Smilebit talks Jet Set Radio Future

At the recently concluded E3, GameSpot had the opportunity to speak briefly with several members of Smilebit about the company's upcoming Xbox game Jet Set Radio Future. Although specific gameplay details are scarce at this time, Masayoshi Kikuchi, project leader for Jet Set Radio Future, and Takayuki Kawagoe, managing producer at Smilebit, spoke about the inspiration behind the game's development and working with the powerful Xbox hardware.

GameSpot: What has the Xbox allowed you to do with the series that wasn't possible on the Dreamcast?

Smilebit: The game's graphical quality and its feature set will be refined when compared with [those of] the Dreamcast. Everything will be much smoother, as you can see, and the level of lighting will be much more impressive.

GS: Jet Set Radio is one of the more visually inventive games we've seen. Where did the inspiration for its visual style come from?

SB: Well, the game's setting is obviously based on Tokyo, but we chose to only draw from the beautiful aspects of the city. We just drew from everything about the city and came up with this world. Japanese comics also inspired us; they've been a part of us since we were very young. Other areas, like MTV and Hollywood movies, helped to shape these images in our minds. We have an excellent character designer, who really helped bring all this to life.

GS: Did you expect the game to be as well received as the first one was in the US?

SB: Well, hopefully the same thing that happened in San Francisco last year [the protests about the graffiti-based gameplay in Jet Set Radio] won't be happening again. (laughs)

GS: When will the game be playable, and when can we expect it to launch?

SB: Soon after the Xbox launch is what we're shooting for. It won't be a launch title, but we're definitely planning to release it very soon after.