Astro Boy: Omega Factor
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| Astro Boy: Omega Factor | |
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| Developer(s) | Treasure and Hitmaker |
| Publisher(s) | Sega |
| Designer(s) | Yoshiyuki Matsumoto |
| Platform(s) | Game Boy Advance |
| Release date | JPN December 18, 2003 NA August 18, 2004 EUR February 18, 2005 |
| Genre(s) | Fighting Action |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: E (Everyone) OFLC: G8+ |
| Media | 64 megabit cartridge |
| Input methods | Control pad |
Astro Boy: Omega Factor (ASTRO BOY・鉄腕アトム -アトムハートの秘密- Astroboy Tetsuwan Atom: Atom Heart no Himitsu?) is a fighting action videogame developed by Treasure Co. Ltd and Hitmaker, published by Sega. The game was released December 18, 2003 in Japan, August 18, 2004 in North America and February 18, 2005 in Europe for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance. The American and European editions of the game feature language options, a skill level, action sequences, and a boss health meter not available in the original Japanese.
The game was inspired by Osamu Tezuka's manga Astro Boy. Omega Factor features characters and plot lines from the manga artist's entire canon of work, effectively creating an all-new story.
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[edit] Gameplay
Omega Factor is a hybrid of the beat 'em up and shoot 'em up genres. Some levels feature Astro fighting enemies on the ground in hand to hand combat, while others have him flying and taking down enemies. The game also features a skill level where Astro tests himself against other robots from the series.
[edit] Plot
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The plot summary in this article or section is too long or detailed compared to the rest of the article. Please edit the article to focus on discussing the work rather than merely reiterating the plot. |
Omega Factor features elements from Astro Boy's different incarnations. The concept of robot rights, Dr. Tenma's ultimate plan for Astro and the robot city of Antarctica are lifted from the Astro Boy 2003 TV series. Plotlines from other Tezuka series include a time travel plot lifted from Marine Express, a journey to the lost continent of Mu, and a subplot involving Duke Red's daughter and her role in the "Death Mask" orbital platform. The game is divided in two episodes
[edit] Birth
The story starts with Astro saving Wato from a group of robots, and fighting against Magnamite (from Episode 1 of Astroboy 2003 series). After the battle, Atlas appears telling Astro they'll meet again.
In level two, detective Tawashi asks for Astro's help to stop an artificial sun that has been seen in the Pacific Ocean. When Astro destroys the sun, it falls in Cruciform Island. Here, Astro mets other members of Osamu Tezuka's Star System: Amazing Three, Big X, Rainbow Parakeet, Wally Kisaragi, and Pook, who calls Astro by name even though Astro has never met him. While Astro travels through the island, he discovers Skunk and Kinsankaku are using Pook to discover an ancient treasure. When Astro faces them, Skunk orders Pook to fight against Astro, when Astro wins, Pook tells him to protect Mu.
In level three, Astro travels to Moon to save Daichi, Mr. Tokugawa's son. When Astro find Daichi, he reveals himself as Atlas and fights against Astro. He tells Astro that he must defeat him in order to evolve. After the battle, parts of the room collapse revealing a hibernation chamber containing a girl that Atlas recognizes, but without being able to remember her, he flees.
In level four, Astro and Wally travel to the Antarctic in the Marine Express and met Rag, the first robot president. They also met Duke Red, the International Councilor, but the anti-robot group, the Black Looks, attack. Astro fights against them, saving Nuka, Duke Red's daughter. Astro pursues the Black Looks, but must get back to the Antarctic to stop a powerful robot named Carabs, programmed by Black Looks to destroy the president. But, even when Astro destroys Carabs, Lord Deadcross, the leader of the Black Looks, successfully destroys Rag.
In level five, Astro pursues Deadcross, who tries to escape in the Marine Express. When Deadcross is defeated, his real identity, Rock, is revealed. Rock intended to use Rag, his servant to become president, but his plan backfired when Rag began advocating himself as Rag not Rock. Then, the Marine Express, along with Astro, Wally and Rock travel through time to the Mu Empire, where they met Don Dracula and Sharaku, but before Sharaku can enslave them, Pook rescues them and takes the team to Sapphire's castle.
In level six, Astro meets Princess Sapphire. He learns how Sharaku is attacking the kingdom using the Psy powers of his third eye. Astro fights through Sharaku's forces to face off against Sharaku and recover Marine Express. after he is beaten, Sharaku reveals that he just wants Pook, and he promises Astro that he'll rule the world someday.
In Level seven, Astro repairs Marine Express three months after Astro defeated Sharaku. Wally and Astro go back to the future, while Rock stays behind to try to save Mu of its fate. When Astro and Wally go back, they discover that five years have passed since they left, and a war between humans and robots started after Rag was destroyed. Shadow (from Astro Boy serie 2003), the leader of robots, offers Astro to join to the world's strongest robots and fight against humans, but he refuses becuse of his desire to make peace between robots and humans. He is forced to fight against the strongest robots in the world. After he defeats North, Denkou, Brontus, Epsilon, and Pluto, who has befriended Zoran, he discovers that Shadow is really Sharaku, who traveled to future using his Hoa Kabari Kiluma potion, he planned to go foward in time to control robots and thus rule the world, but each time he tries to do it, the Death Mask, Goddess of Justice appears. Sharaku goes back to try again,and leaves Death Mask to destroy all robots using Omotenium, including Astro.
After Astro is destroyed, Phoenix appears to give Astro a second chance by allowing him to be reborn. She also gives Astro the power of time travel so he can rewrite history with his newfound knowledge and create a world where humans and robots can live in harmony.
[edit] Rebirth
When Phoenix gives Astro a chance to change history, he can stage select. Astro also sees a scene where Daichi is with Prime Rose, the girl that was in the hibernation chamber when he fought against Atlas in Moon. Prime Rose is seriously sick, so she must be hospitalized somewhere only robots have access, but Daichi promises to visit her and take her to the moon.
Due to the random flow of time travel, some things in the world are different than how Astro remembers. Drake is now the International Councilor in place of Duke Red, and is using his political position to advocate anti-robot laws. Duke Red is in hiding. Nuka meets Astro and reveals that she too has been given a message by Phoenix. She tells Astro that only he can create a better world for humans and robots. Also Astro recognizes Pook on cruciform island having met him in Mu. After defeating Atlas, Astro mets Dr. Tenma who tells him to defeat more robots and evolve. Rock becomes president of Antartic by assassinating Rag. This causes the robots to attacks humans under the command of Blue Knight, instead of the Black Looks. Rock is still revealed to be Deadcross, however. When Astro returns from Mu (Rock still stays behind), he must fight against the World's Strongest Robots again, under the command of the Blue Knight. Blue Knight, in an effort to understand more about Death Mask, kidnaps humans to extract information: Inspector Tawashi (who followed the Kinsankaku gang), Skunk Kusai(who followed his boss), Mr. Kinsankaku (who was following the orders of a mysterious eye), and Mr. Tokugawa (who reveals that he and Duke Red created Death Mask). After defeating Pluto, Astro tries to stop Blue Knight from fighting humans. Blue Knight chooses not to ally himself with someone who destroys robots, but the World's Strongest Robots appear and reveal that they were not destroyed but just disabled by Astro (who has already fought them). Astro reveals that he can transcend time and vows to solve the mystery and stop Death Mask.
With his time travels, Astro finds the true about how the war started. When Prime Rose was hospitalized, Daichi asked Kennedy (Wally’s nephew) to search Dr. Black Jack, the only one who could cure her, but Sharaku blocked Kennedy’s memory so he couldn’t say Daichi where to find Black Jack, also, to prevent Black Jack could to operate her, he paid Ham Egg to kidnap Pinoko.
When Daichi had not answer of Kennedy, he, disguised like a robot, took Prime Rose to the moon, who was already in her hibernation chamber, but he didn’t knew Tokugawa was building Death Mask in the moon under the orders of Duke Red. Like the core of Death Mask is made of Omotenium, a radioactive material, Daichi’s body becomes mortally ill. Tokugawa asked Dr. Tenma to transfer Daichi’s memories to a robot, creating Atlas, while Prime Rose was kept in the moon. When Drake saw in the security camera a robot was taking out Prime Rose, he blamed all robots for the murder of her daughter.
With the help of Rainbow Parakeet, Astro rescues Pinoko, thus Black Jack travels with he and Wally to the moon to operate Prime Rose, but they receive a transmition, Drake have found Duke Red and he menace Nuka (who is Death Mask’s core) with kill he if she not reveals where is she. Black Jack starts the operation, but Atlas appears and Astro must fight against him. With Atlas defeated, Drake prepared to kill Duke Red and himself due Nuka not appears, but Prime Rose stops he and She and Tokugawa reveals he all the story. When Drake understands his mistake, he asks Daichi to take care of Prime Rose.
Unluckly, Nuka reveals herself and Sharaku says that now he can see where she is. Astro travels to the location of Death Mask where he fight against copies of Magnimite, the Artificial Sun, and Carabs, but he's helped by Pluto, Atlas, and Blue Knight. At Death Mask, Astro fights and defeats Sharaku once again. Sharaku then reveals Omotenium is really a living metal, and Pook (whose real name is Pick), now ally of Sharaku, is the key to control that living entity, Garon. Astro destroys Garon, but parts of it fall into the sun making it unstable. Nuka tells Astro she can stop the activity of omotenium, but he must send her into the sun. Astro sacrifices himself with her to get there faster and save more lives. Phoenix, seeing their sacrifice, returns them to life and thus Astro and Nuka back to Earth. Sharaku and Pook end up in Fire Vase island, where Wato place a bandage in Sharaku's third eye, sealing off his evil side and powers.
[edit] Characters
The story includes characters from Tezuka's entire canon of work. The characters are listed in the "Omega Factor", an in-game fictional universe encyclopedia that provides a detailed character biography, including their appearances and roles in Tezuka's works. The characters that appear are:
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[edit] Credits
- Executive Producer - Hisao Oguchi
- Producer - Mie Kumagai
- Main Programer & Game Design - Yoshiyuki Matsumoto (as Yaiman)
- Director, Game & Visual Concept, Story - Tez Okano
- Programmers - Yuuki Mibu, Katsuhiro Sanjou, Hiroto Matsuura
- Main Designer & Game Supervisor - Naoki Kitagawa (as Naokiman)
- Designers - Dad Ogino, Tomoharu Satio, Satoshi Nakai, Satoshi Yokokawa
- Music - Norio Hanzawa (NON) and Tsuyoshi Kaneko
- Sound Effects - Satoshi Murata
[edit] Reception
The game was well received in English speaking countries, gathering high scores in review tallying websites: 86% in Game Rankings and a score of 85 in Metacritic.[1] GameSpot gave it a 9.2 as well as an Editors Choice award, and calls it "one of the best action games on the Game Boy Advance".[2]
[edit] Trivia
- In character list of game, Sapphire and Prime Rose appears with their most known clothes. Prime Rose with the clothes she use in Prime Rose Manga and Sapphire with her outfit of Princess Knight
- One of transformations Pook use resemble Kimba, the white Lion
- The name of creatures Sharaku summon have the name of Aztec gods.
- Rainbow Parakeet calls himself Sherlock Homespun when Astro first met him, he used that name in episode 39 of Astro Boy (1980 TV series) (The Stolen Sun).
- This is the third time Astro Boy and Black Jack appears together, the first time was in episode 26 of 1980 series (The Time Machine), the second time was in Marine Express.
- Nuka never appeared in a Osamu Tezuka manga, her first and only appearance was in episode 51 of 1980 series (Astro's First Love), her name in American version was Niki.
- The scene where Astro flies towards the sun resembles the final episode of Astro Boy 1963 series, where Astro dies sending a rocket towards the sun.
- The Music that plays during the final level is the ending music to Gunstar Heroes.
[edit] References
- ^ Collection of Astro Boy: Omega Factor reviews. Game Rankings. Retrieved on 2007-08-10.
- ^ Collection of Astro Boy: Omega Factor reviews. Metacritic. Retrieved on 2007-08-10.
[edit] External links
- Astro Boy: Omega Factor at the official Sega of America site
- Astro Boy: Omega Factor at GameFAQs
- Astro Boy: Omega Factor at MobyGames
