The insane history of CRAZY TAXI Clones and RIP-OFFS!

[@Larry]

Sega's Harley Davidson game came out just before, and playing that today, you can clearly see Sega forming a prototype for Crazy Taxi.

[@KasumiRINA]

What other Harley Davidson L.A. Riders type of games are out there? I like Crazy Taxi but the passenger gimmick is meh. Checkpoint racing around the city is more my type but it's kind of done clumsy in open world games GTA or Driver... dunno if it's because SEGA patented the arrow marker UI.

[@fatbelly2438]

hello you

[@TheSwill]

Radikal bikers arcade? The port was poor but for some reason I adored that cabinet

[@TheSwill]

Just seen that Smashing Drive was a spiritual successor to Radikal Bikers. I'll have to find it now!

[@thestranger9608]

Larry where have you been

[@jasonjlaw]

I put 100s of hours in Space Taxi on the Commodore 64 when I was a kid. Came out in 84.

[@SunDancerGE]

HEY! TAXI!

[@jasonjlaw]

@SunDancerGE "Pad 1 please" The SID voice synth is stuck in my head forever

[@jaspal666]

What a great game 🎉 Spent many hours playing.

[@mercuryshadow09]

Came to mention that game.

[@frankbrodie5168]

Still in my top 5 of best ever Commodore 64 games. Barely a year goes by that I don't have a quick 30 mins or so on that game.

[@mxg75]

The latest Yakuza game, Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth, has a Crazy Delivery minigame, where you ride a bike to make DoorDash deliveries. It’s clearly got some Crazy Taxi influence, and is even published by Sega. You don’t unlock it until you’re many hours into the game, though, which would make it hard to feature on this list unless you were planning on playing through the game anyway.

[@slopesgameroom]

Yeah that is a bonkers mini game. I saw footage on twitter

[@Faapu]

Personally I'm waiting for Unhinged Uber

[@Cincinnatijames]

Ride Scare😂

[@JOBdOut]

lunatic lyft

[@JargonMadjin]

Underrated comment

[@stringercorrales6627]

Uber customers already provide that in real life

[@hypershadix1]

Lyft unhinged

[@atariduckman]

The original Crazy Taxi did also feature songs from the band "Bad Religion". Full soundtrack: Ten in 2010 - Bad Religion Them and Us - Bad Religion Hear it - Bad Religion Inner Logic - Bad Religion Way down the line - The Offspring All i want - The Offspring Change the World - The Offspring Just saying 😁

[@liamh1982]

The GBA version of Smashing Drive is an even more glorious dumpster fire - crude polygons running at about 8fps and warping more than the starship Enterprise, the music pitched down an octave and bitcrushed almost into oblivion. I can only play it for about ten minutes before getting a blinding headache, but what a ten minutes those are!

[@slopesgameroom]

OK... I NEED TO LOOK THIS UP!

[@VyceEcho]

Best video so far. I love those in depth documentaries

[@slopesgameroom]

Cheers mate :D glad you enjoyed it :D

[@Polycomical]

Got to be honest, Noddy Crazy Taxi was not on my 2025 bingo card. Nutty.

[@oaf-77]

I heard naughty

[@ienjoypaste]

The lyric is "catch you by the curlies" - EG grab you by the hairs down theres.

[@MiTBender]

I don't hear the word "by" in there at all 10:10

[@darrenlawrence587]

Strangely enough the best Crazy Taxi clone is a 'mini'game in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth!

[@MidlifeCrisisJoe]

I always find it funny that when you talk about the minigames in Yakuza games, the "mini" almost always has to be put in quotes. They have WAY more depth than is ever required.

[@michaelwulfbane]

Considering they play The Offspring in the mobile Crazy Taxi idle game when you collect a power up, I think Sega learned their lesson on what's required.

[@mattakudesu]

The Offspring is one of my favorite bands, specifically because of Crazy Taxi. Nothing like firing up the Dreamcast, grabbing a controller, and speeding all over the city to Come Out Swinging or One Fine Day, such awsome memories back when I was a teen.

[@slopesgameroom]

Before the offspring I listened to very little rock music. I really enjoyed "Kids aren't alright" but didn't know much else. After Crazy Taxi i was hooked!

[@justindot4887]

​@@slopesgameroomit was soo out of the park!!! just sweet music. theres nary been a thing like

[@floydp6217]

I thought I subscribed years ago! I just subscribed now. Have a good one!

[@JomasterTheSecond]

I feel like people comparing Smashing Drive to Crazy Taxi have never seen footage of either game. Both Smashing Drive and its spiritual predecessor Radikal Bikers are so, so demented.

[@slopesgameroom]

They are not the same at all

[@notanindianscammer7594]

Not same bud

[@JomasterTheSecond]

@ Exactly, that's what I'm saying.

[@TraxxJamez2088]

“Totally Reliable Delivery Service” is just like crazy taxi but with rag doll physics and better graphics

[@MidlifeCrisisJoe]

See that just makes me want a Kiki's Delivery Service game where you do delivery but on a flying broom.

[@solsticeprojekt1937]

"Hey Arnold got a movie." ... LOL

[@meatbyproducts]

Crazy Taxi, the second best crazy taxi game after Simpsons Hit and run.

[@slopesgameroom]

Ooooooo those fighting words

[@meatbyproducts]

@slopesgameroom I love crazy taxi... but there is just something about hit and run that got 100 more hours of play.

[@JMLRetroRoom]

If you ever dare to deep dive into Crazy Taxi Catch A Ride for GBA, reach out, I have many records for that game and mapped all the customers.

[@arronmunroe]

The Korean arcade game "Frenzy Express" is similar to Crazy Taxi, but you use a scooter to deliver packages.

[@slopesgameroom]

Is this created by the same team that made Smashing Drive or am I thinking of a different game?

[@arronmunroe]

@@slopesgameroom Smashing Drive was developed by the Spanish company "Gaelco", while Frenzy Express is by the relatively unknown company "Uniana". Radikal Bikers is the game by Gaelco that is similar to Smashing Drive.

[@pocari2736]

Michael Jackson had an arcade machine in his hotel room and was playing it in a documentary!

[@nattila7713]

​@@arronmunroeI am here for someome to mention radical bikers and whoa the arcade god(like player) himself did it :D

[@arronmunroe]

@@nattila7713 Thanks. I would say that's too much, but I appreciate the compliment.

[@SuprousOxide]

I remember getting a PC port of crazy taxi and being disappointed they hadn't licensed the Offspring songs. Still fun game, but not quite the same game without "All I Want" blaring out your speakers

[@bubbleboyspot]

Missed you,happy new year!

[@billcook4768]

Crazy Shuttle, complete with music, in a Mario-universe game? Sure, why not.

[@aleblasco39]

I live nearby an arcade named "Arcade levels" and last time I was there, they not only had a Crazy Taxy cabinet, they also had a Smashing Drive cabinet just next to the CT one. I found the game fun tbh

[@slopesgameroom]

It's crazier than crazy taxi... And I love it

[@aleblasco39]

@@slopesgameroom Yep, I wholeheartedly agree!

[@deralfenderson]

I see a few others have mentioned it, and yes, it’s just a “mode”… But the thing that keeps me coming back to GTA Vice City and San Andreas is the Taxi mission. I treat it just like Crazy Taxi and will play for hours at a time. The bonus being that you can pick a radio station according to your current mood. It’s tons of fun.

[@Justinjaro]

Jambo Safari is my all time favorite arcade game, awesome finally seeing it mentioned for once

[@slopesgameroom]

It's awesome. I wish they did more with it besides that shoddy port

[@elbitxo5945]

Loved It back then!

[@Cynnister-vy5tl]

Good. Another Slope video to make my day complete.

[@slopesgameroom]

Ahhhh mate thanks so much

[@ant21]

This reminded me of a game i had on the PS1, which was from around 1998. Rogue Trip: Vacation 2012. It was basically Twisted Metal, but you were a taxi driver in a post-apocalyptic America, carting tourists round to take photos. It was absolutely insane.

[@ThatWolfWithShades]

I remember really liking Runaway Bus when I was younger.

[@greenapple9477]

3:44 Me: That's where Modern Sonic started! **spots Sonic in the commercial** 😂

[@RustBunny]

I find it astounding that Stellar Stone was able to release three "games" that seemed to be little more than a tech demo or early alpha; maybe their other games fared better, but probably only because there was effort put in to make a finished product. Is it any surprise that after the company folded, Sergey Titov continued upon the legacy of the work Stellar Stone didn't do?

[@akaimizu1]

Space Taxi (also in 1984) was the world's most famous Taxi game prior to Crazy Taxi. So you aren't far off with the Offspring (relevance??) observation. It even had speech it, where the customers would call for a taxi and tell you where to go when you pick them up.

[@alexriesenbeck]

Another fantastic video!! One of my favorite KZbin creators

[@greeztzipin6257]

Love your vids, cheers.❤

[@slopesgameroom]

Huge thanks for sticking around bud

[@HighwayMule]

This 'Mars Taxi' mentioned near the start looks like a clone of UGH, the cavemen-themed taxi game from earlier in the nineties.

[@slopesgameroom]

I believe they use the same engine

[@mayday0341]

You forgot Space Taxi for the Commodore 64 (1984) :)

[@tonybarnes2920]

Right?!?

[@Neufena-h2o]

I loved Radikal Bikers at my local arcade. I always described it as "Crazy Taxi but delivering pizzas"

[@nattila7713]

same thinking here but if we are honest that game is a generic racer not a proper delivery game ;)

[@elbitxo5945]

True. The only thing in common is the punk rock soundtrack and the overall aesthetic.. and it predates Crazy Taxi by a year. Same developer as Smashing Drive btw, that is more an over the top sequel of Radikal Bikers than anything inspired on Crazy Taxi's gameplay. I'm surprised Daniel didn't comented on that.

[@Neufena-h2o]

@@nattila7713 Yes, it was much more of a straightforward racer.

[@Neufena-h2o]

@@elbitxo5945 I didn't know it predated Crazy Taxi or that Smashing Drive was a spiritual sequel! I'll have to give it a try sometime.

[@MidlifeCrisisJoe]

For those who wonder why no one ever did "Sane Taxi," SEGA did that one already too. It's called chapter 1 of Yakuza 5.

[@DoorsInTheLabyrinth]

The Offspring are well and good, but the real highlight for me were the Bad Religion songs. Okay, well, I just like Bad Religion much much more as a band anyway!

[@KasumiRINA]

14:10 Is that Hannah from Cadillacs & Dinosaurs and Cody from Final Fight?

[@jaybrown1172]

I was gonna say, anyone notice Cody, Capcom would be a in a tizzy if they knew about that.

[@Lukeno52]

Taxi Racer is actually worse than shown here - because you can't hear the utterly atrocious sound effects that sound like you're constantly crashing, or your taxi is constantly backfiring!

[@buenobueno123]

theres a game that came out for the saturn, way before crazy taxi, called courier crisis and it looks and plays just like crazy taxi, except you're on a bike and dont really transport anyone, but the feel and gameplay are very similar. sad it wasn't mentioned because its pretty fun to play once you've learned how to do tricks and hard turns

[@DragonAceSg7]

While I'd never consider myself a retro gamer, especially compared to you or my brother, I do appreciate the games I grew up with and how, they were just games. You didn't need to pad them to hell and back to make them 'worth' it. I'm a big fan of games being the length they need to be. Doesn't mean I don't like longer games, like Balder's Gate 3, but I also LOVED Crypt Custodian. A fun metroidvania that felt the PERFECT length and I was able to 100% (the game not steam achievements) on my very first play through. And for rogue likes that go back to that old school feel, 20XX and 30XX are fantastic!

[@eigengrau1]

The Soundtack was (is) a BANGER and enhanced the game in so many ways.. Ps. This Offspring record-player is rad af!

[@tadness121]

Fun fact: Crazy Taxi, Simpsons Road Rage and Smashing Drive all have GBA ports. 3D ones, no less.

[@DrRyan]

Great video as always! Crazy Taxi is an absolute favourite of mine. Bad Religion are absolutely as integral to the sound track as Offspring though - both need to be present in the new one! 🙂

[@frogz]

quarantine mentioned!!!! i spent years trying to find this game until i finally did, played it as a kid on a old pentium 1 pc

[@lonreed9743]

Taxi Chaos is exactly like Crazy Taxi. It’s on all platforms as far as I know.

[@spongebobfan78]

14:03 I remember playing this just because of the Metal slug assets

[@MXOY99]

Holy crap I remember this...

[@slopesgameroom]

They always stand out as some of the best pixel art of all time

[@NicholasVargo]

I’m surprised you never heard of Planetary Taxi for Windows and MAC back in 1995. It was more educational based but basically you would take customers to the planet they were describing. Probably more for kids but I remember playing it like crazy when I was in elementary school.

[@tywatson299]

"Less talent than a Daphne and Celeste tribute band". Of all the places to be reminded that they existed, this was not where I expected it. Bravo.

[@slopesgameroom]

Mwahahaha

[@SparkpadArt]

There's also London Cab Challenge by Phoenix Games, proving that they don't just port movie mockbusters to game consoles. As for precursors, I think there was a Williams pinball table called Taxi, with some crazy passengers ranging from major political figures of the time, to Williams' own Pin*Bot.

[@randysmith7094]

I tried to play Crazy Taxi on the 360 but the controls were weird, something about reversing, I couldn't get used to it. I really enjoyed some Simpsons Road Rage though.

[@design-flux]

Yoooo. When you got to the Crazy Shuttle bit I was looking at that dragon on the side and said OH EM GEE!! It’s Mario the Magnificent, the official mascot of Drexel University here in Philadelphia, PA USA! (My Alma Mater!!) LMAO 😅

[@ilkeryoldas]

Btw, Mars Taxi is a clone of Ugh! developed by Egosoft and published in 1992 by Play Byte for the Amiga, Commodore 64, and MS-DOS.

[@rfwill13]

Came here for the history and got such a wave of nostalgia of being a kid trying to play they Hey Arnold flash game. I remember barely being able to get it to run properly half the time.

[@slopesgameroom]

And now it runs so fast the title screen goes 4x the speedp

[@Totavier]

What an interesting video, I always was wondering how many Crazy Taxi like games exists that I was unaware of?, only ones that I knew were that Simpsons one, Taxi Chaos and the old taxi "R3 Mission" on the Grand Theft Auto games on PS2. Really good to know other ones but I have to admit that the Hey Arnold! one really caught me by surprise, lol!.

[@ericlarson7556]

"Released in 1999." Space taxi chortles from the grave. "Hold my Pabst Blue Ribbon and let me take you greenhorns back to 1984!"

[@oaf-77]

I had a taxi game on my TRS-80, picking up and dropping off passengers in 3 different cities. I remember liking it

[@AcornElectron]

Every game ever since 1990 ‘hold my beer’

[@patsullivan78]

Oh, man, I remember playing Hey Arnold Runaway Bus back when it came out.

[@sometf2player752]

8:08 there was a iOS version??

[@romus3550]

The Android one is still available

[@sometf2player752]

@ damn

[@steammachine3061]

Even the gta games had a crazy taxi style side quest.

[@lurkerrekrul]

Here's one you probably haven't heard of; Simple 2500 Series Portable!! Vol 9 The My Taxi (PSP) It's a slow-paced Crazy Taxi style game, but done in a cutesy art style. There's hardly any traffic on the road, and you don't seem to lose if you fail to get to the destination in time. It also adds extra stuff with shifts, a dispatcher type character and other stuff. However since I don't read Japanese, I don't know what any of it means.

[@slopesgameroom]

O wow. Yeah that would be good to look up and try

[@lurkerrekrul]

@@slopesgameroom I thought of another one: Zombie Virus. It has an ambulance rather than a taxi, but the core gameplay mechanic is straight out of Crazy Taxi. You start at the hospital and drive around a zombie infested city at night, looking for survivors. Said survivor will be standing in various locations (I think the locations are fixed), with a colored ring around them. You pick up 1-2 survivors, and then follow the arrow back to the hospital before they mutate into zombies. Along the way, you can run over zombies for points, and to keep up moral at the hospital, while being careful not to end up with a zombie clinging to the roof. Apparently there are also boss battles, but I never played it that far.

[@UltimatePerfection]

You don't have a clock in your room. Here's one for you: ⏰. The time has come to do what you have wanted for so long to do.

[@MrGurubill]

Seeing that old school Nick Arcade launcher again... Oh it takes me back. All those random Spongebob games they had on there I played for hours upon hours... I think you can still find some of them on Big Fish Games...

[@zsombor_99]

There were Flash games, called "Sim Taxi", which are a mix of top-down view with some side-view things mixed in, some of them simulate fuel, taxi damage and cops as well, while some of them are not. 🏁 The first one is less cartoonish than the others. • Sim Taxi • Sim Taxi Lotopolis City • Sim Taxi New York • Sim Taxi Berlin

[@TheGoombassador]

I had a feeling the last one was going to be the last one.

[@DeAthWaGer]

Wasn't looking at the screen for a second and kept thinking "WTF is 'Tax Erasers'?"

[@slopesgameroom]

Tax erasers?

[@DeAthWaGer]

@@slopesgameroom Taxi Racers

[@slopesgameroom]

@ HAHAHA

[@alerommel1]

Smashing Drive looks pretty much like a Radikal Bikers clone, rather than a Crazy Taxi one (which makes sense, because it was made by the same developers).

[@willrobinson7599]

Loved crazy taxi in the arcade , and when sega brought home to the dreamcast they improved with lots of extra game modes and trials

[@MrSolidBlakeGaming]

10:57 i used to drop a lot of coins into that arcade machine 💀

[@lopezjose568]

Boy! If you love Smashing Drive, you gonna love Radikal Bikers. Is like the prequel of Smashing Drive, but you're a pizza delivery guy on a scooter, and its made by the same dev team (Gaelco), i recommend the arcade over the ps1 version

[@khain147]

Not quite related, but World's Scariest Police Chases for the PS1 isn't too dissimilar, in that it's a driving based game.. would be cool to see coverage of that game though

[@JudaiMaverick86]

The re-releases that dont include the offspring soundtrack were a BIG misstep from Sega, part of the fun of this franchise is the soundtrack

[@MystificationSwarp]

15:10 Cybertaxi is actually a game made by two popular polish youtubers btw

[@sirducksworthythe3rd842]

Last year in 2024 Sega announced on a state of play or Nintendo thing that their remakeimg a set of games for modern consoles, and crazy taxi was on that annoucement

[@PlakeFilmmaker]

Unfortunately Sega removed from Steam the original Crazy Taxi as well as other Dreamcast games (Including Jet Set Radio and Space Channel 5) and the Mega Drive collection last month for no apparent reason.

[@Mistahhuntah]

They're being remastered and rereleased. They announced that last year.

[@BETMARKonTube]

11:00 Actually... I saw more people compare that game to *Radical Bikers.* And for obvious reasons. I'm honestly surprised that YOU didn't mention the similarities between the two games, instead of compare it to *18 Wheeler: American Pro Trucker.*

[@GeekGamerGui]

I think Smashing Drive is actually a lot of arcade fun ! 👍

[@kingofthebongs858]

So I was born in 94' and although I have fond memories of crazy taxi, I always felt the humour and style was dated and it never sat right. As I kid I genuinely enjoyed the Simpsons version alot more, I think the combination of the licenced characters, the voice lines and the familiar setting just made it the elite one for me 😂

[@lordvlygar2963]

That Texas license plate. Hahahaha. Kill Bill was awesome.

[@slopesgameroom]

Even tho it's a tad more echo heavy. I had to turn the camera round to face the offspring slipmatt and the licence plate wall

[@ShadowDx]

Man I love Crazy Taxi. It definitely falls into the “games you love but suck at” for me though 😅

[@FreshBakedGaming]

Okay, I felt like I was the ONLY person who remembered Smashing Drive! I adored that game as a kid, and still love how much of a jankpile it is.

[@slopesgameroom]

Great minds :D

[@christophernewhouse5832]

That offsprings picture has a good album on it the kids aren't alright is a very emotionally intertwined 2 society however i do like self esteem a lot as well haven't heard them in a while good job on this informative video i played crazy taxi the Simpsons road rage smashing drive and the emergency ambulance game seeing these games i forgot about makes me want a crazy taxi-burnout hybrid with classic & burnout modes that give other options as well maybe some people could code it on java/python with original source codes then edit new operations in the if/else circumstances.

[@geminielectro]

There's also "My Taxi" on PSP, a Choro Q style taxi game.

[@Ektrix]

I am surprised he didn't talk about the roundabout limousine game

[@ilkeryoldas]

Wasn't aware of Smashing Drive.. thanks for sharing! Surprisingly, it's GBA version isn't half bad either

[@OwtDaftUK]

I spent insane amounts of time on the extra modes on CT 1 and 2 with you jumping off ramps and stuff.

[@KyogresHideout_Vegito2121]

9:14 I've got a few games I enjoy despite being terrible. Dragon Ball Z Taiketsu on GBA is the first one that immediately comes to mind.

[@troywright359]

Oi think we're getting a bit ahead of ourselves 😂

[@migovas1483]

how about the 1988 Pinball Taxy?? ..LOL, is a crazy table and you need to 'drive' around, airport and such.. even getting to transport Dracula himself..😅😅😅

[@quadzilla3326]

It will be interesting how Sega handles the pricing of all the reboots like Crazy Taxi Id bet on something like $39.99 unless they bundle them in a collection of more then one of the reboots which might make it more appealing to get a few of those at once for $60 or 70

[@carmelosgro6413]

Gta 3 has a taxi mission with that has an end goal to get a better taxi

[@FaSGamez]

No game plays and feels like crazy taxi the vibes are so strong the copy cats have never come close so hyped for the remake or whatever it becomes

[@AaronLevine-t3j]

When you play GTA 5 you do have a tiny bit of crazy taxi element in the GTA 5 game if you drive a Taxi. But the first time I played crazy taxi was actually on a sit-down arcade cabinet.

[@joshtoten]

holy crap i forgot all about crazy shuttle. i kinda miss those silly early 2000s newgrounds flash game lol

[@Sonicguru]

using The Bum Notes for London Taxi? Perfect

[@slopesgameroom]

For sure. So glad people spotted that

[@The_Gaming_Bristolian]

What about the Taxi Mode in the Grand Theft Auto games? Where you can steal a Taxi, pick up Customers and get them to the Destination in the time limit. Rockstar Blatantly nicked that of Sega.

[@StrawberryPidgey]

I really like your wall of licence plates :3

[@Aragorn7884]

Is liking Crazy Taxi 2 over 1 a "hot take"? I prefer #2...