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Thread: Crazy Taxi Ports: Is the Dreamcast version truly better?

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    Pac-Man (Level 10) treismac's Avatar
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    Default Crazy Taxi Ports: Is the Dreamcast version truly better?



    Recently I grabbed a Dreamcast, which meant I had to get Crazy Taxi. I love Crazy Taxi. I own it for the PS2 and the Gamecube and I merrily feed quarters to any stray arcade cab I stumble across. Why I haven't grabbed a Dreamcast along with the definitive port sooner mystifies me, but I digress. I use to play Crazy Taxi on the Dreamcast almost daily for weeks on end with my roommate when the system was new, so the Dreamcast's controller was what I was accustomed to apart from the arcade's wheel, pedal, and gear shifter. Over ten years have gone by since I played the game on the Dreamcast, and I have made use of my PS2 port and now most recently my newly acquired Gamecube version. Both are fine, though I always thought they felt just a tad off in the control department. Now that I once again have the joy of playing the Dreamcast version once again I can confirm that my memory was right on. My hands just melt in to the Dreamcast controller when I play the game, and if I had to assign a near arbitrary number to the performance difference, I'd say I play 20% better with the Dreamcast game. The pressure sensitive triggers and their near perfect placement on the controller might be what makes all the difference, but I'm not sure.

    Do any other Crazy Taxi lovers swear by the Dreamcast version, too? The difference, while not night and day, is noticeable to me. I'm just curious if it's all in my head or not.

    Any comments about this great game are welcome and encouraged. As much as I'd like to hear your experiences with the game's ports, any memories or thoughts on Crazy Taxi are more than welcome.

    Thanks!

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    Cherry (Level 1) 8-Bit Archeology's Avatar
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    I used to play the arcade at a local crab house back in the day. I did like the dreamcast port. But somethin about the loud arcade and steering wheel, made the experience for me. Its one of the very few games that cant beat the arcade in my book. Although now that this game has been brought back into the light for me, I'll give it another go. But I need a dreamcast again to try that specific port.

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    The reason is because the Arcade version is compiled using the same NAOMI system that the Dreamcast runs on. All the ports are just inferior versions of the same game reprogrammed under different hardware, and I think Acclaim was responsible for most of those ports, and they were never known for their high quality and attention to detail the way Sega was.

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    I definitely got love for the DC version of Crazy Taxi, and for the odd variety of branding in the game like Fila, Tower Records, Pizza Hut and KFC from what i recall, there may be more (actually a full list would be awesome to compile.... were there different product placements in different versions?)

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    ServBot (Level 11) Edmond Dantes's Avatar
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    I've never played the other versions, because I keep hearing they removed the real-world locations (driving to KFC feels more real to me than driving to Generic Restaurant) and, worse, changed the soundtrack. I'm not sure if either one is true, but I just can't imagine playing Crazy Taxi without YA YA YA YA YA!

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    Quote Originally Posted by 8-Bit Archeology View Post
    I used to play the arcade at a local crab house back in the day. I did like the dreamcast port. But somethin about the loud arcade and steering wheel, made the experience for me. Its one of the very few games that cant beat the arcade in my book. Although now that this game has been brought back into the light for me, I'll give it another go. But I need a dreamcast again to try that specific port.
    The arcade almost always triumphs, especially in racing games/games where you're in a vehicle. I mean, console ports can't even begin to touch: Crazy Taxi, Cruis'n series, Hang On, After Burner/II

    Of these, at least Crazy Taxi and After Burner are super fun to play on the DC and Saturn respectively.

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    Apple (Level 5) xelement5x's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Edmond Dantes View Post
    I've never played the other versions, because I keep hearing they removed the real-world locations (driving to KFC feels more real to me than driving to Generic Restaurant) and, worse, changed the soundtrack. I'm not sure if either one is true, but I just can't imagine playing Crazy Taxi without YA YA YA YA YA!
    The soundtrack for that game was awesome, and I played the snot of out of that game on my DC back in the day.

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    Quote Originally Posted by 8-Bit Archeology View Post
    I used to play the arcade at a local crab house back in the day. I did like the dreamcast port. But somethin about the loud arcade and steering wheel, made the experience for me. Its one of the very few games that cant beat the arcade in my book. Although now that this game has been brought back into the light for me, I'll give it another go. But I need a dreamcast again to try that specific port.
    Was it CrabTown USA? The Dreamcast verison is my favorite.

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    Le Dreamcast all the way. IF you have to stray from there, at least Get Crazy Taxi 3 for the XBOX. You at least get all three games on one disc with a couple of extras. Dreamcast still knocks the shot out of it though. Also, for those that are going to complain about the slowdown and trails in the graphics, play it with the Component Cables, it fixes all of that.

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    I haven't played the PS2 or Gamecube version but the Dreamcast version is awesome since the Dreamcast could essentially replicate arcade perfect graphics and gameplay of that time. I downloaded the PS3 version and the Offspring soundtrack is stripped so it's just not the same and the graphics are also touched up a bit which also takes away from the original arcade and Dreamcast look.

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    Quote Originally Posted by GhostDog View Post
    I haven't played the PS2 or Gamecube version but the Dreamcast version is awesome since the Dreamcast could essentially replicate arcade perfect graphics and gameplay of that time. I downloaded the PS3 version and the Offspring soundtrack is stripped so it's just not the same and the graphics are also touched up a bit which also takes away from the original arcade and Dreamcast look.
    I just put the Offspring and Bad Religion songs on my PS3 hdd and played them that way, Crazy Taxi is one of the relatively few PS3 games to allow custom soundtracks.

    The really bad thing about the PS3 port is that they removed the real life stores and gave them generic names.

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    Key (Level 9) wiggyx's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Edmond Dantes View Post
    I've never played the other versions, because I keep hearing they removed the real-world locations (driving to KFC feels more real to me than driving to Generic Restaurant) and, worse, changed the soundtrack. I'm not sure if either one is true, but I just can't imagine playing Crazy Taxi without YA YA YA YA YA!
    God, the ONLY thing I hate about that game is its 2 song soundtrack, with 50% of it being composed by the most horrid band on the planet.

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    Quote Originally Posted by CelticJobber View Post
    I just put the Offspring and Bad Religion songs on my PS3 hdd and played them that way, Crazy Taxi is one of the relatively few PS3 games to allow custom soundtracks.

    The really bad thing about the PS3 port is that they removed the real life stores and gave them generic names.
    Yeah, that's a bummer about the stores which goes to show that the Dreamcast port is still the best home console version! It's essentially arcade perfect like all the other Dreamcast arcade ports!

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    Quote Originally Posted by T2KFreeker View Post
    IF you have to stray from there, at least Get Crazy Taxi 3 for the XBOX. You at least get all three games on one disc with a couple of extras. Dreamcast still knocks the shot out of it though.
    How does Crazy Taxi 3 compare with 2? While I'm glad 2 exists as it's better to have more Crazy Taxi than less, I just don't enjoy the second game's level designs near as much as the first's and the crazy hop just doesn't sit well with me. If I already owned an XBox, I'd get the third installment without giving it a second thought, but I'd really only be buying the system for this game, which would suck for more reasons than I care to get into, so the final Crazy Taxi better be worth it if I'm gonna add Microsoft's clunker system to the pile (i.e. collection).

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    Insert Coin (Level 0) Doommaster1994's Avatar
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    I have the GameCube version. I haven't played it in a long time, but from what I can remember it wasn't bad at all. I played it so much I could get an S rating but nothing better than that.

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    Don't know if it's the best, but playing games like Crazy Taxi and Virtua Tennis feel their best on the Dreamcast.

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