Team Reptile, the developers behindLethal LeagueandÂMegabyte PunchÂtook to Twitter today to announce their newest project,ÂBomb Rush Cyberfunk, a game that bears a striking resemblance toÂJet Set Radio. And boy, are we here for it. Fans of theÂJet Set Radiofranchise haven’t exactly had much to go off of in recent years, save a Steam port of the Dreamcast classic in 2012. 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 announceÂBomb Rush CyberfunkÂwith an energetic and exciting trailer, featuring all the hallmarks of Sega’sÂJet Set Radio. With stylish, cel-shaded, rail-grinding action.
One particularly exciting detail about the reveal is thatÂBomb Rush CyberfunkÂwill be, “Set to the musical brainwaves of Hideki Naganuma.” This is especially noteworthy because Naganuma is the original composer for theÂJet Set RadioÂfranchise, deepening the ties between Team Reptile’s latest and the Dreamcast classic. The originalÂJet Set Radiojust 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 recentStreets of Rage 4butcouldn’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 newJSRcontent in years, Bomb Rush Cyberfunkhas 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’sSteam pagesaying 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.
