Soundtrack Spotlight: Jet Set Radio

Today, I'll be covering the video game Jet Set Radio and its sequel, Jet Set Radio Future.

While this is by no means a game review, it would be folly to talk about the soundtrack without talking about the game first, so let's start there.

What is Jet Set Radio?

Jet Set Radio is a Fight Club inspired, hyper-stylized skating/action game, where the main objectives are to traverse around alternate-reality Tokyo while doing tricks to score points. To complete each level, the player must collect cans of spray paint to tag buildings, and outrun the cops. Naturally, a game consisting of these elements would draw comparisons to Tony Hawk's Pro Skater and Grand Theft Auto, while also predating a game like Splatoon by over a decade. Developed by Smilebit and released in 2000 for the Sega Dreamcast, the game was eventually digitally re-released to Xbox 360, PlayStation3, and PC in 2012.

"Gameplay is king" says the common games' critic mantra- and sadly, the gameplay is the biggest letdown of Jet Set Radio. The skating controls horribly- especially compared to contemporaries like Tony Hawk. You don't push "Y" to grind, you grind automatically. In order to successfully graffiti a wall, the player is required to stop and enter a series of quick-time directional inputs, completely destroying any momentum your character had.

The character animations are slow and floaty- the exact opposite of what normally constitutes satisfying action or platforming gameplay. The mission objectives are often frustrating and feel tacked-on. But even poor gameplay couldn't stop the full package from becoming a cult classic.

Given its status as a pioneer of the cel-shaded art style and over-the-top world building, it's clear the game is dripping in originality and flare. But it is the iconic soundtrack that tipped Jet Set Radio from being a niche genre flick to a household name. The characters' idle animations dance to the rhythm of this track:

"Humming The Bassline" is a crucial character-select screen song, and it already showcases composer Hideki Naganuma's eclectic, genre-fusing style. But the soundtrack doesn't just utilize in-house composers to get the job done. Sega licensed two tracks from Japanese underground rock band Guitar Vader as well. The game's opening sequence takes you from a P-funk inspired radio voiceover, to the trip-hop upright bass groove of Humming, to a borderline no-wave punk song about the Mario Brothers within 3 minutes of booting up the game.

As for the rest of the game, the genre diversity doesn't stop. The full soundtrack includes house, funk, J-pop, and even a sprinkle of acid-jazz. Listen below for some of my favorites:

And there’s more:

If you thought the base soundtrack had a lot to offer, we haven't even talked about the remixes.

The comments say that this is the soundtrack to the third JSR game that never got made:

2 years later arrived the sequel, boasting 16 fresh tracks.

Jet Set Radio Future (2002)

In terms of gameplay, Jet Set Radio Future feels like an immediate improvement over the original. Perhaps this is due in part to the fact that JSRF is mostly a re-make of its predecessor. Using a similar but expanded cast of characters and level design, the developers had time and resources to devote to the graphics, gameplay, and, of course, the soundtrack.

Sega made a deal with Microsoft to license JSRF as an Xbox launch title and Xbox exclusive. Since Microsoft's flagship consoles notoriously sold poorly in Japan, I can't help but speculate that this licensing deal ultimately killed the possibility of the highly anticipated, but never made sequel Jet Set Radio Evo due to the relatively low Japanese sales of JSRF. Sega disappointingly turned down the concept in 2006, which would have been developed for the Nintendo Wii and featured a slew of returning characters.

Gameplay is undeniably better in JSRF. Characters move faster, but control tighter to compensate and allow for higher player skill-expression. Mission objectives were streamlined, and the map was redesigned to be open world. Players could now skate between areas instead of choosing which playground to visit from a menu. This allowed for more exploration and secrets to be hidden throughout the game world, with a vastly expanded cast of characters to find and recruit throughout.

The graphics also saw an improvement. Due to the Xbox's hardware, higher resolution art and designs were able to be implemented while the game continued to run at a smooth framerate. If you're going to pick up one of these games to try, I highly recommend downloading an Xbox emulator to play this one.

If you're interested in hearing more, here's a link to a Spotify playlist that contains tracks from both games. Be warned, however, that it is not entirely inclusive and that some tracks can only be found on YouTube.

What's next?

Jet Set Radio has clearly left its mark- but if that's the case, why hasn't there been a proper entry in the series in 16 years and counting? While I mostly blame Sega for the Jet Set Radio drought, we should rest easy. There is an indie game in development by Team Reptile called Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, which is directly inspired by Jet Set Radio. Will it have a similarly iconic soundtrack? G-d, I hope so.