SEGA Needs to Make a New Jet Set Radio

BY MATTHEW F, UPCOMING onAXIS SITE WRITER

Today was a very good day for SEGA gaming press. We saw many brand new images, video and details. for the new and upcoming Sonic Unleashed as well as some 2D gameplay which looked absolutely superb. 2006's Sonic the Hedgehog was not as good as a longtime Sonic fans would have hoped for, but in recent light, SEGA has been seeming to make a comeback with their games. Sonic Unleashed looks like to be a title well worth keeping tabs on at the moment, as well as the recently released SEGA Superstars Tennis. The game was far from a flop and actually didn't do bad in the majority of the reviews (having played the game myself I can say it is definitely a well developed title).

SEGA seems to be learning from it's mistakes and the titles have been getting better. But Sonic is the not the focus of this article. Lately SEGA has been giving all of it's old titles new games, and with the inclusion of some old characters in it's new SEGA Superstars Tennis, I've been getting pretty hyped to see somewhere out there SEGA is making some notion to old character that have not yet received new games in quite some time. The characters I'm talking about are none other then from a game called Jet Grind Radio.

For those who don't know, Jet Grind Radio was a game for Dreamcast that was all about skating around a modern day Tokyo and covering it in graffiti. The game had somewhat of a sequel, called Jet Set Radio Future. Jet Set Radio Future (or JSRF for short) is one of my favorite games of all time, and sits on my shelf as an all time classic, that combines elements of a skating game and an action game to bring you an experience never before had in any type of video game. It's story was one of revolution, the flame of youth, culture and art. It was definitely one of the most unique games you can ever find. It is quite rare these days and well worth looking into.

In SEGA Superstars Tennis, Jet Grind Radio characters "Beat" and "Gum" are playable. Not to be confused with their Jet Set Radio Future counterparts who are different, noticably in their clothing and skates. The home court for these characters is also of Jet Grind Radio, and not Jet Set Radio Future, noticeable because of the appearance of the infamous "DJ Profesor K" and the Rokaku Police. Seeing as these guys make an appearence as Jet Grind Radio and not JSRF is quite questionable, polling that the majority of gamers favor Jet Set Radio Future over it's Dreamcast counterpart, but that might be just it. It might be because Jet Set Radio Future was an Xbox title and Jet Grind Radio was a Dreamcast title might be the reason of the Jet Grind Radio characters being in SEGA Superstars Tennis. Nonetheless, the inclusion of these characters does notion that they are not dead yet, otherwise it would have been very questionable to include characters that appeared in only two games over 5 years ago (not including the GBA adaption of Jet Grind Radio).

With the recent revival of NIGHTS, new Sonic titles, Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz, and more, it doesn't seem unlikely that Jet Grind Radio/Jet Set Radio Future can get a next-gen makeover. All these new SEGA games are getting me hyped and with these characters that seemed almost completely dead making an appearance in a game not even a week old yet. It tells me that SEGA is not done with them yet. Here's hope to some new Jet Grind Radio/Jet Set Radio Future games! Especially on PlayStation 3!