How to play A/X-101 on Mac

Game summary

In the future date of 2500, mankind has reached its zenith in space travel and peace. However, after making contact with alien life for the first time, Earth is soon attacked and nearly conquered by a war-driven alien race called the Gurzons. The Earth's Defense Force discover the Gurzon's enemy resides on the distant alien planet Prism, who made contact with Earth as a warning against the oncoming Gurzon invasion. Further investigation leads to the discovery of a computer upgrade system located on Prism called the A/X-101, a weapon program that promises to liberate Earth from the Gurzon's grip. Earth Defense sends four of its best fighter pilots - Bob, Kelly, Chris and their Captain (the player) - to travel to Prism, retrieve the A/X-101 and use it against all of the Gurzon's planetary bases. The game is an on-rails shooter, with gameplay seen from a first-person cockpit perspective. The player's ship moves automatically through pre-rendered space and planetary environments and only the targeting crosshair can be moved freely. Laser Cannons and Fusion Warheads are available to hit the numerous enemies. Lasers have unlimited ammunition but need a few moments time to recharge. The warheads function as smart bombs and clear the screen of enemies, but are available only in limited supply. They are restocked when reaching a certain score. The ship's energy shield functions as a life bar. Between the shooting levels, there are transitional cutscenes, pre-rendered in the same way as the actual gameplay.
First released: Mar 1994

Play A/X-101 on Mac with Parallels (virtualized)

The easiest way to play A/X-101 on a Mac is through Parallels, which allows you to virtualize a Windows machine on Macs. The setup is very easy and it works for Apple Silicon Macs as well as for older Intel-based Macs.

Parallels supports the latest version of DirectX and OpenGL, allowing you to play the latest PC games on any Mac. The latest version of DirectX is up to 20% faster.

Our favorite feature of Parallels Desktop is that when you turn off your virtual machine, all the unused disk space gets returned to your main OS, thus minimizing resource waste (which used to be a problem with virtualization).

A/X-101 installation steps for Mac

Step 1
Go to Parallels.com and download the latest version of the software.
Step 2
Follow the installation process and make sure you allow Parallels in your Mac’s security preferences (it will prompt you to do so).
Step 3
When prompted, download and install Windows 10. The download is around 5.7GB. Make sure you give it all the permissions that it asks for.
Step 4
Once Windows is done installing, you are ready to go. All that’s left to do is install A/X-101 like you would on any PC.
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