Tim Walz, Let’s Play Crazy Taxi Together ► Ludology Now!

Now, you may have already heard this, but the US Presidential Elections were held last week. Donald Trump and JD Vance will be sworn in as President and Vice President respectively on January 6, 2025, and the next president of the United States will not be Kamala Harris, nor will the next Vice President be Tim Walz.

However you feel about the ramifications of this election, be it good or bad, one thing is certain – Tim Walz would have been a fun Vice President. A lot has been said about his work in Minnesota, from enacting free school lunches to all students to expanding worker’s rights by banning non-compete agreements, and those are all great things, don’t get me wrong. But Tim Walz was the first candidate who talked openly about playing video games, and I want that to be a trend that continues.

From The Waltons To The Simpsons

I’m old enough to remember when video games were put up there with D&D and R-rated movies as something that children should be protected from. The turbulent sociological history of D&D is a whole other can of worms, but gaming as a whole, in general, still isn’t held in as high regard as reading a book or watching a movie. It’s something many people consider a waste of time, although many of those same people will happily kill 2 hours on a crossword or sudoku puzzle.

Tim Walz has spoken many times about how much he enjoyed playing video games, specifically Dreamcast games. I was excited at the concept that someone with a shot at the second-highest office in the nation understood – not just understood, but respected – our industry. JD Vance is young enough to probably have put some hours into Call of Duty, sure, but he seems more like a Big Buck Hunter Arcade kind of player. Tim Walz played my games.

A Snapshot Of Americana

Specifically, Walz has spoken at length about Crazy Taxi. Walz played Crazy Taxi with AOC on a stream during the pre-election media blitz. Walz’s wife joked that she had to take his Dreamcast away because he spent too much time playing the game. Someone has even made a Tim Walz mod for Crazy Taxi that makes him into one of the game’s drivers.

All of this is lovely. Crazy Taxi, for all of its Japanese roots (developed by the now-defunct Hitmaker Co. LTD, a division of SEGA, and published by SEGA) feels like a deeply American game. It launched in 1999 and might be one of the most “90s games” there is, with loud, stylized characters, an absolute treasure of a soundtrack, and the most product placement you’ve ever seen in your life. It’s hard not to feel patriotic ramping off a tow truck while your passenger throws money in the air and you screech to a stop in front of KFC, which is likely why players have gone so far as to mod Crazy Taxi‘s product placement back into the game when those product licenses ran out.

Crazy Taxi For Charity

Most vice presidential nominees that lose their elections tend to fade back into the background. I don’t want that to happen to Tim Walz – he has too much of that “good Southern dad” energy (despite being from Minnesota) that I think is missing from politics in general these days. I don’t want him to exit the spotlight forever, and, all things considered, I don’t want to stop championing causes that are moral and just. So, with that in mind, I am formally extending an open invitation for Tim Walz to play Crazy Taxi with me. To Tim:

I doubt you’ll be coming back to Savannah, GA, any time soon, but if that changes please do reach out. We could also play over Discord or another service, like you did with AOC. I’d like to use this as a chance to raise money for charity, and I’m happy to work with you or your office to find one everyone is comfortable raising money for - although the hurricane victims around here sure could use it. I grew up in the woods, hunting, fishing, helping my dad build boats and run telephone cable. I also played a lot of games, and I think we’d have plenty of interesting things to talk about.

I’ve never really written or spoken professionally on all the fun historical facts, development, and legacy of Crazy Taxi, but there’s a lot to discuss. Did you know SEGA filed a lawsuit against FOX over The Simpsons: Road Rage because they patented the gameplay loop of Crazy Taxi and thought EA and Radical were infringing on their property? That’s right, my Simpsons reference earlier wasn’t JUST a sneaky George H. W. Bush joke, it was also a clever setup for this fact!

THIS WEEK’S RECOMMENDED MEDIA:

The Minnesota Star Tribune has tracked the history and fate of Tim Walz’s Dreamcast, from who he handed it off to – with Crazy Taxi still in the disc drive – all the way to its present-day owner. If anyone ever asks, this is what real “gaming journalism” looks like.
Did you know the Christopher Nolan film Interstellar is available to watch for free online on YouTube? The algorithm recommended it to me a few days ago and, since I haven’t watched it in years, did so that evening. Shockingly smart, incredibly sad, and ultimately heartwarming, I know it’s not everyone’s favorite Nolan film, but I sure loved it.
I promise to stop talking about Silent Hill 2’24 at some point, but in last month’s Silent Hill 2 canon issue of Ludology Now! I discussed my theory that James, Angela, Eddie, and maybe even the players themselves have been “stuck” in the loop of Silent Hill 2 for 20 years. Well, turns out that was true.