While it has become a successful third-party publisher, SEGA was once known for releasing gaming systems to rival Nintendo. Following the successful Sega Genesis (or Mega Drive, as it was known outside North America), the Japanese company released the unsuccessful Saturn and the even more unlucky Dreamcast, whose innovative features for the time weren’t enough to garner the massive third-party support the system would have needed to rival the PlayStation 2, which dominated the console market in the early 2000s.

The Dreamcast‘s lack of success wasn’t caused by the quality of its first-party games. Besides Sonic Adventure, it was the arcade-perfect conversion of Crazy Taxi that made me bite the bullet in late 1999 and use the little money I could scrape together in my teenage years to purchase the system. To this day, I hardly remember having as much fun as I had with the original Crazy Taxi, its fast-paced driving, and its overall craziness.

Almost 30 years later, I felt that same excitement during my short hands-on session with Crazy Taxi: World Tour. When SEGA invited me to check out their gamescom 2026 lineup, which includes the equally nostalgic Persona 4 Revival, I jumped at the opportunity to check out this long-deserved revival. An opportunity I enjoyed immensely, so much so that I would have gladly played more if I had the time.

Like in the original, main character Axel returns for a globetrotting adventure that sees him and his trusty vehicle journey to five international cities to pick up clients to earn money and complete all sorts of crazy side missions. The gamescom 2026 demo was set in the recreation of a German city featuring airport runways, a mountain trail, and a sprawling layout that provided plenty of opportunities to use the classic driving skills returning in the new entry in the series. Chaining Crazy Dash, Crazy Stop, and Crazy Drift together for longer combos and better rewards became natural quickly, and soon enough, I was speeding through the city to increase my rank and unlock even more content.

The aforementioned side missions were the highlight of my Crazy Taxi: World Tour gamescom 2026 hands-on. These missions are not only handed out by the wackiest set of characters ever in an arcade game, but they are also extremely varied and challenging. ^{For any regular taxi driver, chasing a plane about to depart or delivering pizzas are absolute no-goes, but for Axel, they are just another day at work.}

As the session was only 30 minutes long, I couldn’t experience more of Crazy Taxi: World Tour’s single-player, nor anything of its multiplayer component, but it changed one thing. Before, I was only aware of the game, but after sitting in the driver’s seat myself, I am anticipating the release of Crazy Taxi: World Tour next year on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and Nintendo Switch 2 to see how much crazier the party can get.

About the author: Francesco De Meo has been covering video games and technology since 2012, starting his career at small outlets like Gamersyndrome and GeekSnack.

After joining Wccftech gaming section in 2015, he quickly expanded his video gaming coverage with in-depth reporting, interviews with iconic industry figures such as Grasshopper Manufacture founder and No More Heroes creator Goichi “Suda51” Suda, Resident Evil series creator Shinji Mikami, Team NINJA’s president and Nioh series director Fumihiko Yasuda, and Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama, reviews and on-the-ground coverage of major industry events such as Gamescom and E3.

When he’s not reporting or reviewing, Francesco can be found playing the genres he loves most, spending time with his six cats, reading, writing music, playing guitar and drumming for his progressive rock band.

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