Crazy Taxi Returns to AGDQ After 10 Year Absence With Live Backings
The Original Crazy Taxi Last Appeared at AGDQ in 2015
Over the weekend, a Crazy Taxi speedrun took place at Awesome Games Done Quick 2025, with background music performed by a live band as a creative to avoid copyright issues with the game's licensed music. Crazy Taxi, which first appeared in arcades in 1999 and later on the Dreamcast in 2000, featured music from punk bands like Bad Religion and The Offspring.
Innovation to Beat Copyright Issues
To overcome copyright challenges, Crazes 825 and 2dos came up with a unique solution by having 2dos perform covers of the game's music with a live band. This innovative approach allowed for the inclusion of Crazy Taxi in AGDQ, which has not featured it in nearly a decade.
Behind the Scenes and Future Prospects
As they shared on Reddit after the run, 2dos explained their initial idea: "We had submitted Crazy Taxi several times over the years without success after our AGDQ 2015 run. We would have needed to mute the soundtrack if it did get in during those times for licensing reasons. I got the idea from watching CZR [the guy who did the SM64 run last year], and thought to myself 'We could do that'."
On whether they plan to execute similar submissions for future events, 2dos stated: "Maybe, maybe not. There are similar runs that could be executed this way (Crazy Taxi 2, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, etc) that could potentially be submitted by us. But I hope GDQ gets fresh ideas too. I really hope we inspired other folks to come up with unique submissions in the future!"
Impressive Fundraising and Future
AGDQ concluded having raised an incredible $2,556,305 for the Prevent Cancer Foundation, alongside hours of entertaining speedrunning.
What are your thoughts on how AGDQ handles such challenges in the future? Do you think this is a great way to include difficult-to-license games?