10 Things You DIDNT'T Know About Crazy Taxi

10 Things You Didn’t Know About Crazy Taxi

Welcome to MojoPlays, and today, we’re taking a look at 10 things you may not have known about the legendary SEGA series, “Crazy Taxi”!

Who’s Ready to File Some CRRAAAZYY Patents!?

Today, patenting video game mechanics is viewed pretty negatively by players, but if they only knew about what was going on behind the scenes way back in 2003. “Crazy Taxi” became a point of contention between SEGA and Electronic Arts after the latter had released “The Simpsons: Road Rage” in 2001. SEGA sued EA as well as developer Radical Entertainment and co-publisher Fox Interactive for patent infringement, claiming that “Road Rage” was deliberately made to copy and replicate the success of “Crazy Taxi”. Such claims stemmed from the mere concept of driving around the city, NPCs walking around and jumping out of the way, and implementing a HUD icon to direct players to a specific destination. Alas, no decision was made as all parties would settle the case outside of court for an undisclosed amount.

The Long Lost Sequel

For the longest time, people have championed the original “Crazy Taxi” with some younger players advocating for the Xbox-exclusive “Crazy Taxi 3: High Roller”. But what about “Crazy Taxi 2”? Why does no one ever seem to talk about that one? Well, part of the reason why no one talks about “Crazy Taxi 2” may be because of its extremely limited release. This sequel only ever saw a release on Dreamcast before getting ported to PSP via “Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars” in 2007. And as some of us may recall, the Dreamcast was not on the market for super long, so a lot of games like “Crazy Taxi 2” wound up getting lost in the sauce while most of us were playing our PlayStation 2’s.

Failed to Franchise

Once upon a time, SEGA had some grand plans for “Crazy Taxi” to become way bigger than it already was. Any company would make moves like this after seeing how much revenue this timeless classic was bringing in at the time. One of the big moves SEGA planned had involved toy company DSI Toys, which had already developed a prototype for an RC car driven by Axel. The biggest move was for a “Crazy Taxi” movie, and it got way further along development than the toyline did. Richard Donner, who directed episodes for TV shows like “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.”, “The Twilight Zone”, and…”The Banana Splits”, was already signed on to direct the movie. Donner even claimed to be a big fan of the game. According to Movie Insider, plans for the movie were cancelled entirely after the project supposedly had “absence of plot elements”. A second attempt was sort of made by Mindfire Entertainment, though the company never moved forward with the rights outside of acquisition.

A Little Less Crazy Taxi

Aside from those cancelled plans we mentioned, there was one foray SEGA made to bring “Crazy Taxi” to the public in other ways. Show of hands - anyone ever played the rip-roaring, high octane “Crazy Taxi” redemption game? No? You don’t even know what the hell a “redemption game” is? Spoiler alert - it wasn’t very exciting. This cabinet simply had you roll a token past a moving taxi in hopes of landing in one of the passenger lanes. Each passenger was worth a certain number of tickets. And that’s all it was. Yes, it was a pretty boring way to adapt the IP, and that’s why you see people jumping onto “Crazy Taxi” cabinets instead.

Real 3D Innovation

While most people likely played “Crazy Taxi” in the arcades or console, there was a way to experience the game on a smaller scale. And surprisingly, it was just as enjoyable to play! “Crazy Taxi” got a Game Boy Advance version called “Crazy Taxi: Catch a Ride” in 2003, and it featured two cities to enjoy the core gameplay in addition to a handful of missions and the return of the four original drivers. But the most impressive aspect of this game is how well it managed to simulate 3D graphics on a potato like the GBA. Only a handful of GBA titles tried to develop games with 3D visuals, and of the few that attempted it, even fewer actually made something playable.

Chasing The Next Fare

Though Xbox players will long remember the days of “Crazy Taxi 3: High Roller”, we almost didn’t get this version of the game. Instead, SEGA was planning to release what was then called “Crazy Taxi Next”. Developer Hitmaker had wanted to take the franchise into the world of online multiplayer, a movie that would make most gamers today utterly horrified. Yes, “Next” was gonna focus on online multiplayer and implement a day-&-night cycle using updated maps from the first two games. For reasons unknown, the project was scrapped with some elements being reused to make “High Roller”.

There Was Almost a “Crazy Taxi 4”

This may seem hard to believe, but we were supposed to get a fourth main “Crazy Taxi” sometime after “High Roller’s” release. As to when it started, what it comprised of, and when it was axed, well, that is anyone’s guess. The only reason we know about “Crazy Taxi 4’s” existence is because a former staff member of SEGA Studios Australia had included concept art for it in their portfolio. The picture shows a person jumping from one taxi cab to another, and neither of the cabs look like the snazzy vehicles we’re used to. Other than that, there isn’t much to glean from here. Until folks start talking, one can only imagine.

Necessary Dormancy

Considering its popularity during the late 90’s and early 2000s, it’s hard to imagine SEGA would actually drop “Crazy Taxi” from its portfolio for as long as it seemingly has. By the time the upcoming “Crazy Taxi: World Tour” launches, it’ll have been twenty-four years since the last mainline game. But the reason behind the IP’s dormancy is not as mysterious or dramatic as one may think as creator Kenji Kanno explained this in 2007. In an interview with 1Up, Kanno stated, “basically the whole point of the game is to have a lot of fun in a short period of time, and it's a very concentrated game. So instead of trying to evolve the series necessarily, it's more like taking that concept and putting it in different places -- seeing how it works.” So, why is it coming back in 2027? Kanno explained this in an interview with Video Games Chronicle in June 2026, stating, ““A lot of what’s in the news nowadays makes you feel not very excited to live in the world…Crazy Taxi is a game that you can play and have all these positive emotions and positive feelings, without anything negative in the game. With how the world is right now, I think it’s the perfect time to bring it back.”

Life On Mobile

In between “High Roller” and the upcoming “World Tour”, “Crazy Taxi” did make a couple of appearances in the gaming industry. Unfortunately, those brief appearances came in the form of “Crazy Taxi: City Rush” and “Crazy Taxi Tycoon”. Whereas “City Rush” was an auto-runner similar to “Temple Run” and “Subway Surfers”, “Tycoon” had players running their own taxi cab businesses instead of furiously driving around cities. Yeah, neither of them really captured the spirit of the franchise, and both games have long been delisted.

The Dream of Multiplayer

Now, some gamers may reel knowing that “World Tour” is going to have an emphasis on online multiplayer. It's the typical impulsive reaction folks seem to have these days. However, online multiplayer has always been the dream of “Crazy Taxi”, the Holy Grail if you will. The idea of competing with friends to make the most money, steal passengers, etc., has always been on the minds of Kanno, SEGA, and Hitmaker as they have developed each of the main games. In other words, the push to bring online multiplayer to “Crazy Taxi” has always been inevitable since 1999.

Did any of these facts surprise you? Let us know down in the comments, and don’t forget to subscribe to MojoPlays.