It may go without saying, but we’re big fans of Crazy Taxi in the office. Ever since we got our first build of game, we’ve had a running score challenge. Along the way, we had to relearn some of the Crazy skills needed to master the roads found inside; some by trial and error, some by muscle memory, others by developer assistance. A few of these tips and tricks are found below, written by our own Ben H after trying and retrying to (unsuccessfully) beat my score…

The Crazy Dash: One of the most useful techniques for saving time is the Crazy Dash. This makes your taxi accelerate much faster than it would normally – great for that stop and go traffic. You can perform the Crazy Dash by releasing the accelerator and the brake, then shifting into drive and hitting the accelerator at the same time.

The Crazy Stop: Where would you be without the Crazy Stop? Probably halfway through someone’s living-room wall, or at least several yards past the passenger you were trying to pick up. Crazy Stop pairs perfectly with the Crazy Dash by allowing you to stop on a dime. Pull off a Crazy Stop by throwing the car into reverse and stepping on the brakes at the same time. For an even faster stop, do a Crazy Stop immediately after a Crazy Dash. Fun fact: Although Crazy Taxi draws scenes from San Francisco nobody on the Crazy Taxi dev team had even been to San Francisco when they began production on the game.

The Crazy Drift: Not only is the Crazy Drift the most convenient way to speed through sharp corners, but it is also the only move covered here today which gets you “Crazy Combo” points. It’s a little known fact but the entire sport of Drifting was actually made popular by this one maneuver. To perform the Crazy Drift, simply release the gas pedal, throw the cab into reverse, then throw it back into drive, hit the gas, and turn sharply. Occasionally you can slam into a building during a Crazy Drift, which results in your cab popping a side-wheelie and racking up a huge combo bonus – cha-ching!

The Limiter Cut: Professor Einstein always said that speed was relative, and in Crazy Taxi that particular law of physics remains untouched. If you want to go faster relative to the other cabbies then you can perform a maneuver called the Limiter Cut. This removes your top speed limiter momentarily, allowing for a short burst of speed. To remove your limiter, perform a Crazy Dash, a Crazy Drift (without the sharp turn), then a Crazy Dash again. These can be executed in quick succession for a quantum layering effect, which allows you to rocket around at close to the speed of light! Warning: after mastering the limiter cut, regular driving will feel as if you’re stuck in an ultra slo-mo replay.

Unlock each Character’s “Special Taxi”: With all the hubbub about going green today sometimes you have to stop and ask yourself, “how eco-friendly is my cab?” Nothing says “I’m the greenest cabbie around” quite like a human powered Rickshaw, which emits close to zero grams of carbon a year – depending on what you had for lunch. In Crazy Taxi you can unlock a special Rickshaw for each character by completing all sixteen Crazy Box levels. Once unlocked, the Rickshaw is selectable in Crazy Box, Arcade, and Original modes. To select the Rickshaw in Crazy Box mode, scroll to the right of Gus at the character selection screen. To select the Rickshaw in Arcade or Original mode, press Up at the character selection screen. Speaking of characters, Axel is the name of Kenji Kanno’s dog. He likes breaking his cage to escape.

Using these skills, we hope your game improves! If you’ve got any tips of your own, leave them below in the comments!