Revisiting the “Jet Set Radio Future Multiplayer” Fan Game — an Interview with the Developer

In the spring of 2021, in my sun-soaked Seattle, WA apartment, I stumbled upon Jet Set Radio HD on Steam. It had been 20 years since the game’s creation during the dot-com boom, and so I found myself reflecting back on that era — on what we thought the future of the internet could look like compared to where our online worlds were now headed. JSR, in combination with the online-enabled super computer that was the Sega Dreamcast, represented an idea of where technology and games might go next. I was captivated. Maybe I still am.

I played through the game. I liked it — its energy, its vibe, and realized that the game now had a far deeper meaning that the younger me could ever piece together. The original hip-hop, funk and electronic synths —characters in their own right— played supporting role to my avatar, Cube, who cut through a Toyko-to basketball court tagging walls, a police state closing in on her.

Thoughts of data privacy, encryption technology, and artificial intelligence policing came to mind as I watched that deadly force unleashed on my protesting, spray-painting avatar ass. Developed in 1999, I also felt an influence of the pirate music sharing application Napster in my play through; in the JSR logo; in its ethos. I thought about intellectual property laws and how they are designed to re-appropriate property and wealth mostly for corporate entities. Entities like [Rokkaku Group].

I think Jet Set Radio can mean many things to anyone. I think that is one driver of its captivating nature.

Screenshot from Jet Set Radio Multiplayer

Others had taken an interest in Jet Set Radio, too. This led me to Jet Set Radio Future Multiplayer. JSRFMP is a fan-made game that takes Jet Set Radio Future, an original Xbox title and sequel to Jet Set Radio, and turns it into an online multiplayer, free-to-play extreme sport. The game’s character art is respectfully —how should I put this— pirated appropriately in the Jet Set Radio way from the Xbox title.

Before Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, there was 2018's Jet Set Radio Future Multiplayer. And while the game's server is no longer online, the game is still playable today single-player. JSRFMP has a custom soundtrack, and it features music artist 2Mello’s unmistakable sounds. There is fan-made graffiti art, and the game has more to offer than one might expect from a solo venture. There are a number of original characters to play, and expressive anti-fascist dance moves to unleash.

I ended up exchanging a few Discord messages with the solo developer, who goes by the name of screenracer. This is that interview, conducted over Discord messages in the Summer of ‘21.

Screenshot from Jet Set Radio Multiplayer

DCJY: When did you first dive into Jet Set Radio and why? Did you play the original back in the Dreamcast era?

screenracer: I played Future way back when the original Xbox came out. I was really young, and all I really remember was really liking 99th Street and I would always get my dad to complete the game up until 99th Street so I could just roam around since I wasn’t very good at games back then. I remember the game wouldn’t save for me as well, so I’d leave the Xbox on basically all the time haha. I forgot about Jet Set Radio for a while after that, since I was very young around seven or eight.

What got me back into Jet Set Radio was when Jet Set Radio HD came out. I was like, man I remember this game! But when I played it, it was different. I then found out that Future was the sequel. I wasn’t even aware of the Dreamcast version up until that point. So then I got an original Xbox and played Future, and started getting back into the Jet Set Radio series.

The Time a Bus Company tried to get Jet Set Radio Banned in the United Kingdom

While modern Sega tends to stick to the straight and narrow (i.e. reboot Sonic every other year, say they'll give us a new Crazy Taxi but only if it's some live service guff), they've certainly had some contentious moments throughout their history. At this point we've all heard about the United States Senate hearings concerning Night Trap. Throw a stone at YouTube and it's bound to land on a video covering the topic for the umpteenth time, not to mention countless deep dives into the Japanese multinational's various crappy business decisions. If you want to talk real controversial Sega history, how about the time they threatened a poor, innocent Dreamcast fansite with legal action? We're not still bitter or anything...

During the Dreamcast era, Sega found themselves in the sights of the city of Milwaukee's Common Council, who petitioned them to cancel the release of Smilebit's Jet Set Radio (or Jet Grind Radio, as it was known there in the US). The council claimed that the game would glamorise the act of graffiti tagging, with the fear being that it would encourage the young bucks of Milwaukee (geddit?) to transfer their petty vandalism from the virtual walls of Tokyo-To to the streets of Milwaukee itself. Ultimately, the game wasn't cancelled, but Tom's article on the whole saga is definitely worth a read.

The youths are going to graffiti your gran!

For a long time, we here at the Junkyard thought that was the extent of the concern surrounding Jet Set Radio's apparent mission to turn the youth of 2000 into mindless paint-spraying zombies. This was until Antosk8er in our Discord shared something very interesting that we'd never seen before. Turns out there were some powers that be attempting to get Jet Set Radio withdrawn from sale here in the United Kingdom too...

What Antosk8er found was a PDF of a report dated May 2002 from the London Assembly Graffiti Investigative Committee titled "Graffiti in London". The committee in question, which was comprised of three politicians - each from one of the three main political parties (Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrats) - was established in 2001 with the goal to “investigate graffiti across London, examining examples of best practice in its prevention and removal".

To be fair, those tags are pretty shit.

While I can definitely appreciate the artistry behind graffiti (no, this does not confirm that I am in fact Banksy), I can sympathise with the reasoning behind the establishment of this committee. In the foreword of the report, a 2001 survey is cited, which said that 77% of Londoners listed graffiti as “a quality of life concern". The report also mentions that "local authorities, transport organisations, businesses and private individuals [were] spending millions of pounds each year trying to prevent and remove it." But who needs money when you've got graffiti soul?

The report also painted a dreary picture of the effect graffiti was having on Londoners. "Graffiti has a negative effect on the lives of the thousands of Londoners who travel in vandalised, unpleasant buses and trains, and live in areas blighted by graffiti." And this, my sweet soul brothers, is where Jet Set Radio came into the picture.

Celebrate 22 years of Jet Set Radio with some licensed merch

It's June 29 2022 as I write this...and that means only one thing: it's exactly 22 years since Jet Set Radio was first unleashed on the world. Yep, on June 29 2000 Beat, Gum and Corn et al erupted onto the scene, taking on Poison Jam, the Love Shockers and Noise Tanks while grooving on down to the soothing choons pumped out by pirate radio DJ Professor K.

You could celebrate this event by playing Jet Set Radio. You could also celebrate by playing Jet Grind Radio. Or you could fire up your Xbox and play Jet Set Radio Future...but that would be pointless considering this anniversary is reserved for the original Dreamcast title's Japanese release. Soz.

One other way you could show your support for the cel shaded graffiti spraying hooligans of Smilebit's magnum opus (no, it categorically is not 90 Minutes) is by heading over to the SEGA Shop and checking out some of the interesting merchandise they have on offer. 

Personally I'm not a huge fan of the TUBBZ 'cosplaying duck' thing they have for sale (seriously, what even is that?); but some of the other stuff emblazoned with JSR coolness is actually quite...cool?

There's a couple of wearable items in the form of an officially licensed t-shirt and hoody, and a nice pin set. The item that does it for me though is the licensed water bottle that mimics the look of the paint cans that you need to collect in the actual game. Indeed, the blurb on the site says:

"Getting up to mischief in Fukuoka will certainly leave you thirsty! Why not hydrate yourself with this incredible Jet Set Radio Spray Can Water Bottle? The design of this water bottle is based on Beat's trademark graffiti spray can."

Quite. So now you can answer the call of Tokyo-To (not to be confused with the Call of Cthulhu under any circumstances) by filling an officially licensed Jet Set Radio receptacle with Frosty Jack cider and getting seriously fresh while spraying celebratory graffiti all over the city of Milwaukee. Actually, don't do that. Head to the SEGA Store instead and see if any of this licenced guff takes your fancy.

You Can Now Access The Original Jet Grind Radio Website From Your Dreamcast

While the promise of online gaming was a big part of Sega's marketing campaign when trying to flog the Dreamcast to the masses, many games simply didn't have any online gameplay portion. That didn't stop certain games proudly displaying the fact that they offered 'online functions' on the packaging, though. Usually, what this meant was that high scores could be uploaded to a leader board; or that certain things could be downloaded from a dedicated portal to a VMU that added extra features. For example, ghost car times in racing games, or mini games that could be played on a VMU screen. Some games offered more than others in this area, and one of the best when it came to added online extras was the awesome Jet Grind Radio.

As detailed in this story over at Dreamcast Live, the Jet Grind Radio website has been resurrected in (almost) its entirety, meaning that you can once again hook your Dreamcast up to the internet and browse the various pages that could be accessed from the game's main menu. Hidden away in this treasure trove from yesteryear are a graffiti gallery and ranking page, along with a hints and tips section that actually corrects some of the information printed in the physical manual. This isn't the first time a game's bespoke website has been revived, as the Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2 sites were both brought back online recently too.

Unsung Dreamcast Heroes: Captain Onishima

In the first of a new series here at The Dreamcast Junkyard, we thought it was about time we took a deeper, more humanistic look at some of the unsung and lesser celebrated players in the great library of Dreamcast-related characters and creations. The personas we all know, but who we don't necessarily love. The title 'Unsung Dreamcast Heroes' is a bit of a misnomer because it won't exclusively feature protagonists - indeed, this inaugural instalment actually profiles an antagonist of sorts - but hopefully we'll do it justice by bringing some of the lesser-known but equally important supporting cast into the spotlight. Right then - on with the show!

Jet Set Radio is easily one of the Dreamcast's most iconic titles. The premise is a relatively simple one, involving gangs of youths on motorised roller blades tagging turf and trying to evade the cops in the process. However, the cel-shaded visuals mask a fairly deep and involving yarn in which some pretty sobering themes are covered. These include the corporate censorship of freedom of expression; and an almost Orwellian vision of a near-future dystopia where everything seems fine on the surface, but once the scab of uniformity is lifted a whole underclass of festering all-out gangland warfare is revealed. Maybe I'm reading way, way too far between the lines when it comes to Smilebit's seminal skate and graffiti 'em up, but the fact remains that the city of Milwaukee tried to get the game banned back in 2000 due to the negative connotations of spray painting gang tags on urban street furniture. This is all academic in the grand scheme of this article though. The reason I'm writing all of this is because we need to examine one central character in particular...

Digital Artists Create Jet Set Radio Tags For New York Yami-Ichi 'Internet Black Market'

The second self-styled Internet Yami-Ichi was held in New York on the 6th November 2016, and was a celebration of all things 'internet-ish.' For those not in the know, The Internet Yami-Ichi in NY2 was a sort of flea market where creators of predominantly digital art and crafts gathered to sell their wares, and to me at least looks like a really cool and intriguing concept. From the official website:

The Internet Yami-Ichi (Internet Black Market) is a flea market which deals "Internet-ish" things, face-to-face, in actual space. Both flea markets and the Internet are fanatical and chaotic mixes of the amazing and useless.  In the Internet Yami-Ichi both the wills and desires which brought us to create the Internet, and the wills and desires we picked up are salvaged to be shared in a social space.

Everything from art based on popular memes to the more bizarre aspects of internet folklore are on display for visitors to the free event to purchase, with many items created as one-offs solely for this gathering. The reason we're reporting on this event (apart from the fact that it sounds really cool) is that a collective of digital artists got together to create something truly special for Internet Yami-Ichi in NY2: a VMU full of bespoke graffiti tags for use in Jet Set Radio for the Dreamcast.

Jet Grind Radio Vs The City Of Milwaukee

Milwaukee is a city that not only boasts a brilliant name (although still not on a par with the small hamlet of Shitterton in Dorset, England), but it is also the largest settlement in the US state of Wisconsin. I have personally never been to either Wisconsin or Milwaukee (or the United States, for that matter), but I have no reason to doubt that they are lovely places to live, work and play. So lovely even, that once upon a time the city council decided to team up with an organisation called Keep America Beautiful in an effort to take down their common enemy. Was this common nemesis crime? Invading aliens? Zombies? No. Nothing as malevolent as those: it was a video game.

Milwaukee. Probably.

A video game that, at the time was set for imminent release on the Sega Dreamcast - Jet Grind/Set Radio. The story goes like this. Upon learning of the upcoming release of Sega's graffiti and rollerblading title, the Milwaukee Common Council passed a resolution petitioning Sega to cancel the release of the game, citing that the glamorisation of tagging walls and trying to evade cartoon cops would inevitably encourage the youth of the city to immediately rush out and start spraying every piece of street furniture and bus with the help of a neon curly arrow. As reported in the October 2000 issue of Dreamcast Magazine and on Spong.com in September 2000, Suzanne Brier of the Milwaukee Common Council warned that Jet Grind Radio would "...lionize taggers as creative artists."

There are 9 million bicycles in Tokyo-To.