Hey, hey, hey - Let's go make some crazy money!

Introducing a generation of SEGA gamers to the musical talents of Bad Religion and The Offspring, as well as sprouting new-found aspirations for kids the world over to become taxi drivers, Crazy Taxi burst onto the GameCube in 2002. First appearing in 1999 as one of the best arcade games to grace this earth, it has been on pretty much every system since the 128-bit era and is now even playable on your phone.

With the choice of some totally rad taxi drivers, dreamboat Axel and his terrible shirt being my go-to guy, you’re tasked with picking up and dropping off a bunch of customers in as fast a time as possible, and as recklessly as possible, to earn the most cash and get the highest score.

With an overall time limit and a secondary one for each taxi fare, with a few extra seconds added to it when you drop someone off with a fast time, you’re tasked with making the most money in the allocated time. For extra cash, and vital if you’re after a high score, you’ll have to pull off tricks and narrowly avoid death on your travels as it seems that everyone in this city has a cheap thrill for near death experiences - so narrowly scraping past a huge bus and jumping from a multi-story carpark will see your passenger jump up and down with glee and throw money at you.

The characters in this game are all hilarious and some of their sound-clips are stuck in my head even now, such as the little punk kid with a big pink mohawk desperately shouting “Take me to the church!” or the angry shouts of “HEY YOU, DON’T REFUSE ME” as you drive past a waiting customer. I still wonder about the great date the one guy must have gone to that day, wielding a bunch of roses and demanding to go to Pizza Hut.

With people littering the streets, screaming and jumping out of the way of your vehicle, and real-life places to escort people to such as Pizza Hut and KFC, the city in Crazy Taxi really feels buzzing and alive, not an easy feat for a game from 1999.

My First Time

My first experience with Crazy Taxi was when I was a mere Oddish in the year 2000, years before I could ever dream of the wonders of the GameCube.

Nestled in the bustling arcade of a seaside Haven, Crazy Taxi was there, blasting out music and showing off the kind of graphics that I’d previously only dreamed of. Hopping into the drivers seat I was blown away by the sheer interactivity of the world. As I drove into a pile of cardboard boxes, instead of slamming to a halt or veering to the side automatically, I smashed through them and sent the boxes flying everywhere – something rarely seen back then. As I hurtled towards uncertain death when I went off the road and directly into the sea (I was really rubbish), instead of suffering an instant death I kept driving – underwater! Not only that, but there were actual customers to pick up down there! That was one of the most exciting and concerning moments of my first play through, as my young self wasn’t sure if I was saving these underwater customers from death and the anxiety of having to pick one and not the other could get extreme.

It was clear even then in 2000 that Crazy Taxi was a winning formula as in that arcade it always gathered a huge crowd, some days you’d have to wait half an hour just to get a go on it – It had finally beat the young crowds of DDR, a seemingly impossible feat back then, especially as you didn’t really have people to make fun of in the process.

Fast-forward to the new Millennium though and thanks to the mighty power bestowed upon us in the 128-bit era, Crazy Taxi and its crazy ways was now playable at home on the Dreamcast, PS2, GameCube and slightly later, Xbox and Windows.

Modern Day

I’ve had so much fun with Crazy Taxi over the years, and much like Super Monkey Ball but perhaps to a slightly less extent, this is one of those games that never gets old for me and is something I always find myself coming back to once in a while. In fact, my best memories of this game are probably from my early college days, playing the GameCube version with a bunch of friends as we pre-drank (perhaps a bit too much) before a night out on the town. I've still yet to beat a high-score my friend Adey set in 2009 after plenty of Vodka and chicken.

Sequels

Crazy Taxi had two follow-up games with second title being released on the Dreamcast and the third on Xbox/Windows PC, both of which I haven’t really played much of but I did give a try for the purpose of this throwback. Using the same engine, they’re pretty much the same game but with new locations. They still retain the fun gameplay but don’t seem quite as iconic, as the locations and music are less memorable. Still, they’re worth a look if you’re a big fan of the series and introduce double and triple customer pick-ups which is a very welcome addition.

Crazy Taxi City Rush is the most recent, releasing exclusively for smart phones. Sporting a completely new gameplay style fit for touch screens and a new art style, it’s a decent game but only really Crazy Taxi by name – Mobile gamers might have some fun with this as the game alone is pretty good, but fans of the series will be left disappointed as it strays so far from what made the original great.

Ya Ya Ya Ya Ya!

A classic through and through, Crazy Taxi is insane and fun whilst hard to master thanks to the tricks, boosts and slides hidden within. Crazy Taxi has aged incredibly well and is thankfully one of the easiest games to get hold of these days. Whether you have a Dreamcast, PS2, Xbox, Wii, 360, PS3, iPhone, Android or Windows PC, you're good to go!