"I wrote Space Taxi in my freshman year at Hopkins. Once I had the initial framework I was building one to two levels per day. When released, it received several awards, industry recognitions and was particularly praised for its digitised speech. The speech saying 'Hey Taxi" and all the other phrases are actually my own voice captured on homemade electronics and played back at different speeds to create higher and lower pitch voices." -- John F. Kutcher, designer and programmer (Space Taxi - C64)
One of my FAVORITE games of all time - along with Jumpman, and Archon.. Took me two years (84-86) to finally make it to the end. A true classic. Wish they would remake this for the Wii or PS3 - better yet how about a Commodore 64 FLASHBACK console with this game - as well as Archon and Jumpman/Jr included??
Just watching this video you may be inclined to think "This doesn't look so hard". But trying to feather that damn taxi down on those pads with a creaky old controller was quite a feat.
Dude, Thanks for putting this classic up on YT for everyone that used to play it. Such nostalgia for me as I used to play this all the time along with other games at my cousins house. Impossible Mission and a RIP OFF of the Mario Bros game!
@@andycraig7734 No, but I played that 1 as well. There were so many games he had on the Commodore 64, I could go on 4 hrs. Some of the Best memories I've ever had were over at his house, jammin, eating Doritos and play games.
Absolutely the best Jumpman derivative ( I dont want to say rip-off because it wasn't) that ever graced the C64. I loved this game, and got about this good at it too. Nice to see such skilled gameplay again after all this time. Grats!
So GLAD I have this game on a c-64 emulator - however it is more difficult to play on a PC/Ps3 type controller than with a Commodore/Atari Joystick. Still managed to make it to interference WITHOUT resorting to cheat codes. Kudos to you Derschmu for BEATING this game! Now try and beat Jumpman (Grand Loop) on Speed 1:)
the interference towers cause your jets to trigger randomly. however when the landing gear is out only up and down work. the switch randomly reassigns your directions.
This was a epic play-through. I never finished it (I was about 11. LOL!) but I regularly used the filling stations. :D I wish they'd make this for iOS, it's a great game!
i remember this game.. i played a lot with :) the speech synth was very advanced of its age, the petscii graphics is not so much... but very cute concept. one of the oldest game on the c64 platform, a classic.
@djsmithy Thanks for your reply and well done getting all the way to that level! The C64 sure had some strange keys by today's standards :-) I wonder if you will be able to figure out the hint. If I still had my old C64, I would gladly help you to, but as it stands, I have no means to do so - presuming an emulator would not be entirely accurate about the keys. Have fun with the rest of the game (and all the other C64 gems out there)!
@Co19801003 I played the interference levels today and those little satellite dishes basically send you off course when you get too close to them! They make you move in random directions. Not sure about the secret menu, maybe its a joke or something? :) If you notice the PI in PIE is highlighted white. There is a PI key on the c64 keyboard, maybe if you keep pressing that you will "eat the PI!" ? Must try it out sometime!
7:08 Puzzler was one of the hardest levels for me. I tried it on an emulator not long ago, and something glitched to where I couldn't get to Pad 3 no matter what combinations of switches I hit.
Al time ever GEIL. bis heute einer der preziesesten Steuerung á là Joystick überhaupt. Geniale Köpfe. Liebe dieses Telespiel. (bearbeitet.! Eine hat recht. Sollte in deutsch Kurse )
Once, just once, when my brother was playing this, a long time ago.....after playing "Black Hole" in Random, he ended up going to "Black Hole" again, EXCEPT...that it resembled Short and Sweet, complete with candy cane, but the palette was that of Black Hole, and there was a Black Hole in the middle of the screen. Pretty freaky. Anyone else ever come across a "messed up" level?
I was friends with a kid way back when this was new, and we'd run down passengers until we'd see someone with a big fare. I don't remember there being any penalty for that.
I am curious about two things: 1) What does the "Interference" level do exactly? I couldn't figure that out based on what I saw. 2) What was that secret menu stuff all about? I'm only getting half of the hint. I never got past level 3 on this one and this was the first game to actually make me sad for not being able to get any further. After seeing it all, I think I can be glad it beat me before it bored me or my memory would've been entirely different! ;-) Very well played!
On level "Interference", as your ship is passing in between the satellite dishes, it is more difficult to control your ship. Take note how the ship shifts left and right when you hear the noise. They also change your speed as your are landing, forcing you to readjust your thrust quickly. Info for the "secret menu" can be found here: www.c64-wiki.com/wiki/Space_Taxi
Yes, that is the nazi soldier from another Muse game called Castle Wolfenstein. As a matter of fact, the ambulance is from another Muse game called Rescue Squad and the robot that shoots at you is from the Muse game RobotWar. John Kutcher, who wrote the game, originally called this level "MUSEWORLD"
Max Warfield probably the teleporters were two-way portals only, the stages were the crossroads for the teleporting pads and only the taxi could carry them from one to another.
So why do these space-passengers need a hyperspace-capable rocket-thruster-equipped taxi-shuttle, when they just teleport in to their pads? Videogame logic.
Sweating Jordan Peele Meme me after hours to made into Level 2 (The Beach) the very 1st time as a Kid in the 80's - V E R Y i N T E N S E C H i L D H O O D M E M O R i E S -
The thing about this speech was that the sound designer for this game (Silas Warner) developed it himself, in-house. "The Voice" as it was called, was originally designed for the Apple II, not the Commodore 64. Beachhead 2, Impossible Mission, Ghostbusters (and quite a few other games) had the speech synthesis done from an outside source (ESS), and was also a newer program.
![Lp. Последняя Реальность #107 РОДНОЙ ДОМ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/IK3QKzKUlHM/mqdefault.jpg)
"I wrote Space Taxi in my freshman year at Hopkins. Once I had
the initial framework I was building one to two levels per day.
When released, it received several awards, industry recognitions
and was particularly praised for its digitised speech. The speech
saying 'Hey Taxi" and all the other phrases are actually my
own voice captured on homemade electronics and played back
at different speeds to create higher and lower pitch voices."
-- John F. Kutcher, designer and programmer (Space Taxi - C64)
That's so cool
Half the time when I played this as a kid, I just thought it was fun to squash the passengers and hear them yell "Hey!".
Same here 😂😂😂
Laughing so much....so nostalgic. Me too 😅
This game makes me nostalgic for a time I never actually experienced personally. Love it.
Cool comment, I'm fortunate to have played this as a kid! Very nostalgic still. Also +1 for Fluttershy =D
Played this one as a kid so I did.
One of my FAVORITE games of all time - along with Jumpman, and Archon.. Took me two years (84-86) to finally make it to the end. A true classic. Wish they would remake this for the Wii or PS3 - better yet how about a Commodore 64 FLASHBACK console with this game - as well as Archon and Jumpman/Jr included??
Scooter Ahlers yup jumpman jr and this were a couple of my faves as well when I was a young kid playing these games..
I have been trying to remember the name “Jumpman” for YEARS. It was my favorite as well!
I hope you have a C64 mini by now and have sideloaded this game to it! ;-)
One of those C64 games I would still play.
Me too! Loved it so much.
Omg what a blast from the past lmao! Loved this game.
Me too
This brings back so many memories. I could finish one level but never the full game
Space Taxi was hard to play, i loved this game but i never finished it. Good Gameplay dude.
How you complete all these C64 games in a breeze is beyond me. Excellent.
Another one of my favorite C64 games as a kid...
Just watching this video you may be inclined to think "This doesn't look so hard". But trying to feather that damn taxi down on those pads with a creaky old controller was quite a feat.
I agree. This game is actually a bit easier with the keyboard on emulators.
I have a Hori fighting stick with microswitching. It does NOT make it any easier.
Dude, Thanks for putting this classic up on YT for everyone that used to play it. Such nostalgia for me as I used to play this all the time along with other games at my cousins house.
Impossible Mission and a RIP OFF of the Mario Bros game!
Great Gianna Sisters?
@@andycraig7734 No, but I played that 1 as well. There were so many games he had on the Commodore 64, I could go on 4 hrs. Some of the Best memories I've ever had were over at his house, jammin, eating Doritos and play games.
Looks like a fun game that I never heard of until today.
Still a fun game and it shows a lot of creativity from the designers. Great gameplay, you made that look very easy!
You're such a great player Reinhard!
I was just thinking - yeah it was a nice stroll down memory lane and all but... damn he might just be the space taxi master
A true master of the game at work. Knows the speedrun trick for the beanstalk level. What a great game, and so relentlessly hard to beat.
Absolutely the best Jumpman derivative ( I dont want to say rip-off because it wasn't) that ever graced the C64. I loved this game, and got about this good at it too. Nice to see such skilled gameplay again after all this time. Grats!
I had no idea there were so many levels in this game. Thanks for the vid!
I am so old... ;-)
Some of those maneuvers seemed impossible. Incredible to watch...
Feeling put back in my earliest yeary, thank you for that. And: thank you for showing me the end screen :D Nvr saw that...
the voices prove that you shouldn't smoke
Just as I remember it, terrifying distorted voices and all!
Wow--You're a Pro at this...Never seen someone as good as this..
I think this was one of the first games which had voice.
i think "impossible mission" had a voice too
+OnkelCromson Stay a while! Stay FOREVER!
Same guy who did Castle Wolfenstein voices www.weirdretro.org.uk/captains-blog/retro-gaming-space-taxi-1984
The first one is "Berserk"
yah, the whole game freezes while it talks. Takes whole processor capacity.
Huh. I didn't hear of this game until today, but it's reminding me a lot of SimCopter, a game I used to play on the PC in the '90s.
Awesome job!
I bow to your superior game-playing.
One of the best C64 games with Jumpman, Archon, Pyjamarama, Pitfall 2 and Forbidden Forest
Loadrunner and Space Taxi were always my favorites.
There were much better games, like Defender of the Crown, Elite, flight simulator 2, the Bards Tale .....
I forgot about this game. Went down a rabbit hole looking at the original Wolfenstein. Good times.
this game...man........... just had so much fun
I made it all the way through back in the 1980's. Never got that secret menu to appear.
www.c64-wiki.com/wiki/Space_Taxi describes the secret menu.
Depending on the crack accessing the secret menu is broken.
Adoro il sound del c 64, come viene emulata la voce umana è stupendo, "HEY TAXI" 🚖 "THANKS!"
Less is more, humanity
So GLAD I have this game on a c-64 emulator - however it is more difficult to play on a PC/Ps3 type controller than with a Commodore/Atari Joystick. Still managed to make it to interference WITHOUT resorting to cheat codes. Kudos to you Derschmu for BEATING this game!
Now try and beat Jumpman (Grand Loop) on Speed 1:)
Came here for the 'Hey taxi' oh the memories 😁
the interference towers cause your jets to trigger randomly. however when the landing gear is out only up and down work.
the switch randomly reassigns your directions.
Impressive! Are you a robot? Flawless piloting, my friend.
i spent so many hours playing this still didnt finish it
Wow I remember that Beanstalk level trick. Get the pick up before the other pads grow and you're out!! I haven't thought about this game in 25 years!!
2:10 Take the stairs? Nah, I'll do the sensible thing and pay the $15.67 to take the taxi.
I never finished this game lol. And I too found it hard but fun to play.
Honestly, you drive like a maniac, but maybe that's why I always ran out of gas.
Wow-it seems like yesterday when I played this game!
This was a epic play-through. I never finished it (I was about 11. LOL!) but I regularly used the filling stations. :D I wish they'd make this for iOS, it's a great game!
loved the game! :)
Wow. I playing this as a kid. No color. Man I loved this game!!! It was so hard I never got past Teleports I believe. So long ago!!!
I played the shit out of this game and never saw the ending . Thanks
i remember this game.. i played a lot with :) the speech synth was very advanced of its age, the petscii graphics is not so much... but very cute concept.
one of the oldest game on the c64 platform, a classic.
@djsmithy Thanks for your reply and well done getting all the way to that level!
The C64 sure had some strange keys by today's standards :-) I wonder if you will be able to figure out the hint. If I still had my old C64, I would gladly help you to, but as it stands, I have no means to do so - presuming an emulator would not be entirely accurate about the keys.
Have fun with the rest of the game (and all the other C64 gems out there)!
1984...Great year for c64
@Co19801003
I played the interference levels today and those little satellite dishes basically send you off course when you get too close to them! They make you move in random directions.
Not sure about the secret menu, maybe its a joke or something? :) If you notice the PI in PIE is highlighted white. There is a PI key on the c64 keyboard, maybe if you keep pressing that you will "eat the PI!" ? Must try it out sometime!
N o s t a l g i a
Amazing game still playing
everyone has throat cancer
It's an early 8 bit game that speaks. Rather respect that.
Jack Klugman did the voice over work
Nah, they all have Covid... The game took place in the year 2020....hehehe
Pad one, please!
7:08 Puzzler was one of the hardest levels for me. I tried it on an emulator not long ago, and something glitched to where I couldn't get to Pad 3 no matter what combinations of switches I hit.
4:50 I loved that glitch as a kid. If the beanstalk hasnt grown yet you skip the whole level
I always loved that trick on "Beanstalk" if you land on Pad 1 before the others finish you can skip the level.
Love reading the comments. 80s were the best 👌 This game was the best. Such nostalgia and happy memories
What does that all mean in the last stage about the pie and stuff?
Love the lazy ass dude at 2:06 🤣
On The Move was my undoing.. never made it past that level.
This guy is really good!!! 😜
Piekne wspomnienia. Bardzo miodna gierka. Prosta grafika ale mechanika gry jest swietna
Al time ever GEIL. bis heute einer der preziesesten Steuerung á là Joystick überhaupt. Geniale Köpfe. Liebe dieses Telespiel. (bearbeitet.! Eine hat recht. Sollte in deutsch Kurse )
Once, just once, when my brother was playing this, a long time ago.....after playing "Black Hole" in Random, he ended up going to "Black Hole" again, EXCEPT...that it resembled Short and Sweet, complete with candy cane, but the palette was that of Black Hole, and there was a Black Hole in the middle of the screen. Pretty freaky. Anyone else ever come across a "messed up" level?
Das ist so geil 😂😂😂😂 das sind Erinnerungen 👍
HEY, TAXI!
33:38 Wow! The final boss of Space Taxi is Hitler?!?! LOLWUT!?!?!
Not Hitler.
A Stormtrooper.
HALT! Pass please!
You guys are very A Muse ing.
I was friends with a kid way back when this was new, and we'd run down passengers until we'd see someone with a big fare. I don't remember there being any penalty for that.
No, there was a penalty for that.
Refer to this:
www.c64-wiki.com/wiki/Space_Taxi
So that's how it's like when Daleks take a taxi :)
I am curious about two things:
1) What does the "Interference" level do exactly? I couldn't figure that out based on what I saw.
2) What was that secret menu stuff all about? I'm only getting half of the hint.
I never got past level 3 on this one and this was the first game to actually make me sad for not being able to get any further. After seeing it all, I think I can be glad it beat me before it bored me or my memory would've been entirely different! ;-)
Very well played!
On level "Interference", as your ship is passing in between the satellite dishes, it is more difficult to control your ship. Take note how the ship shifts left and right when you hear the noise. They also change your speed as your are landing, forcing you to readjust your thrust quickly.
Info for the "secret menu" can be found here: www.c64-wiki.com/wiki/Space_Taxi
Yes, that is the nazi soldier from another Muse game called Castle Wolfenstein. As a matter of fact, the ambulance is from another Muse game called Rescue Squad and the robot that shoots at you is from the Muse game RobotWar. John Kutcher, who wrote the game, originally called this level "MUSEWORLD"
Don't drink enough water? Just play this game. You'll be dying for a drink of water from the voice synth.
Got on stage two did a drug run. Gets out and gets back in to go to a new spot ahaha
Haw Haw, taxi trainer didn't even fuel up
"Up, please!"
“Hey Taxi”
space taxi... the Lemmings of the 80s
@11:23 it was really close^^ awesome game!
I am missing Milla Jovovich entering the Taxi of Korben Dallas 😅
First time I see the end of the game :-D
But it seems unrealistic fast Reaktion on Joystick moves. Player the game a hundred times...and hitting the passenger, he shouted hey
Könnte das ein smartphoner spielen??
Che ricordi
Loved this game. Played the Amiga version years later but it just didn't feel as good. The music was great though.
Why call a cab, if you can teleport [by yourself] afterwards?
Max Warfield probably the teleporters were two-way portals only, the stages were the crossroads for the teleporting pads and only the taxi could carry them from one to another.
Your weed purchase is waiting in the taxi. 🚬
So why do these space-passengers need a hyperspace-capable rocket-thruster-equipped taxi-shuttle, when they just teleport in to their pads?
Videogame logic.
There's a prostitute in the taxi. Ohhhh yea.
Sweating Jordan Peele Meme me after hours to made into Level 2 (The Beach) the very 1st time as a Kid in the 80's
- V E R Y i N T E N S E C H i L D H O O D M E M O R i E S -
Mythic. Looking for the original disk
Crazy Taxi!
Graphics: 5.5/10
Gameplay: 7/10
Music/FX: 6/10
Playbility: 8/10
Geoff Edwards from Starcade should play this game.
Even when I was young i thought the voices sounded horrible
UP PLEASE
End score is Richard Wagner...
it looks good to play, have go on beachead 2 C64, for better speech
The thing about this speech was that the sound designer for this game (Silas Warner) developed it himself, in-house. "The Voice" as it was called, was originally designed for the Apple II, not the Commodore 64. Beachhead 2, Impossible Mission, Ghostbusters (and quite a few other games) had the speech synthesis done from an outside source (ESS), and was also a newer program.
Still the Beanstalk Bug 😄✌
its older version of UGH
'Cave Express' is a modern remake for Android.
Hmmm....didn't die after getting hit. *Wags finger*
Yoooo JFK made a game?