Ah, I see what you mean now. It really isn't strictly about style over substance; I'd argue that all three of these have plenty of gameplay, and thus, substance. As a matter of fact, I consider games that get straight into the action to have a much better substance/style ratio that games where you need to go through cutscenes, tutorials, easy stuff... For me arcade games are the pinnacle of substance over style.
I suppose that what I mean is that more of a build-up would hurt the kind of games I like. There's something to be said for games that keep things fresh by continually introducing new things, but I feel like that doesn't necessarily have to come at the expense of your character's capabilities at the beginning of the game.
For example, since I mentioned Jet Set Radio, I'll actually use Sunset Overdrive (since the traversal elements are similar) as a more recent example of a game that - while incredible - really suffers because of the build-up. There are some abilities (such as wall-running) that you have access to, but the game just doesn't mention them until much later. That said, you can still wall-run from the start. You can't, however, air-dash or move on top of water until you reach specific points in the storyline. Someone just kind of tells you that you can do it now. You don't collect these abilities, and they're not really opening up new areas for the most part, so why not give them to the player right from the start? (I do like how the collectibles in Sunset Overdrive encourage you to stumble onto some of the abilities, though.)
Since there's no New Game + option in Sunset Overdrive, starting a new game is a real bummer from a game play perspective, because your mobility is absolutely horrible at the beginning of the game in comparison to your mobility late in the game.
Getting back to the more basic portion of the style over substance argument, though, both Dynamite Cop and Jet Set Radio very clearly emphasize style over game play at certain points, regardless of the depth of the game play. The cameras in those games are specifically designed to accentuate action, and they'll go so far as to shift focus from the player characters entirely in order to do so. It looks really cool, but it arguably really hurts the game play. Still, if you play perfectly, then it makes you feel like such a bad-ass that the negatives are almost completely negated in my mind. I can see it being jarring to some people, though, because it's not good design at all.
On the subject of tutorials, though, I prefer for tutorials to integrate well into the game flow. Take INSIDE, for example. The game tells you NOTHING as far as how to play or how to do certain things, but you're able to feel things out because the level design and other elements gate you in such a way that you have to figure things out in order to progress, and the game rarely (if ever) lets you go backwards to an extent that you're confused as to the boundaries of a specific puzzle.
That game you said didn't age well has amazing substance. Saying Sega games had style over substance is hysterics.
http://m.neogaf.com/showthread.php?t=702187
I bet most of the people who say Sega games were style over substance can't jet rank JSR and can't beat Revenge of Shinobi. Nintendo fans who say Sega lack substance while drooling over F-Zero GX is one of life's funniest jokes. They both have substance but in different ways. I'd argue that Nintendo started to make their games easier and easier by the early 90's to appeal to cast a wider net, but I don't see anything Nintendo making having the nuance of beating Daytona on the hardest difficulty at the arcade back in the day. When Nintendo was neautering their game library with stuff like Wind Waker, Sega was making crazy hard games like Shinobi ps2.
Both companies had substance and style. I happen to really enjoy both. I Jet Set is stylish but Majora's Mask is also stylish. I'd say the Nintendo of today is their most stylish though, making games like Wooly World.
I don't recall saying that Jet Set Radio didn't age well. I don't think its CONTROLS have aged well, but I think the game still holds up really well in a lot of other regards. I do think you're making a lot of assumptions about certain types of people, though. I love Jet Set Radio. That doesn't mean that I have to see past its design flaws. And I never cared much for Revenge of Shinobi, but that has more to do with my expectations from Shinobi games that it does the actual quality of that specific game. (I prefer the Game Gear Shinobi games because of how they're structured.) That said, as I mentioned before, I do prefer a certain level of spectacle in games under some circumstances, and Revenge of Shinobi doesn't do anything for me. Not that the GG Shinobi games do, but they suit me in other ways that make the need for spectacle less-important to me. I can't stress enough that I'm a huge Sega fan, so please don't get the idea that I'm denouncing the games when I say that they lack depth in certain respects. Sega used to be all about the arcade experience, and the best approach to the arcade experience is ensuring that your games are approachable. What I loved about Sega consoles was that they weren't incapable of what you'd see on Nintendo consoles in all cases, but Sega consoles still felt like something entirely different because of the way in which developers (even third parties) catered to that audience.
