Astro Boy: Omega Factor

What we have here is an Astro Boy game a la Treasure, makers of excellent titles like Gunstar Heroes, Dynamite Headdy, and Mischief Makers with their own spin on the franchise. But there's a catch, this isn't just an Astro Boy game, oh no, this is a celebration of Tezuka's life of work that would bring a twinkle to any Tezukahead's eye.

Gameplay with Omega Factor is pretty great, has that Treasure feel of being smooth and floaty in a way that feels satisfying to control. Treasure gets a lot of mileage out of the game boy advance’s limited control scheme. Double tapping the dpad in any direction allows you to dash forward in said direction and it works pretty smoothly, you can dash pretty easily and it also has I frames which is an interesting give for the player. There's also two types of specials, the L and R specials Hip Jets which are and AOE and Finger Laser which is a pretty good concentrated fire attack. I'm a big fan of how Astro controls in this because his punching and kicking just feels good to pull off, enemy sfx are satisfying to hear, and the combat is simple in this way where it doesn't get tiring too often. There’s overall a great sense of control to the game, and I really enjoy moving around and attacking in Omega Factor.

Story progression is interesting in that you meet a lot of Tezuka's characters from across various series throughout and there's no shortage either. The plot itself stems from Astro meeting all sorts of people and growing as a person and understanding the world, all at attempts to appease his creator, the ambiguously evil but also maybe not so evil??? Dr. Tenma. Where the game gets interesting narrative wise is in its postgame so spoilers ahead.

After beating the story for the first time, Astro is seemingly destroyed by a planet sized robotic apocalyptic being, but is rescued by the Phoenix from Tezuka's manga of the same name. Phoenix gives Astro Boy the power to travel through time to prevent this cataclysmic event from happening ever again and he does just that. We then are sent on a nonlinear journey which definitely is an interesting way to keep the game full of content. I was sure the game was going to end sooner than I thought but in actuality the game goes on longer due to this story development. Its ok to navigate but sometimes parts of the game will definitely feel like you need a guide to figure out where to go, it's not all simple meet Johnny Two-Hammers to find the Two Hammers to cause a new cutscene to happen, it can be annoying at times while some paths are easy to decipher.

Music is alright to me, not bad, but not the most memorable for me personally. Some boss music and stage music are very impactful and bombastic and I really like the vibe that some of it has, the quality is the typical crusty GBA music but im of the opinion the GBA’s sound tools are used either very well or very poorly and this lands on the very good part of the spectrum. The tracks feel like they're songs ripped straight from a CD at times and compressed to fit on GBA, something that I always love to see with older games working with limits is the ability to transfer something to a nontraditional music format and make it sound like its coming from a higher quality format.

Difficulty is interesting in that this game had a bit of a Devil May Cry 3 moment almost. So from what I've experienced this game's Normal difficulty felt kind of much especially towards the Pluto fight. Hell at that point I decided to quit my normal run and redo things from easy and the difference was night and day. Instead of 3 special movies I had like 50 starting the stage which felt insanely excessive. Turns out that was for a reason, because in the Japanese version of this game, they only had two difficulties while the American version had three. Japan got Easy and Difficult while international got Easy Normal and Difficult. Normal mode is apparently a less strenuous version of the difficult mode which boy howdy does it ever feel like it at times saying that from experience. Also the life bars just weren't a thing for bosses in the Japanese version also which sounds like a lot.

Overall, I'm gonna go out saying Astro Boy: Omega Factor is a really good time for anyone who likes side scrolling beat em ups, shmups, and that general Treasure vibe when it comes to games. I consider this to now be a go to GBA game for me and I think you should too and give it a try. You have nothing to lose but your dignity.