Rendered in Ink: Jet Set Radio, the Cel-Shading Revolution, and the Art of Defying Graphical Aging

In the early 2000s, the video game industry was locked in an expensive, desperate arms race toward absolute photorealism. Studios pushed hardware to its limits to render realistic faces and lighting. Yet, twenty years later, those "realistic" games look horrifyingly outdated, blocky, and ugly. Meanwhile, a niche game about rollerblading graffiti artists looks just as vibrant and stunning today as it did on release.

Rendered in Ink tells the technical and artistic history of "Jet Set Radio" a...