Jet Set Radio

Jet Set Radio Fan art: JSRF by Sam M

         

Most of the times, fan art takes the form of just one of the characters from a game, or a couple at most. This is one of the ways in which Sam M's piece is different from the norm. The other ways are his professional and funky art style, which makes this piece look like it could have been some real promotional art, and the way that even the most minor characters from the game are portrayed. It's like a yearbook with pics of all the friends you made while playing the game, which, if you ask me, is pretty cool indeed. Click this link to see this pic in higher res, or here to check out more of Sam M's artwork.

Watch the intro to Jet Grind Radio

YouTube is a real treasure trove for everything Jet Set Radio related. It's filled with all the trailers and gameplay videos, homemade music videos and videos of some of the big glitches in the game. I'll try to wade through these and find the ones that are most interesting, and maybe one day even post my own videos there. There is some guy on there with videos claiming he's the best JSR player out there, but I'm pretty sure there are some levels where he might have a hard time beating me. Or at least I hope so. To kick off the video part of the site, here is the opening video for the first Jet Set game, and thus probably the first thing most people saw of the gaming classic. It's the opening of the western version of the game, called Jet Grind Radio. It's bound to bring back some good memories for you, it sure did for me! It was posted by a YouTube member called lyris1. Thanks for that!

Jet Set Radio Fan art: Gum by Falcoon

         

Ah yes, Gum. Most of the hours I clocked on the Jet Set Radio games, I had her as my character. It sort of makes you wonder why I spent all that time unlocking every character in either JSR or JSRF, doesn't it. Thing is though that I'm the faithful type, and when I've completed a good chunk of any game with a certain character, I start feeling connected and tend to stick with them. Besides which, to me Gum is the sexiest of all the female characters out of the JSR universe, and I have a thing for girls wearing pilot goggles. Don't ask.

This piece of fan art was made by none other than Falcoon. Now before you start thinking to yourself: who on earth is Falcoon and am I stupid for never having heard about him, don't worry. I also never heard of him before I laid eyes on this art, but apparently Falcoon is a pretty big name in videogame art circles. He made a name making fan art, mostly for the King of Fighters series, and SNK liked him so much that they hired him. It looks like he is still making fan art though, and this piece of Gum art is quite striking. I actually had this as a background picture on my work computer for a minute, until I started noticing that male colleagues were paying a lot more attention to my screen than usual. Ah well.

Jet Set Radio Fanart: Extra Oil and MSG

               

Even though the Jet Set Radio games were amazingly put together and much loved by fans, they were never such big hits to put them in Mario/Sonic/Final Fantasy-territory which guarantees sequels every year, as well as spin-offs, cartoons and so on. So it's nice to see that there are quite a few great pieces of fanart dedicated to the game. I'll be featuring those over here over the coming weeks/months/years, as long as I can keep finding new ones.

This one here is from Deviant Art (where else), and is drawn by an artist calling himself Robotnicc, a 26 year old guy from Chicago, who has a gallery filled with great art (including two extra JSR pieces). He has chosen Cube as the inspiration for this picture. A good choice, what with Cube being one of the fan favorites, together with Gum probably the character most featured in JSR fanart. This piece is full of life and shows the energy of the JSR games very well. A great piece then. To check out more of Robotnicc's art, head on over to his official website or his Deviant Art page.

Jet Set Radio!

If I would have to make a top ten of my favorite videogames ever, chances are that both Jet Set Radio's will be in there. There aren't many games that have grabbed me quite in the way that Jet Set Radio (Jet Grind Radio) and Jet Set Radio Future have done. When I first got these games, I was glued to them until I finished them, and even now I regularly start them up to see if I can break some of my records. I've probably clocked up about 100 hours on both of them, which, for me, is a pretty big thing. Most of the time when I complete a game, I lose interest and cannot be bothered to see if I can find every secret, unlock every character and open every location.

So what is it about these games that make them so special? It's a combination of the cool gameplay, brilliant style and amazing music, I guess. I've still got a lot of songs from the soundtrack to both games lurking on my mp3-player, while I surf the web for fan art and info on that elusive Jet Set Radio 3 regularly. And, most important, they are the only games on which my friends find it impossible to beat me.

Nowadays when you surf the web for info on Jet Set Radio, there is not a lot to be found. A lot of the fansites have closed up shop, or haven't been updated for ages, so I guessed it was time for some new internet love for these fantastic games. Here, you will find info on the games, lots of the best fan art I could find on the net, and news on any future installments (you can always stay hopeful, right?). So join me in travelling to Tokyoto, and tagging a few walls here and there.