Nostalgia is Sega’s newest driving force as they look back from the past and pluck out some beloved classics from the cobwebs and drag them into the present day with the AAA treatment. The Game Awards 2023 was the perfect event to announce the reboots of five titles with a small teaser but what really stood out and drove fans crazy was Crazy Taxi.
Excitement is an understatement especially if retro gamers and new players alike can share and experience legacy franchises in modern consoles but with the core game still in there, and Sega isn’t slowing down.
Remasters, reboots, and remakes are nothing new but when done right then it is justified. Crazy Taxi made its debut through arcade machines back in 1999 then got ported in superseding home consoles such as the DreamCast, PS2, GameCube, Xbox, and even in the form of handhelds like the PSP and GBA.
Crazy Times Ahead with Sega
There will always be some skepticism about the subject of essentially re-releasing a game with better graphics, technological leaps, and whatnot but at the end of the day, it is up to consumers whether they want to pick up a game they’ve once played.
Players will ultimately get the final say if the new advancements will be worth the money and that sparks a lot of debate. Developers are limited by their choices, at the moment where Sega themselves have no in-house games being developed independently raises questions if this new path of reboots with AAA budgets will be their new game plan in the distant future.
While there are still valid points and arguments that shouldn’t fall on deaf ears but it is still a sight to behold to see beloved games from a specific time period to be on the level of detail that games today already have.
Reboots and Remakes vs New IPs
Crazy Taxi could help pioneer legacy franchises today in a way that is more justifiable and earned, perhaps usher in a new era that embodies the belief that if something isn’t broke then don’t fix it but make it better. It is evident that developers limit themselves and hamper progress by doing the same thing when they could be spending resources on something fresh and new.
There is certainly a loyal fanbase for legacy titles, Sega is aware and means to use nostalgia as their engine this generation but that should not be their only focus moving forward. It isn’t bad to produce something new and gamble with original IPs.
Crazy Taxi could be the first of many of Sega’s classics to keep up with other next-gen AAA titles that can hold their own against them and stand the test of time.
