Trivia / Jet Set Radio

• Keep Circulating the Tapes:
  • Many songs featured in the series (everything by the Latch Brothers, Guitar Vader, and most single songs contributed by artists) have yet to see any form of re-release. In some cases, the original albums (if they were even on albums) are difficult to find, meaning the games are the best and cheapest way to hear them. Even worse, some artists (such as Reps) are almost complete ghosts outside of their JSR soundtrack appearances.
  • While Jet Set Radio would go on to receive an HD rerelease on PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360, the same can't be said for Future. If you want to play it, you'll have to buy its original disc (whether you choose its solo release or the SEGA GT 2002 combo pack, which is cheaper) and either an Xbox or a 360 to play it on - and if you go with the latter, you'll also have to deal with lag spikes in many areas.
• No Export for You: Was once the case for the game's soundtracks, which didn't get an international release, physical or digital, until 2012. The only thing the states got till then were sampler CD's featuring a handful of licensed tracks. On Top of that, the one release of the game that came with every region exclusive songs and levels, De La Jet Set Radio, was only released in Japan through Sega's Online store. The Digital re-releases features nearly everything this version has except two songs, Deavid Soul's "Yappie Feet" and O.B. One's "Many Styles".
• No Port For You: Jet Set Radio Future has only ever been released on disc for the original Xbox (though it can be played, albeit with lag spikes, on a 360).
• Pop-Culture Urban Legends: For a long time, people were unsure if Future was originally meant to be for the Dreamcast. Since the game makes barely any use of the right analog stick, it would seem to be programmed for the Dreamcast's one-stick controller controller. On top of that, it would make sense for them shift a new JSR project in-progress to a new console after the failure of the Dreamcast, and since the Xbox had a similar architecture and Sega was prepping to enter an eleven game deal for the system, it seemed the obvious choice (the third ToeJam & Earl game went that way). Sometimes a rumor would pop up of it being confirmed that it started on the DC, and even this page has had "it was originally for the Dreamcast" as an item several times. However, this tweet by the game's composer finally puts the issue to rest: Future was always meant for the Xbox.
• Urban Legend of Zelda:
  • With the many unlockable characters, it seemed natural at the time that Professor K must be playable — despite his incompatible character model (although he is unlockable in the GBA version). The same goes for the elusive Coin in the original game, though this may be because of the implication that Coin was killed.
  • Rumors once abounded about characters called Wave, Numa, and Check that had remnants in the Japanese version of Future's code. In more recent years, discs of all regions and editions have been combed over, and no such characters could be found. It's generally speculated now that "Numa" may have referred to one of the series' musicians, Hideki Naganuma.
  • Similarly, the original JSR features a variety of unused names in its textures, being Pinch, Nattsu, Code, Cone, Reco, Bis and Noise 66. Whilst some of these are known to correspond to a character's Japanese name (such as Bis being Mew's original name) and some are presumed to be early names that were later changes (such as Noise 66 presumably being the early name for the Noise Tanks), some of these are a little more nebulous - though it's generally thought that "Cone" is a mistranslation of "Corn", the names Reco, Nattsu and Code and correspond to Cube, Pirahna/Sugar and Slate/Soda respectively. Pinch, however, doesn't have an obvious reason for inclusion, leaving some to believe that they were a removed character.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Early concept art of JSR had the members of Poison Jam wielding baseball bats. This concept art can be found in the The Rude Awakening documentary included with JSR HD, at around the 4 minute, 16 second mark.
  • The original JSR features unused textures in the game’s files of various billboards, including two risqué ones intended for use in Shibuya-cho and Benten-cho, and an unused “Darkman Returns” poster inspired by the recent The New Batman Adventures, but there were also plans for an advertising deal with the watchmaking company Swatch to add billboards in the game’s world advertising their .beat time system, though these plans seemingly fell through, as the billboards were not included in the final release.
  • During the marketing of the first game's American release, a Sampler CD was handed out from select stores as a pre-order bonus. This CD included 10 songs that may have been considered to be added to the game, but Rob Zombie's What Lurks on Channel X, Set it Off and Hit List by Shuvel, and Lefty's Girls didn't make it into the original game.
  • In an early build of JSRF, Yoyo had a smaller health capacity and might have been able to hold more than 30 spray cans (the spray can icon doesn't turn green on the footage of this build). Footage can be seen on this Xbox commercial at 0:09.
  • The prototype for JSRF also features unique icons for the Rokkaku Police’s Armoured Division and Spotlights, which in the final game, were replaced with icons for the standard police officers. Furthermore, different icons for Beat, Gum, Corn, Yoyo, Garam, Cube, DJ Professor K and Roboy were used in the prototype.
  • A katana◊ for Hayashi was unearthed from the game's files, as were various Hayashi voicelines related to it, though a katana is never seen at any point in the game. This trailer from E3 2001 also shows a variety of differences. Gum sports a completely different dress, and Shibuya Terminal is practically unrecognizable. This other trailer also shows split-screen multiplayer in Shibuya Terminal, a fight against helicopters in the same area, and some minor differences to other levels.
  • Fifteen minutes worth of unused dialogue from JSRF has been unearthed here, detailing scrapped story elements (such as the original plan for the Pyromaniac's boss battle to take place in 99th Street), mechanics (such as the boss fight against the train originally seeming to have a losing condition in which DJ Professor K and the Jet Set Radio studio are airlifted out of Tokyo completely_, and possibly bosses (such as a second rematch against Hayashi, and potentially a boss against the fake Yoyo.)
  • The JSR iOS port featured unique icons for the game’s achievements within the game’s files, which were ripped from the console version’s files wholesale. However, whilst the achievements themselves remain within Game Center, they only use the default Jet Set Radio icon.
  • A new JSR game was proposed by Headstrong Games for the Wii. Its concept art has circulated around the Internet for years. Sega reportedly shot down the idea, and Headstrong ended up making The House of the Dead: OVERKILL instead.
  • In late 2017, Dinosaur Games were commissioned by Sony to create a visual proof of concept for a new game titled Jet Set Radio Evolution. They then went on to present this video to Sega, who turned it down.
  • In 2020, writer Shakira Pressley shopped around a pilot for a Jet Set Radio animated series. The show was targeted at teens and young adults, and Pressley was hoping to get Lil Nas X and John Boyega to voice Garam and Combo respectively. Sadly, despite having SEGA's backing, the project was ultimately shelved due to studios at the time deeming it too financially risky to produce.

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