Crazy Taxi is one of those timeless 90’s games that just won’t escape your memory. It had the era-specific music, the lingo that now makes 90’s kids cringe, and of course, real world brand placements. Later PC ports of the original game had to remove a lot of the music and brand placement due to licenses expiring. However, some modders have come together to restore the game to its original launch version.
As spotted by PC Gamer, Crazy Taxi Dreamcast Restoration 2.0 brings back a number of features that were removed from the launch edition of the game, including the original soundtrack and the Pizza Hut, KFC, Levi, and Tower Records original logos at their respective destinations. While FILA has also been restored, it has been removed as a destination.
Additionally the SilentPatch mod for the game fixes the analog control, as that was one of the biggest complaints players had. It also brings back the cheats that let you change the camera angles, enable a speedometer on the HUD, and most importantly, adds steering wheel support. These mods are courtesy of Silent and Alexvgz, who have also worked on other noteworthy restorations like Deus Ex: Human Revolution’s piss filter.
It’s clear that Crazy Taxi is still revered as we’ve seen a number of tributes or spiritual successors. Last year, Fortnite added a Crazy Taxi inspired limited time mode called Tilted Taxis to the game. While it did not mirror the gameplay of the original, Epic Games’ version involved you and your crew getting into a cab and wreaking havoc all over the map. It was essentially a battle royale with taxis. It turns out that Sega has actually filed a patent for Crazy Taxi’s gameplay loop.
Earlier this year we also reviewed a Crazy Taxi clone called Taxi Chaos. It didn’t seem to impress our reviewer as they gave it two stars out of five and said, “For anyone who’s never heard of Crazy Taxi, Taxi Chaos will be a good enough racing title that’s fine for a quick pick-up-and-play experience. For everyone else, this near-duplicate ride likely won’t be worth the cab fare.”