{"id":73589,"date":"2026-10-08T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=73589"},"modified":"2026-10-08T18:22:40","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T09:22:40","slug":"what-are-the-indispensable-elements-crazy-taxi-world-tour-inherits-developers-talk-about-the-importance-of-music-balancing-freedom-map-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/interviews\/what-are-the-indispensable-elements-crazy-taxi-world-tour-inherits-developers-talk-about-the-importance-of-music-balancing-freedom-map-design\/","title":{"rendered":"What are the \u201cindispensable\u201d elements Crazy Taxi: World Tour inherits? Developers talk about the importance of music, balancing freedom and restrictions, map design, and more"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Crazy Taxi is all about tearing through meticulously designed city streets while listening to ridiculously upbeat music. Its distinctive gameplay and style have kept it alive in the memories of many gamers as one of SEGA\u2019s legendary IPs. After a long hiatus, the series is finally set to return with Crazy Taxi: World Tour, a brand-new installment scheduled for release in 2027, approximately 25 years after the previous game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AUTOMATON had the opportunity to interview the developers of Crazy Taxi: World Tour. We spoke with creative producer Kenji Kanno and Director Yo Momotani about the appeal of the Crazy Taxi series, as well as the distinctive features of the new Crazy Taxi: World Tour. This is part two of a two-part interview, you can read the first half here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What is essential to Crazy Taxi?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u2014When bringing Crazy Taxi back in the modern era, what elements did you consider indispensable or particularly important to the series?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kenji Kanno (hereafter, Kanno):<\/strong>
I think music is a very important element of Crazy Taxi. During development, before we announced Crazy Taxi: World Tour, I had opportunities to speak with people involved in development externally, and I was often asked whether songs by bands like The Offspring and Bad Religion, which were featured in previous games, would also be included in the new game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whenever I told them, \u201cWe\u2019re currently negotiating,\u201d I was struck to see the look of relief on their faces. It seems people have very high expectations when it comes to the music featured in Crazy Taxi. As a developer, that makes me feel that we have to live up to those expectations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I realized that if Crazy Taxi: World Tour were to not use any songs from the previous games at all, we would probably have a lot of angry gamers on our hands. That\u2019s why I was really grateful to see our announcement trailer<\/a>, which featured \u201cAll I Want\u201d by The Offspring, receive praise from people around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yo Momotani (hereafter, Momotani):<\/strong>
Even within the development team, the music is a topic we frequently discuss. Having great music is an important part of what makes Crazy Taxi what it is, and everyone on the team recognizes how closely the gameplay and music are connected. As we worked on the new game, I came to appreciate the importance of the music all over again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kanno:<\/strong>
Apart from the music, I think an easy-to-follow gameplay style is another indispensable element of Crazy Taxi. You could also describe it as an intuitive gameplay style. That’s something I place a lot of importance on, and Momotani also recognizes it as one of the key aspects of the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think bringing Momotani, who wasn’t an original member of the Crazy Taxi team, onto the project has allowed us to carry over something akin to the series’ \u201clore.\u201d When it comes to the gameplay of picking up customers and taking them to their destinations one after another within a time limit, I told him that it was okay to change things rather than excessively cling to the previous games, and he successfully incorporated that approach into the new World Tour mode. I think Momotani placed a lot of importance on preserving the sense of \u201cgroove\u201d you get when playing Crazy Taxi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Momotani:<\/strong>
A lot of the staff on the Crazy Taxi: World Tour development team, myself included, have never worked on a Crazy Taxi game before. Development actually began with us thinking about what elements were indispensable to Crazy Taxi in the first place. In the early stages, we initially focused on how real-world taxis work, so the game’s pace was much slower. But somehow, it didn’t feel right. To put it simply, it just wasn’t fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we realized that what we were making wasn’t fun, we gathered once again to discuss what is it that makes Crazy Taxi appealing. Through those discussions, we identified elements such as the time limit and the experience of speeding through the city as essential to Crazy Taxi. It wasn’t just my opinion either; other members of the development team came to the same conclusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We decided to make those elements the foundation of the new game, and that’s how Crazy Taxi: World Tour gradually took shape. We settled on the idea of retaining the core experience of \u201ctransporting customers while racing against the clock,\u201d then allowing players to experience various missions through the new World Tour mode.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2014What became possible in the new game thanks to technological advances that couldn’t have been achieved in previous Crazy Taxi games?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kanno:<\/strong>
The biggest impact of technological advances has been on multiplayer. From a game-design perspective, we weren’t able to properly implement multiplayer for the previous games, so it never came to fruition. At the time those games were being developed, we also faced technological hurdles such as latency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In that sense, I think the time has finally come for Crazy Taxi to support multiplayer. That\u2019s a new feature that was made possible thanks to advances in technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Momotani has expertise in multiplayer games that he has cultivated through his work on the Border Break series. I had already decided from the outset that I wanted the new Crazy Taxi to take on the challenge of multiplayer, so I asked Momotani to lend us his know-how.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Momotani:<\/strong>
We’ve created two broad multiplayer rules for Crazy Taxi: World Tour. In the first, all participating players compete against one another as taxi drivers, racing to take customers to their destinations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second divides players into two teams: taxis and police. There are four players on the taxi side and two on the police side, making it an asymmetrical multiplayer mode somewhat similar to a game of cops and robbers. The police can interfere when the taxi players are attempting to pick up passengers, and if they successfully interfere, they can arrest the taxi in question and take it out of action. Another distinctive feature is that other taxi players can rescue an arrested taxi and bring that player back into the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014What do you believe is the key to making a multiplayer game fun?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Momotani:<\/strong>
When creating a multiplayer game, the most important thing developers have to consider is what kinds of emotions it will evoke in players. When people interact with one another, both positive and negative emotions arise. Specifically, winning against another player produces a positive emotion, while losing produces a negative one. With that in mind, when designing multiplayer, we try to create a balance where positive emotions outweigh the negative ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I believe this balance is crucial. If you eliminate negative emotions altogether, you also lose the enjoyment that comes from a positive outcome. Even if there\u2019s frustration and stress associated with losing, if the experience of winning feels rewarding enough, it can create a great moment for the player. I think delivering that kind of exhilarating feeling is what makes a multiplayer game fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014These days, there are many games where players can freely drive around cities, even beyond the racing genre. What do you think Crazy Taxi can offer that no other game can?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kanno:<\/strong>
Crazy Taxi is a game where players can drive around a city while laughing. I think that’s a distinctive feature of Crazy Taxi and something that sets it apart from other games. There are plenty of games where players drive cars with a serious expression on their faces, but I see being able to play through laughter as a unique appeal of Crazy Taxi. Emphasizing that identity is at the core of our approach to making Crazy Taxi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In terms of the finer points of game design, I told the development team that I didn’t want us to use a penalty-based approach. Instead, I asked them to make it possible to evaluate every action through a reward-based approach. I absolutely didn’t want the game designed around a single correct answer, where doing anything other than that would result in a negative outcome for the player. I told them to make it so that players receive positive effects for doing good things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reason I felt the game should use a reward-based approach was that I wanted to positively reinforce players to reach their goals using their own individual playstyles. I didn’t want to make a game where players can only reach the goal using a limited range of playstyles. I absolutely didn’t want to dictate a specific required way to play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some players might use sophisticated techniques to get passengers to their destinations, while others might prioritize speed, getting their customers there as quickly as possible even if they crash into cars or buildings along the way. These may be two extremely different playstyles, but I want the game system to communicate to players that both are valid ways to play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Momotani:<\/strong>
I think Crazy Taxi is closer to an action game than a driving game. You play while inputting commands such as Crazy Dash and Crazy Drift, and the way vehicle handling works is also different from other titles. The World Tour story mode offers a variety of activities, and I think players will be able to experience what makes Crazy Taxi \u201cCrazy Taxi\u201d by taking on each of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, there’s a mission where you launch passengers across a long distance. If you succeed, you can send the passenger flying several hundred meters, which truly makes for a \u201ccrazy\u201d experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fact that the city itself serves as the stage is also a distinctive feature. In addition to the taxis driven by players, regular vehicles driven by NPCs also travel along the pedestrian-filled streets. I believe performing actions with your car and tearing around the city is an experience unique to Crazy Taxi that you can’t get from other titles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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If we\u2019re making content designed to entertain people, there’s no point if we don’t enjoy making it ourselves<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u2014What did you especially focus on when designing the maps in Crazy Taxi: World Tour?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kanno:<\/strong>
Our principle for map design in Crazy Taxi is to create \u201crestrictions that make you feel free.\u201d As developers, we want to give players as much freedom as possible, but if you give them too much freedom, people can end up feeling constrained because they don’t know what they’re supposed to do. Players are actually able to feel \u201cfree\u201d precisely because there are certain limitations in place. I think the important thing when designing maps is deciding how far those limitations should extend. I’ve repeatedly discussed this philosophy with the development team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To help people understand what \u201cfreedom\u201d really means in this sense, I sometimes use juice as an analogy. If you compare having 100 kinds of juice to choose from vs. having five, it’s much easier to choose the juice you actually want when there are five options. Most people will find it bothersome to choose from 100 kinds of juice. In theory, being able to choose from 100 options should give you more freedom, but that’s not necessarily how people feel. Based on that idea, we consciously consider the balance between freedom and restriction when designing Crazy Taxi’s maps. By introducing a certain dose of limitations, we believe we can actually make players feel freer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Momotani:<\/strong>
On a separate note, compared to so-called open-world games, the individual maps in this game have a much higher density. Within a single map, you can drive on wide roads as well as through narrow alleys. We’ve designed the maps with a high density of things to do, always keeping the fun of driving in mind, and that’s something we’re very confident in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014When creating the maps, to what degree do you strive for realism?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Momotani:<\/strong>
Basically, we try not to stray too far from reality when creating the maps. More precisely, we want the maps to give you a \u201csense\u201d of reality. That’s something Kanno, who has been involved with the series since the earlier games, has also emphasized to us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, if we have a map based on San Francisco, we’re not going to completely recreate the streets of San Francisco. We’re not particularly concerned with faithfully reproducing it, but we do conduct extensive research so that players can experience the atmosphere of the city we’ve used as the model. The cityscapes so far have been well received among overseas players who have tried the game, with fans of the older titles telling us, \u201cThis is it!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the new Crazy Taxi: World Tour, we’re creating entirely new maps. Our goal is for all of these new maps to let players experience the atmosphere of their respective real-world locations. Obviously, actually driving through these places in real life is different from driving through them in the game, but we’re designing the maps so that players will be able to say \u201cYes, this feels authentic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, the Japanese map features real stores such as SHIBUYA109 and ABC-MART. There’s even a SEGA arcade tucked away in there. There’s also a Japanese-style expressway, although we’ve made some game-specific adjustments to things like the distance between vehicles. Even with those kinds of changes, I think we’ve done a good job of creating a map that feels distinctly Japanese.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2014With the addition of the World Tour story mode, how did the way the characters are portrayed change?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kanno:<\/strong>
Crazy Taxi started out as an arcade game, so I don’t think we were ever able to fully convey its world and setting. In the previous games, players had to imagine almost everything about the characters based on fragmentary information, such as their clothing and the way they spoke. With the new Crazy Taxi: World Tour, we want to portray the world of Crazy Taxi and the details of its characters on a deeper level. Figuring out how to deliver that is one of the challenging aspects of developing this game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reason we came to feel this way is that we want people to enjoy the Crazy Taxi IP on a deeper level. I think we’re also able to flesh out the characters more this time around. We wanted to offer a story mode that would allow players to become more deeply immersed in the world than they were in the previous games. As you progress through the story, you’ll be able to learn more about the characters. For that reason, having a story mode was something we’d already decided on from the very beginning of Crazy Taxi: World Tour’s development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You could perhaps say that the three pillars of Crazy Taxi: World Tour are its story mode, multiplayer support, and revamped controls. Of course, none of these were easy to implement. There were times when I’d come up with an idea, write it into the design documents, only for Momotani to reject it again and again (laughs). That kind of thing happens often, even to someone like me who has been involved with the series since the original game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Momotani:<\/strong>
That certainly happened (laughs). I think it’s interesting that people’s perceptions of Crazy Taxi can differ slightly, while at the same time they each have certain things they’re unwilling to compromise on. There are also many people at SEGA who aren’t part of the development team but have their own ideas about what Crazy Taxi should be. When I listen to them, I sometimes learn something from realizing, \u201cSo that’s how this person sees Crazy Taxi.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being able to hear so many different opinions makes working on the revival of a legendary IP like Crazy Taxi really enjoyable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kanno:<\/strong>
I also find working on the revival of Crazy Taxi fun. I want to continue announcing all kinds of things related to Crazy Taxi and give everyone something to enjoy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2014Why did you choose songs such as The Offspring’s \u201cAll I Want\u201d and Bad Religion’s \u201cTen in 2010\u201d for the previous Crazy Taxi games?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kanno:<\/strong>
That’s because when I make action games, I like to start with the music. I choose the songs first and then build the game around them. I think action games are closely connected to rhythm. When things are going well, you can keep moving along with the beat, but when that rhythm gets disrupted, things fall apart. I think a sense of \u201cgroove\u201d is more important than anything else, and choosing the music first gives me a guideline for establishing that groove.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Choosing the songs to use in a game is very important to me, and I think Crazy Taxi is a rare title where the music is important not only to me but also to the players themselves. I believe we’ll be able to deliver Crazy Taxi: World Tour as a game that lives up to those expectations. That’s something I’m looking forward to, and it’s also what makes working on the game so much fun. It sounds strange saying it myself, but it’s really something special.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I’ve been working on Crazy Taxi: World Tour, I’ve been reminded of something my boss once told me. He said, \u201cIf you’re making content designed to entertain people, there’s no point if you don’t enjoy making it yourselves. You won’t be able to deliver that enjoyment to people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That idea was drilled into me by my seniors, so every game I’ve made has been something I’ve worked on while having fun myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Momotani:<\/strong>
I feel like there are a lot of people at SEGA who share the same mindset as Kanno. Once, I assigned a programmer with a task and asked him, \u201cIsn’t this tough?\u201d They replied, \u201cFor me, it’s basically half play, half work,\u201d and the answer really stuck with me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Making games is also about creating something for people to play. And I feel like there are a lot of staff at SEGA who have this mindset of making games while having fun themselves. Of course, when development gets difficult, it really can be difficult, and there are plenty of tough moments. Even so, I think SEGA is a company with a lot of people who genuinely enjoy making games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014Finally, could you leave a message for our readers?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kanno:<\/strong>
To everyone who has played the Crazy Taxi series since the older games, I’m truly sorry for making you wait so long. We’ve made Crazy Taxi: World Tour into something that fans of the older games will be able to enjoy as well. We’ll be sharing a lot more information from here on, so please look forward to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For those discovering Crazy Taxi for the first time through Crazy Taxi: World Tour, I want you to know that it’s a game that will feel great to play once you get your hands on it. Even if you’ve never played Crazy Taxi before, you’ll be able to experience that exhilarating feeling right away, so even if you\u2019re hesitant, I hope you’ll give it a try. I promise you won’t regret it, so I’d be happy if you’d just give it a shot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Momotani:<\/strong>
We’ve been developing Crazy Taxi: World Tour as a new game while constantly asking ourselves what Crazy Taxi actually is. I think there are a lot of changes compared with the older games, especially for longtime fans, but it’s still unmistakably Crazy Taxi, and I believe you’ll be able to enjoy it. There will be some surprises, too, so please look forward to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For those experiencing Crazy Taxi for the first time with Crazy Taxi: World Tour, I want to emphasize that this game offers a unique experience unlike other games. We’re developing it with the goal of delivering an experience that can only be found in this game, so please look forward to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014Thank you very much.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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