20 years because the final full entry, Loopy Taxi producer Kenji Kanno feels that now could be the perfect time to carry the collection again.
In an lively behind-closed-doors presentation at Summer season Sport Fest, the Sega veteran exhibits us Loopy Taxi: World Tour, the fashionable tackle the long-lasting arcade and Dreamcast recreation. With its blue skies, green-haired protagonist, and thumping Offspring soundtrack, it’s unattainable to not really feel happy that the collection has been given one other likelihood – and that’s by design.
“Numerous what’s within the information these days makes you are feeling not very excited to dwell on the earth,” Kanno tells the room of assembled media. “So, I really feel personally that I need to have this new Loopy Taxi on the market to possibly assist folks smile and have enjoyable.
“One of many causes [we’re bringing Craxy Taxi back] is as a result of Sega is making an attempt to revive our legacy IPs. As for my private emotions, for me, Loopy Taxi is a recreation which you can play and have all these optimistic feelings and optimistic emotions, with out something damaging within the recreation. With how the world is true now, I believe it’s the right time to carry it again.”
The optimistic sentiment across the revival’s SGF reveal was swiftly dampened for some by a Steam disclosure revealing that the sport used generative AI throughout its improvement. Nonetheless, Konno later claimed that every part in World Tour can be authentic and that AI was briefly used as an ideation device. Our personal assembly with the designer occurred earlier than the information broke, so we weren’t in a position to quiz him additional.
My overriding feeling, watching Konno drift round corners in World Tour’s acquainted but vastly glowed-up model of San Francisco, was nice shock at its authenticity to the unique recreation. Loopy Taxi is a basic, and regardless that it’s older than a bigger chunk of our readers, many will acknowledge its iconic yellow arcade cupboard, which remains to be standard in lots of bars and amusement venues at the moment.
Bringing the arcade driving recreation again in 2026 certainly attracted the nostrils of any lurking dwell service monsters, however what I used to be proven at Summer season Sport Fest regarded staunchly genuine to the unique, with driver Axel selecting up passengers and smashing by way of native cafés and put up packing containers to get them to their vacation spot as quick as attainable.
Konno says we’re solely seeing a part of the brand new expertise at this stage, which he demonstrates by pulling up a world map, switching the time of day to nighttime, and teleporting to a completely totally different race mission, the place his yellow cab competes in a conventional sprint by way of city in opposition to an opponent in a sports activities automobile. There’s even the trace of an overarching story right here, with Axel chatting and interacting with the shoppers he collects.
Q&A: Kenji Kanno
What’s the that means of the ‘World Tour’ title?
We needed to ship the expertise of visiting numerous nations and places around the globe. Not similar to one location that expands, however you truly fly to totally different places in several nations and drive a taxi there.
Why return to the arcade-style gameplay? Did you take into account different genres?
Even throughout the improvement group, the workers mentioned they needed to recreate the unique Loopy Taxi in a brand new type. Myself, I needed Axel to be faithfully recreated, however the different improvement workers have been saying the identical factor, that they needed to the outdated Loopy Taxi to be refreshed. Taking into account their sentiment, I believe it’s doubtless what lots of people need.
We solely confirmed just a little bit at the moment. If you play it, I believe you may assume it seems like 1999 Loopy Taxi, however there’s one thing totally different about it. I believe you possibly can actually really feel the evolution within the gameplay when you get your fingers on it.
Offspring and Unhealthy Faith are again for the soundtrack. Will there be others?
I can’t say them proper now, as a result of they could get mad at me if I say them. However I consider your expectations won’t ever be betrayed, and also you may even be stunned.
“The idea for this Loopy Taxi World Tour is that initially Loopy Taxi was only a recreation on the arcades, so that you couldn’t actually increase a lot,” Konno explains. “However now with this new Loopy Taxi, we’re in a position to increase the world of Loopy Taxi even additional, flesh out the backgrounds of the characters, and provides them extra backstory and lore as nicely.
“We have been in a position to recreate the unique 3D taxi map of West Coast and actually take note of recreating that outdated Loopy Taxi really feel whereas additionally making it match with the brand new technology of avid gamers. Though the controls could also be just a little bit totally different from the unique Loopy Taxi, you possibly can nonetheless play the sport the identical manner.”
As Konno flame-wheels throughout a city sq., he explains that gamers can unlock particular abilities and skills this time, corresponding to drifts and boosts, and every of the sport’s totally different world maps (which Sega isn’t revealing simply but) will likely be suffering from particular actions, alongside the normal taxi gameplay.
That features particular missions, that are principally bonkers mini-games straight out of the Like A Dragon collection. One such encounter sees Kanno gathering a pizza chef character balancing a 15ft stack of pizza packing containers, which it’s essential to ship throughout the map. One other character, a fisherman, initiates a mini-game through which it’s essential to speed up as quick as attainable down a pier to solid off, then reverse backward to reel in your catch (which, inevitably, is a SUV-sized shark).
“Now we have a bunch of different totally different mini video games and quite a lot of selection you possibly can take pleasure in in Loopy Taxi as nicely,” Konno says. “The cities that you simply drive round in Loopy Taxi: World Tour really feel alive and that folks truly dwell in there, and I believe this actually units it other than different driving or racing video games.”
Kanno says the principle focus of World Tour would be the single-player expertise, which could have gamers exploring a number of places worldwide and progressing by way of a principal story. Nonetheless, as its debut trailer hints, there will likely be a multiplayer expertise.
“Even in 1999, quite a lot of gamers have been saying, ‘hey, I need to play this recreation with my associates’. However at the moment, we had technological limitations,” Konno says. “However right here in 2026, we’ve workers members within the improvement group who’re very skilled with multiplayer video games. So, we have been in a position to make that space out for this time. The primary focus remains to be single-player, however multiplayer remains to be there for these hardcore gamers or end-game gamers who need to spend extra time.”
I, and different attendees, left the Summer season Sport Fest assembly in good spirits about what we’d seen, which I think about gave Konno some small sense of reassurance that he’s headed in the proper path.
