Crazy Taxi and my Brilliant-White Dreamcast

I'd been on the lookout for a replacement Dreamcast since late last year. My previous DC had several issues, and buying a replacement model seemed more reasonable than trying to identify and fix each of them.

I own a soldering iron, as well as several screwdrivers, but have no tinkering skills to speak of.

After weeks of Mercari searching, I finally found what I was looking for: A Dreamcast that fulfilled all my requirements.

1. No yellowing

2. Photographic evidence of it reading a disc and running a game

3. ¥5000 or less

4. Non-anime avatar seller

It was actually a lot harder than I'd expected to find what I was looking for. But I eventually got lucky, catching a listing just before I slipped into bed one evening, two weeks ago. A brilliant-white Dreamcast, a photo of it running a disc, ¥5000; non-anime avatar. It didn't have a VMU, nor was it boxed, but I didn't need any of that. 

I dreamt about all things SEGA that night.

It arrived a few days later, encased in bubble-wrap and meticulously packed. I was very happy to find that it was exactly as advertised. 1999-white, exceptionally clean, zero damage - I think it must've been in storage for the last twenty years or more. Upon firing it up, I was delighted by how loud it was, every mechanical whirl audible, bouncing off the walls and vibrating through the floorboards. I could hear and feel it putting in the work. Each gear, every component, working as it should.

As a quick aside, I think I'll look into optical disc emulators the next time a retro, CD-based console fails. All these elderly, disc-reading systems are fast approaching the end of their lifespans.

Anyway, you probably won't be surprised to hear that two of the first three games I played on my new DC were Rez and Cosmic Smash. Two personal favourites, and synonymous with Sega's final console, for me at least. Rez has risen in my estimations with each subsequent re-release and upgrade, gradually becoming an all-time favourite. I first played it on PS2, with the Trance Vibrator of course. I became further enamored with it on Xbox Live, then fell head-over-heels for Infinite. Last year, I treated myself to an original DC copy. An indulgence, but worth it to be able to experience it as it was originally intended, back in 2001.

I came to Cosmic Smash much later. A friend and housemate had it back in the mid-2000s, but I didn't play it at length until I bought a copy last year. Rez aside, it might be my favourite DC title, and it's been by far my most played retro game over the last year.

So far, so predictable. Rez and Cosmic Smash - typical me. However, the third and final game I threw on was one that I'm not even sure that I like, yet I continue to return to.

If the Dreamcast is plugged in and turned on, there's a decent chance I'm going to have a single run at Crazy Taxi. It is quintessentially Dreamcast, a manifestation of everything that was SEGA of that era. It's so easy and inviting to jump into, not a surprise given it's arcade origins, and there's no worry about forgetting the controls or failing to remember what you're supposed to be doing. Just put your foot down and make some craaaaaaaaazy money.

It has the SEGA-aesthetic in spades. Brash, bright colours - the contrast between the yellow of the taxi and those deep blue skies is as striking as ever. It's unashamedly loud, very high energy, and unapologetically rad. It is Y2K culture on a compact disc. Offspring on the soundtrack, hideous late-90's threads, and fare locations that reek of the year 2000. Tower Records, Pizza Hut; the FILA store! It absolutely nails its sense of time and place.

It's such an easy game to reach for when my DC is plugged in, and I have five minutes to spare. Even the simple, Japanese cover artwork is irresistible, with the ugly Crazy Taxi logo slapped on a plain yellow-orange background. Simple and inviting, much like the game within.

Hopefully my new Dreamcast will last me a few years, and provide plenty more opportunities to ferry some Y2K prick across town. Even if I'm still not entirely convinced that it's a good game.