JSRF: Jet Set Radio Future

Overview

With the success of Jet Grind Radio for the Dreamcast, Smile-Bit and Sega released a remake for the Xbox called Jet Set Radio Future. The story follows a gang called the GGs, consisting of the leader Corn, Co-Leader Gum, and the main character YoYo. Throughout the game, the player meets various characters. Should the player complete their specific challenges, they will join the player’s gang, allowing the player to use them within the game instead of YoYo.

Set some time in the future, the story of Jet Set Radio Future takes place in Tokyo which is controlled by a man named Gouji and his police force, known as the Rokkaku police. The government is very strict and several gangs, including the GGs, have decided to rebel against the oppressive government and fight back. Game-play is similar to the original Jet Grind Radio. The player can choose any of the characters that they have in their gang to control during each mission. Scattered throughout each environment are spray cans which the player collects in order to tag specifically marked points in each environment with graffiti. The player can also choose to sacrifice ten cans in order to boost, significantly increasing their speed for a short time.

The GGs are given information by a secret underground radio station called, "Jet Set Radio." The host, DJ Professor K, provides clues and hints as to where to go and what's going on in Tokyo. Most missions involve covering a rival gang's graffiti and are completed by tagging all points within a level. The act of tagging was altered from the original game; instead of manually painting graffiti, the player simply has to hold the right trigger to spray.

Combat mostly involves instances with the Rokkaku Police. The player is required to knock soldiers over and then spray them with graffiti until their health lowers. Bosses require the same spray can strategy but have significantly more hit points than average enemies.

The game features the same kind of cel-shading that it was well known for in the original game and is considered by many to be one of the most impressive looking games on the Xbox to date. The game also has an amazing and quite lengthy soundtrack. The soundtrack adds up to about 30 songs ranging from various J-Pop artists and video game music artist such as BIS and Scapegoat Wax. JSRF also features a multiplayer mode which is only available to play locally. There are races, capture the flag, and various other match types. All of these types can be played with up to 3 other players. As well as a multiplayer mode JSRF also features a robust graffiti editor allowing the player to create their own graffiti tags for use in the game. New graffiti designs can also be unlocked by finding collectibles called "Graffiti Souls" throughout each level of the single-player game.

Note that the other names are from Jet Grind Radio. These characters were also in the original game but had a name change in Jet Set Radio Future.

Soundtrack for Jet Set Radio Future:

1. Humming the Bassline (D.S. Remix) – Hideki Naganuma
2. Aisle 10 (Hello Allison) – Scapegoat Wax
3. The Answer (The Latch Brothers Remix) – Bran Van 3000
4. Baby-T – Guitar Vader
5. Birthday Cake – Cibo Matto
6. Bokfresh – Richard Jacques
7. Latch Brother Bounce – The Latch Brothers
8. Fly Like A Butterfly – Hideki Naganuma
9. The Concept Of Love - Hideki Naganuma
10. Funky Dealer – Hideki Naganuma
11. Shape Da Future – Hideki Naganuma
12. Statement Of Intent – BIS
13. Koto Stomp – The Latch Brothers
14. Count Latchula – The Latch Brothers
15. Let Mom Sleep (No Sleep Remix) – Hideki Naganuma
16. I Love Love You (Love Love Super Dimension Mix) – Guitar Vader
17. Rockin' The Mic (The Latch Brothers Remix) – The Prunes
18. I'm Not A Model – Russell Simins
19. Oldies But Happies – Hideki Naganuma
20. Me Likey The Poom Poom – The Latch Brothers
21. Rock It On (D.S. Mix) – Hideki Naganuma
22. The Scrappy (The Latch Bros Remix) – BS 2000
23. Sneakman (Toronto Mix) – Hideki Naganuma
24. Ill Victory Beat – The Latch Brothers
25. What About The Future – Richard Jacques
26. Teknopathetic – Hideki Naganuma
27. Like It Like This Like That – Hideki Naganuma
28. Sweet Soul Brother (B.B. Rights Mix) - Hideki Naganuma
29. That's Enough (B.B. Rights Mix) – Hideki Naganuma
30. Grace And Glory (B.B. Rights Mix) – Hideki Naganuma

Characters

Character	Description
	YoYo is the main character of Jet Set Radio Future. Initially the player will only be allowed to switch between three characters: Yo-Yo, Corn, and Gum. He wants to join the GGs and participates in a basic tutorial.
	Known as Tab in Jet Grind Radio and Corn in Jet Set Radio, Corn in this game is the leader of the GGs and is often found sporting a baseball cap (which is taller than an average cap) and a blue coat. He mainly sticks around to help out, but other than that his only role is the leader of the ragtag gang.
	Gum is the co-leader of the GGs and is one of the few female members of the gang. She offers general advice pertaining to the storyline at several points throughout the game, and is the member that teaches the controls and gameplay tips at the beginning of the game.
	Beat is one of the first characters to be unlocked. After finishing up tagging the walls in Dogenzaka Hills, Beat will show up near the save point and challenge the player to a race. If beaten, he'll join the GGs and escape to the garage when the police force shows up.
	Combo is a very tall muscular man that is always holding a boombox. He enters the storyline when rival gang Poison Jam covers the area of Shibuya Terminal in graffiti. After covering up the graffiti they left behind, Combo appears and accuses the GGs of committing the act. He then challenges the player to a grinding challenge around Shibuya Terminal, stating that he will join the GGs if he is beaten.
	A secret character. She isn't unlocked with main story progression. The player can find her in Rokkaku Dai Heights and must play a game of tag with her until she will agree to join the team.
	Found when the Tokyo underground sewer system is entered during the story. When stuck in a pit in the sewers he appears to save the day, but first he teaches a trick that allows the player to get more air. He then sends down a pole allowing which the player can grind up to safety and joins the team.
	Boogie is a secret character that can be unlocked in Kiboagaka Hill. In order to recruit her, simply talk to her. This is a bit difficult though as she is only on the screen for a short amount of time and the player must grind their way up to her before she disappears. Once spoken to she joins the team and makes no other appearances in the main plot.
	Clutch initially appears into the story as an antagonist as he steals all of the graffiti souls (a collectable object in the game), however after he is tracked down (he will spawn from level to level) and talk to him he regrets his actions, returns the items and joins the gang.
	Jazz is the final story related character to be unlocked. When both the player and her are kidnapped by the rival gang, the Noise Tanks, they are forced to team up together with her to face off against them in a game of Death Ball. Winning the game of Death Ball allows both skaters to escape and she then joins the team.
	Much like Clutch, Cube is an antagonistic character initially. She is the leader of the gang known as Poison Jam who are responsible for a lot of mishap throughout the story. However if the player talks to Gum enough she will tell them that Cube is looking for them down in the sewers. If the player goes down and talk to her, they'll be challenged to a little race. If the race is won, she'll join the group and will be a playable character.
	The final hidden character in the game, Soda appears in Highway Zero and simply joins the team if beaten in a race because he is "bored". He isn't related to the story at all, but can be used as another playable character.

Misc. Characters

The following characters while not obtainable in the storyline are unlockable by completing street challenges after story mode is complete .

Character	Description
	Akumu is the final boss of the main storyline, and is also the hardest character to unlock. He's unlocked by collecting all of the graffiti souls in Fortified Residential zone and then getting a Jet ranking in all of its challenges.
	The Doom Riders are one of the teams of characters that the player must face off against in a game of Death Ball. Their leader is unlocked by both collecting all the graffiti souls and getting a jet ranking in Dogenzaka Hill.
	The primary antagonist in the game, he is unlocked by collecting all the graffiti souls and getting a jet ranking in the street challenges of Rokkaku Dai Heights.
	Similar to Poison Jam, the player has to deal with this gang by covering up any graffiti they leave behind. The leader of the Immortals is unlocked by collecting all the graffiti souls and beating the street challenges of Skyscraper District and Pharoah Park.
	NT-3000 is a robot clone of Yo-Yo that must be fought towards the end of the story. He is unlocked by collecting the graffiti souls and achieving a jet ranking in Sky Dinosaurian Square.
	Noise Tank is the gang that kidnaps the player and Jazz in the main storyline. They are unlocked by getting the graffiti souls, and getting a Jet ranking in the street challenges of Highway Zero.
	One of the gangs that are fought in a game of Death Ball. Their leader is unlocked by getting all the graffiti souls and achieving a jet ranking in the challenges of Hikage Street.
	Poison Jam is a rival gang and one of the first antagonists in the game. They are unlocked by getting all graffiti souls and achieving jet ranking in the street challenges of both Tokyo Underground Sewage facility and Bottom Point of the Sewage facility.
	Potts is the GGs dog and during the story simply sits around the garage barking. He can be unlocked by getting all the graffiti souls and achieving Jet ranking in Kiboagaka hill.
	A gang that is faced off in a game of Capture the Flag early on in the story in order to gain information on Poison Jam. Unlocked them by getting all the graffiti souls, and achieving Jet Ranking in 99th Street.
	RoBoy is the in-game manual and allows the player to change their settings, save their game, and edit other things to their liking. Unlocked him by getting the graffiti souls and jet ranking in all street challenges of Chuo Street.
	Zero Beat is an evil negative android clone of regular Beat. Fought him as the second to last boss in the game. He is unlocked by getting all the graffiti souls and achieving jet ranking in all of the challenges in Shibuya Terminal.

Xbox 360 Backwards Compatibility

The Xbox 360 offered the option of playing original Xbox discs in the new Xbox 360. The problem was, that many individuals who owned the single disc copy of Jet Set Radio Future and Sega GT 2002 were not able to play Jet Set Radio Future. Many of them found an error message, and only people who got the standalone JSRF game were able to play. Microsoft soon created a patch to fix this bug, and all bundled versions of Sega GT 2002 and JSRF are currently playable, however the frame-rate takes a huge hit in some areas such as 99th street and Fortified Residential zone while playing JSRF on the 360.