Bomb Rush Cyberfunk Looks Like a Spiritual Successor to Jet Set Radio

DualShockers

By Charlie Wacholz

Published Jul 22, 2020

Team Reptile revealed its Jet Set Radio inspired game Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, coming to Steam at some point after 2020, and we're very excited for it.

Team Reptile, the developers behind Lethal League andÂ Megabyte PunchÂ took to Twitter today to announce their newest project,Â Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, a game that bears a striking resemblance toÂ Jet Set Radio. And boy, are we here for it. Fans of theÂ Jet Set Radio franchise haven't exactly had much to go off of in recent years, save a Steam port ofÂ the Dreamcast classic in 2012.Â In a tease this past Monday on their Twitter, the Netherlands-based developer encouraged fans to join their Discord server to get a first look at the upcoming game. The teaser featured a date with what sounded like a spray paint can in the background.

At around noon ET today, Team Reptile took to Twitter to announceÂ Bomb Rush CyberfunkÂ with an energetic and exciting trailer, featuring all the hallmarks of Sega'sÂ Jet Set Radio. With stylish, cel-shaded, rail-grinding action.

One particularly exciting detail about the reveal is thatÂ Bomb Rush CyberfunkÂ will be, "Set to the musical brainwaves of Hideki Naganuma." This is especially noteworthy because Naganuma is the original composer for theÂ Jet Set RadioÂ franchise, deepening the ties between Team Reptile's latest and the Dreamcast classic. The originalÂ Jet Set Radio just turned 20 a couple weeks ago, and considering fan reception to it and its sequel, Jet Set Radio: Future (2002) the lack of support the franchise has received is a travesty. This is even better considering Naganuma was also supposed to be one of the composers on the recent Streets of Rage 4 but couldn't at the last minute.

Following the announcement, Dion Koster--an artist and director at the studio--shared some of his character designs for the game:

Naganuma, never one to be silent on social media, took to Twitter to give his latest project a brief shout-out:

Overall, fan reception has been overwhelmingly positive, and considering there hasn't been any new JSR content in years,Â Bomb Rush Cyberfunk has a bright future ahead of it, especially as a spiritual successor to the classic franchise. It has a page available on Steam as of today, but there are no details on a release date. However, the game's Steam page saying that the game will not be coming out this year, because it's "unlucky." It's currently unknown on whether the game will be coming to Nintendo Switch, PS4, or Xbox One.