Denial

Omega Race was a 1981 vector arcade game. Even over three decades later, the VIC-20 version still captures the fun of the arcade original and shines for its playability.

Modern VIC programmers released 2 noteworthy additional titles inspired by Omega Race. In 2004 “Boray” Anders Persson gave us Mega Omega, and in 2009 Robert Hurst released Omega Fury.

Omega Race Omega Race High Scores
147750 …… Boray
113150 …… hasseapa
110300 …… Ola H
027500 …… R'zo

Mega Omega Mega Omega High Scores
28 …… Boray
16 …… akator
15 …… R'zo
12 …… hasseapa

Omega Fury Omega Fury High Scores
61140 / Protector / Level 15 …… rhurst
27950 / Centurion …… Boray

The ZIP archives contains all 3 games. Omega Race is in CRT format and both Mega Omega and Omega Fury are PRG. As always, your posted scores will be added to this first post. Play, discuss, have fun! And remember:

hasseapa wrote:... posting in the old threads should be encouraged. Old players can update their score, new players can post scores, and anyone can leave comments on the games.

Just tried my Mega Omega on VICE 2.4.25 on Linux and there is a very annoying sound on the info screen in between every track, which simply shouldn't be there: http://www.boray.se/pip_pip.mp3

Anyone else getting this?

^ I'm running 2.4 in Windows 10 and I haven't heard that sound yet.

I don'the know how much time i'll have this month but I will try to squeeze some time in.

...seems to be this problem: https://sourceforge.net/p/vice-emu/bugs/722/

Cool "game club" thread. If you beat any of the posted high scores in the Wiki, do be sure to put them in -- gives me something to shoot for. You'd think I'd have a better hand and anticipation having innate knowledge of the underlying programming to post ludicrous scores. Haha, that's where a little randomness sprinkled in to make patterns deviate enough, keeping the players on their toes, without breaking the game rules. For example, I never liked Pac-Man's "all reverse" action from dots and timers. But I do like each monster having unique speed and "attention span" attributes to break patterns and make each play a little different from each other.

The zip in this thread is a good copy, but if you're interested in the last release (2011), which addresses a couple of bugs, have at it from here. Enjoy!

Since I've played the PAL version of Mega Omega quite a lot over the years and already have the high score of 20, I decided to play the NTSC version (on PAL). After a couple of tries I got 19. I played once more, and reached an unsolvable track (which I even couldn't die on) - for the first time ever. So if you have the choice between PAL and NTSC, I think you should play the PAL version. It's a lot more tested over the years and I've never got an unsolvable track like that before.

A few tips: This is more of a strategy game than an action game. You better think out how to best reach the omega before even trying, and then it's often best to stick to the first thought out way, because if you hit a couple of obstacles, then these are out of your way. If you instead change your thought out way after a few tries, then there are other new obstacles you risk hitting.

Omega Race was one of my first Vic-20 carts that I got when I received my Vic-20 for Christmas back in 83 or so. Incredible port, probably one of the best in my opinion!!!

New high score for Mega Omega PAL: 28

^ Impressive! I've only been able to score 16 as a high so far.

12 on Mega Omega. I lost the screenshot.

Quite fun after a while so I hope to give it at least another go later.

78050 on Omega Race playing on VICE. Planning to play it on a real Vic with joystick soon, but I suspect it won't be much easier. I find it very hard to maneuver as you don't slow down the way you do in Asteroids. If I accidentally push too hard I find almost impossible to regain control of my ship and avoiding panicking.

I actually began practising, playing on VICE 50% speed - much easier! But not much help when I returned to normal speed again. But it is a good game I guess there is potential for much higher scores when you master maneuvering.

Note that Omega Race can be started with either 3 or 5 ships. My record of 206250 (from maybe 10 years back) is with 3 ships. I don't think I will attempt to break that record now because with two kids seeking attention all the time, it's a bit hard to concentrate on a game like that. It's however my #1 favourite Vic-20 game ever. This is me playing once (in case someone haven't seen it before):
https://youtu.be/YpAwCZ6g290

Omega Race can be played with either joystick or paddles. I prefer joystick.

I tested Omega Fury for the first time and was immediately intrigued by the "hi-res multicolor" look by controlled flickering of some of the enemy ships/weapons. It looks very convincing and exactly the way I have imagined an almost arcade perfect Galaxian could be made. (Would be even more fitting in Galaxian as the aliens really are bugs with wings.)

No score to post yet but the game is much easier to control than Omega Race due to slower acceleration and the ability to brake. Seems very playable. The only thing I didn't really like was the puny shots and the accompanying chirpy sound

I have had a few tries on Omega Race: 77800 (default 3 lives). Extremely hard to control but I adore the graphics and the fanfare.