Game:

Crazy Taxi (1999)

Duration: 5:09

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This video was shot at Funspot in Weirs Beach, NH back in November 2008, on a machine I helped to donate to the American Classic Arcade Museum (in Funspot, on the 3rd floor). I put a severe limitation on this vid, where I would only pick up enough customers to earn $5000, since a full game would normally run me at least 2 hours. That weekend, however, I showed quite a bit of rust when I couldn't even remember some of the simpler customer patterns. Also adding some commentary on this vid is Kelly Flewin, a senior referee from TwinGalaxies.com.

Crazy Taxi is an arcade driving game that came out in 1999 which ran on Sega's Naomi arcade hardware (which was the basis for the Sega Dreamcast). The game is much like a modern classic arcade game with it's simple and addictive premise, pick up customers, drop them off, repeat until you run out of time. Game time will increase for making a speedy delivery to your customer's destination, or decrease when you take too long. Money bonuses are also awarded for fast drop-offs, passing cars, jumping off ramps and drifting. The game setting is a mockup version of San Fransisco and you choose between one of four cabbies from the Crazy Taxi Cab Co. to play as. Each cab driver's vehicle has different handling aspects that are secretly ranked by speed, weight, size and off-road capability (secretly meaning that you have to figure these out on your own).

There are also techniques you can perform to help you reach your destinations faster while earning more tips. First is the Crazy Dash, where you shift into Drive and hit the gas immediately after (not at the same time). Use this from a standstill, traveling slowly, or whenever you need to stop sideways movement and take off in the direction you're pointing in (i.e. after you turn a corner). Next is the Crazy Drift, where you hold the shifter in Drive while turning the wheel. Use this to turn a corner and earn some tips or use this as you approach your drop-off point to earn more tips and point yourself in another direction. There are also advanced techniques such as the Crazy Stop, which is a quick acting brake, where you perform a Crazy Dash but immediately shift into Reverse while the dash is active. And the Limit Cut, which is an extension of the Crazy Dash, where you take your foot off the gas, shift into reverse, then perform a Crazy Dash again for an even faster speed boost. This is ideally performed during long stretches of straight roads. It can also be done back to back but I recommend waiting until the boost wears off before you do the next one or else you may accidentally do a Crazy Stop. But, if you really want to make use of these techniques, make sure you know the game map and know all the destinations and can predict the customer destinations (even before you pick them up) with at least 50% accuracy.

I am the current world record holder at the arcade version of this game with a high score of $106,833.09 at Funspot XI. I hope to push it up to past $110,000.

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