Platformers, as I’ve said many times before, alongside fighting games and survival horror games, could be considered the purest expressions of what it means to actually be a video game for me. The distillation of everything that is good about video games mechanically can be found here. This is not to say other games are somehow “irrelevant” or that you suck for liking them. I like plenty of other genres myself (strategy, RPG, shooters), but for me, these genres are pure. The best of these genres are titles that have balanced movement, mechanics, sound and graphics to create something magical. They require both an engineer’s careful touch and an artist’s flourishes; to be at the peak of these three genres in particular, you need a complete grasp of how your own game works, and how the genre you are developing for responds to a player, what the kind of feedback should be.

Jet Set Radio is at the peak of its genre. There is nothing about it that does not scream “joy”. The concept alone is a winner – you play as a roller-skating graffiti artist, dead set on shining a light on a corrupt society and over-zealous police force. You are the purest form of expression on the streets.

Every move can be perfected. Whole levels can be played without touching the ground – grinding off of rails, leaping onto verandahs, clambering over playground equipment, skating up an enormous crane, sliding up and down sewer pipes… you defeat rival gang members by catching up to them and tagging them. The whole game is an expression of love for both the platforming genre and the arcade-style gameplay of a level with a singular objective, a high score to beat, a timer to crack, and obstacles to avoid.

Slingshotting yourself up a street by clutching onto the back of a car and doing a double somersault to land right in front of the wall you intend to tag is a magical feeling. Dodging police tanks by discovering side streets, and slipping past hordes of beat cops by ascending stairs of a tower and leaping off the top onto the apartment roofs below are feelings that come from the complete feeling of Jet Set Radio.

The controls could be said to have dated a little bit, and the game does sometimes err on the side of a bit too difficult. But with a little application, the game opens up. These hurdles are surpassed by your own improvement at the game. Can’t follow a complicated set of tricks required to recruit one of the new skaters? Go back, do an earlier level, or skate around in the free play area. Test for a while, tinker. Jet Set Radio is the kind of game that dares to push the player a little bit – just gently, not so much as to completely frustrate them. It pushes them to make them better at the game, to make them better appreciate the mechanics, the way you move, the speed of reaction required.

Of course, no recommendation of Jet Set Radio would be complete without a mention of its soundtrack. There are a huge variety of fantastic songs, like this one, this one, and who could forget this one. These are just scratching the surface, though. The songs operate in perfect harmony with the gameplay, carrying across the mood into the gameplay. Freedom, daring yourself to do more, to move just a bit faster, to get that graffiti done as smoothly as possible – even tagging the insistent detective who tries to blow you to bits with a revolver – the game encourages challenges like this so smoothly that you won’t even care that the game doesn’t really require this from you. No, the game is so naturally engaging, so understanding of its own platforming mechanics, that you will soon find yourself engrossed. Just one more level.

You can buy Jet Set Radio from Steam.