Published , by TJ Denzer
Published , by TJ Denzer
It's been a long time since we've heard about anything new or cool coming from the Jet Set Radio franchise. There have been teases here and there, but Sega has mostly been quiet on anything substantial. Meanwhile, Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania is about to bring back some of the best games in the franchise in an updated and polished collection. Why does JSR matter to this? Well, it would appear that in addition to a revitalized version of some of our favorite Monkey Ball goodness, Jet Set Radio character Beat is making a crossover to the game as a playable character.
Sega revealed the Jet Set Radio crossover of Beat over into Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania on the Sega official Twitter on August 4, 2021. It was in its announcement that Sega shared that Jet Set Radio’s Beat would be a character you can unlock through playing the game, not a DLC character. Just work your way through the game and you’ll be able to add Beat to the regular roster of AiAi and friends.
This is a delightful addition to Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania’s upcoming October 2021 release. The game was already slated to bring the first Super Monkey Ball, Super Monkey Ball 2, and Super Monkey Ball Deluxe back in an HD remastered collection. It’s also worth noting that the Sega-Sammy company’s fiscal year-end financial reporting in May 2021 suggested Sega was looking closely at dormant IPs for the possibility of revival, including Crazy Taxi, House of the Dead, and… Jet Set Radio! If anything this gives us greater hope that further down the road of Sega's video game efforts is the possibility of a new or remastered Jet Set Radio game.
Whatever the case, it’s great to see Beat kicking it in Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania as a fun unlockable. With the game coming to Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on Steam on October 5, 2021, stay tuned for further fun updates leading up to its release.