The Art of Games: Jet Set Radio (Series)

March 26, 2009 | David Raffauf

A breakthrough for its time, Jet Set Radio was the first game to bring the cel-shading art style to the world of video games.  This was a mind blowing transition that took real vision to imagine.  Up to this point most games had been really poor attempts doing something vaguely realistic in 3D.  With Sega’s Dreamcast, console hardware had just reached the point where 3D games were starting to look good.  But by making this stylistic choice and simplifying the models, JSR looked amazing.  The game ran so smoothly that they were able to let you rush through crowds of people and cars with no slow down.  I’ve included the follow up title, Jet Set Radio Future, in this article because I think that’s where Smilebit realized the full potential of the original’s art style and personality.

The location designs for this game are equally unique and impressive.  Some of the seedier areas look like shanty town high-rises.  Buildings are haphazardly stacked on top of each other, giving you the feeling the whole area might collapse like a house of cards.  Probably the most famous location is the Shibuya terminal which for anyone who has visited Japan is a pretty good approximation to the real thing.  On my first trip to Tokyo I think the locals thought I was nuts because I was taking dozens of pictures of bus stations and stair cases featured in the game.

Here’s the Shibuya Bus Terminal area:

Here’s JSR’s version:

Playing cartoon versions of real areas from cities in Japan was a really fun experience.  There were so many little quirky things to find, and for a small town boy it was pretty amazing to see the world’s biggest megalopolis.

JSR was a little controversial when it was released because a central part of the gameplay involves tagging over your competition’s graffiti to reclaim your turf.  Before you can even get into the game they throw up a giant disclaimer recommending that you don’t cover your local elementary school with giant skulls.

The game presents a series of optional challenges where you can collect new tag designs by reaching trophies hidden around the city.  It’s probably the only game I can think of where art is such a centerpiece of what you’re doing.  I actually found myself hunting around for the trophies to unlock all the different styles of tags.

The Jet Set Radio series also introduced a mechanic that you now see in a lot of skate and snowboarding games where you can jump onto the edges of rails or stairs and grind them.  I found that after spending a lot of time playing these games I would start sizing up my surroundings whenever I was out and about, trying to guess what stairs, rails and telephone poles would be good grinds.

I really appreciate unique and energetic character designs.  That’s definitely one of the reasons I feel so drawn to this series.  Each game features a large cast of characters.  Gum, the sassy hipster, and Beat, the no nonsense tagger, are probably the two most recognizable characters.  In the Japanese tradition there were also some laughably stereotypical characters such as Combo, the buff, African-American with giant, gold chains and boombox attached to his shoulder at all times.  Aside from a couple exceptions most of the characters were unique and interestingly costumed.  Doing a little research online I found that JSR has inspired some famous game artists including Falcoon, famous for his character designs for numerous fighting games, to create fan art. 

Coming up with ideas for this series of articles I found that a lot of games’ visuals haven’t held up, but I think if this series had been released today it would still have enough character that it would be well received.  Like Shadow of the Colossus this was a system seller for me.  Even as a poor college student, I was so blown away by the art style and gameplay of JSR that I almost immediately ran out and purchased a Dreamcast.  I look forward to future releases from the developer, Smilebit, or from members of its talented team.