F-Zero GX - Arcade Counterpart

Arcade Counterpart

F-Zero AX (エフゼロ エーエックス?) is a futuristic racing arcade game developed by Amusement Vision and published by Sega for the Triforce arcade system board. F-Zero AX is the second game by Sega to use Triforce, which was conceived from a business alliance between them, Nintendo and Namco. This hardware allows for connectivity between the GameCube and arcade games. The game was released in Japan, Europe and North America in 2003, alongside its Nintendo GameCube counterpart, F-Zero GX. Its arcade cabinet is available in three types: standard, deluxe and Monster Ride. The standard version is a regular sit-down model while the deluxe version is shaped like Captain Falcon's vehicle and offers a hydraulic tilting seat simulating the craft's cockpit. The F-Zero Monster Ride uses a machine called "Cycraft", which was developed between Sega and Simuline. The machine uses three servo motors to offer a movement motion based simulation.

F-Zero AX includes two different modes of play. In the Race mode, the player selects a track and race against twenty-nine opponents. Connecting multiple cabinets opens up "Versus Play" in the race mode, thus enabling up to three other people to compete simultaneously. Though each track must be completed before time runs out, the player is awarded "time extensions" for reaching multiple checkpoints on the course. In the mode Time Attack, the player chooses any track and complete it in the shortest time possible.

Using a cardboard "F-Zero License Card", the game builds a custom vehicle which can later be upgraded using pilot points earned for winning races. The card also saves the players' user ID, custom machine data, race data and pilot points, and gives a password for the F-Zero AX Internet Rankings. This Internet ranking system is where the player can enter a password on the Internet and be ranked based on their position in the database. When using the F-Zero License Card, the player receives a password after racing in Time Attack which can be entered into the F-Zero Internet Rankings. It saves their time with the machine they used on the database and ranks it against other peoples scores.