Pure arcade thrills at their finest. Flooring it, dodging traffic and dumping fares on the curb turns every ride into joyful madness. Crazy Taxi on Dreamcast is still the gold standard.
Your verdict
Category
Racing1 player7+
Description
Taxi driver B.D. Joe delivers passengers at top speed through San Francisco streets in this cult Sega racing game. Published by Sega, released in Japan in January 2000. Taxi racing with timed deliveries, city acrobatics, punk-rock musical atmosphere, multiple playable drivers. Japanese version.
Crazy Taxi review
4/5
Art direction
★★★★★
"Striking"
MAX
Music
★★★★★
"Legendary"
1/5
Story
★★★★★
"Anecdotal"
Flat out to the punk riffs of The Offspring and Bad Religion, the ride rides a supercharged rock energy. The distorted guitars spike the adrenaline and match the joyful chaos of lightning-fast deliveries. Inseparable from the game, this sonic electricity remains the emblem of a whole arcade era.
Gameplay
"Masterful"
Right-angle drifts, full-speed boosts, suicidal shortcuts: the arcade driving aims for raw thrill and hits it at once. Stringing fares together against the clock delivers a rush few games still match. The content is thin and the city has barely changed, yet that wild energy in the hands stays irresistible for short bursts.
Fun
"From the very first seconds"
Grab a fare, tear off against the traffic and brake in a shower of sparks: it all makes sense in thirty seconds, yet you keep coming back. The thrill of the clock, the absurd jumps and the punk soundtrack spark an instant high. A pure arcade distillate, this urban madness hasn't aged a day.
Addictiveness
"Obsessive"
Picking up a fare, tearing off against the traffic and aiming for the perfect tip: the loop fits in thirty seconds and restarts before you even think about it. The ticking clock, the climbing score and the absurd jumps sustain a joyful tension run after run. The content is thin and the city soon turns repetitive, but the hunt for a better run stays devilishly gripping.
The Japanese edition of Crazy Taxi is the original pressing of the Hitmaker arcade game brought home. Collector value rests on the more colourful Japanese sleeve and on the preservation of NAOMI arcade elements in the domestic build, which stayed the closest to the original coin-op.
A cult cover
A bright yellow cab barreling straight at you, hood up and tires smoking against a clean backdrop: the whole arcade spirit lives in that head-on shot. The scrawled punk logo and saturated colors promise reckless racing, rock and pure urban energy. Instant and joyful, it stays one of the most recognizable sleeves on the Dreamcast.
Is Crazy Taxi still worth playing in 2026?
Pure distilled Sega arcade, Crazy Taxi still works today thanks to game design of perfect clarity. Picking a customer, watching the arrow point at the destination and chaining drifts and shortcuts delivers a rare brand of instant joy. The Offspring punk soundtrack still hits hard, although the loss of the original licences in some re-releases dents the vibe a little. For a fifteen minute session after work, very few titles remain this effective right out of the gate.
