Astro Boy: Omega Factor

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This article is about the GBA videogame. For the Astro Boy series and manga see Astro Boy (disambiguation).

Astro Boy: Omega Factor

Developer(s)	Treasure and Hitmaker
Publisher(s)	Sega
Designer(s)	Yoshiyuki Matsumoto
Release date(s)	December 18, 2003 August 18, 2004 February 18, 2005
Genre(s)	Beat 'em up / Shoot 'em up
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: Everyone (E)
Platform(s)	Game Boy Advance
Media	64-megabit cartridge
Input	Control pad

Astro Boy: Omega Factor (known in Japan as Astroboy Tetsuwan Atom: Atom Heart no Himitsu) is a Game Boy Advance video game released in 2004 by Sega and developed by Treasure Co. Ltd and Hitmaker that is an adaptation of the 2003 anime series Astro Boy.

1 Gameplay
2 Plot
3 Reception
4 Regional differences
5 Characters
6 Trivia
7 Credits
8 External links

[edit] Gameplay

Omega Factor is a hybrid of the beat 'em up and shoot 'em up video game genres. Roughly half of the game features land-based side scrolling stages, while the rest feature Astro Boy flying through the skies.

[edit] Plot

Omega Factor features a sprawling plot combining a number of elements from the most recent TV series (robot rights, Dr. Tenma's ultimate plan for Astro, and robots living in Antarctica), as well as appearances by a large number of Tezuka's other best-known characters, though only a handful were ever seen in the series (most notably Wally, Rock, Duke Red, Ham Egg, Princess Sapphire, and Rainbow Parakeet, though a heavily modified version of Goldar and his robot family also appeared). The game also incorporates a time travel plot, a journey 30,000 years in the past to the lost continent of Mu, a skill level where Astro tests himself against other robots from the series, and a subplot involving Duke Red's daughter and her role in an orbital platform called Death Mask which is capable of destroying all robots on Earth.

[edit] Reception

Perhaps surprisingly for an adaptation, the game got mostly good reviews, even in Europe. Many review sites gave it extremely high scores, some saying it was one of the best GBA titles of the year.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Regional differences

Though a Japanese version of the game was released six months prior to the American release, the U.S. version is regarded as superior, having added more language options, an extra skill level, additional action sequences, and an opponent health meter for the bosses. The European version also featured the improvements of the North American release.

[edit] Characters

Throughout the game, there are many appearances and references to other works by Osamu Tezuka, drawing from his Star System. Interestingly, the characters are mostly referred to by their Japanese names, and not so much by the names they were given in the American versions of their series. The characters are all classics from his work, and are listed in the "Omega Factor":

Professor Ochanomizu
Doctor Tenma
Uran
Shinsaku Ban also known as "Higeoyaji"
Pook, also known as Pick, who can turn into Kimba the White Lion
Garon the space monster
Phoenix
Amazing 3
Big X
Dr. BlackJack
Princess Sapphire
Rainbow Parakeet
Rock
Tamao, also known as Alejo
Shibugaki, also known as Abercrombie
Kenichi, also known as Kennedy
President Rag
Deadcross
Duke Red
Nuka
Don Dracula
The Black Looks
Hosuke Sharaku, also known as Shadow
Blue Knight
Pluto
Epsilon
Mont-Blanc, also known as Brontus
Denkou, also known as Lightning
Skunk Kusai
Kinsankaku
Inspector Tawashi
Boon
Mr. Tokugawa
Prime Rose
Daichi
Chiyoko Wato
Hamegg
Pinoko
Fumoon, also known as Rococo

[edit] Trivia

Two pieces of background music from Gunstar Heroes are used in this game, notably the end credits theme, which is also used for the final credits in Omega Factor. Norio Hanzawa (aka NON), composer for many of Treasure's games, wrote the score for this game as well as for Gunstar Heroes.
The game's fighting engine was a greatly improved version of the one used for Treasure's previous GBA title, Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster's Bad Dream.