2
0
If I look back at the arcade machines that changed me, I’m not sure where I’d start. Even picking a favourite memory feels impossible. Was it Bubble Bobble for 20p in the depths of a Norfolk IT camp? Maybe it was Sega’s Title Fight and the two-player battles against my brother in the Maltings shopping centre. There are simply too many to choose from. Being completely honest, every one of those games has its own place in my heart.
The title of this article should give you an idea of who we’re talking about and what: Sega and Crazy Taxi World Tour. Before I talk more about this game series, can I just say this: Sega gave us some of the best home conversions ever. Being born in the 80s but growing up in the 90s meant I got to experience the world of arcade-to-home conversions. They weren’t always great. It was easy to put up with though, as arcades rapidly began disappearing as the millennium closed in.
The Sega home conversions I love
One of the first conversions I ever got to play was ‘Sega Rally’ on Luke’s Saturn. I’d seen it in the Edgware SegaDome, located in the Yaohan Centre, and had even been allowed a credit or two when visiting with my parents. The game was fast, slick and made everyone who played it want to be a rally driver.
Seeing the game on the portable TV in Luke’s room was a rush. It immediately felt like the arcade version. I didn’t care that I was using a controller instead of a steering wheel.
Maybe racing games were simply easier to bring home. I honestly don’t know. Either way, the next game that springs to mind is Daytona USA. When the Maltings had its ‘nomadic’ arcade, you were always guaranteed a racer. Daytona USA was a firm favourite, although it was often replaced with Cruis’n USA.
Daytona USA on the Saturn kept the speed and excitement of the arcade original. It had me hooked for hours. To a less knowledgeable 90s version of me, it looked identical.
Ya ya ya ya ya!
I can’t hear ‘All I Want’ by The Offspring without being thrown straight back to Woodside Leisure Park and the huge arcade it once had. Bowling balls smashed into pins. Air hockey pucks rattled across tables. Arcade machines beeped and buzzed from every corner. None of it could drown out that song.
We never got a proper seated cabinet. Instead, ours looked similar to the one above and came with a ‘butt rest’ bar. The music blasted out at an obscene volume. Honestly, that’s the only way that cabinet should ever be set up. Even now, Crazy Taxi has one of the best soundtracks in gaming.
I cannot tell you how many credits I pumped into this cabinet when it first appeared. It was the first game I would head to and that seemed to be the case for many others, as there was always a queue. If you had told us that this would shortly be in our homes, in a near-perfect conversion, we’d have laughed in your face.
Enter the Dreamcast
We can all agree that the Dreamcast got a rough deal. Sega had the history, the talent and the hardware. Sadly, a few mistakes got in the way. Despite its short life, the Dreamcast gave us near-perfect Naomi arcade games at home. My knowledge on this is lacking, but from what I understand, the Naomi generation of Sega games ran on hardware that was very similar to the Dreamcast, making ports far easier than many other arcade systems.
I spent countless hours playing Crazy Taxi on the Dreamcast. Everything felt right. No credits. New challenges. Even the option to play for fixed time periods. Sega gave us what I still consider a perfect game. Game parties where everyone tried to beat the previous person’s takings, group efforts to complete challenges and endless bragging rights; it had everything we wanted and more.
Sequels
I never played Crazy Taxi 2 on the Dreamcast or Crazy Taxi 3 on the Xbox. The first game made me genuinely happy and I couldn’t see any reason to play anything else.
Time passes, as it always does, and eventually remasters and mobile versions began to appear. Those newer versions came with one big problem. The branding disappeared and the music changed. Licensing deals had expired and the remasters suffered because of it. Then, unexpectedly, one version got things right.
Criware released a version of Crazy Taxi for iOS. It’s been discontinued, but if you downloaded it back in the day, it still downloads now. Even though Pizza Hut is now just Pizza Place, and Levi’s is The Clothing Store, the music remains untouched. Yes, the Criware iOS version keeps The Offspring and Bad Religion, and boy does that make me happy.
Finally then, Crazy Taxi World Tour
That brings us to today. Sega has announced Crazy Taxi World Tour and immediately found itself facing criticism over the use of generative AI. Sega hasn’t said exactly how it used AI. Maybe it helped with coding. For their sake, I hope it wasn’t used to create artwork or game assets.
I should be excited. I should be jumping onto whichever digital storefront still exists this week and placing a pre-order.
But I’m not.
The first game felt perfect. Even now it still offers a challenge while keeping all of the original joy intact. I’m sure the new game will be fun. At the same time, I can almost guarantee it’ll arrive loaded with mechanics nobody asked for. It’s the same feeling I have with Mario Kart. I don’t want bigger. I don’t want better. I just want something simple, accessible and fun.
