It’s been nearly 20 years since Jet Set Radio had a new game (and no, the GBA remake doesn’t count), and Sega has heard your cries that you would like to go rolling around at the speed of Hideki Naganuma’s score and has come up with a compromise: you can play as the series’ protagonist Beat in Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania when it launches on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on October 5.
Playing as Beat looks pretty much identical in terms of Super Monkey Ball gameplay, but it does also turn the collectible bananas into spray paint cans similar to the ones you pick up in Jet Set Radio. I don’t know, it’s a cool little thing but when these games have been missing in action for almost two decades, just feels like a hollow gesture. And Beat has been making appearances in other Sega games for a bit now. Such as Sega Superstars Tennis and Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed.
In other news:
- ‘Nice Quarter, Guys’: Investors Respond to Activision-Blizzard Harassment Lawsuit Plans
- Respawn Addresses Apex Legends Cheating As Season 10 Begins
- Final Fantasy Brave Exvius Character Ariana Grande to Host Concert in Fortnite
Both Jet Set Radio and its sequel Jet Set Radio Future aren’t as easy to play as I’d like. The first game is readily available on PC, and mobile devices, but if you want to play it on a console your best bet is on a PS3 or 360, or a PlayStation Vita if you own the handheld. Jet Set Radio Future, however, is completely stranded on the original Xbox.
While the Jet Set Radio license is vibing in some Sega office, a spiritual successor called Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is in development over at Team Reptile, and it even has composer Hideki Naganuma on board to write some music for it.
