Crazy Taxi was the first title in Sega's long-lived franchise of the same name. It brought a fast-paced rush against the timer style-game that is less of a taxi simulation and more of a racing game with marked stops to pick up and drop off passengers. That style of game worked wonders in the arcade.
The game starts with an attract mode featuring the very 1990s skate punk music of The Offspring and Bad Religion, assuming the venue has attract mode music on. My local Walmart always had the attract mode off, which is understandable, as it would drive the cashiers crazy after a while. After a quarter is inserted, the deep-throated voice of DJ Bryan Burton-Lewis, a tokyo-based disc jockey, tells you to pick a car and driver.
There are four drivers to choose from, each with their own convertible-modified taxi. The charaters included the green haired maniac Axel, the funky cool B.D. Joe, the calm and cool Gina, and the slick open-shirted Gus. My friends, family, and I always went with the same characters. My friend would choose Axel, with his New York-city style taxi, my sister would choose B.D. Joe with his taxi with an elongated hood, and I would choose Gina, with her taxi with white paint down the front and back. No one I ever knew chose Gus. He did have a pretty cool car though, with its classic 1950s-style curved hood.
The characters would pick up passengers, who lines based on your skill at picking them up including "watch it, you nearly killed me", your performance such as "I'm gonna be late", or indicating their destination, such as "take me to the KFC". In regards to the latter, the original arcade version of the game included several real-life American brands including the aforementioned KFC, Levi's, and Pizza Hut.
Each person requesting pick up has a circle at their feet which indicate how far their fare will take them. Red indicates short fares, yellow indicates medium-distance fares, and green indicates the longest fares. The farther the fare, the better the pay, but it will also run out your timer if you aren't careful. If you make it to the destination quickly, you can earn bonus time, so it's smart to pick up a bunch of red fares if time is running short. You can also make more money from your passengers by doing stunts such as drifting.
As this is an arcade game, your money is added up when the timer runs out. Your score indicates your license rank. If you get $0 at the end, you get no license, and the licenses go up from there by every thousand. The ranks range from E to A, then to S, with E being the worst and S being the best. If you do better than that, you will get an "Awesome" rank at fares above $10,000, and a "Crazy" rank at scores above $20,000. Ranks S and above will get you to the rolling credits. After the game is over, or the credits are over in the cases of high ranks, the player will be able to add their three letter name to the leaderboard.
Crazy Taxi has always been a fun game to play in the arcades, as it is another feeling altogether playing with a physical steering wheel, brakes, gas pedal, and a drive to reverse shifter. However, more than a quarter century later, it is a bonefide arcade classic. From the 90s skate punk music, to the deep tones of the announcer, and especially to the smooth and addicting gameplay, Crazy Taxi is a game anyone can enjoy.
Final Verdict:
4½ out of 5
