Astro Boy: Omega Factor - GBA

Created 50 years ago by Manga progenitor Osamu “God of Comics” Tezuka, Astro Boy is the star of a popular 60s and 70s Japanese comic and television series, that also ran in the US, more recently re-made in colour and distributed worldwide. A jet-powered robotic boy, Astro Boy’s brief is to protect the good citizens of the futuristic and heavily mechanised civilisation of Metro City from the forces of evil. He is endowed with ‘the strength of 100,000 horses and a heart of gold’. His adventures, in essence a science fiction retelling of the Pinocchio story, are the subject of two new video games. But while his outing on the PS2 is the work of Yuji Naka’s SEGA studio Sonic Team, the GBA version has been developed by a team even more exciting than that. Legendary independent software house Treasure! That’s right. The Tai-pans of 2D. The tyrants of twitch. The same company that brought you shooter classics like Radiant Silvergun, Bangai-0, Ikaruga and Gradius V now breathe life into this very special license.

Astro Boy lends himself well to a 2D shooting game. His various abilities are all here, from his rapid fire arm cannon and laser beam attacks to his brute strength. As you play through 13 exciting stages, you must build your Omega Factor – this is the key to the robo boy’s human soul. You’ll encounter more than 50 different foes in this old school romp, including nemeses from the TV show like Denkou, Atlas and the Blue Knight, in a game that does justice to the cartoon character, and is everything you’ve come to expect from Treasure, who are the masters of the genre. Buy it now.
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