Crazy Taxi (1999 Sega Ent.)
The Story: Going back to my teen years, I can remember a few things in particular. Driving a car, punk rock music blaring on the radio and sit-down racing arcade games. I used to spend many a quarter on games like Outrunners and Cruis'n USA. If anyone could compete with Midway when it came to driving games, it was Sega for sure. After Outrunners came games like Virtua Racing and Daytona USA. All great games. It seems there was always a common denominator with all those driving games though. They were all racing games. Whether it was simulation or straight on driving, with friends or against the game itself, the goal was always the same. Get to the finish line with the best time & rank possible.
In 1999, Sega came up with a unique concept when they released a game called Crazy Taxi. It was unlike any driving game we had played at the time. Instead of racing on a track, Crazy Taxi immersed us in a virtual city with a different objective in mind. Now we got to play the role of a busy cab driver, picking up customers and sending them to their destinations to earn cabfare & bonus time, all while dodging traffic and other obstacles. For the first time, we got to choose our own route, our own driving style and even our own passengers. It was one of the first driving games I remember that had four unique characters to choose from, all with their own catch phrases and personality. It was also one of the first game's I remember to feature a soundtrack with actual songs performed by actual popular artists. To this day I can't remember Bad Religion too well, but I sure do remember The Offspring. I loved their music back then and still enjoy it today.
My teen years are long gone, as good as they were. Today, I have a teenage daughter of my own. And as a father, I think it's really cool that Alli is into many of the same games I grew up with all those years ago. Crazy Taxi has always been one of her favorites, she has played it on the Dreamcast and PS2. Up until recently, I don't believe she ever got to expierience the joy of playing this game in it's true arcade form. Yes, the homeports are very faithful and we never planned on picking up an actual arcade version of the game. But when I can score the game in exchange for repair work on other games, how could I pass that up?
The Score: I aquired a big side job this spring. A new fun center was opening up in Holts Summit which is located between where I work and where I live. I was hired on to help repair games in need and had already scored a Skee-Ball machine in the deal (click here to read about that). Anyway, they have a pretty nice setup of driving games as well, and Crazy Taxi was one of them. The game was fully operational and, although it's still a good game by today's standards, it was also the lowest earner of all the driving games. Simply put, it was the oldest driving game in their lineup, there was too much competition and they needed to make space for a few new ones as well. I remember thinking how much Alli liked playing this game at home and though about how cool it would be if I could suprise her with her very own arcade game. I decided to ask if they would be interested in trading the game in exchange for repair services for a few weeks. They agreed and the rest is history. I got to bring another game home, and Alli gets bragging rights for having her own game in the lineup.
The Service: While there isn't much of a service log to report on for a fully working game, I'll just start off with the grueling task of just getting this game in my house. We have two other driving games, but they were easy as pie to move in contrast to this one. Those games came apart easily in two pieces, so moving those in wasn't really much different from a standard upright game. Crazy Taxi is a totally different animal. For one thing, its huge, even bigger and heavier than the other driving games if you can believe that. The plastic side panels and marquee assembly had to be removed just to get it to squeeze thru a 36" doorway. Also, the base is one long piece with all of the computer components housed inside. The only way to take this game apart would have been to remove the whole monitor assembly which would have taken alot of time & energy. The entryway to my basement consists of a walk up with a few steps. I have a ramp that I set up to wheel games in, which is usually pretty much straight forward, just roll 'em down the ramp on a hand truck until they are inside. However this ramp literally sits at a 45 degree angle, and we were pressed for time. It was getting dark and rain was in the forecast for the evening. Luckily I have some good neighbor's who are willing to help when needed. It took four of us to do it, but we got it in quickly and without any problems. Thanks guys! And thank goodness this game is on rollers.
Oh, I forgot to mention that the coin box also had to be removed. Unlike most games where the coin door is literally mounted to the cabinet, this game features a whole coin box assembly which simply mounts to the side of the cabinet. In my case, the coin box was pretty beat up. I was going to have the game set up for free play (as I do with all of the games) and the ugly coin box would just take up more unnecessary real estate anyway, so I decided to leave it off. This did require me to relocate the service panel to the bottom base which wasn't a problem at all. Otherwise all it needed was a good cleaning. The monitor has a little burn but the picture is nice, bright & crisp, definitely the best of all the driving games.
Now if you'll excuse me, Alli and I have to "go make some crazy money!".
In 1999, Sega came up with a unique concept when they released a game called Crazy Taxi. It was unlike any driving game we had played at the time. Instead of racing on a track, Crazy Taxi immersed us in a virtual city with a different objective in mind. Now we got to play the role of a busy cab driver, picking up customers and sending them to their destinations to earn cabfare & bonus time, all while dodging traffic and other obstacles. For the first time, we got to choose our own route, our own driving style and even our own passengers. It was one of the first driving games I remember that had four unique characters to choose from, all with their own catch phrases and personality. It was also one of the first game's I remember to feature a soundtrack with actual songs performed by actual popular artists. To this day I can't remember Bad Religion too well, but I sure do remember The Offspring. I loved their music back then and still enjoy it today.
My teen years are long gone, as good as they were. Today, I have a teenage daughter of my own. And as a father, I think it's really cool that Alli is into many of the same games I grew up with all those years ago. Crazy Taxi has always been one of her favorites, she has played it on the Dreamcast and PS2. Up until recently, I don't believe she ever got to expierience the joy of playing this game in it's true arcade form. Yes, the homeports are very faithful and we never planned on picking up an actual arcade version of the game. But when I can score the game in exchange for repair work on other games, how could I pass that up?
The Score: I aquired a big side job this spring. A new fun center was opening up in Holts Summit which is located between where I work and where I live. I was hired on to help repair games in need and had already scored a Skee-Ball machine in the deal (click here to read about that). Anyway, they have a pretty nice setup of driving games as well, and Crazy Taxi was one of them. The game was fully operational and, although it's still a good game by today's standards, it was also the lowest earner of all the driving games. Simply put, it was the oldest driving game in their lineup, there was too much competition and they needed to make space for a few new ones as well. I remember thinking how much Alli liked playing this game at home and though about how cool it would be if I could suprise her with her very own arcade game. I decided to ask if they would be interested in trading the game in exchange for repair services for a few weeks. They agreed and the rest is history. I got to bring another game home, and Alli gets bragging rights for having her own game in the lineup.
The Service: While there isn't much of a service log to report on for a fully working game, I'll just start off with the grueling task of just getting this game in my house. We have two other driving games, but they were easy as pie to move in contrast to this one. Those games came apart easily in two pieces, so moving those in wasn't really much different from a standard upright game. Crazy Taxi is a totally different animal. For one thing, its huge, even bigger and heavier than the other driving games if you can believe that. The plastic side panels and marquee assembly had to be removed just to get it to squeeze thru a 36" doorway. Also, the base is one long piece with all of the computer components housed inside. The only way to take this game apart would have been to remove the whole monitor assembly which would have taken alot of time & energy. The entryway to my basement consists of a walk up with a few steps. I have a ramp that I set up to wheel games in, which is usually pretty much straight forward, just roll 'em down the ramp on a hand truck until they are inside. However this ramp literally sits at a 45 degree angle, and we were pressed for time. It was getting dark and rain was in the forecast for the evening. Luckily I have some good neighbor's who are willing to help when needed. It took four of us to do it, but we got it in quickly and without any problems. Thanks guys! And thank goodness this game is on rollers.
Oh, I forgot to mention that the coin box also had to be removed. Unlike most games where the coin door is literally mounted to the cabinet, this game features a whole coin box assembly which simply mounts to the side of the cabinet. In my case, the coin box was pretty beat up. I was going to have the game set up for free play (as I do with all of the games) and the ugly coin box would just take up more unnecessary real estate anyway, so I decided to leave it off. This did require me to relocate the service panel to the bottom base which wasn't a problem at all. Otherwise all it needed was a good cleaning. The monitor has a little burn but the picture is nice, bright & crisp, definitely the best of all the driving games.
Now if you'll excuse me, Alli and I have to "go make some crazy money!".