GAME NAME:  Omega Race for the VIC 20 and the C64
COMPANY  :  Commodore Business Machines, Inc.
COIN-OP  :  Copyright Bally/Midway (1981)
AUTHOR   :  Andy Finkel with Eric Cotton (March 1982) for VIC
            Jeff Bruette also for C64.

GAME TYPE:  Translation of the coin-op arcade game "Omega Race".
REQUIRED :  (VIC 20) 8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick. 
            (C64) Cartridge plugging, Joystick in Port 1 or 
            Paddle 
            [Emulator Note - CCS64: The paddle can be replaced by 
            the PC mouse using the PC Mouse + Gameport 1 setting 
            for the C64 port 1, then mouse left-right motion 
            turns the ship while moving up with the mouse button 
            pressed gives thrust. It is a pretty tricky control 
            though!
            The version with Bally/Midway mentioned on the title 
            screen does not have a good paddle control.]

GRAPHICS :  Excellent. Translating vector graphics is always hard 
            to do.
SOUND    :  Excellent. They seemed to have captured the arcade's 
            essence.
GAMEPLAY :  Excellent. They did a good job of converting this 
            classic game.
OVERALL  :  Excellent. Commodore worked hard on this game, and it 
            shows.

AD TEXT  :  "(The smash-hit arcade game!) The ultimate space game. 
            You've got one Omegan fighter maneuvering against
 
            Droid ships, 
            Command ships, 
            Death ships, 
            Photon mines, 
            Vapor mines. 

            Fantastic 'rubber band' boundaries, multiple levels 
            of difficulty ... all the features that make the 
            Bally/Midway game so successful! One or two players" 
            (Seen in Spring 1983 issue of "Commodore Power Play"; 
            page 104.)
REVIEW   :  "This translation of the coin-op space shoot is, in 
            the minds of many, the best game currently available 
            for the Vic-20. It's not in full color, but that's 
            only a minor annoyance." (Seen in the Nov 1982 issue 
            of Electronic Games, page 49.) A photo caption in
	    that same article says "Despite the monochrome 
            graphics, Omega Race is a top-notch computer game 
            program."
REVIEW   :  "High-powered conversion of the classic arcade game. 
            Race around an oblong block where the score is 
            displayed, firing lasers at Droid ships and mines 
            they've planted in space. Lack of gravity is convin-
            cingly worked into action; you must wheel around and 
            hit the engines to stop. Droids turn into Command 
            ships if not knocked out fast enough. These become 
            Death Ships, which release more powerful Vapor 
            Mines." (From page 53, Jan/Feb 1985 Computer Games)
TRIVIA   :  Yes, this game is reproduced in black and white 
            instead of color. The reason for that is simple; 
            the original arcade game was also black and white! 
            It was an early "vector graphics" based game.
	    In other words, the arcade graphics were similar to 
            those of the arcade classic "Asteroids," or to those 
            on the Vectrex coin-op machine.
	    The arcade original of Omega Race was a 1981 Midway 
            game.
TRIVIA   :  One of the first video games with a built-in secret 
            feature? "Power Play" magazine, put out by Commodore 
            themselves, ran a two-page article on bugs found in 
            this game and in Gorf, another converted arcade 
            classic. (See Summer 1983 issue, page 38.) In part 
            it says "...is not really a bug in the true sense, 
            so let's call it an 'undocumented feature.' Normally 
            in this game you get three ships when you start. 
            However, if you hold down the SHIFT key while press-
            ing either F1 (for joystick) or F3 (for paddle) at
	    the beginning of the game, you will get -- count 'em 
            -- five ships! Let's see if that improves your 
            score!" (Article written by Jeff Bruette, one of 
            Commodore's in-house game programmers.)
TRIVIA   :  An interview with Andy Finkel, another Commodore 
            programmer of the Game, said that there is another 
            secret keypress sequence. If you hold down 
            Commodore, Ctrl, and Shift at the title screen, then 
            press Return you will see the programmer's credit 
            screen. You may have to wait a few seconds into the 
            title or press the keys twice, but it does work. 
            (Interview by Rick Melick and posted on his 
            homepage.)

-END-