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About Crazy Taxi

Crazy Taxi is Sega's iconic 1999 arcade game, designed by Kenji Kanno and originally developed by Hitmaker. The premise is elemental: you're a taxi driver, passengers need to reach destinations, and the faster you deliver them the more money you earn. What makes the game exceptional is that it layers a tip combo system, shortcut culture, and the Crazy Boost/Crazy Drift techniques on top of what sounds like a simple fare calculation, turning it into one of the most replayable arcade games ever made.

The fare system runs on a timer from the moment you pick up a passenger. When you arrive at their destination, your payout is a base fare plus a time bonus calculated from how many seconds remain. A BAD rating (arriving after the counter runs out) earns minimum fare and no time bonus. Each delivery extends your remaining overall clock, so the run's longevity is built delivery by delivery — a series of fast deliveries chains into a long, high-earning session; slow deliveries starve the clock.

The tip system adds the combo element. Dangerous or skillful driving while carrying a passenger accumulates tips: near-misses with other cars, jumps over ramps, drifts at high speed, and close passes through gaps. Tips stack multiplicatively when chained without interruption. A long section of continuous near-miss driving can produce a tip bonus that exceeds the base fare for that delivery — turning the fastest route into not always the best route if a slightly longer path offers more tip opportunities.

Crazy Drift and Crazy Boost are the signature techniques. Crazy Drift involves rapidly alternating between Drive (D) and Reverse (R) gears, producing a hard-turning drift that maintains speed through corners that would otherwise require braking. Crazy Boost uses the same gear-alternating mechanic for a rapid acceleration burst from a standing start — critical for getting full speed immediately after picking up a passenger. Mastering both techniques separates top earners from average ones.

Key Features

  • Fare + time bonus system — passenger delivery earnings include a base fare plus a bonus based on time remaining; BAD ratings yield no bonus
  • Tip combo mechanic — near-misses, ramps, drifts, and skilled maneuvers accumulate multiplied tip bonuses during a delivery
  • Crazy Drift technique — rapid D/R gear alternation for high-speed cornering without braking
  • Crazy Boost technique — gear-alternation-based rapid acceleration from standing start
  • Multiple shortcut routes including parking lots, grass, and elevated sections that shorten delivery times

Controls

Arrow Keys or WASD — steer the taxi
D Gear — Drive (forward acceleration)
R Gear — Reverse; alternating D/R rapidly = Crazy Drift and Crazy Boost
The green destination arrow on screen — follow it toward the passenger's destination
MobileOn-screen steering and gear buttons; drift and boost techniques replicated with on-screen controls

How to Play

  1. 1Drive toward a waiting passenger (marked on screen) and stop next to them to pick them up. A destination arrow and countdown timer appear.
  2. 2Follow the green destination arrow at full speed. The fare increases with delivery speed — arriving with lots of time remaining earns the maximum bonus.
  3. 3Use Crazy Boost at every passenger pickup: alternate D/R rapidly to launch the taxi at full speed instantly rather than building up slowly.
  4. 4On wide turns, use Crazy Drift: rapidly alternate D/R gear while turning to slide around corners at full speed rather than braking.
  5. 5Build tip combos by threading through traffic gaps and hitting ramps continuously during a delivery. Chained tips multiply, significantly increasing per-delivery earnings.

Tips & Tricks

  • Crazy Boost at every passenger pickup is non-negotiable at high performance levels. The time saved from standing-start acceleration adds up across dozens of deliveries per run.
  • Memorize the 2-3 fastest routes to the most common destination landmarks. The destination set is consistent, so route optimization through repetition is the primary improvement pathway.
  • Off-road shortcuts — parking lots, grassy areas, and cut-throughs — don't damage the taxi and are often faster than street routes. The game explicitly encourages using them.
  • Keep tip chains active even during tricky navigation sections. A near-miss at 10× tip multiplier is worth more than two perfect safe deliveries at 1× — as long as you don't crash and break the chain.
  • Always aim for the passenger furthest from your current position when choosing who to pick up. More distance traveled means more time added to the clock on delivery, sustaining longer runs.

Game Info

DeveloperSega Hitmaker (designer: Kenji Kanno)
Release Year1999
PlatformBrowser (Arcade original: 1999; Dreamcast/PS2/PC ports: 2000)
TechnologyHTML5

FAQ

Crazy Boost uses rapid D/R gear alternation from a standstill to launch at full speed instantly. Crazy Drift uses the same technique while already moving to slide through corners at full speed without braking. Both techniques preserve or generate speed where normal driving would lose it.

BAD means the countdown timer expired before you reached the destination. You still earn the base fare but receive no time bonus — and more importantly, no time is added to your overall clock, starving the run of longevity.

Yes — Crazy Taxi explicitly rewards off-road driving. The taxi takes no damage from driving over grass, through parking lots, or across other non-road terrain. Many experienced players optimize runs around these shortcuts rather than street routes.

Near-misses, ramps, drifts, and other skillful maneuvers while carrying a passenger accumulate tip dollars. These stack and multiply when chained without interruption. Breaking the chain (crashing, stopping) resets the multiplier. Long unbroken chains during a delivery can produce tip totals that exceed the base fare.