Taylor H

Stylistic, inspiring, and reflective of the modern soft cyberpunk hellscape we find ourselves in, Jet Set Radio is a Dreamcast classic that only improves even further with its successor Jet Set Radio Future. Basically-- gangs of teenagers who express themselves with graffiti in the futuristic fictional city of Tokyo-to (named Rudies) fight for turf in the various parts of the city using magnetic skates. The police and corporate establishments, powerful as they already are, try to crack down extremely hard on their presence to get rid of them and secure their own control of the city. Rudies are empowered, entertained, and informed of what's going on in the streets by the mysterious and funky DJ Professor K, owner and operator of the titular pirate radio station Jet Set Radio. You take the charge as the newly formed gang The GGs, building your way into a dominant power in the streets of the city. The gameplay is fun and arcade-like, with a minigame-style system which utilizes the directional inputs in order to spray graffiti into predetermined spots on the map which can range from buildings to people. The music is classic and covers many different tastes, especially if you include JSRF's soundtrack. While some tracks can get annoying, the music as a whole is refined and fits perfectly with the rebellious, upbeat, and anti-authoritarian mood the game brings to the table. The controls aren't that great compared to modern titles, turns and jumps tend to take away too much of your control over your character until they're over with, leading to a lot of missed jumps and running into walls which kills your momentum. Police officers make this problem worse, as being hit by them not only knocks you to the ground and instantly kills all of your momentum, but they also hang onto you until you manage to shake them off, which wastes a lot of time in a game where every stage has a strict time limit.