Well, after extensive play time, numerous faq's read, and many sites visited I have gathered a lot of information about this totally awesome and down right addicting game. In this strategy I will basically give a character explanation, moves list, maps, some cheats, and maybe a few more things. So let's get right down to it.

Basics:

Well, the main concept of this game is simple. You drive around, picking up customers and taking them to their chosen locations under a time limit. It sounds simple enough...and it is...until you actually want to PLAY the game. There are different kinds of customers. It's like this, the customers will have a circle range around them and a dollar sign over their head. You must stop within that circle range to pick the customer up. There is a color scale of green to lime to yellow to orange to red. Green customers locations are the farthest away, but you get the most time and the most cash. Red customers travel the least distance and you get the least time and the least amount of cash. And everything inbetween is a mix of the two more or less. To find a customers chosen location look at the big, green arrow over your taxi cab, it will always be pointing in the direction you need to go. To get the most amount of cash per customer you will need to do two things. First of all, try your hardest to give the customer a smooth ride, but not too smooth, by that I mean you can perform certain stunts to give the customer a thrill. Alot of things can be done, weaving inbetween traffic, making jumps, power sliding, anything really, as long as it's dangerous but no one gets hurt. So, be reckless but not TOO reckless if you get what I mean (i.e. Don't crash into other cars, trees, buildings, etc...). If you pull off these things I have mentions you will notice the customer handing you cash tips (signafied by a yellow text coming from the top of your car saying how much you got). To maximize this technique you must do one thing, continue to perform these dangerous manuevers but WITHOUT hitting anything. Everytime you do a dangerous move you will notice that the amount the customer hands you gets higher, contine doing that and you will make lots of cash. Also, if you give the customer a good, smooth ride you will get extra time when you drop the customer off. Trust me, this is one of the most precious things of the game, when you have 5 seconds left and there is a green class customer about 7 seconds away, you are gonna be thankful for that bonus 5 seconds you got for giving your last customer a smooth ride. One last thing, if you give the customer too much of a rough ride by having, say, one too many accidents, than the customer will get a timer over his/her head, once that timer reaches zero the customer will jump out of your cab. That's basically all there is to it, just remember to learn your cab's moves (listed below).

License Class Requirements:

Once you run out of time a screen will show up displaying the total number of customers and money you made along with your license class and ranking class. There are 8 license classes, E, D, C, B, A, S, Awesome, and Crazy. Here are the requirements for each license.

Characters:

Axel: The "signature character" of the game. One of those traditional no shirt, weird hair, gen Xer attitude San Fransico types. Couldn't fit in to a better game. Axel is the all around type character of the game, beginners should choose him if not for his easy learning curve but for his cool car and attitude!

B.D. Joe: The foreigner of the group, a funny Jamaican with alot of catch phrases. He wears a long sleeved shirt with a cool design on the front, and a cool hat as well. This guy has the highest top speed but handles sluggishly on grass or any other non-concrete area. Recommended for somewhat experience players.

Gena: The female of the group. She reminds me of the Dona character from "That 70's Show". Long red hair, and tight clothes, heh, hehehehe...er...sorry. I think she has the coolest looking cab but not the best. Best acceleration but due to the small size of her car she will get tossed around a bit more than the other characters which equals lots of speed lost if an accident occurs. Due to that fact I would recommend her for people who either want to play as a girl (duh) or people who are more than somewhat experience with the game.

Gus: Ah, Gus, the veteran of the game. Tanned, no shirt, bald *snicker*. The layed back one of the group really, and the one I use the most. His car is the worst as accelerating but it's speed makes up for it...it isn't that bad if you either perform the Crazy Dash (see below) or gradually push the gas down instead of slamming it down...you know...like REAL driving (the kind that's not fun after this game).

Moves:

To perform alot of "danger moves" you must get the hang of some or all of these moves. Even I have trouble doing them, it's hard to get down...just practice, practice, practice. Note that all these moves must be done rather quickly to work.

Crazy Dash (aka Crazy Rocket): While completely stopped release your gas, push the gear in Reverse  and then into Drive and quickly the step on the gas. You will reach top speed immediatly.

Crazy Drift (aka Crazy Slide): While in movement quickly put  the car into Drive then Reverse then Drive and turn the wheel hard in the direction you wish to drift. I found an easier way to do this really, just apply breaks while in a somewhat sharp turn.

Crazy Through (aka Crazy Weave):  This is simple, just pass by a car closely at a high rate of speed...or pass inbetween cars. Basically, just run by a car really close and really fast.

Crazy Jump: Another easy one, use jumps such as ramps, hills, or steep streets heading down to make your car jumps in the air. This sometimes supplies a shortcut if you know where to do it.

Crazy Stop: For this one you have to release both pedals while in movement and put the car in reverse and then quickly slam on brakes. This might help if you are going to fast and headed straight for a customer's pick up radius.

Crazy Combo: This is is sort of easy if you can get the hang of it. To do a Crazy Combo do a Crazy Through and the a Crazy Drift right after. This is hard in area's with a lot of traffic so try it on area's with less traffic like the hills or the beach.

Crazy BackDash: Perform a Crazy Dash and then slam it into Reverse. Basically it's a Crazy Dash, in reverse. I really see no use for it.

Map:

Dotted lines denote shortcuts, it's wise to use them to avoid traffic and get to your destination faster.

(Special thanks to http://come.to/crazytaxi for the map)

Secrets:

Crazy Taxi holds a handful of secrets and/or tricks, here I will list all that are known.

Secret fifth vehicle: To race as a bike/motorcycle/cart you will have to do a number of things.

1. Insert coin(s)

2. On the tutorial screen (the one that shows you how to play), step on both the Gas and Break and hold them.

3. Press Start

4. On the driver selection screen, push the gear into Drive

5. Release the Gas and Brake 6.Put the gear into Reverse but don't hold it

7. Press start to select a driver (don't push gas, just start)

You should now start off with the bike/motorcycle/cart. It really doesn't matter who you picked to drive because they are all the same with the bike. It's stats are maxed out, it's simply the best vehicle in the game. The only problem is that it is VERY light, which means one tiny accident could take you an eternity to recover from. Recommended for EXPERTS ONLY.

Secret Fares:  

There are four secret fares that are known in the game so far. These fares are out of place and at times take skill to get to but the cash you get for the job is well worth it (around $1000 each). I will note these fares from the closest to where you start to the farthest away.

Secret Fare 1: Ok, at the beginning of the game put the cab into reverse and drive backwards until you get to a woman in white with a big hat on, she will pay around $700 for a ride to the bottom of the hill!

Secret Fare 2: In the beach area there is a customer snorkling underwater, she will pay somewhere around $1000 (give or take a couple hundred) for a ride to the KFC.

Secret Fare 3: Take the ramp up into the parking garage and drive forward at the farthest side to the left, now jump off the side and land on a small umbrella platform, there will be an old lady there that will want a ride to the police station, she will pay around $900 for the ride.

Secret Fare 4: In the downtown area (go down the freeway from the baseball stadium) there is a building with stairs going up. If you can drive fast enough up the stairs they will act as a ramp and you will sail off to the roof of the opposite building! Once there, you will see a man, pick him up, I haven't actually been able to accomplish this fare but I'm sure he pay's alot.

Start Game from Lookout Tower:

Ok, some people say this is a cheat for a different map but it really isn't. It just starts you from a different section of the map, but anyway...to start from the Lookout Tower hold the gearshift in Reverse at the character select screen. Select a driver and then let go of the gearshift, this will start you from the Lookout Tower.

Note: This strategy is based on the arcade version of Crazy Taxi, though it really doesn't fit in with this site we will soon have an arcade section devoted to Sega's arcade market (namely the Naomi arcade board) and this will be moved there once it is up. We will have more on the Dreamcast version once it is released.

VGAce