Wipeout Central
Register
Advertisement


Anti-Gravity Systems (otherwise known as AG Systems International, also referred to as AG-S or AG-SYS) are an Anti-Gravity racing team based in Japan. The team was founded by the pioneer of Anti-Gravity technology, Pierre Belmondo. As a recurring team in the Wipeout series, AG Systems are considered a fan-favourite team in the series.

History[]

The Foundation for European Anti-Gravity Research was founded in the early 21st century and was a member of the World Anti-Gravity Research Congress. The Foundation became the leader in anti-gravity research when Pierre Belmondo emerged as its Director in 2024. But later that year, influenced by profit-driven governments, the Congress was shut down, and anti-gravity technology was then deemed "inefficient" and "never... cost-effective". Nonetheless, Belmondo pushed on with anti-gravity research in secret. He proved the whole world that anti-gravity transport was possible as he accomplished the first flight in an AG craft in 2035.

To solve the problem of fund shortages and express concerns over the technology, Anti-Gravity Systems was established as the commercial arm of the Foundation in 2040, with Belmondo assuming the role of director. The whole company was sold off to a Japanese consortium two years later following the dissolution of the Foundation. Even though the base of operations had moved to Tokyo, Belmondo remained its director.

It was the time when an anti-gravity racing league was finally established, followed by the establishment of the other three teams as a result of AG Systems' influence:

  • Auricom and Qirex: Established by former AG Systems employees Delia Flaubert and Holst McQueen, respectively.
  • FEISAR: Established earlier as Europe's main anti-gravity research organization replacing the Foundation.

The F5000 League was the first time AG Systems had done considerably well, as their craft was immaculate and took little time for the pilots to gain experience. With a little extra funding, the team emerged as one of the top contenders, allowing them to better compete against heavyweights Auricom and Qirex. However, once Piranha and their experimental craft began to steal the show, it became clear that AG Systems were not the only team looking at the latest technology. This was further evident with the rise of other AG racing teams, such as Assegai.

The biggest weakness of AG Systems, however, was their preference to anti-gravity research over racing performance. This led to inconsistencies with their craft and, consequently, their declining performance in AG racing. The problem reached its peak near the end of the F7200 League when AG Systems was marred by soaring debts following a streak of unsuccessful seasons, leading the company to declare bankruptcy in 2155. At the same time, AG Systems sold off its AG racing operations to the G-Tech Systems corporation.

G-Tech was as far from the ideals of AG Systems as they could get, sacrificing ingenuity and technological prowess for a bureaucratic approach to spending huge amounts of funds on a craft that was widely panned for its unappealing design and horrendous manoeuvrability. Unsurprisingly, such an approach didn't end well for G-Tech as the team would go on to consistently underperform in the F9000 League, with not a single teams' championship title to their name to make the point. Eventually, the G-Tech Systems corporation closed down for good once its involvement in the corruption among the F9000 International Federation was exposed during the 2170 season.

The next year, AG Systems was reinstated. From this time on, AG Systems concentrated on research and application of anti-gravity technology, providing Anti-Gravity generators to a range of application, spanning from home and commerce to defense. When interest in amateur AG racing rose in the 2180s, AG Systems took interest in returning to AG racing. To that end, AG Systems attended the Anti-Gravity Rebirth Festival in 2185, where it started providing spare craft parts, and later whole craft, to AG racing enthusiasts. This allowed AG Systems to study the nature of the competition and rebuild its AG racing team with its introduction to the FX300 League in 2197.

Indeed, the FX300 League was the team's best time yet, gaining a lot of ground on Makana's technical tracks and winning several races throughout the League. AG Systems eventually came second at the end of the 2206 season, only to see the original championship winners Triakis disqualified for use of illegal equipment on their craft. AG Systems were subsequently awarded the title, and had since been looking quite confident to tackle the competition in the future.

Furthermore, AG Systems managed to prove that their 2206 FX300 Championship title did not come as a surprise, as seen in their strong performance in FX350 League events and their newfound confidence during the FX400 League pre-season testing. Their new craft had also received a much-needed boost in shield energy. As a result, AG Systems were very excited to keep up with their performance as they prepared for their new campaign in the 2207 season of the FX400 League.

FX300 Background[]

After selling its entire racing operation to the G-Tech trading empire in 2155, Tokyo-based AG Systems has rebuilt its team from the ground up in readiness for the new league.

With its traditionally powerful engine systems and aerodynamic technology, the AG Systems craft of the FX300 era should be every bit as agile and responsive as its predecessors. However, the care taken by test pilots during shakedown runs would suggest that if it has a weakness, it's going to be its durability.

FX400 Background[]

AG Systems have finally turned the corner after spending the best part of a decade fighting for the scraps in the FX300 League. Their strong performance in FX350 class events, coupled with confidence inspiring pre-season testing for the FX400 League show that their 2206 FX300 Championship title was no fluke.

As one of the longest running operations in the history of the sport, the Japanese team look poised to continue their resurgence when AG Racing goes global for the 2207 season of the FX400 League.

FX400 Message[]

Statement issued by AG Systems International, Tokyo, Japan

Established in 2040, AG Systems of Tokyo, Japan are the original pioneers of Anti-Gravity technology. Since the days when our efforts were led by the great Pierre Belmondo, AG Systems has strived to forge new paths to the future that others later followed.

Since the inception of the Anti-Gravity Racing League, AG Systems has raced in every form of the sport, achieving the championship title on 25 occasions – most recently in the thrilling 2206 season of the FX300 Racing League.

For 2207 we hope to see our friends around the world as we travel the globe in pursuit of Championship titles in the new FX350 and FX400 Racing Leagues.

Appearance, Evolution and Stats[]

Generally, the team boasts great acceleration and maneuverability. These two stats are never lower than average in any game the team appeared in. Their craft are usually lightweight and great to use on technical circuits. However, since the AG Systems craft usually have low shielding in most games, they are also more vulnerable to elimination. Therefore, the key is to be very gentle with the controls, so as to avoid wall-scraping or dodge opposition fire.

AG Systems craft can be considered among the best craft to use in most games, since their strengths in thrust and handling are often considered the most important traits throughout the series, whether it's for taking sharp corners quickly with minimal loss of speed or recovering from weapon impact. Coincidentally, in Wipeout 3, where top speed matters the most, their craft gets its highest speed rating in the series to date.

The AG Systems craft began as a single hulled craft much like the others, but in Wipeout 2097 the craft began to diverge a little and become more akin to the first generation of craft that is known. The hull had two canard-like extensions on the front while the rear wings point down from the body, tapering in on both sides. The craft had a light build with the cockpit at the rear and reassembled a single hull design with the center of the fuselage recessed. The design was retained for Wipeout 3, but with the fuselage merged into a single hull and the cockpit put at the far rear.

With their return in Pure, the team's ship design began a new direction, with a wide single hull at the front, and a wide and shallow pair of wings at the rear, which are joined by a thin bridge-like structure. The cockpit is situated at the rear side of the front section, bringing it forwards on the whole ship by a third. While the ship is no longer as fast as its predecessors and still has a weak shielding, it manages to keep up with its impressive thrust and handling. In fact, it has the best thrust among the starting line-up teams, and only Goteki 45 can match it at that time.

This design has been kept for Pulse and HD, but the Fury ship design is a lot more solid and streamlined, with what seems to be layers of armour on top of a slightly thinner chassis connected to the rear wings by a more solid bridge structure. In both Pulse and HD, AG Systems is a popular ship for use. This is because apart from the thrust and handling characteristics typical of the team ships, it is now more durable than before. Despite these advantages, the ship is still not that fast, due to its low top speed. However, the AG Systems Fury ship does have better top speed. This will give the ship more power to go faster. In addition, the ship is seemingly more reliable thanks to the minor improvement on thrust.

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • In Wipeout 3, the year of establishment for AG Systems was listed as 2017, but this has now been retconned to 2040.
  • Despite AG Systems' European origins before their Japanese takeover, it is not known which European locale the team was established.
  • While it is not yet known how many championship titles Qirex have won (presumably much more), AG Systems can arguably be described as the second-most successful team in the history of the sport, competing with Auricom for that distinction. Canonically, AG Systems have achieved 25 championship titles to date, with the 2206 FX300 Championship being their most recent title.
  • One of AG Systems' mottos in the FX400 League, "A Friend in Speed", is a pun on "A Friend in Need".
  • The team's FX350/FX400 logo somewhat resembles the logo of the Designers' Republic, known as "Angryman", popularly featured in 2097 and 3.
  • While the team has their motto on their ships both in English and Japanese in Wipeout 2048, the Japanese text "ユウリョクナトモダチヲツクレ" is actually written in katakana script, which is more often used for loanwords from foreign languages.
    • Intentionally writing text in katakana script was a common Japanese graphic design trope, especially in the late 90s to early 2000s, which matches that era and the overall visual style of post-PS1 era Wipeout.
    • In hiragana and kanji-mixed script, the motto is written "ゆうりょくなともだちをつくれ" and "有力な友達を作れ" respectively.
    • When transcripted into Latin letters or Romaji, it reads "Yūryoku na tomodachi wo tsukure".
    • In Japanese, it roughly means, "Make powerful/famous friends".
    • Furthermore, their logo in 2048 features the kanji script "反重力" (Han-jūryoku), which literally translates to "anti-gravity" in Japanese.
  • It is important to note that AG Systems was NOT bought out and absorbed into G-Tech. The best evidence of this is the specifications of the G-Tech REVVER, which explicitly states that the ship's stabilizers are products of AG Systems.
Advertisement