Loopy Taxi followers, get your hopes excessive: In an interview with The Japan Occasions (by way of Eurogamer), Sapporo Studio president Takaya Segawa stated the upcoming new recreation within the collection will likely be “a triple-A recreation.”
The console model of Loopy Taxi debuted in 2000 for the Sega Dreamcast, and it was successful, finally being ported to different platforms together with the PlayStation 2, Nintendo Gamecube, and sure, even PC. Sequels and spinoffs adopted, however except for a few cellular video games within the 20-teens, the collection has been largely dormant for many years: The final mainline recreation within the collection, Loopy Taxi 3: Excessive Curler, got here out in 2002.
The reboot was first reported in 2022 and at last made official in December 2023, though with no particulars past the truth that it is taking place and some seconds of gameplay from a 2023 Sport Awards hype clip that additionally included Jet Set Radio, Shinobi, Golden Axe, and Streets of Rage.
We’ve not actually heard something about it since, however the preliminary report of a brand new Loopy Taxi recreation indicated it could be a “big-budget” reboot, and that appears to be holding: Tagawa stated Sega’s Sapporo Studio is “taking part within the improvement of triple-A titles, together with Loopy Taxi.”
In all honesty, that does not inform us an entire lot. The standard which means of “triple-A” revolves round huge budgets, huge manufacturing values, huge all the things, however amidst the proliferation of indie hits and big-name flops, it is largely turn out to be a buzzword rolled out when an govt desires to draw consideration to their recreation. Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot just lately described Cranium and Bones as a “quadruple-A” recreation, as an example, and that actually strengthened for me the truth that we’re not coping with hard-and-fast ideas right here.
However within the huge image, what it hopefully means is that Sega has huge ambitions for the brand new Loopy Taxi, and is placing within the assets wanted to make it occur. It will presumably be some time but earlier than we get to see how that truly comes collectively: A launch goal wasn’t shared within the 2023 announcement, and Tagawa made no point out of it within the interview. For now, if you wish to see what all the thrill is about, the unique Loopy Taxi stays out there on Steam.
