Crazy Taxi Arcadia high score?

[Davey]

My Google-fu is weak, where can I find this? I got back into this game when it was rereleased on XBLA (subpar port, but hey, it's got leaderboards). IIRC the world record was something like $120k, but the top leaderboard scores for the Arcade mode were something like this last time I checked:

1.) $200k - $210k
2.) $160k - $170k
3.) ~$100k

After that they were all fairly close to each other.

Anyway, there is a finite number of customers in the game, like 225 I think. Obviously I'm missing something, because I don't see how you can get that many points from so few customers. There are some known bugs (teleport bug, wall hang trick), but I don't think those alone can account for this.

Original mode has a similarly WTFy score distribution at the top (#1 and #2 being waaaay higher than the rest, #1 way higher than #2), but I'm not as familiar with that map.

[Arcatech]

My bad resurrecting this topic with no helpful info Davey, but I have a question for any Crazy Taxi experts.

There are some green customers in the hills by the university. Which ones move forward to cable car and which move you back to downtown? One part that is a stumbling block for me.

I can only get a bit over 20,000 so those scores are impressive!


Perhaps ask over at superplay.co.uk for high score knowledge. Folks over there have arcadia mags

[jpj]

i believe the arcadia score is $106,964.22 by someone called PNY

[Davey]

There are some green customers in the hills by the university. Which ones move forward to cable car and which move you back to downtown? One part that is a stumbling block for me.

Have you looked at the location notes at CrazyTaxi.net? That site has notes on every customer in the game. It's an extremely valuable resource.

Those customers are a special case, though. They're some of the few customers in the game that you actually want to send you backwards, and they're the only customers in the game that you can pick up regardless of which way they're sending you. See the last paragraph here:
http://crazytaxi.net/loc18-firestationslopes.html

On a side note, FILA no longer exists in the XBLA version. Unlike the other licensed stores, FILA didn't get a name change, they just removed it entirely as a drop off location. Apparently they weren't creative enough to come up with a new name for it (since "Clothing Store" is already being used by Levi's ). All FILA customers now go to Popcorn Mania instead (making it a very common location), but it's close enough that it doesn't make much of a difference. When I drop somebody off at Square Park, I look for customers near FILA first since that's now the closest drop off location to those people.

i believe the arcadia score is $106,964.22 by someone called PNY

Awesome, thanks! I knew it was over $100k but I wasn't sure by how much. TwinGalaxies has like $115k (using the "set the difficulty to whatever you like" methodology )

Anyway, I need to get back into this game. I got knocked off the front page of the leaderboard. Although it's kind of discouraging with those impossibly high scores at the top. Not only are they getting like $300k, but they can do it within a few minutes... doesn't make sense. I'm assuming it's some bug or exploit specific to the XBLA version.

[Arcatech]

Nice bro. Thanks for the info and link. I'll read up see if I can improve my score.

Crazy Taxi is addictive. my right hand is sore from clicking that controller trigger so much lol.

[Davey]

my right hand is sore from clicking that controller trigger so much lol.

I know exactly what you're talking about. I always end up with a red, sore spot on my index finger when I play Crazy Taxi for the first time in a long time.

[Arcatech]

Practiced a bit and got a new high score. 64 customers 31,162.


Anybody have a more nifty score to knock me off the hill?

I see what you mean about the hills now. It seems better to get the cust there when they are light green though because will send forward.

Nice site btw, very informative.

[neorichieb1971]

My friends cousin held the DC record for a long time. Well over 100k I think. He also had a pile of broken DC pads doing that silly boost move.

[Battletoad]

Practiced a bit and got a new high score. 64 customers 31,162.


Anybody have a more nifty score to knock me off the hill?

My best score is right over 20,000, but I might see what I can do about that. (With manipulated time options I got 70,000 by the way.)
Yet I like the Original map much better because it's not so linear and once you know all the locations you can ignore the arrow, use all the shortcuts and thus improve a lot. I've got 40,000 there.

I also remember my hand hurting like shit though.

The record I'm really proud of in this game is finishing Crazy Pole in 0:34.27 minutes. Practiced that shit like crazy. But I see at Cyberscore they got some times which are still a lot better...

[Arcatech]

I should try the original map sometime. Always end up playing arcade map.

Crazy Pole lol. It was all about Gus for that one. His cab is good for off road. I'll get back to you, see if I can destroy your record.


@neo: Your cousin has some skills! I can only imagine getting over 100k in this. I could see it being possible just cant run into any cars along the way. ya right!

[Davey]

Anybody have a more nifty score to knock me off the hill?

$75k Arcade, $92k or so Original

Getting over $100k in Arcade is crazy. That would involve a lot of passenger-less driving, including several passenger-less trips across the highway (20+ seconds off your clock!).

It seems better to get the cust there when they are light green though because will send forward.

Yeah, go for light green if they're available, but if dark green is the only thing available, take it without hesitation.

As for Original vs. Arcade map... I have mixed feelings about that.

Original doesn't feel as refined. The arrow sucks, there are more blind turns, sometimes you get stopped by trains, destination time limits don't seem as consistent. You definitely have to study an aerial map to get the most out it.

On the other hand, it's an open world, so there's no concept of forwards and backwards. Even though there's no customer guide like there is for Arcade (that I know of, at least), I don't think one is really necessary. I generally just go for the longest route available, and the customer utilization usually evens out throughout the map. I remember I made a few exceptions when I was playing it regularly, though... I should have written them down.

[Arcatech]

Nice score! It seems that 31,000 score was a fluke for me. Now constantly getting around 20,000.

Probably because I keep trying to make laps around the city and make crash mistakes along the way. Almost seems more productive to make laps thru the freeway over and over again. Yet, that strategy is frowned upon at the crazy taxi site.

[Davey]

Almost seems more productive to make laps thru the freeway over and over again. Yet, that strategy is frowned upon at the crazy taxi site.

Yeah, I used to do that before I found crazytaxi.net. In the short term it'll provide you with several easy, long trips, but it sets you up for long-term failure.

There are about 15 customers that will take you forward across the highway. Every time you make a backward trip from downtown to the baseball stadium, you'll have to use one up to get back downtown. Once they're all used up, you'll either make more passenger-less trips across the highway to get back to downtown (HUGE time sink) or confine yourself to the first half of the map. Neither of those are good situations to be in.

It depends on your goal, though. I think I maxed out at $30k or $40k before I learned how to read the customers.

[BIL]

How close to the arcade version is the DC port considered, if anyone knows? This topic has me interested in CT again - I've always liked it but never tried playing it very seriously.

[Davey]

AFAIK it's very, very close, being NAOMI and all.

I played it a ton on DC, but only a couple times in the arcade. As far as I could tell they were almost identical, but I can't play for shit in the arcade because I can't get the crazy dash timing down (despite being able to do it without even thinking about it on a DC pad).

[Arcatech]

No idea how arcade perfect the dc port is. Every cab ive played of it was broken to where you cant even do a limit cut if you tried.

But, I have beaten my hi score by a fair bit. Got 76 cust and 36,054.

Watching this vid helped alot by teaching you can limit cut more rapidly for added speed. Check out part 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7cvOj0mAl0

Haven't quite figured out how he can turn quickly while stopped like that. Anyone here know? Would up my game a lot.

[Davey]

Haven't quite figured out how he can turn quickly while stopped like that. Anyone here know? Would up my game a lot.

I wasn't sure which part of the video you're talking about. You mean the Crazy Turn?

Like he mentions, though, it's better to set yourself up in the right direction before stopping if possible. In some locations I usually use a non-braking crazy drift to do a 180 before I get into the drop-off zone. So basically I drift backwards at high speeds and slam the rear of the car into the building (no brakes!). This provides a quick stop and positions me so that I'm facing outwards. RB Station and Crown Arena come to mind.

[Arcatech]

It could be a crazy tailspin? ff to about 2:16 in that part 1 vid where he drops someone off at wave beach. He at a standstill but can fishtail around left or right. Would be cool to master that. Less turning around.

[Davey]

Okay... I read the descriptions of the crazy turn and crazy tailspin again, and they didn't sound familiar.

What I do is:
1.) Let go of all buttons
2.) Push the stick far left or far right. Hold throughout the next step.
3.) Hit the gas, forward button, and reverse button all at the same time and hold until you're pointing in the right direction

I think steps 2 and 3 can be done simultaneously.

I've been doing this for a long time without even thinking about it. In fact, I had to fire up the game to figure out what I did so I could make this post. It really doesn't make sense, since forward and reverse should be mutually exclusive (good luck trying this in the arcade ). There's probably a "right" way to do this, not sure how though.

[Arcatech]

Ok, those instructions worked great!

You should record a run of 75,000 and post it on youtube or something. There is this dodgy record on youtube with gus. but the player turned traffic difficulty down. How is that a fair high score? and he set the timer to 70 and not 50

[Davey]

I'm not sure how I'd record it since I don't have a setup for that. Crappy laptop webcam pointed at the TV?

I just tried nullDC, but Crazy Taxi doesn't quite run at full speed on my PC.

[BIL]

Thanks Davey - I'd hoped the DC port would be at least close, given CT is Naomi, but it's still good to hear it from someone who's played the arcade version. Just picked up a copy, glad to have this game back in my library!

[Arcatech]

Which character do you use Davey? Been using BD Joe exclusively for a while, and wondering if its a bad move. My scores have topped out at 50,000 but I got over 60,000 one time as a fluke.


I was thinking the same way as far as recording with a webcam. But I'd probably put my own soundtrack to it. Listening to those same punk songs gets way tiring after a while.


Also, do you know how to crazy slide off the rocks underwater? Read about it on crazytaxi.net but never seen it done. Maybe I'll just experiment see if I can accomplish it.

[Davey]

I use Gus or Gina. I'm probably equally good with both, but it takes a few minutes to adjust to one if I've been using the other. The guy in charge of CrazyTaxi.net says to avoid BD Joe, but all of the characters are represented towards the top of the XBLA leaderboards, so I think it's probably best to just use whoever you're most comfortable with.

As for the underwater slide, I don't know. I usually only pick up one or two underwater customers, and for those I just drive straight towards them and do a 180 right before I pick them up.

[jonny5]

Silly question, but does anybody have any of the info from the crazy-taxi.net site??

I've been trying to get on there for info since I got the cab, but I can't connect to the server.

Thanks for any info you have.

NVM, got it through Google's cache.

Dude on the site is saying his average run is an hour and 40 minutes

WTF!!

[shmuppyLove]

WTF you haven't 1cc'd it yet?

I'm disappointed.

[Estebang]

You can't 1CC Crazy Taxi--there's a score barrier to see the credits, but no real ending.

[Davey]

NVM, got it through Google's cache.

Thank God. I should probably back it up myself just in case. I can only imagine how many man hours went into compiling all that data. Honestly though, I'm kind of surprised that site has been around this long; I don't think it has been updated in like 10 years.

Dude on the site is saying his average run is an hour and 40 minutes

I never really timed it, but a good run for me definitely takes over an hour, and my high score is only $75k. It wouldn't surprise me if a $100k run took around 2 hours, especially since you spend more and more time driving without a passenger in the late game.

It's kind of a downer, since the initial appeal of this game is that it's a good game to pick up and play for a quick fix. Once you get good you have to make sure you have a solid block of time to play it, and it kind of sucks when you sink an hour into it and come up a couple thousand dollars short of your personal record. But when you have a good run it's a total blast.

[shmuppyLove]

You can't 1CC Crazy Taxi--there's a score barrier to see the credits, but no real ending.

Hahah yeah I know, I'm just busting jonny5's chops

[jonny5]

You can't 1CC Crazy Taxi--there's a score barrier to see the credits, but no real ending.

Hahah yeah I know, I'm just busting jonny5's chops

Hit A-class, then bust the chops, cool guy!