I could give you a surface level analysis and discuss how
both games involve a metric-ton of paint sloshing but at the ‘Yard we like to
go a little bit deeper. Splatoon 2 is a vibrant online shooter with compressed
matches that resemble the rhythm and pointedness of Dreamcast’s library of
competitive games and not just the amazing Jet Grind Radio. Ooga Booga.
Outtrigger. Power Stone. Hydro Thunder. The Dreamcast is home to a healthy
supply of arcade-style games that require minimal investment and an honest
desire for amusement. Journalists in the ‘90s categorized the Dreamcast
as the last 'hobby' console, i.e., a fun little box that - not obsessive
types that like to achievement hunt and spend hundreds of hours gawking at
Geralt’s platinum hair - could enjoy. The Dreamcast represented the end of an
era. Its games were a testament to the hobbyist philosophy.
But let’s get back to Jet Grind Radio for a moment. In Jet
Grind Radio you play as a variety of rollerblading hoodlums (as I’m sure
President Trump would call them, I like to call them artists) who skate around
the streets of Tokyo-to looking for areas to spraypaint their tags. In order to
achieve this, you must battle a crescendo of Tokyo-to police forces up to and
including a damn tank. Apparently vandalism is punishable by tank in the
streets of Tokyo-to. The spraying and skating is accompanied by a funky
soundtrack from DJ Professor K. Poppy hip-hop and female Japanese chanting
fills your ears while you race around the cell-shaded environment.