I loved arcades. Anyone born roughly between the late 1980s and early 1990s who is now gradually becoming an older gamer likely shares that sentiment. I wanted those arcade cabinets so badly—the ones sitting carelessly on stone floors with blurry CRT screens glowing softly—that I even harbored the strange ambition of earning enough money as an adult to buy one and put it in my home.

Of course, as I grew older, I naturally abandoned that dream. Games from that era were fun precisely because they were in that specific space. Long before I could even try buying an actual cabinet, I realized through emulators that the thrill of testing how far a 100-won coin could take you evaporates the moment you have unlimited tries. In short, arcade games were fun because they belonged in the arcade.

'Crazy Taxi: World Tour' is exactly that kind of game.

The first time I played Crazy Taxi was in an arcade attached to a fairly large movie theater, where young people used to kill time while waiting for their showtime. Spending the hefty sum of 500 won bought me roughly one minute of playtime. Delivering passengers properly added a little extra time, but even then, the game would end before I could even hit three minutes.

The controls were as simple as could be: just a steering wheel and forward and reverse pedals. For three brainless minutes, you could ignore set routes, embark on a frantic rampage, and freely leap off car carriers serving as ramps. Pick up passengers, drive, drop them off at their destination. But what kind of fun would this game offer if you could just drive endlessly without a time attack constraint?

On the first day of Gamescom 2026, I played 'Crazy Taxi: World Tour' after making a reservation at the SEGA booth, but the game failed to provide a clear answer to that question. A few new driving mechanics have been added. Button combinations now unleash 'Crazy Dash,' 'Crazy Stop,' and 'Crazy Drift,' allowing for an even sharper, exhilarating ride than before.

Some unusual missions have also been introduced. You might help a playboy safely cling to a taking-off airplane, give a male ballet dancer the ride of his life with unbelievable drifts, or introduce an alien passenger to the joy of high-speed driving.

The classic mechanic of passenger transport remains as free play. When there is nothing special to do, you simply pick up passengers and make money. While a time attack mechanic is still present, it now merely serves as a system for earning bonus money; when time runs out, you can simply pick up passengers from the beginning again.

It retains all the visceral fun that the original Crazy Taxi offered, but that is all. The small map in the demo version was not particularly interesting, and both the driving feel and the tension of high-speed racing were fairly ordinary. The special missions were done after a single attempt, and the various achievements failed to provide a meaningful sense of accomplishment. Ultimately, it is just Crazy Taxi without needing to insert 500 won.

Of course, since it was a demo build, many features were locked. Players will likely be able to select different vehicle bodies, and there will be characters other than the iconic protagonist, Axel. However, even imagining these locked features—visible only through menus—I could not convince myself that the game would be any more enjoyable than playing Crazy Taxi for 500 won back in the day.

Before the 30-minute demo session was even over—around the 20-minute mark—I stood up and looked around, only to find that I was the only one left. When the session started, there were six of us in a group. Yet, it made sense. At least based on the demo build, 'Crazy Taxi: World Tour' failed to justify why a revival was necessary in the first place.