Jet Set Radio and the Dreamcast: A retrospective

For gamers everywhere, September 9, 1999 is a special day. On that day, the Sega Dreamcast breathed new life into the video game industry. The console wasn't around for long, as Sega was unable to fight off the hype surrounding the upcoming Playstation 2 and systems from Nintendo and Microsoft. Despite lasting for only two years or so, the Dreamcast was home to many original and exciting games. It also has a special place in my own heart: the Sega Dreamcast was the first product I ever worked for to buy. Seeing the in-store display of a Dreamcast made me so incredibly excited, I sold every item I could sell, saved whatever money I could find, and worked to get as much money possible. My brothers and I pooled our resources and saved over $200, even at the age of 12. Then, on the highly advertised Dreamcast launch date, 9-9-99, my dad drove us to our local video game store to purchase the object of our affection. We loved every minute of it. To my parents dismay, it was the Dreamcast that truly fueled my hobby of video games beyond casual sessions of Sonic the Hedgehog or Madden to hours of playing with friends and keeping track of important industry players, such as developers and producers.

The ten year anniversary of the Dreamcast has come and passed, and with it many retrospective and analytical articles have been posted by a majority of websites dedicated to the industry, including quite informative ones at IGN and 1up. This, however, is a retrospective seen through the eyes of one game: Jet Set Radio (released in North America under the name "Jet Grind Radio.") Jet Set Radio symbolized the type of quality and originality the Dreamcast became known for, with such amazing titles such as Soul Calibur, Sonic Adventure, Phantasy Star Online, Space Channel 5, Power Stone, the 2K sports games, and Shenmue. None, however, are still as good or still as original as Jet Set Radio.

The game has you roller-blading around Japan in a world where self-expression has been outlawed. You fight the powers that be by spray-painting graffiti on everything as you're being chased by the policemen. It may sound a little weird, but the game itself was nearly perfect. Jet Set Radio was dripping with style and substance all at once. The soundtrack was amazing and completely fit the mood, as it was played through the in-game radio station named "Jet Set Radio." The graphics were new and revolutionary, like a cartoon come to life, and they were perfect for the game. The game was about tagging and graffiti art, and you could feel the passion of those who worked on the game as you played through it. It was new, it was fresh, it was completely unique, and it was only on the Dreamcast.

In reality, it probably couldn't have been on anything else. The Dreamcast seemed tailor-made for people who really loved video games, but games like Jet Set Radio, despite near-unanimous praise from the gaming press, never caught on with most gamers, and as such never sold well. Experiments like these, even with a huge amount of critical praise, are often costly for the developers. The Dreamcast suffered financially from many of these games, such as Shenmue (whose budget was rumored to be in the $70 million range but never came remotely close to recovering those numbers), and these poorly performing games helped the Dreamcast dig its grave into an early demise.

Jet Set Radio was something special, though. The only other game like it was Jet Set Radio Future, a sequel released on the first Xbox that was absolutely stellar but never picked up any steam in the marketplace. The Dreamcast truly was home to ingenuity in gaming, and this becomes especially apparent when you compare the Dreamcast lineup to the upcoming schedule of games to be released for the consoles currently around, such as the Playstaton 3 or Xbox 360. Almost every new game release is either a sequel or a game licensed after a movie or TV show. Another Halo, another Splinter Cell, another Assassin's Creed, another Mario, another movie tie-in, another Call of Duty, another God of War, another music game with plastic instruments. It gets a little tiring. The Dreamcast was home to originality, where new ideas and stellar gameplay seemed to spring out of the console every time you put a new game in.

While the Dreamcast is no longer being produced, it is still easily found today, even ten years after its debut. A quick search on craigslist or eBay comes up with quite a few results, with the cost of the system itself ranging between $30 and $50. Jet Set Radio itself can be found for $10 - $15, and then, for the price of the new Halo game, you can enjoy a game that still stands up to today's releases, and still feels fresh and new. Go ahead and relive some great memories. Or, if you've never had a Dreamcast, definitely pick one up, and you'll experience the same joy I did ten years ago on 9-9-99.