Gum (ガム Gamu?) is a 17 year old Rudie living in Tokyo-to. She is the one of the main playable characters and could be considered as the Jet Set Radio series secondary mascot. She, alongside Corn and Beat, is an original member of the GG's and a loyal friend to her allies.
Overview[]
Appearance[]
Gum wears a light grey sundress over a long-sleeved green striped top. Her name is displayed in green Japanese katakana (ガム) horizontally across her chest and on her skates. She wears light cool grey gloves with an orange four-pointed star emblem on them. She also wears a dark grey helmet with a white stripe down the middle, orange dots resembling eyes on the back and front, and the four-pointed star emblem encased in white on the 'ears'. Her blonde hair pokes out from the front, curling under her eyes along her cheekbones, and out the back down her neck. Her rollerblades are dark and light grey with yellow wheels and green detailing.
In game, she has no katakana on the front of her dress and instead has her Japanese name (ガム) spelled sideways in green down the back. Additionally, she has red thrusters on her skates and she wears a gray wrist device on her left arm.
Some official art depicts her with green katakana spelling her name (ガム) tattooed on the front or inside of her left thigh.
Personality[]
Gum is described as a perverse character who likes chewing gum. Her high Graffiti stat implies a natural affinity for art. Her willingness to show Beat the game's controls implies she is quite friendly.
She is an upbeat, cocky, sarcastic, and charismatic teenager who has a talent for graffiti art. She is very loyal and will treat her allies and friends with the utmost respect. On the other hand, Gum is considered to be a fugitive criminal, due to her crimes of repetitive harassment, vandalism, destruction of both public and private property, and reckless endangerment. Gum also enjoys art and roller skating when she gets the chance. Unlike Corn and Beat, Gum is more restless and self-determined.
Role in Jet Set Radio[]
Most releases[]
At the beginning of the game in Shibuya-cho's bus terminal, Gum first gives a series of challenges for Beat to complete in order to teach him the ways of the street and test his skills. After completing them, she deems him "not bad" and agrees to join his newfound gang, the GG's. She hangs around the steps leading to the car near Piranha and Slate in the garage when not being played as.
At the start of chapter 2, Cube tells Gum about her missing friend Coin, with Gum's only takeaway being that his name rings no bells to her, but tells Cube she will let her join the GG's if she can keep up with her.
In the Jet Crush race for Kogane-cho, Gum is the chosen CPU competitor.
Japanese release[]
In the original Japanese release of Jet Set Radio, Gum plays the same role at the start of the game, however, since chapter 2 was not present in this release, her role afterwards is miniscule.
Graffiti[]
Dialogue[]
Jet Set Radio dialogue[]
- "Let me show you how to play. Just copy my moves... if you can." (Jet Set Radio demo)
- "Ok. Not bad. But, that's just the basics." (Jet Set Radio demo)
- "Hold it. You can't go tripping through the streets 'til you learn some basics. Try this."
- "You can speed up if you hold down the R-Trigger, and jump by pressing the jump button."
- "Sweet. Now try this next run. If you pull the L-Trigger, the camera will automatically face forward."
- "All right, now it's time to get serious. If you see something floating over your head, pull the L-Trigger to start spaying."
- "Not bad. I guess I can join you."
- "Coin? Who's Coin? It doesn't ring a bell at all... but I'll let you join GG if you can keep up with me." (Jet Grind Radio)
- "Well... not bad. I guess I'll let you join." (Jet Grind Radio)
- "Coin? Hm... Nope. The name doesn't ring any bells. But, if you can keep up with me, I'll let you join the GG's."
- "You're alright! I guess it's alright if you hang with us."
Jet Set Radio (GBA) dialogue[]
- "Yo! Newbie, you can't just go tripping through the streets. Let a pro show you how to use those phat skates on your feet. Tap Up once for some high powered skating. Press Down to stop!"
- "You can get a big boost of speed if you press the R button while skating. It will give you some insane speed. But it's so fast it's harder to control yourself. Try this and don't bump into anything. Stop when you had enough practice."
- "Sweet! now try grinding. Your skates will automatically grind on some surfaces like railing and wires. Try jumping on a rail. Press the B button to jump, see if you can do this! Stop when you had enough practice."
- "Not bad. I guess I can join you."
- "Well you look kinda jet lagged to me. Let's see if your skills are up to speed."
Stats[]
Gum's maximum health, cans held, and starting graffiti challenge.
| Style | Graffiti |
| Power | Mid |
| Technique | Mid |
| Graffiti | High |
| Spray Cans | 15 |
| Graffiti Command | Gum Type |
- Stats are referred by their descriptions in the Sybex guidebook.
- An underline notes the character's highest skill(s).
- Gum's graffiti challenge begins with an 180 counterclockwise then 180 clockwise, which makes her a "Gum Type" character. She can hold 15 spray cans.
- She does the Rock Mac, Royal, and Soul grinds. Her backwards grinds are the Ally-oop Makio and Ally-oop Miz.
- Her air tricks are the Judo and Front Flip. Her halfpipe tricks are the Backflip 180 and Method 540. Her backwards air tricks are the 360 and Method Backflip. Her backwards halfpipe air tricks are the Judo Backflip 180 and Shifty 180.
Official profiles[]
Jet Set Radio Perfect Guide[]
- A girl in headgear. She has a high graffiti stat and low power. Playing as her can be tricky if there are a lot of enemies around.
Jet Grind Radio IGN Guide[]
- Gum has hung around Shibuya for a long time; she is a Brownface girl and a teenage runaway. She loves tearing through the streets of Tokyo tagging and listening to fatbeats. Gum takes no crap off of anyone and loves being chased by the cops. The rush of the adrenaline makes her feel fully alive. Gum has one of the highest tagging meters in the game. It takes longer to bomb tags on spots with Gum but you get more points.
- The first character that will want to join your gang is Gum. She is strong at tagging and good at escaping the cops. Gum can rack up points by simply tagging and does not have to rely too much on tricks. Gum has some of the best graffiti skills in the game.
Jet Grind Radio: Sybex's Official Strategies & Secrets[]
- With her strong graffiti-painting skills, Gum is a great representative of Graffiti Type characters. Because she can post a high score by completing big tags in a timely manner, she doesn't have to rely on performing too many fancy tricks. Needless to say, use her if your style of play is reliant on graffiti. But watch out-her low power makes her vulnerable to attack.
Jet Set Radio GBA manual[]
- This lovely heartbreaker is the only member of the GG's who was safe from that strange attack. Let's see if she can get the gang back!
Other appearances[]
Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity[]
In Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity, Gum does not appear as a playable character in the game, but she does make a small cameo appearance along with Beat in the '90s Boulevard circuit, on a Jet Grind Radio sign.[1]
Sega Superstars Tennis[]
Gum appears as a playable character in Sega Superstars Tennis with Beat. Their home stage is the Jet Set Radio stage. Her design is taken from the original Jet Set Radio. Gum's Superstar State has Tokyo-to's police storm in on the tennis court, running over her opponent.
Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing[]
While Gum does not appear in Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, she is mentioned in Beat's bio for the game.
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed[]
Gum is a playable character in Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, alongside Beat. She has a green and white bike similar to Beat's. Her All-Star Move makes a broken heart appear behind her. This could be a reference to the description of her, said during her introduction in Jet Set Radio Future by DJ Professor K. In this game, she has a green tattoo on the left leg, saying "Gum" in Japanese, which is in reference to the same tattoo that is shown in her original Jet Set Radio appearance, though the tattoo was originally placed closer to her inner thigh. Sumo Digital most likely moved the tattoo to avoid making Gum seem overly sexualized. Her All-Star theme is a remix of "Let Mom Sleep".
Gum also appears on an unlockable sticker in this game, obtained for winning an event in the Shibuya Downtown stage while playing as her.
Sega Heroes[]
Gum, along with Beat, DJ Professor K, and Captain Onishima, appeared as a playable rare green hero in the discontinued mobile game, Sega Heroes. She was released to the game on October 15th, 2018 and was featured on the Beyondering selection, and on the main menu heading in 2018 and early 2019.
Roller Champions[]
Gum, along with Beat and a Tokyo-to skate park, were added to Ubisoft's free-to-play game, Roller Champions on June 27, 2023. They were able to be purchased and/or earned for a limited time of two weeks.
Gallery[]
- For this character's full image gallery, see Gum/Gallery.
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Trivia[]
- The song "Magical Girl" by Guitar Vader is the theme song for Gum.[2]
- There is fan speculation that Simca from the anime Air Gear is based off of Gum.
- There is also a common belief among fans that Gum's helmet inspired Noodle's helmet from Gorillaz. However, this was not confirmed by the creators of the band and was a mere coincidence as both are just wearing similar aviator-style helmets.
- Like most other characters, Gum’s voice actress was never specified in the end credits.
- She has similar stats as Yo-Yo, but her power stat is a tad higher, and her technique stat is a tad lower.
- In Gum's textures, it's revealed that she has Beat's hair textures under her helmet. This is presumably to save time on texturing.
- In the IGN guide for Jet Grind Radio one of Gum's descriptions mentions her being a brownface girl, this in reference to the Japanese fashion trend, Ganguro.
- Gum's sticker in Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed is called "Humming the Bassline", named after the song made by Hideki Naganuma.
- Gum's outfit would referenced in Skullgirls via a palette called "Gang Green" for the character Squigly. The name of the palette is a derivative from "the GG's".
- When asked about Gum's design differences from her model and artwork, Ryuta Ueda would reply that the sign appearing on the back of Gum's dress was a mistake on his part, but did not pay much attention to it. Ueda would state that he wants the characters of Jet Set Radio to exist as "concepts" and not as "details" and mentioned how he liked to see fan art of different interpretations of characters such as Beat.[3]
Credits[]
- Character model reference sheet created by Wint.
- Translation of the Jet Set Radio Perfect Guide profile by 6eat.
References[]
- ↑ '90s Boulevard | Sonic Riders Zero Gravity
- ↑ Same as Magical Girl for Gum.
- ↑ Inamoto, Tetsuya, Wataru Nagayama (March 25, 2024) ［インタビュー］“ショウワ99年”記念！ 「ジェットセットラジオ」開発陣がシリーズ誕生秘話と完全新作への意気込みを語る. 4Gamer.net. Retrieved on March 26, 2024.
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