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Fifty-fifty the keisatsu melody in when they're not eating donuts!

Jet Set Radio (originally known as Jet Grind Radio in the NTSC U/C region) is a platforming/skating game released by Sega for the Sega Dreamcast in 2000, developed by Smilebit, who were made upwards of previous AM-6 employees, responsible for the Panzer Dragoon series. The game is centered around roller-blading street gangs consisting of teens and immature adults called rudies, who battle for turf past spraying graffiti effectually the streets of Tokyo-to. Meanwhile, the rudies' culture is under assault past an evil corporate conglomerate called the Rokkaku Group which seeks to homogenize the city and whose leader seeks to have over the world through demonic means.

The game is as well known for pioneering the use of Cel Shading to create cartoonish characters and backgrounds using 3D polygon graphics, and its use in this game popularized the mode in interactive media equally a whole. Additionally, the game is besides remembered for its eclectic soundtrack.

In 2002, a sequel was released for the Xbox called Jet Set Radio Future. Set rather ambiguously to the first game, Future is more than of a "remix". The story is much the same, with some new twists and new elements, though the characters of the game are very different, and the city of Tokyo-to has seen a very drastic overhaul. The game was made to play much faster, replacing the joystick graffiti spraying with a simple 'hold the push button and run' system, every bit well as making grinding a much more important skill (likewise as making it easier to practice).

Despite heavy promotion from Sega, neither game sold that well. JSRF was bundled with new Xbox consoles along with Sega GT 2002. While both games received critical acclaim and are fondly remembered, sales weren't enhanced every bit much equally one would promise — people would often buy the console bundle, but return the game to buy a copy of the original Halo: Combat Evolved, thus copies of the combo disc are plentiful on the secondary market place.

Despite everything, the series was very well received, fifty-fifty to this twenty-four hours, with Jet Gear up Radio considered to be i of the Dreamcast'southward defining games, and Jet Set Radio Future beingness considered one of the Xbox'due south all-time exclusives. The games have gotten plenty of love from the Sega Superstars crossover games, especially All-Stars Racing, which features nothing merely Futurity representation. The game was also featured in Hi-sCoool! SeHa Girls in late 2014.

The original Jet Set Radio was re-released in full Hard disk drive on Xbox Alive Arcade, Play Station Network, and PC in September 2012, netting the series a heave in popularity. Information technology was also released on iOS and Android, simply these versions have since been removed due to a percieved low quality from SEGA.

Not to be dislocated with Jet Set Willy, a completely unrelated game.

A Spiritual Successor, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, is being adult by independent studio, Squad Reptile (Lethal League), which apes much of JSR'southward style. The simply difference is that game has the characters use other movement options in addition to roller blades, like bikes, skateboards, and even gratuitous-running.

See also Air Gear, a manga that was inspired by this serial.

The Jet Set Radio series contains the following tropes:

100% Completion: In JSRF, after beating the main storyline, if yous collect every collectable in a level (which requires you to meet several prerequisites to make them all appear), y'all unlock additional challenges that crave you race against the clock which, when completed in a set up, gets yous some other grapheme. The crushing thing is that some of the "new" characters share the same stats as another core graphic symbol, and are pretty much just a different skin/model and voice. Farther added to in that, should you lot redo all your graffiti in all levels, yous go absolutely nothing. Seriously.
Aborted Arc: Rokkaku Gouji'south son takes over for his recently-deceased begetter at the end of the original game. This is never followed up on, especially since Future is essentially a re-imagining of the original game rather than a direct sequel.
Absurdly Spacious Sewer: This game takes it to the extreme, especially in JSRF, where the Tokyo Clandestine Sewage Facility is a sprawling multiple stories monstrosity of a level. Await to spend a few chunks of both games in these.
Acid-Trip Dimension: The final boss level in JSRF.
Action Commands: In the original game, large and xtra large graffiti tags crave y'all to movement the stick in the patterns the game indicates to successfully tag the wall. Characters with a higher Graffiti stat have a lower spray can cap and have to perform more circuitous commands to complete these tags, but they receive more points as a tradeoff. This was axed in JSRF, which but has yous spray larger tags in the same way every bit small ones.
Actionized Sequel: Future takes several steps to keep the player skating effectually. Tagging is simplified to a mere button press, the areas are much bigger to explore, getting up to speed and turning are ridiculously easy compared to the outset game, and grinding on rails allows you to chain tricks together to speed upwards and build up a high score.
Adaptation Dye-Job: And how. Tab/Corn goes from brunette to blond (and so does Piranha/Boogie), Yoyo goes from being a redhead to having lime green pilus, and Combo goes from having black hair to blue hair. Not to mention everybody changes outfits, and about of the changes are pretty pregnant, too.
Adaptational Villainy: The Dissonance Tanks from the original Jet Set Radio were Playful Hackers who sold software to pay for their hobbies and were responsible for causing a blackout months before the game began. In Jet Gear up Radio Future, the Dissonance Tanks are still mischievious, but are Retconned into cyborgs created by Rokkaku determined to destroy the GG's.
All Crimes Are Equal: Graffiti removal is Serious Business. For first-fourth dimension offenders, a plainclothes cop skips the handcuffs and blows your head off with a magnum. Twice, and a SWAT squad gets called in. Three times, and the ground forces starts to gyre in with tanks and helicopter gunships.
All At that place in the Manual: The yr Future takes place is never explained in-game, but co-ordinate to pre-release details and advertisements, it's fix in the year 2024. Some details about characters in Grind are also only seen in the transmission.
Afro Asskicker: The Golden Rhinos each look they they've stepped out of a Tarantino film, with seventies pilus and mustaches.
Amazing Technicolor Battlefield: The finale of JSRF.
Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: Potts, a blue pooch (green in JSRF).
Amazon Brigade: The Love Shockers and Rapid 99.
Anthropomorphic Zig-Zag: Once unlocked as a playable graphic symbol, Potts can transform from a quadruped into a rollerblading, spraycan-wielding canine of justice. This occurs as a issue of his dog-napping past the Noise Tanks, who outfit him with a helmet which makes Potts believe he'south a cow. During a 2nd playthrough, the Noise Tanks finally agree to 'ready' Potts - but only if you earn a "Jet" ranking in every stage.
And Your Reward Is Clothes: In JSRF, several subconscious characters are frequently nix more than re-skins; despite having to get a "Jet" rank on several difficult challenges to play as minor characters and antagonists, several of them plough out to be pretty much the aforementioned thing. Note that it'south not even subtle sometimes with certain combinations: Cube, the ex-leader of Poison Jam, is unlike only in clothes and color, even retaining the same skills and dances; the same applies for YoYo, Beat and their robot counterparts, who are identical save for different colors and an altered model respectively.
Art Assailant: Your strange graffiti is somehow potent enough to knock out policemen and destroy mechanism, upward to and including helicopters and giant mecha.
Ax-Crazy: Hayashi - though considering who he works for, information technology might not be much of a stretch. Hayashi'southward been known to blow up police cars if his toadies fetch him the wrong flavor of candy.
Prof. K: Can you believe this fool?
Badass Longcoat: Hayashi wears one, complete with a High Collar of Doom.
Bald of Evil: Gouji Rokkaku sports a vampiric goatee, merely his head is completely bare.
Bare Your Midriff:
- Of the GG's, Cube (in both of her appearances) and Piranha.
- The Love Shockers too, forth with a Cleavage Window added in JSRF.
- The Rapid 99 get bonus points for substantially non wearing any pants (having gone for tiny shorts), which cannot exist adept for rollerblading at all.
Battle in the Centre of the Mind: When Rokkaku sucks yous and hundreds of bystanders into his Humongous Mecha, you are transported into an acid-trip version of Tokyo-to filled with shadow creatures that constantly run subsequently you. During all this, Rokkaku situates himself on the highest part of his dreamworld where he then transforms himself into a giant monster on skates. You have to grind and jump all the fashion up in order to fight him.
Large Applesauce: Grind Metropolis. You can see the Brooklyn Bridge from Bantam Street, though that phase is allegedly modeled after Chicago.
- Fulton Street Folly: Averted with Grind Square (a parody of Manhattan'south Times Foursquare). The streets are deathly repose, with the but pes traffic consisting of uzi-packing mooks.
Bilingual Bonus:
- Rude boy, rudeboy, rudie, rudi or rudy were mutual terms for juvenile delinquents and criminals in 1960s Jamaica, and have since been used in other contexts.
- Many of the GG'south have katakana of their name or part of information technology somewhere on their graphic symbol. Tab has information technology written on the front of his beanie, Mew has it tattooed under her left middle, and Glue (in some artwork) has it tattooed on the within of her left thigh.
- The Rokkaku Group's logo is a hexagon - "Rokkaku" is Japanese for "hexagon".
- Gouji's final boss form in Futurity, A.Ku.Mu, means "Nightmare" in Japanese.
"Blind Idiot" Translation: Though it never gets downright incomprehensible, it'south clear that Future's English script is just a straight translation of the Japanese script, but with a ton of typos, grammatical errors, and mismatched subtitles thrown in.
Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: The initial 3 GG'southward in JSR; Gum is blonde, Tab is brunet (though whether his hair is brownish or black is anyone'south guess), and Beat is a redhead.
Bloodless Carnage: Even getting hit by a missile will merely knock you off your feet for a while.
Bloodier and Gorier: The original Jet Ready Radio had plenty of violence, mostly of the Wile E. Coyote sort; simply simply Gouji died onscreen, and Money perished in a single static comic panel. The sequel took the safety brakes off and gave the bad guys gruesome deaths.
Bowdlerize: Some songs in both games had sure lyrics cutting in guild for the games to retain a Teen rating. For example, in "Birthday Cake", the original version has a poetry that goes: "It'southward moldy mom, isn't it? // I DON'T Give A Flying FUCK THOUGH!!!" The game'southward version cuts correct to the chorus afterward the "Information technology's moldy, mom..." lyric. Another case, "I'1000 Non a Model" had a segment where a adult female goes into disturbing detail on giving oral sex. This part was cut in the game version for obvious reasons.
Buccaneer Broadcaster: Tokyo-to'south gang activity is reported via a pirate radio station named Jet Fix Radio, hosted by DJ Professor K.
Burning Safe: The skates in JSRF emit plumes of flames when you go fast enough.
Camera Screw: Both games accept pretty miserable cameras, with the but game having an adjustable camera being the HD re-release of the original. Both games require you to reset the camera to move it, which works sometimes and screws you over other times. Future'south photographic camera also snaps to look at your piece while spraying, blocking your view from heading into a Bottomless Pit and also managing to spiral upwardly your controls.
Car Fu: JGR's cops have no compunctions about running you over with their cruisers or motorbikes.
Cast of Snowflakes: The GG's limited this trope the best out of all the street gangs, as every fellow member has their own distinct outfit and character model. The other gangs count when compared against each other, but their individual members all look similar their boyfriend members.
Cel Shading: The original game was the outset to do this with both black outlines, and the use of two-tone shading on characters.
Changing of the Guard: In JSR, Yo-Yo is a character unlocked near the terminate of the start chapter. In Futurity, he replaces Beat as the first person you play as and who has to go through the tutorial. Subverted as he's kidnapped and rendered unplayable for about two-thirds of the game.
Grapheme Select Forcing: On your first playthrough, the Grind City flashbacks may only be played through equally Combo or Cube. Y'all can select anybody you lot like during a New Game+.
Chekhov'due south Gun: In Chapter 5 of Time to come you can see an evil-looking tower in the background. No attending is drawn to it, and no one mentions it, then you'd assume it to just exist a groundwork element, right? Turns out information technology's the device used past the Big Bad at the end of the game to absorb some sort of energy from the people of Tokyo-to, and sends you lot and them into an alternate dimension.
City of Adventure: Tokyo-to in either game, as either version of the urban center is a massive mega-city with many distinct districts.
Climbing Climax: In Jet Set Radio Future.
Cluster F-Bomb:
- The vocal Rockin' the Mic, which features a lot of South-bombs and Northward-bombs.
- "Rock It On" well-nigh the terminate of the vocal.
Cold Sniper: If you come across a blood-red light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation sight pointed at you, it ways a Golden Rhino sniper is nearby. Luckily, they're consummate cowards and run abroad if y'all face up them head-on.
Collision Damage: Bumping anyone in any fashion in the original tin can ship you flying in the opposite direction. Not merely is the damage and knockback reduced in Future, only if you bump an enemy in the dorsum, they take impairment!
Gainsay Commentator: Professor K fills this role in the sequel, providing such useful gems equally, "Wow, y'all're pretty flammable!"
Company Cameo: In that location are several nods to Sega in the get-go game:
- The semi-trucks have mudflaps reading "SEGA".
- Grind Urban center has signs ad sega.com.
- In the HD rerelease, unlocking the Secret Graphic symbol Potts the dog nets yous five bonus graffiti tags. The big one is a graffiti-styled Sega logo.
Cooking Duel: The gangs resort to competitions of skating and tagging skills to settle their differences directly. All of the 'boss' battles are just tagging people within a set time limit. It Makes Sense in Context.
Conveniently Empty Building:
- The moment the military shows up, pedestrians magically vanish from the scene. Needless to say, this removes some of the guilt associated with crashing helicopters into the pavement.
- When you fight the Immortals on Highway Zip in Futurity, yous tin can clearly encounter busy traffic earlier the cutscene, simply later that's over, all vehicles disappear to make mode for your boxing.
Couldn't Find a Pen: Coin's terminal instructions to his friends before dying were, fittingly enough, written in graffiti. It's a cryptic mural featuring rhinos, an airplane and an arrow pointing to Tokyo-to. Presumably, the Rhinos didn't catch onto its meaning.
Corrupt Corporate Executive: Rokkaku Gouji, who already owns the city by buying up all the major players and businesses. Now he wants to brand information technology official.
Clamber: Grind Square has a couple of fake news tickers.
Culture Police: The uniformed police, armed services, and later trained assassins all play this role, trying to suppress a skater counterculture.
Defeat Means Playable:
- The rival gangs (and fifty-fifty Gouji!) end upward becoming playable, should you rack up enough points.
- Points aren't even required to recruit Cube. You merely have to continue playing until she comes back out of hiding.
Demoted to Extra: The Beloved Shockers in Future were greatly sidelined, just actualization as underlings of the Racket Tanks. Combo also suffered from this, with all of his plot relevancy being transferred to Cube.
Disney Villain Decease: Gouji's ultimate fate in JGR.
Dismantled MacGuffin: The Devil's Contract, a vinyl record rumored to summon a demonic entity. Somewhere along the line, the record was broken into three shards and scattered between Grind City and Tokyo-to.
Disproportionate Retribution: Thinking of tagging up the streets of Tokyo-to? Exist prepared to have tanks and helicopters with missiles coming afterward y'all, and that'southward simply for people who dare to spray a couple of districts upwards.
Dramatic Stutter: Once he's prophylactic inside his trippy low-cal prove, JSRF'south Gouji all of a sudden goes all SHODAN.
Don't Endeavor This at Habitation: Both games on start-up display a message stating that, while graffiti is fine art, doing it as an act of vandalism is a crime.
Dub Name Alter: A large amount of the GG's take different names between regions; among others, the guy in the blue one-piece and beanie is Tab in English language and Corn in Japanese, the girl in the blue sundress is Mew in English and Bis in Japanese, and the lanky guy in the orange jacket is Slate in English and Soda in Japanese.
Edible Theme Naming: Probably unintentional, but some of the rudies have names like Beat (beet), (chimera)Gum, Corn, Soda, and Garam (Malay for salt).
Egopolis: The bulldoze behind Rokkaku's crackdown on the streets is to pave the mode for his "Rokkaku Expo", essentially branding everything with his logo.
Aristocracy Mooks: The Golden Rhinos supersede the police after you've run through all the levels once, all of them being far more than deadlier than the regular cops.
Enemy Chatter: The constabulary dispatcher and Onishima tin can be heard barking orders over their radio. Gouji and his Aureate Rhinos have over the airwaves after.
Evil Brit: The unseen vocalism commanding the Golden Rhinos over their PA system.
Evil Analogue: "DJ Large Gouji" could be seen as an evil counterpart to Professor Grand.
Evil Knockoff: Zero Beat, an advanced robot based on Beat and meant to have on the rudies at their own game.
Evil Express joy: Onishima, Assassin #4 Hayashi, and Gouji in equal measure out.
Evil Tower of Ominousness: Gouji Rokkaku'south lair in both games. In JSRF, he tin can't exist bothered to name it.
Evil Twin: NT-3000 is a robotic clone of Yoyo.
Expressive Pilus: Professor Chiliad'south electrified hair is in a constant land of motion.
Eyepatch of Power: The Love Shockers habiliment these as part of their gang uniform.
Face up–Heel Plow: Yoyo in JSRF. Later subverted when it'southward revealed that he really was kidnapped the whole time, and the Racket Tanks had used NT-3000 to brand the GG's think he had turned on them.
Flashback Effects: The flashbacks to Grind Metropolis appear in sepia tone, then slowly shift to color.
Fluffy the Terrible: The cutesy Rokkaku mascot, a gilded rhino in overalls. At the terminate of the game, the Rhino statue on the front of Gouji's edifice comes to life and starts belching burn down.
Forced Tutorial: JSRF's is ridiculously easy.
For the Evulz: Unlike his counterpart in the first game, the Gouji of JSRF is truly crazy.
Fourth-Wall Mail Slot: Professor One thousand reads aloud a couple messages from "Mr. Osaki", who is beset past roaches in his home. K jokingly advises him to burn his house down (which he does).
Gameplay Grading: Upon completing a level, you're given a ranking based on how many points you got. They all share the theme of being related to mobility: from worst to all-time, there'due south Pedal, Motor, Engine, Turbo, Nitro, and finally Jet.
Gang of Hats: A rather... quirky diversity of these hang out effectually the city and defend their turf. Well-nigh of them are only kids, though.
Gas Leak Cover-Upwards: Gouji'south expiry and the implosion of his edifice in JGR is written off as "a structure accident".
Gas Mask Mooks: Assassinator #3 and his posse.
Generic Graffiti: Averted in JGR, as some of the characters take their ain tags. This isn't the case in JSRF, where each gang has their own range of tags. The player tin can cull to avert or play with this, past choosing what they want to spray on the walls.
Genius Sugariness Tooth: The Noise Tanks are noted to have sworn off wellness nutrient, subsisting entirely on artificial chemicals and sweeteners. Subverted in that non simply their poor diet contributed to their defeat (roller skating like this demands some personal fitness), DJ Professor K as well vaguely implies in the ending that they abandoned it in favor of fruits and veggies. ("The Noise Tanks are in repair.")
Genre Mashup: The soundtrack, composed past Hideki Naganuma, incorporates elements of many genres such as rock, funk, and techno to make a very unique sound.

A God Am I: Rokkaku, towards the end in either game.
Goggles Practise Null: Adequately ubiquitous amongst the bandage, along with Cool Shades.
Gondor Calls for Aid: In the Regional Bonus missions, Combo and Cube are forced to abscond Grind City after the Rokkaku kidnap the third fellow member of their gang.
Gonk: Soda/Slate, an incredibly lanky dude with only a few strands of pilus atop his head, a pill-shaped caput half-obscured within his jacket, and a nose that looks like Squidward's.
Practiced Guns, Bad Guns: The Rhinos are packing some serious heat: Mac-10s and dragonovs.
Good Hair, Evil Pilus: Onishima inverts this trope by sporting a two-human foot pompadour and a stubble. Oddly enough, this hairstyle is associated with delinquents in Japan. A clue to Onishima's enigmatic, tortured past?
Graffiti of the Resistance: This is the premise in the games. Rokkaku and his corporation take bought practically all of Tokyo-toto in the hereafter; your player grapheme is a gang leader who sticks his centre finger to Rokkaku by spraying graffiti all over the town.
Gratuitous Japanese: Gouji does this in the cutscene before his boss fight in JSRF.
Grind Boots: The rudies' rollerblades automatically attach to metallic surfaces, assuasive for seamless grinding on track, with the thespian not having to worry well-nigh keeping their balance.
Manus Cannon: Onishima totes around a pistol as big as his massive pompadour.
Subconscious Depths: Phone call Gouji a Corrupt Corporate Executive all you want, but yous take to admit; having turntablism skills so proficient that you can both summon demons and absorb the souls of Tokyo-to would not be something to gawk at.
Hit the Basis Harder: In Hereafter, at least. Fall impairment will happen upon landing once your graphic symbol has begun their "I'm falling and screaming" animation. If you keep pulling air tricks on the way down, you won't become injure upon hitting the footing. Because falling stylishly stops the strength of impact from happening, of course!
Hoist by His Own Petard: The Golden Rhinos of JSRF make colorful departures when defeated, such every bit getting hit by a stray missile fired from a Rokkaku harrier jet. The flamethrower assassin is immolated when her flame tank explodes, and then crushed by a falling billboard sign which she had previously prepare aflame.
Hot-Blooded Sideburns: Professor Grand'southward JSRF incarnation.
Hotter and Sexier: Glue, Mew/Rhyth, and Cube's outfits are skimpier in JSRF. And then there's Yoyo.
I Take Your Married woman: Pet version. The Noise Tank's path in the commencement game sees them kidnapping Potts and belongings him hostage.
"I Know Yous're in In that location Somewhere" Fight: Against Poison Jam (who would have idea?). In the penultimate level, Rokkaku attaches brainwashing helmets to the trio and then sics them onto yous.
Idle Animation: All of the Rudies dance if left alone.
Purple Stormtrooper Marksmanship University: Dashing or grinding rails renders you basically invulnerable to police gunfire. Averted while y'all're on the ground, where you have to be really evasive to avoid gaining a few dozen pounds of lead.
Improbable Weapon User: Every Rudie with a spray can. Adding to the fun, all the spray cans floating well-nigh are described in the tutorial as concentrated "Soul of the Streets". You lot're not just knocking downwardly the police with graffiti, you're doing it with Soul juice!
Improvised Weapon: Graffiti has the power to blow up skyscrapers, helicopters and mecha on a regular footing. Helicopters can at least be justified in that you embrace the cockpit with information technology, simply buildings have no excuse.
In a Unmarried Leap: All rudies can jump 6 to nine feet in the air from a standing position, and grinding or wall-riding can let them leap even farther.
Inconsistent Dub: Several characters went through various name changes betwixt the first game and Future, sometimes not even related to their Japanese name. Two characters in particular went through iii names: Bis/Mew/Rhyth, and Sugar/Pirahna/Boogie.
Informed Aspect:
- The character profiles on the official Japanese site for JSR (likewise as the official Japanese guide) list a single defining characteristic and a favorite thing for each Rudie. Only many of these traits aren't even in the educational activity transmission, never mind in the actual game. For instance, Garam is evidently short-tempered and Mew likes money.
- Yoyo'due south profile for both games depict him as a Cocky-Proclaimed Liar, which could explicate why Professor One thousand calls him "a guy who'll blow your listen with his silver tongue" in Futurity.
Irony: Hideki Naganuma is well-known for the crazy funky electronic beats of both games (plus Sonic Blitz), simply his piece of work in the first game is actually the tamer stuff, with Deavid Soul and F-Fields providing the loudest, funkiest, craziest, densest, and closest to what someone today would flick Naganuma doing.
Japanese Delinquents: The games are all about them and their struggles against the city police.
Jet Pack: Assassin #2 and his cronies accept jetpacks, allowing them to rain gunfire on areas that other mooks can't, making them paticularly deadly.
Large Ham:
- Rokakku Gouji is a modest example. He's voiced by Charles Martinet.
- Onishima's first in-person line is belting out a loud "GOTCHA!", and his radio requests for backup have him yelling for paratroopers, helicopters and tanks - and receiving them.
- DJ Professor K mans the local Large Ham Radio, regularly shouting its name and extending the last syllable for a few seconds. One such shout provides the game'due south Title Scream.
Laughing Mad: Gouji'south last moments in JSRF.
Law Enforcement, Inc.: Rokkaku Gouji buys out the police department prior to the games' start, replacing them with his ain forces as the existent law are stuck in their offices.
Le Parkour:
- The GG'due south combine this with their rollerblades, grinding on handrails, highway dividers, fences, and wires, and riding on walls before leaping far away.
- Assassin #v isn't a big believer in stairs.
Lemming Cops: A few times in JSR:
- In "Monster of Kogane", spraying the large tag on the wall about the water tower to begin with volition prompt 2 cop cars to speed over to where y'all are so attempt to bring the vehicles to a finish. Accent on "effort", as they fail at this and so bulldoze over a cliff into the water.
- During the revisit to Benten, you tin trigger a hidden scene in which dozens of pursuing Rokkaku sedans crash into a giant, flaming pileup.
Letter of the alphabet Motif: The NTSC-U/PAL versions introduces three new characters from out of town: Coin, Combo, and Cube.
Living Statue: Gouji'southward corporate Mascot, a giant cartoon rhino, is stationed on the forepart of his building. The statue comes to life during the last battle and begins breathing fire.
Load-Begetting Boss:
- Defeating Rokkaku causes his unabridged skyscraper to explode.
- Rokkaku's Humongous Mecha starts to collapse after you defeat him at the cease of JSRF.
Locomotive Level: JSRF has a variant, in the sense that you're chasing after a locomotive robot.
Lonely at the Top: At the conclusion of the first game, Combo speculates this might have been the case with Gouji Rokkaku.
He didn't know how to deal with people that he couldn't buy with his money. Maybe information technology really is lone at the pinnacle... or maybe he's just another eccentric millionaire.
Mad Bomber: Assassinator #iv has bombs strapped to his chest, and has planted several throughout Shibuya - he's particularly addicted of placing them near cars. He as well lobs molotovs and is surrounded past flunkies who may detonate themselves if they miss a tackle.
Made of Phlebotinum: According to the opening narration, the Rudies' skates are powered by newly-adult "Netrium" batteries.
Malevolent Masked Men: Poison Jam and the Racket Tanks.
Human of Wealth and Taste: Gouji, over again.
Market-Based Title: The original game was renamed "Jet Grind Radio" in America due to there existence a band named Jet Prepare Satellite, and they feared that people would associate this game with them. The radio station is still referred to as "Jet Prepare Radio" in-game even so, and the simply changes are the championship screen and the graffiti proverb "To Jet Set Radio" in the intro is changed to "To Jet Grind Radio". This conflict was long gone by the time that JSRF and the HD re-release of the original came out, although the GBA port all the same retains the "Grind" title.
Masked Luchador: Assassin #1 is a hulking, masked wrestler who also employs judo kicks.
Mecha-Mooks: The Racket Tanks in JSRF, who are now out and out robots instead of geeky kids in high-tech gear.
Megacorp: Rokkaku Corporation. The logo is emblazoned on gas stations, satellite dishes, and trucks marked "Rokkaku Depot" (using the aforementioned typeface as Role Depot). Taken fifty-fifty farther in Hereafter, where the Rokkaku symbol can be seen on street signs, hydro plants, and structure equipment.
The Men in Black: The Golden Rhinos, a group of dudes boasting suits and afros. Professor K announces their inflow by referring to them equally a new gang; it's plain to see, nonetheless, that they're working for Rokkaku Corp. Their 'graffiti' is simply Rokkaku advertisements plastered over your own tags.
Mercy Invincibility: You go a pocket-size grace menstruum of invincibility afterwards taking damage, indicated past your character flashing red. Quite helpful when getting chased past the various dogs, assassins with whips, attack helicopters, and jetpack gunners throughout the game.
Mini Apparel Of Power: Mucilage and Rhyth in either game, which doesn't finish them from skating like their gang members.
MockGuffin: The Devil'southward Contract is revealed to be a hoax at the terminate.
Mr. Exposition: DJ Professor K, who tells you what'south going on in the city, tells you where to become in it, and tells you what needs doing when you go there.
My Name Is ???: Ordinarily, y'all're told the proper name of each grapheme that joins the GG's every bit presently as you lot unlock them. However, the final Hugger-mugger Character has their name written as "???" on the unlock prompt to avoid spoiling who it is before you see them for yourself: the GG's pup, Potts.
Mythology Gag:
- Yoyo's robot doppelganger in Hereafter wears his hoodie upward, which, combined with its greenish color, seems like a reference to his original appearance.
- Also in Futurity, Potts shares an idle dance with the Noise Tanks, the gang responsible for kidnapping him and connected to unlocking him in the original game.
The Napoleon: Captain Onishima.
Never Say "Die": Coin's body is plainly visible in a cutscene, lying expressionless at the foot of his mural. Nobody ever refers to him equally such: rather than avenge Money, Cube asks the gang to aid her for "the sake of Coin." The ending states that he was another victim of Gouji's machinations, just doesn't explicitly say "assassinated."
New Game+: In the original game, y'all render to Chapter i after completing the game, but retain any new team members you recruited and Graffiti Souls y'all collected.
Nintendo Hard: Larger levels in the start game tin be quite frustrating: you have to observe and tag dozens of spots with graffiti, while collecting spraypaint cans (most characters can but concur between 15 and 30 cans, some spots utilise up seven of them, and endgame levels tend to accept at least ane section with no cans at all) and running away from police and assassins, who will come at you in helicopters and on jetpacks fifty-fifty while yous're tagging. On a time limit.
No Communities Were Harmed: Weirdly subverted. Tokyo is referred to by name, but it bears nigh no resemblance to the real Tokyo. Also, Tokyo-to is actually the full proper name of Tokyo ("to" is a suffix pregnant "metropolis/city").
No Indoor Vocalisation: Professor Thou. He mellows out in JSRF.
No Kill Like Overkill: The Tokyo-to Law and the Rokkaku Constabulary believe in this heart and soul. Their initial response to vandals is to send a squad of constabulary to forcibly arrest the delinquent with batons. Beat out that, and they'll send policemen armed with guns to shoot yous dead. Beat that, so they deploy military machine vehicles to stop graffiti, and it only gets more lethal from there.
No OSHA Compliance: Especially prevalent in Future with the industrial levels. The Skyscraper District, for example, has a number of construction sites with admittedly no safety rails or nets to cease workers (or you) from falling 50 plus stories to their death. Pharoah Park does take some prophylactic features, merely that's a very small part of the level.
No Pronunciation Guide: Rokkaku is variously pronounced every bit "roh-kah-koo" and "roh-kuhkoo" depending on the game and the cutscene.
Occidental Otaku: Combo can be assumed to exist this. He has a yen necklace, has no trouble speaking to the GG's, and very likely got the idea for his gang from the diverse gangs around Tokyo. And it'due south not like they couldn't accept changed his necklace in the western release (Cube got an entire redesign for the west).
Oddly Small-scale System: The rival gangs accept three members each. (Or at least we assume, since nosotros only run into three at once. It's likely that the other gangs are effectually the same size every bit the GG'due south.)
I-Winged Angel: When Rokkaku transforms into A.KU.MU during your Boxing in the Heart of the Mind.
I-Adult female Wail: Gouji'southward boss music.
Out-of-Grapheme Alarm: The intro to JSR'south penultimate mission, "Beneath the Mask'', has them annotate on the odd land of Poison Jam:
Those faceless vandals...
Poisonous substance Jam arrived without their masks!
Something'due south wrong with this pic.
Have they been brainwashed?
Patrick Stewart Speech communication: The narrator drops a adequately Anvilicious i in JSRF's ending.
Perky Goth: JSR's token gaijin chick Cube wears a black-and-red ensemble, but is by and large cheerful, punctuating her level completion with a smile and "I got mad skills!".
Player Headquarters: The GG's' garage. (Though information technology's more like an abandoned construction site in Future.)
Playlist Soundtrack: A favorite of the series. In the first game, each level has a small playlist of music, usually but containing songs pertaining to a specific area (eg. You usually wouldn't hear "Sneakman" in Kogane-Cho). In Hereafter, the music is instead divided by affiliate (except for the sewer levels that e'er take their own playlist) due to the increased length. Justified since the music is coming from the eponymous pirate radio station, Jet Gear up Radio, and the protagonists are constantly listening to it.
Police Are Useless:
- When assassins with guns and firebombing-throwing terrorists go after y'all, the police are nowhere to exist seen. I intro states that they're too scared to even touch them.
- The Tokyo-to police don't even show up once in Future, as sometime before the game begins, Rokkaku Gouji bought out the police department to allow his Rokkaku Police to operate without interference.
Posthumous Character: It'south strongly implied that Money was murdered for his vinyl record. This was left vague enough for gamers to scour the game trying to unlock him, though.
The Ability of Rock: A rare evil case, as Gouji's plan in both games revolves around harnessing music for an evil plan.
Power Trio: Beat, Gum, and Tab/Corn initially contain the GG's' gang.
Psycho Electro: Assassin #six can just attack by electrifying rails. This makes him more than a nuisance than a genuine threat.
Punk Punk: The "Graffiti/Skater Punk" variation.
Pyromaniac: Both games characteristic a flamethrower-wielding assassin with a love for torching cities.
Randomized Championship Screen: Jet Set up Radio'southward title screen shows gameplay of a random member of the GG's skating around in i of iv levels; in order, Shibuya, Kogane, Benten, or Bantam Street (Grind Square isn't showcased).
Real Is Brown: JSRF has a dark-brown tint compared to its predecessor.
Regional Bonus:
- The North American release of JGR contains ii actress missions in Grind City, sandwiched between the two run-throughs of Tokyo-to. These later fabricated it onto the Updated Re-release in Nippon and the 2012 release in all regions.
- Besides, each regional release of the game had some songs that the other version didn't. Most of these region-exclusive songs were included in the HD re-release though.
Remixed Level: The second half of JGR consists of beating the aforementioned three urban center districts again — just this time, the maps aren't segmented into individual missions; you accept to tag the entire commune at in one case, and you'll exist dealing with the Golden Rhinos and their assassins on acme of that.
Resistance Is Futile: Hayashi quotes this straight during a surprise raid.
Ridiculously Man Robot: The Noise Tanks, Nothing Trounce, and the faux Yoyo.
Robot Buddy: Roboy, a jive-talking robot who saves your game, gives you tutorials, and sets up street challenges.
Rollerblade Good: Magnetic and rocket-propelled rollerblades, no less.
Rule of Cool: The whole game runs on this.
Rushmore Refacement: The Lady Liberty statue in Grind Foursquare is sporting a rhino's head, courtesy of Gouji's gang.
Sampling: Very prevalent in both games' soundtracks.
Sanity Slippage: Over the course of JSRF, Hayashi'south already-lacking sanity wears downward more and more with each defeat he suffers.
Saving the World with Art: Both games are initially nearly rollerskating around and tagging over the graffiti of other roller gangs. Halfway through the game, there's a shift and you offset tagging the art of the Rokkaku Grouping, becoming The Last DJ and resisting the evil group. In the finish, you manage to defeat the final boss who is a demon summoned past the Corrupt Corporate Executive using nothing but your graffiti. The sequel has y'all doing all of the to a higher place too, only the graffiti tin can now be used to cure poison and purify the streets.
Scoring Points: Deceptively important — Earning a "Jet" ranking in each level is the cardinal to unlocking characters in the starting time game. Tagging and performing stunts adds to your score, as does completing the level with lots of time left on the clock. In Time to come, it instead unlocks some of the Graffiti Souls.
Sealed Evil in a Can: In the beginning game, it'southward revealed in the afterwards levels that the Golden Rhinos are searching for a tape called the Devil's Contract, which can manifestly summon demons. Rokkaku wants it so he can Take Over the World.
Undercover Graphic symbol:
- In the first game, getting a Jet rank in all levels of a district nets you one of their gang members as a playable character; a Dissonance Tank for Benten-Cho, a Love Shocker for Shibuya-Cho, and a Poison Jam for Kogane-Cho. Grind Urban center follows this with the Golden Rhinos' gang leader, Gouji Rokkaku.
- In both games, the GG'southward domestic dog, Potts is an unlockable character.
Sequel Hook: The showtime game ends with Gouji being defeated, but the concluding narration segment claims that his son took over the Rokkaku company afterward his father's defeat, setting the phase for further graffiti fighting.
Serial Escalation: The law in both games will keep resorting to more than ridiculous and mortiferous ways to cease the graffiti issue. When y'all deploy an prototype combat mecha piloted past a psychotic detective to squish one teenager, you know you've gone a tad insane.
Shabby Heroes, Well-Dressed Villains: In both games, the normal/modified clothes of the GG'due south and other gangs are contrasted with the Elite Mooks of the Gilt Rhinos, dressed with black suits and ties, and the Large Bad Gouji Rokkaku, who is a Man of Wealth and Taste.
Shout-Out:
- Surprisingly, to Downtown's Hamada and Matsumoto of all things. The original Jet Set Radio (and its remakes) characteristic an XL-size graffiti of Hamada giving Matsumoto the Dope Slap as per their trademark.
- Very easy to miss: the Gilt Rhinos' black cars are a hardtop version of Axel's cab. ^note For those interested, it seems to exist a mashup of a 1963 Chevy Impala (trunk and taillights) and a 1959/60 Cadillac Eldorado (everything else), plus massively simplified tailfins and front bumper
- Guitar Vader'due south "Super Brothers" is patently about Mario and Luigi. The very first line talks nigh how they're going to "come go to rescue Peach".
- "That'due south Enough" repeats the phrase "Comin' at ya," popularized in 90's Hip Hop songs like "How I Could Just Impale a Man" by Cypress Colina and "Shame On A Nigga" by Wu-Tang Clan.
Like Squad: Combo's gang on the other side of the Pacific likewise roller-skates and tags up the city. Chapter ii begins with them joining the GG's, where they fit right in.
Sinister Silhouettes: Gouji's son, as pictured in the ending sequence of the outset game.
Sissy Villain: Hayashi. He sports a huge health bar, but is no more powerful than the regular Rokkaku mooks yous face.
Skate Sky Is a Place on Earth: Almost everything that's narrow can be used equally a runway to grind, from fences to benches to guardrails, and skaters can also wallride on many of the game'due south walls to pick upward speed.
Soul Brotha:
- Professor K, though non out spraying with the GG'south, blasts funky music from his radio station.
- One of the songs in the game is actually chosen "Sweetness Soul Brother", and is aptly almost one.
Spell My Name with an "S":
- The GG's canis familiaris is "Potts" in the original releases of the outset game, and "Pots" in Future and the Hard disk rerelease.
- The start name of the head of the Rokkaku Group is variously "Goji" and "Gouji".
Spider Tank: Rokkaku supplies Hayashi with i of these, complete with police lights.
Spiritual Successor: Inverted. The manga/anime Air Gear and the Korean MMORPG Street Gears were both inspired past Jet Set Radio'due south mode and premise.
Spontaneous Choreography: Each gang seemingly has a dance number prepared in accelerate.
Summon Backup Dancers: During the final battle with Rokkaku, gyrating cage dancers are suspended from revolving cranes.
Super Drowning Skills: Causes a deduction in health, later on which the thespian climbs out of the h2o. Possibly justified because they are wearing rollerblades.
Super Window Bound: In Bantam Street, there's a iii-story building with windows yous tin can bound out of on two of the stories (you can also leap into them by way of wallriding).
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: The obvious example is Onishima/Hayashi, who are basically interchangeable as detectives trying to finish the Rudies running wild. Hayashi'southward only defining feature is how bonkers he is.
Swiss Army Weapon: Player characters can use spraypaint to stun police officers, give their rollerblades a crazy heave, disable machinery, cover spotlights, disable bomb timers, operate switches, substantially anything they need done. In JSRF, it just looks similar spraypaint, but is in authenticity the soul of the streets. Uh-huh.
Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist: Captain Onishima in JSR since he's but doing his job, Hayashi to a bottom extent in JSRF since he's psychotically trigger-happy.
Tank Goodness: Hayashi and Onishima are both a picayune crazy for tanks.
Hayashi: Ship in ALL the tanks!!
Technology Marches On: In-Universe, Roboy was an obsolete Noise Tank Model (NT-1000) that was taken by the GG'due south, repaired and reprogrammed.
Thanking The Player: Jet Set Radio's credits cease with the character you defeated the Final Boss with spraying a tag reading "Thank you for playing!!" on the video screen at the Shibuya bus station.
There Was a Door: Played for laughs in the first stage of Kogane. One method of crossing the river is plowing through a half-dozen plaster wall apartments. Information technology's not until later that Garam shows yous a cleaner and quicker route that uses a wall-ride to leap over the bowl.
Thriving Ghost Town: Averted. The game's most of import character is Tokyo-to itself, and is designed to overwhelm the actor with the sprawl of the urban landscape, populated past endless terrified NPCs.
Title Driblet: Inevitable, equally the pirate station the game is based around is chosen "Jet Set Radio". Only in the sequel, Professor Chiliad goes out of his way to say "Jet Set Radio Futurity!" about the endgame.
Title Scream: "JET SET RADIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" In the original North American version, the championship was screamed by the Crazy Taxi announcer; in the Hard disk drive version it's instead shouted past DJ Professor Grand.
Tokyo Is the Eye of the Universe
Translation Convention: Despite hailing from u.s.a., Combo and Cube have no trouble communicating with the Japanese Rudies. Possibly justified in that JSR's setting exists somewhere between reality and punk fantasy.
Victory Pose: Everyone has a special dance they exercise upon completing an objective.
Villain with Good Publicity: No one makes the connection between the Gold Rhinos, a notorious gang of Asian killers, and Gouji Rokkaku, whose corporate mascot is... a gold rhino. Gouji's sheer wealth probably makes this a Justified Trope, though.
Vocalism of the Resistance: Professor Chiliad through the titular radio station.
Volumetric Mouth: Professor K has a pretty large mouth.
What Happened to the Mouse?: Rapid 99 are in Time to come's plot for a k full of five minutes, and are never brought upwardly or seen again. In conversations with your fellow rudies, they're built up pretty well, so information technology makes you lot wonder why their advent is short.
When All You Have is a Hammer…: Your solution to everything in this serial involves rollerblading, spraypainting, or both. This includes the last boss of JGR; he converts the roof of his office tower into a giant turntable, and to defeat him, you lot have to platform to the adjoining towers and spray graffiti over his occult symbols.
When Things Spin, Scientific discipline Happens: In JSRF, Gouji's DJ berth is adorned with a 'halo' of spinning radio antennae.
Whip It Good: The first Assassinator you lot run into, #five, has a whip which cannot exist dodged by dashing.
White Gangbangers: Some of the gangs authorize. Poison Jam are a expert example, and they also worked for an Asian dominate for a while. The main characters are a mix of ethnicities, including White, Black, Japanese and possibly other kinds of Asian.
Wicked Heart Symbol: The Beloved Shockers' graffiti and symbol are centre symbol-based.
Woman Scorned: Professor One thousand jokes that the Love Shockers are entirely comprised of these.
Honey broke their hearts, and at present they're looking to exercise some breaking of their own!
Yous All Look Familiar: Non only there are a limited number of pedestrian designs, but each pedestrian of a particular design exclaims the exact same thing when bumped into. Every. Unmarried. Fourth dimension. One level features dozens of women in identical orange jumpsuits in rows (presumably doing morning exercises or something) that all exclaim "Ah! He touched my butt!" in comically high voices.
You lot Are Number half dozen: The Rokkaku "Assassins" are each numbered from #1-6. They appear in the remixed version of previous levels after you cause enough problem, essentially replacing the military machine.