Jet Set Radio

Graffiti, inline skates and a soundtrack people still hum two decades later made Jet Set Radio a cult hit on the Dreamcast in 2000. In 2012 SEGA brought it back in HD on consoles, PC, iOS and Android, with BlitWorks handling the ports. The Android version arrived worldwide on November 29, 2012 at $4.99, and in Japan on January 30, 2013.

What Is Jet Set Radio

You play a member of the GG’s, a gang of skaters in a stylised version of Tokyo, competing with rival gangs for territory by covering the city in graffiti. Each mission gives you a time limit and a limited supply of paint, while the police chase you harder the longer you stay. Getting to some tags means grinding rails, jumping between rooftops and chaining tricks, and between missions you return to the gang’s clubhouse, where you can choose characters. Professor K, the pirate radio DJ, narrates the whole thing.

What The HD Port Added

The mobile and console versions shared the same upgrades over the Dreamcast original:

• Widescreen HD graphics
• Online leaderboards and achievements
• A new camera system

Alongside those, the soundtrack combined the tracks from the North American, European and Japanese releases and added bonus songs from Jet Set Radio Future, though two songs, Yappie Feet and Many Styles, were cut. You could also import photos or design your own graffiti, which owners of phones with a stylus, such as the Galaxy Note, enjoyed most.

How Touch Controls Changed Jet Set Radio

On a touchscreen, small tags need only a single tap, whereas larger pieces of graffiti use swipe gestures that leave you exposed while you draw them. Boost, jump and camera reset sat on simple on-screen buttons. The trouble was movement. Your character is always on wheels, so hairpin turns and quick reversals are hard, and the original controls were already loose. Android Police found the port technically sound, yet it agreed with TouchArcade and Pocket Gamer that touch controls made Jet Set Radio’s tricky handling and fussy camera noticeably worse. The cel-shaded art, on the other hand, looked excellent on tablets such as the Nexus 7, especially in the night levels.

Jet Set Radio Left Google Play During The iOS 8 Trouble

In October 2014 SEGA announced that it would pull the game from both Google Play and the App Store. The Android version had no notable problems of its own. The cause was iOS 8, which broke the iPhone build, and SEGA said it would bring the game back to both stores once the issues were fixed. It never returned. Owners who had already bought it kept access, but by 2015 the mobile versions were delisted for good, so the package com.sega.jetsetradio no longer has a live listing.

Where To Play Jet Set Radio Now

The same HD version remains on PC through Steam, and it was also released on the PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita and Xbox 360 in 2012. Those versions play far better with a controller, which is exactly what the reviewers recommended even when the Android port was still on sale. SEGA has not released a new mobile edition, and old Android builds from 2012 were not made for today’s 64-bit-only phones.

Why People Still Talk About It

The game’s art style and music have influenced a long line of later games, and its fan community remains active with remixes, fan art and speedruns of the console versions. For Android owners, the 2012 port is a reminder of how close SEGA came to putting a cult classic in everyone’s pocket, even if the controls never quite suited the phone.