Tokyo-to, a city similar to Tokyo shortly, is somewhere in Asia. This is the story of the GG’s, one of three warring teenage gangs who ride motorized inline skates and spray graffiti on the streets. The GG’s, the Poison Jam, and the high-tech freaks, the Noise Tanks, are fighting for territory. The nefarious Rokkaku Corporation controls the corrupt police, and the cops, led by Captain Onishima, are hell-bent on apprehending the misbehaving young protagonists. But there is light in the darkness: underground DJ “Professor K” and his Jet Set Radio station maintain tabs on what is happening in Tokyo-to, and our kids will soon have something far darker to worry about than the cops.
As a GG, you skate around various stages, from crowded streets to run-down rooftops and stinky sewers, where you learn new techniques, gather paint cans, and graffiti the city. Finding “Graffiti Souls” in levels, producing new graffiti yourself, or going online and downloading any photos you see while surfing the internet can all unlock new graffiti designs. Fight opposing gangs “Poison Jam” and “Noise Tanks,” the villainous mega-corporation Rokkaku and their police cronies in this novel take on the platform genre, which combines standard platform features with skating akin to Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater titles. Players are graded based on their performance in a level, which includes both the degree of graffiti tried and optional tags and skating skills. As the game advances, new challenge maps appear that put the player’s abilities to do larger tags, more tricks, or race against an opponent to the test.
Two new levels based on New York were included in the American and European releases. The tale and the order in which you meet characters have been changed to accommodate these two levels. Both releases also feature distinct soundtracks for specific groups.
The 2012 HD version includes widescreen HD graphics, a new camera setup, and all but one of the original tracks.
