 4 main stages. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Even if that love or care is no longer there in the current day with stunts like this and the lack of proper communication and above average budgets or passion with SEGA towards things like sonic team and the sonic franchise as well as sega’s dormant IP’s, it will always be preserved in this original game. Kids, always remember that corporations are not your friends, but you’re still always allowed to be disappointed in them. I love SEGA’s franchises and have since before I could even talk, but I’ve been disappointed in their handling of Sonic and their neglect and abandonment in their other IPs for years. Even if I’m absolutely terrible at this game, even if it’s a bit old, Jet Set Radio is still a game that holds a special place in my heart and is such a charming world. It’s still an amazing and super fun game that was a product of its time in the early 2000’s, and I mean that in the best possible way, as a major fan of the general aesthetics and coolness of early SEGA and their games. I really want to play Team Reptile’s Bomb Rush Cyberfunk in the near future if it ever goes on sale, as it’s made by huge fans of Jet Set Radio and is looking to be one of the best “Jet Set Radio” games ever, and it’s not even an official JSR game and is it’s own beast entirely. Please pick this up while you get the chance and while there’s still time to do so and on top of that, check out Team Reptile’s Bomb Rush Cyberfunk and listen to both this game’s bangin’ soundtrack as well as BRCF’s. Jet Set Radio is somewhat short and underrated yet still manages to be extremely iconic even if it’s aged a bit like most Dreamcast games. Stop Killing Games. This goes for SEGA, Steam, every game development studio and publisher. Especially when there is no damn reason to. Stop Killing and Delisting games.
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