The environments were based on Tokyo shopping districts in Shibuya and Shinjuku, with graffiti designed by artists including Eric Haze.

Jet Set Radio received acclaim and is considered one of the best games of its decade for its graphics, soundtrack and gameplay.

After the GG's defeat Poison Jam, Noise Tanks, and Love Shockers in turf wars, they each drop a piece of a mysterious vinyl record.

The GG's are joined by Combo and Cube, who explain that their hometown, Grind City, has been overtaken by the Rokkaku Group business conglomerate.

They ask the GG's to help them to free their friend, Coin, who has been captured by the Rokkaku Group, due to their interest in his massive vinyl collection.

The GG's defeat Goji in the rooftop of his headquarters by destroying his turntable and render him powerless to the evil powers summoned by tagging his forehead.

In a twist, Combo reveals that the "Devil's Contract" is an old record with no demonic powers and that wealth had driven Goji to insanity.

[9][10] During the early stages of development, director Masayoshi Kikuchi had difficulty leading the team without prior directing experience.

[11] Ueda had joined Sega after being impressed by the "freshness" and international appeal of Sonic the Hedgehog, but was disappointed with the excessive focused saturation of overtly fantastical manga and anime-style designs, and hoped to create something original.

[13] Jet Set Radio was one of the earliest games to feature an open 3D world, which presented the team's biggest challenge.

[14] The settings were inspired by Japanese locations such as the Tokyo shopping districts of Shibuya and Shinjuku, which Smilebit photographed to use as references.

[15] The team added stages modeled after New York City: one based on Times Square, and another on Roosevelt Avenue along Queens and Brooklyn, and changed the nationality of two characters to American.

The interactive credits sequence of the Japanese version was also cut, as localizing it would have meant rebuilding the stage with English names.

[6] Most of the soundtrack was composed by Hideki Naganuma, with additional tracks by Richard Jacques, Deavid Soul, Toronto, and B.B.

[18] Naganuma attempted to match the visual style, and experimented with voices, cutting, and rearranging samples to the point that they became nonsensical.

[5] The North American and PAL versions contained two new maps, new songs, and other in-game content designed to increase the game's appeal to Western audiences.

[28] Sega chose five finalists and flew them into San Francisco, California on October 21, where they competed to make graffiti art pieces on a canvas within a 3 and a half-hour timeframe for a prize of $5000.

The first, Typing Jet,[d] a side-scrolling game in which players escape police, was released for Japanese mobile phones by Sega on June 22, 2001.

[32][33] It was followed by a remake for Game Boy Advance developed by Vicarious Visions and published by THQ in North America on June 26, 2003, and in Europe on February 20, 2004.

The ports add features, including widescreen HD graphics, online leaderboards, achievements, and a new camera system.

[69] Next Generation found the story modifications of the English versions jarring, although, he complimented the new stages, calling them "impressive" and "a worthy addition to Japanese cityscapes of the original".

[64][69][62][5] IGN said the visual style "looks like a moving cartoon, and every character, right down to the police dogs, is practically overflowing with personality ...

[27] IGN also praised the soundtrack, but was critical of the tracks added to the North American release, in particular songs from Rob Zombie.

Game Informer further elaborated that in retrospect, the originally released visual style blinded them from its faulty gameplay.

[61] Both TouchArcade and Pocket Gamer criticized smartphone versions for the touchscreen controls and unable to keep up with the tasks the game requires.

[68][67] Across all versions of the game combined, including the original and re-releases, sales of Jet Set Radio surpassed 1 million copies worldwide.

[81] Jet Set Radio is recognized as one of the first games to feature cel-shaded graphics, with exaggerated shapes, thick lines, and flat, bright colors.

[82] Numerous indie developers have cited Jet Set Radio as a major influence on their games,[83] the most notable being the successfully crowdfunded Hover: Revolt of Gamers, Lethal League, and Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, all of which draw heavy inspiration from Jet Set Radio's visuals and music and feature contributions from its composer, Hideki Naganuma.

[93][94][95] A sequel, Jet Set Radio Future, was released for the Xbox in 2002, early in the system's life cycle.

[102][103] In 2021, Sega teased the possibility of a Jet Set Radio reboot,[104][105] and announced Beat as a playable character for Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania.