JET SET RADIO

A vibrant Tokyo-like city with an anti-establishment attitude.

- Matt Poskitt

Jet Set Radiooooooo!" yells DJ Profesor K, as the title screen burstes into life with a remix worthy of Fatboy Slim himself. The celshaded action skater game with a Y2K aesthetic and a cool electronic, funk and hip-hop soundtrack - that is still dynamite to this day, might I add - is undergoing a bit of a resurgence as of late. This has all stemmed from the lead-up and launch of Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, a spiritual successor that looks to build upon everything that made the original so damn engrossing.

Not that Jet Set Radio needs a renaissance. The fanbase and ever-lasting admiration for Beat, Gum and the ever-growing GGs gang has prevailed for more than two decades now, something pretty special considering only two mainline console games were released in the early 2000s.

My own personal history actually begins with Jet Set Radio Future, the 2002 sequel that somehow is still exclusive to the original Xbox. Seriously! It's never been made available anywhere else, with licensing issues surrounding the music being the prevailing theory about why.

I'll always remember when my father brought home a second-hand Xbox that was once owned by my cousins, and with it came the double game disc of Sega GT 2002 and Jet Set Radio Future. Being as immersed as I was by the poppy visuals, anti-establishment empowerment and Tony Hawk-like soundtrack, it's sort of amazing I've never experienced the original release until now.