(Tab of the GG's)

The city of Tokyo-to is in chaos! Groups of punk kids called "rudies" are taking to the streets with their magnetized, powered skates and defacing public property with no regard for the law! These gangs have been known to evade police officers, squad cars, helicopters, and even tanks while spraying their graffiti and causing a disturbance. I don't know how those kids are doing it, but they always seem to know when we're coming to bust them! They're either done painting their eyesores on the city's buildings, or they're ready to spray our officers and vehicles! I can't tell you how many of our keisatsu have come back covered in spray paint. Those kids are a menace!

--Capt. Onishima, Tokyo-to Police Force


(Beat, of the GG's, with police)

Police force? Hah. I don't see any force. They have all these men and all this equipment, and they can't even catch some kids on rollerskates? Seems like they'd serve the city better by cleaning up all that graffiti. This city needs to be brought into order for the 21st century. That's why I am stepping in with my company, Rokkaku Construction Group. Perhaps you've seen our logo, the Golden Rhino? I find it is so much more pleasing to the eye than that chaotic scribbling those kids put up. If Captain Onishima's men can't handle the situation, then I can. I have trained some men myself who will show those gangs the real meaning of force. This is my city.

--Gouji Rokkaku, Owner, Rokkaku Construction Group


(Noise Tanks)

You're listening to the all-day, all-night, all-city all-time greatest station-JET SET RADIO! This is DJ Professor K sending a signal out to all you taggers. Word is that there's bad stuff brewing in Tokyo-to. In the Kogane-cho district, the "City of Twilight," those monster-mask-wearing, creepy creeps Poison Jam are out and about, terrorizing as only they can. In Benten-cho, the "City of Night," the bleeps and bloops of the high-tech Noise Tanks are making the locals think twice about going out! And in Shibuya-cho are a bunch of young punks out to take it all, the GG's!

To all you kids out there skating and tagging, I'll be watching, as usual, and getting the word out whenever that '70s cop show reject Onishima's on the prowl! Keep your headphones on while you get out there and beautify!

--"Professor K," DJ of the pirate radio station "Jet Set Radio"


(Professor K)

COMMENTARY

On its surface, Jet Set Radio (named Jet Grind Radio in the US, but the original is so much snappier!) is a game about juvenile delinquency. As a member of the rollerblading GG's, you skate through three large areas of the city, covering other gangs' graffiti with your own, outrunning (and sometimes spraying) the police and their equipment, and performing jumps, grinds and other tricks. However, the delinquency theme is less important than the gameplay (finding the tagging points on the map, some of which require creative grinding to locate, all while maintaining a supply of paint and avoiding the police), and its style. No other game I've seen has created a persistent world with such style, as every element of the world goes together to create a VERY immersive, VERY cool environment. This is accomplished with the "cel-shaded" graphics (wherein 3d polygonal graphics are made to appear flat and cartoony,) the design of the levels (which looks a lot like a Tokyo of ten years from now,) and the soundtrack, which, as the broadcast from Jet Set Radio, is even accounted for in the story. Accordingly, Professor K does come in occasionally to give hints, warnings and, of course, station identification.

"Jet Grind Radio."
http://mediaviewer.ign.com/ignMediaPage.jsp?channel_id=62&object_id=13512&adtag=network=ign&site=dreamcast&pagetype=medialist&page_title=Jet%20Grind%20Radio

IGN Jet Grind Radio screenshot archive. Screenshots taken from here.

Jet Grind Radio. Video game. Sega, Sega Dreamcast, 2000.
Source of story concept, characters, and ultimate source of screenshots.