Proto:Crazy Taxi (Dreamcast)/October 30, 1999
This is a sub-page of Proto:Crazy Taxi (Dreamcast).
This prototype is documented on Hidden Palace.
A prototype of the Dreamcast version of Crazy Taxi was released by Sega Dreamcast Info in April 2021. While the build date in IP.BIN is listed as "1998.09.16 version 1.000", the files themselves are dated October 30, 1999.
Contents
Sub-Pages
 | Crazy Box |
General Differences
- Referred to as "Game Title" internally rather than "CRAZY TAXI".
- There are no animations on the VMU's screen.
- The game goes through a different loading sequence on startup than the final. It takes a comparatively very long time to load.
- The game is overall very flatly lit compared to the final.
- The Sega logo is slightly different from the final and no ADX logo is present.
- Title Screen reads "© Sega 1999" instead of "© Sega Enterprises, LTD., 1999,2000"
- The attract sequence is closer to the arcade version than the final, as it shows the different cabbies racing through different parts of the map simultaneously rather than all 4 slowly advancing through the map as the sequence goes on. Due to the slower loading times of the Dreamcast, however, this results in the cabbies mostly driving through heavily-unloaded parts of the map, which is presumably why the sequence was reworked the way it was for the final. Additionally, the Attract sequence goes through a lengthy loading screen before showing up, which isn't present in the final.
- Curiously, when the game resets after the attract sequence, Bad Religion's "Ten in 2010" immediately starts to play over the logos. This would be the song used in the attract sequence of the "Original" map in the final, however an attract sequence displaying the new map is not yet present, replaced instead by Axel simply driving around the Arcade map in silence.
- When backing out from the main menu into the title screen, the game goes through a loading screen and the attract sequence plays out after the title screen is shown. In the final, there is no loading screen after backing out from the main menu and the game simply resets after the title is shown.
- No new announcer lines have been recorded. Most noticeably, the announcer will encourage you to "throw the coins into the machine" at the end of the attract sequence much like he does in the arcade version rather than simply hitting Start as he does in the final home releases.
- The sound effect used for scrolling through the menu options is extremely quiet. The sound for backing out of a menu is the skidding sound effect instead of the clutch sound effect from the final.
- Physics are much buggier than either the arcade or the final version: It is much easier to do the "wall stick" glitch, even on accident, and it is harder to "unstick" off the wall.
- It is impossible to get any Crazy Box stages to be marked as cleared, nor are high scores for the main modes nor Crazy Box implemented yet. As a side effect of this, only the first 9 stages of Crazy Box are accessible normally.
- Time bonuses for picking up customers are far less lenient. This makes it much harder to play the game for as long of sessions as you can in the final.
- The cabbies do not yet have their animations before the start of a game.
- Picking up multiple passengers often causes odd flickering among them, though this is only applicable during certain Crazy Box stages.
- Pausing does not lower the music's volume.
- Text never appears on screen during gameplay, e.g. to warn the player to pick up customers or that they're going the wrong way.
- The 4 licensed songs that play during gameplay have different fade-out points.
Selectable Camera Angles
Y, normally used for honking in the final, is used to change the camera in this prototype. It can cycle between 6 different modes: one angled down at the car, an overhead camera mode oddly reminiscent of the pre-3D-era Grand Theft Auto games, a static camera that simply stays put rather than looking at the taxi, a front hood mode which points to the front of the car, and a replay camera which shoots the car from many cinematic angles. The sixth mode is apparently nothing but a black screen. By plugging a controller into Slot D, further options are added, such as pressing A to freeze the game and zooming in and out using the A and B buttons.
Curiously, variants of the front hood and the replay camera would later be used during replays in Crazy Taxi 2 and 3.
First camera angle
Second camera angle
Fourth camera angle
Fifth camera angle
Sixth camera angle
Through using the controller at the fourth slot, a Free Camera can be controlled as well.
Save File Oddities
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
 |
 |
The prototype is compatible with save files from the final game but not vice-versa, as save files are 16 blocks big in this build rather than the final's 23. The metadata shown when browsing through VMU saves is also different from the final's. Using a save file made with the final version with the Crazy Box stages completed is the only way to access the remaining 7 stages in the prototype, but this still will not mark them as cleared. Overwriting the final's save file through the prototype will keep them. Bikes are seemingly not implemented in this build yet.
Main Modes
- Rather than "Play by Arcade Rules", the prototype calls it "Rule of Arcade".
- Rather than being able to play in sessions of 3, 5, or 10 minutes, the prototype instead has options for 5, 10, or 15 minutes.
- The player is not asked to save the record to one of the registered initials after every run.
- Your position in the high score table is displayed after every customer delivered in every rule setting. In the final, it's only displayed in "Play by Arcade Rules".
Arcade
- Many broken or misapplied textures and lighting throughout the map.
- Many buildings have textures with red scribbled-on text saying 使っちゃダメ (Don't use).
- Despite the Original Levi's Shop being in the game as a destination customers can go to and the preview window of the destination showing it fully textured, the actual building itself in-game is almost completely scrubbed of textures. It's the only licensed building in the prototype to have this oddity. Bizarrely, the textures seem to properly load during the Attract sequence.
Original
Starting area of the Original map in the prototype.
The area that would later become the park and the surrounding neighbourhood in the prototype is instead covered by a blurry texture of trees.
Overlooking an unfinished museum.
Overlooking the vacant space that would later become the Used Car Shop.
Nothingness that would later become the Smith Club.
The street leading to the park, devoid of any buildings.
Subway trains are hilariously broken and often randomly strewn around the map.
This area is also prone to having some floating customers.
The highway between one of the train stations and the downtown section.
A stretched out ramp with broken collision not present in the final, with a counterpart on the other side of the building to boot.
The downtown area is often devoid of any buildings.
The street leading up to the Millennium Tower, walled off.
An empty area that would later become the lighthouse.
- The player starting position is very slightly different.
- The layout of the map is virtually the same as the final, with the only real difference being that there is a third ramp next to the Cafeteria and a fourth one on the other side, allowing you to access the rooftop normally only accessible through the ramps on the street between the street of the Millennium Tower and the Park in the final.
- The map itself is very inconsistently decorated: some areas look identical to the final, others are decorated very generically or with blurry texture work, and many parts of the downtown section are completely devoid of anything but streets.
- Every destination new to the Original map is either represented by generic buildings, is vacant, very sparsely detailed, or is a void. However, the locations of every destination have already been implemented.
- Despite the section with Millennium Tower being missing outright, the destination exists and customers will ask to be taken there (represented as "Kentucky Fried Chicken" in this build). The street leading to where the destination would come to be in the final already exists, but is walled off halfway through, and the player must park their car in front of this wall to deliver the customer.
- Every customer is the same model of a woman.
- Collision is broken with some of the ramps downtown.
- The arrow doesn't work. It simply points straight on to the destination instead of trying to guide you around the streets.
- Trains aren't yet implemented and are hilariously strewn around the map in odd locations.
- All destinations use indexes and preview pictures from the Arcade map.
- Heavy slowdown plagues the map, far more than the final version.
Options
The prototype lets you choose your starting time from 40 to 70 in steps of 10, unlike the final which lets you choose from 35 to 70 in steps of 5 instead. The menu itself also looks a bit different, with red squares rather than blue and an awkward black "X" overlaid over the highlighted option's default setting. The final more sensibly calls it "Controller Setting" rather than "Device Setting".
Records
Almost completely unimplemented, with no records ever recorded or shown.
Name Entry
Accessible through Crazy Box or the "Save & Load" option in the main menu. Displays debug info.
