TX-1

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This article is about the game. For the Texas district, see Texas's 1st congressional district
For the London taxicab, see TX1

TX-1 was a video arcade automobile racing game originally created by Tatsumi, then licensed by Atari and released in the United States in 1983.

Though TX-1 used raster graphics similar to the 1982 Atari/Namco release Pole Position, TX-1 used a unique surround-style, sit-down three screen display. In this design, the primary monitor was mounted directly in front of the steering wheel and a secondary monitor, angled at thirty degrees, was mounted both to the left and the right of the primary monitor. At the top of the left monitor was a display of the score and the car's current position; at the top of the right monitor was a running total of cars passed during the race. A display of stage, speed, and time remaining was at the top of the primary screen. The immense size of the cabinet limited the number of arcades which could display this game.

Gameplay was similar to Pole Position, in that the player, piloting a Formula 1 racecar, needed to reach a check point in a certain period of time in order to continue playing. While negotiating the course, the driver needed to exercise caution in the turns, as excessive speed would cause the car to skid; additionally, the driver needed to pass slower cars carefully to avoid a fiery crash. However, unlike Pole Position, each stage ended at a branch point; depending on which way the driver turned, the course would be substantially different. The final two stages of this five-stage game were based upon famous Formula One races of the time and were identified by the name of the country; the path chosen during the previous three stages determined which "races" could be run in the final two stages. TX-1 was a pioneer in this style of play, which would be copied by myriad other games, especially Sega's successful Out Run series.

A successor game, TX-1 V8, was released by Tatsumi in 1984. However, Atari did not license this game, and it was rarely seen in the United States.

The game Buggy Boy (aka Speed Buggy), also released by Tatsumi, uses the same 3-screen technology.

There is a testdriver in MAME since version 0.94.

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