Bantam Street

Bantam Street
City	Grind City
Debut	Jet Set Radio
Appearances	De La Jet Set Radio

Bantam Street (バンタムストリート, Bantamu Sutorīto^?) is a district of Grind City. It was a part of Combo, Cube, and Coin's home turf. In comparison to Grind Square, Bantam Street seems to be ever so slightly busier with citizens hanging out in various corners of the district.

Official descriptions

Jet Grind Radio: Sybex's Official Strategies & Secrets

• As the first of two stages exclusive to the North American version of Jet Grind Radio, Bantam Street is comprised of multiple levels and some incredibly tough enemies. You'll have to plan your attack carefully if you want to avoid a "Game Over" screen.

Official Dreamcast Magazine (UK)

• Loosely based on Chicago, this cool new area features an elevated railway, petrol station, fire escapes to grind and its own skatepark. Your wall riding skills come into full effect here.

Jet Set Radio Official Website

• JP: ひとつは本場のちょっとアブナイ雰囲気満点"バンタムストリート"。高架を走る電車、猥雑に軒を連ねる大小様々な店舗、それを囲むレンガ造りの古びたビル、ストリートボーイ達のたむろする公園。壁にズラッと並ぶグラフィティが象徴的だ。高架や屋根の上、ビルの屋上や屋内、、、とても立体的な構造の街を縦横無尽に駆け巡ってくれ。

• EN: The first is "Bantam Street", which has a slightly dangerous atmosphere. The are trains running on the elevated tracks, the rows of stores of various sizes, the old brick buildings surrounding them, and the park where street boys hang out, and the graffiti lined up on the walls is symbolic. Run around the elevated buildings, on the roofs, on the rooftops of the buildings, and indoors... the city has a very three-dimensional structure.

Overview

Bantam Street is a singular block district of Grind City. The area consists of convenience stores, a small skate park with a basketball court, and a building that goes high up and leads to the railway above ground. It has multiple billboards that are able to be tagged and wall ride on. Compared to Grind Square, it is much more open, allowing for more options on how to handle tags.

Story

In Jet Set Radio, Bantam Street was a part of Combo, Cube and Coin's home turf. It would eventually get taken over by the Golden Rhinos who were on the search for the Devil's Contract, a record that could supposedly summon "demons". Combo and Cube take back Bantam Street and eventually head to Grind Square.

Missions

• Tag or Die

Gallery

Combo on top of the Hexagon Gas Station.

Three citizens of Bantam Street hanging out.

A bunch of citizens in the basketball court.

Two Bantam Street citizens hanging out near a rail.

Some of the construction of Bantam Street.

The Hexagon Gas Station in Bantam Street.

Combo skating down the street after clearing a tag.

Cube skating away from a Rokkaku Henchman.

Texture that is used in the intros for Tag or Die and Rock 'n Roll Grind.

Graffiti

Bantam Street features a handful amount of unobtainable graffiti pieces in the stage. Some even being early graffiti that comes from the E3 prototype of Jet Set Radio. See the Jet Set Radio graffiti page for more.

This one appears in some folders such as ones relating to the garage.

E3 prototype piece.

E3 prototype piece.

E3 prototype piece.

Trivia

• Bantam Street is based on the south Bronx from New York City.
  • Despite this confirmation, some official sources like the official British Dreamcast Magazine would say the area was loosely based on Chicago, Illinois.
  • To further Bantam Street taking place in NYC, if the player positions themselves correctly on top of the Hexagon Gas Station, they can see the Twin Towers in the background.
• In the Jet Grind Radio IGN Guide, Bantam Street is referred to as "Bantam City" for the guide's description of the Tag or Die mission.
• Bantam Street is the only location in Jet Set Radio to feature many additional pieces of graffiti in the stage that cannot be collected in any compacity.
• In the prototype for the US/NTSC version of the game, Bantam Street was a lot emptier, missing certain elements such as the graffiti on the walls near the construction area, the rail near the basketball court, windows in the building, and different billboard advertisements on the train tracks.

Credits

• Additional Bantam Street images provided by Dreamcast Enjoyer via "A Virtual Tour of Jet Set Radio".