FAQ - Guide for Omega Boost
- Cheats |
- Unlockables |
- Hints |
- Easter Eggs |
- Glitches |
- Guides
Scroll down to read our guide named "FAQ" for Omega Boost on PlayStation (PSX), or click the above links for more cheats.
#### ###### ######### ######## ########### ######### ##### #### ### ### ### #### #### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ##### #### ## ### ### ### ######## ######## ######## ##### ####### ### ### ########## ######### ######### ##### ###### ### ### ### #### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ###### ###### ### ##### ### ### ### ### ### ### ####### #### #### ### ### ### ### #### ### #### ### ### ### ### #### #### ########## #### #### #### #### ## ### ### ####### ####### ######### ######## ######## ######## ### ####### ####### ####### ###### ###### ###### ### FAQ Version V0.5 Omega Boost Japanese Version Only Started May 20th By Andrew Dean Update August 5th "Did you pack extra socks? Yeah... And the family christmas picture.." This FAQ can ONLY be freely distributed as long as it is done so in IT'S ENTIRETY and is unaltered. This FAQ CANNOT be used commercially or otherwise reprinted or incorporated into any commercial medium. It is FOR PRIVATE USE ONLY. NEW: ALL Zones/Levels at last. More info on PAL version =--------= *Contents* =--------= 1. What is Omega Boost? 2. The Omega Boost 3. Walkthrough/Boss Guide 4. Extended Zones 5. Cheating 6. Version Differences 7. Miscellaneous 8. Copyright Notice/Thanks/Contact Information/.. =-----------------------= *1. What Is Omega Boost?* =-----------------------= Omega Boost is a Playstation Shoot'em'up created by Polyphony Digital, the creators of (most notably) Gran Turismo. Omega Boost pushes the Playstation to its limits as the Hi-res 3d engine throws hundreds of enemy craft and light sourced explosions at you. The graphics show their Gran Turismo origins with light reflecting off the Omega Boosts metallic surface and an amusingly pointless replay mode, but without the restraints of realism seen in Gran Turismo, Polyphony have gone to town with the amazing effects seen. Playing Omega Boost is like a non stop light show of light sourced explosions, missiles, and huge amounts of Polygons being shifted. The speed of the game is amazing, and I have hardly ever seen the game slow down. On some levels, (i.e U3) the game is generating literally hundreds of enemies on screen each firing hundreds of shots at the player, each being destroyed with a light sourced explosion and a trail of smoke, and each being hit by up to 16 missiles, and the game never seems to be even troubled by this activity. As the pilot of the Omega Boost, a huge mech armed with a laser rifle and homing missiles, you must travel through time to replace a vacuum fuse on an antique super computer (don't ask...). Oh, and blow the hell out of anything that so much as looks at you funny. The game plays like a sort of cross between Afterburner and 3D shoot'em'ups like Colony Wars or Blast Radius, but with strategies for destroying the bosses similar to 2D classic R-Type. You blast through space locking on and firing hundreds of missiles and raking everything with laser fire as you battle through the waves of fighter aircraft, mechs, giant space stations, robotic spiders, huge dragon worm things, And Terminator 2-esque blobs of liquid metal. If you've played Panzer Dragoon then you know what to expect, but Omega Boost is much more 'hardcore'. =------------------= *2. The Omega Boost* =------------------= One thing that is essential in standing a chance in this fast and tough game is a good knowledge of the controls and the weapons of the Omega Boost. If you don't already have one, buy yourself an analogue pad. Omega Boost is much more fun and easier to control with the analogue sticks, plus you get the usual shaky explosions. And besides, you won't be able to play Ape Escape otherwise... CONTROL TIPS The 'Scan' ^^^^^^^^^^ By holding down the L1 button you can ensure that you are always facing the enemy. This is absolutely essential for completing the game and I usually spend about 80% of the game holding this button down. It lets you turn tighter, and track enemies, as well as making it easier to see where you're going on timeshaft levels. Master its use ASAP. On thing you should bear in mind, however, is that you automatically turn towards the last enemy you shot at, even if they've got missiles fired after them. This can be a pain on levels like zone 3 where you will most likely be firing one stream of missiles before immediately locking on the next batch, as you end up facing the wrong way. To remedy this, try turning in the incoming enemies direction and pushing the L3 button (left analogue stick) to immediately do a 180 turn. Quick Turn ^^^^^^^^^^ As mentioned above, press L3 (push down the left analogue stick) whilst holding a direction to turn a quick 180. Weapons ^^^^^^^ Although you only have three weapons in the game it is essential that you know when and how to use them effectively. Laser Rifle The Omega Boosts huge rifle is not really that powerful, but is very effective against waves of enemies. When you're up against huge amounts of enemies it can be more effective than the homing missiles. A good example of this is the U3 level. You simply can't keep up by firing missiles, but by having a fast trigger finger you can cut a scathe through the aircraft. It's also instrumental in the defeat of certain bosses, for example, blowing pieces off them or doing damage to bosses with missile defenses. Homing missiles Remember that you can only lock on missiles when you are NOT firing. Resist the temptation to blast like mad at incoming waves and instead calmly destroy them with your locked on missiles. A simple rule to bear in mind is that the more missiles you fire at once the more damage you will do faster to the enemy. Therefore fire off all 16 rather than small batches of 3 or 4. When waiting for missiles to hit, always keep firing with your rifle, especially on bosses. Viper Boost The equivalent of a 'smart bomb'. Use it to destroy large numbers of enemies, or more commonly bosses. You are awarded more viper boost energy after each level (You start with none on zone 1) and by destroying bosses and other baddies. you can abort viper boost by pressing the L2 button again, but you will have wasted too much energy to make this useful. =---------------------------= *3. Walkthrough / Boss Guide* =---------------------------= !READ THIS FIRST! Although the walkthrough is quite thorough, it's difficult to make a definitive 100% accurate guide to this game as so little information is easily available on it (after all, it's only out in Japan, a major obstacle for someone who only speaks english). Therefore, I made up all the boss and stage names. I think most are quite fitting, but I don't expect these to be the real names of the bad guys. In the future I will also write the differences in hard mode for each zone (I started doing it, but it's a bit patchy). Guide info """"" """" Time Limit: The amount of time to complete the level before you begin to lose bonus points (less than 100% on ranking screen) Number of enemies: Simply the number of enemies on the stage. On some stages this is just an approximate number as more enemies appear until e.g you defeat a boss enemy, so the number could be potentially infinite. Mini Boss: Any enemy that arrives with a yellow energy bar at the bottom of the screen. Boss Battle: Guess. Yes, that's right. Destroyable Parts (on bosses): Things you can blow off bosses to make them easier/look cool. ZONE 1 - Approach to planet Eta ====== ====================== Time Limit: 2:30 No. enemies: 39 An easy, and slightly dull beginning to the game. Simply lock on to all the incoming waves and blow them to pieces. on Normal difficulty they won't even get a single shot off. MINI BOSS: Asteroid Cannon Destroyable parts: Rotating Spheres You have two choices in how to take the cannon out. Either take out all the rotating spheres and then go for the cannon, or just go for the kill from the beginning. Taking out the spheres dosen't make the battle much easier, so you may as well just destroy the cannon. Either way, boost towards the cannon so you can get as many lock-ons as possible before the iris opens again. Just as it's about to open fire all the missiles and get out of the way. On normal difficulty, rake the cannon with your rifle until it closes again, you should be able to easily avoid the incoming fire. In hard difficulty you'll have to avoid the cannon as much as possible, and only wait in front of it when its closed the iris, letting off all you missiles and avoiding the cannon again, as it constantly follows and fires at you accurately. Once it begins to explode, hang back as a load of mechs are waiting in the explosion. They don't actually do anything, but if you're trying for a perfect score you'll want to hit them before they try to escape. *BOSS BATTLE* PLANET ETA ORBITAL REACTOR """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Destroyable Parts: 3 Reactor Power Nodes A very easy boss. head towards the centre, and take out the formation of fighters. now simply sit next to one of the three 'points' of the reactor and pump it with homing missiles. Watch out for the fighters escaping if your going for a perfect score. In hard mode you'll get attacked from behind by 3 fighters every now and again, but this is still very easy. You can blow the 3 points away from the structure if you use your laser, but it dosen't make things any easier (not that it needs to be). ZONE 2 - Orbit of Planet Eta ====== =================== Time Limit: 3:10 No. Enemies: 70-80 Slightly tougher than Zone 1, but still easy. Lock on and destroy all the incoming fighter waves, easy. Eventually you'll reach a space shuttle. hit with as many lock-ons as possible or it will dispense lots of little satellites that are a pain to destroy. Next up is another 3 shuttles, so make sure you hit them before they can dispense their load. MINI BOSS: Planet Eta Orbital Platform Destroyable Parts: Fuel Tanks, Gun Emplacements, Cargo Canisters An easy enemy. Fly round destroying the large cylindrical fuel tanks and the mech producing cargo canisters with you rifle and finish the main structure off with your missiles. Even if you move slowly the guns will miss you, and the enemy mechs aren't much of a threat (unless you playing in hard mode, natch). *BOSS BATTLE* ALPHA BOOST """"""""""""""""""""""""" Destroyable Points: NONE This boss likes nothing more than to hit you in head on collisions. When he charges you get some lock-ons, but most importantly, GET OUT OF THE WAY! although it dosen't do that much damage you will be knocked out of control giving him time to charge you again. Just keep hitting him and avoiding its charge attacks and it's easy. ZONE 3 - Planet Eta, Upper Atmosphere ====== ============================ Time Limit: 3:25 No. Enemies: 91 One of my favourite levels. Start blasting with your rifle as soon as the zone starts to take out all the fighters. Try to hit all the incoming planes with clean lock-ons, so you don't have to turn round, as otherwise you'll get overwhelmed by planes and have no chance of taking them all out. When you fight the strange mechs watch out below you, as when you've taken one of them out a whole squadron of fighter planes will sneak past underneath the battle. You must be quick to take them out. MINI BOSS: Missile Mech Destroyable parts: NONE In many ways this enemy is similar to the Alpha Boost from the previous level, in that it simply flies around colliding with you and firing missiles. Hit it hard to begin with so that you have done as much damage as possible before he starts firing missiles. The missiles are reasonably easy to avoid and don't do much damage, but their sheer volume means that you'll have to take evasive action. Keep turning and hitting him with missiles and victory is assured. *BOSS BATTLE* STEALTH BOMBER """""""""""""""""""""""""""" Destroyable Points: Fuel pods, Wing tips, Missile launchers, Cockpit Not too difficult, as long as you keep on the move. move about to avoid the flak from the AA-Guns, and when it starts using its red lasers on you, fly underneath it so they can't hit you. Usually this makes it drop bombs on you, so next avoid them and keep pummelling its underside. When it starts getting low on health it often uses yellow homing missiles which do a fair bit of damage, so beware. If you do this boss right and keep moving and hiding, then it's easy to never get hit. ZONE 4 - Planet Eta, Surface ====== =================== Time Limit: 4:10 No. Enemies: 50 An initially tough level, but with some practice not too bad. Watch out for the spiders dropping from above. Either boost out of their way or 'scan' at them and let off some missiles. If one grabs you quickly blast in its general direction or you'll suffer rapid damage. After several waves of spiders you'll see several mounds of earth moving towards you. These 'Rat Catchers' wait until they're almost apon you before leaping up and biting you. You should be able to 'scan' and take them out as they leave the ground, but if there's several of them then get close before boosting and then spin round to blast them. MINI BOSS: Robo-Octopus Destroyable Parts: NONE The important thing to bear in mind here is the bosses dangerous 'tentacle' which if it catches you does damage as well as stopping you from moving. The solution to this is to simply get close and keep circling it. If you get a tight enough angle you can get loads of lock-ons and the tentacle can't 'lasso' you. The rifle seems particularly effective on this enemy. MINI BOSS: Sand Worm Is it just me or does this enemy look suspiciously like the massive worms from classic Amiga game 'Awesome'? Anyway, this is an easy enemy to kill. Wait for it to attack then scan round and waste it with missiles and finish off its tail with laser fire. Simple. *BOSS BATTLE* WALKER """""""""""""""""""" Destroyable Parts: NONE An annoying battle. immediately fire off your missiles and get behind the walker. This stops it using its large cannons on you. Keep firing and soon it'll use its yellow homing missiles on you. Avoid these and keep pounding. Next it will use tracking energy beams. Move straight up or down to avoid these - any other direction and they'll hit you. When the boss is nearly dead it starts flying back and forth into the fog. Stay high to avoid the incoming mortars and dodge the incoming cannon fire. Get as many lock-ons as possible, and bear in mind you can sometimes lock on to it even when it flies away. ZONE 5 - Timeshaft ====== ========= Time Limit: 4:00 No. Enemies: 63 A difficult level that will test your ability to pilot the Omega Boost. Using the 'scan' button (L1) always lines you up facing dead ahead. Use this to see whats up ahead in the obstacle section. Lock on all the limpet guns and blow them away, but be prepared for dodging the pipes. Stay on guard for the occasional back attack and the narrow tunnel afterwards. On the obstacle section with the round blade things, move in a clockwise direction from the top to bottom, then quickly begin moving back counterclockwise for the change in direction to get through undamaged. MINI BOSS: Timeshaft portal Destroyable parts: Laser Probes Speed is the key here as the more damage you can do before the lasers appear the better. As long as you keep firing maximum lock-ons then you should destroy the lasers as soon as they appear. Next the boss begins moving backwards and forwards cutting you with its laser. A bit of good judgement will get you through Unscathed, and a few good missiles will finish off the boss. *BOSS BATTLE* ROBOTIC SPIDER """""""""""""""""""""""""""" Destroyable Parts: Leg Armour A straight forward but potentially difficult battle. There's no real strategy, so keep moving back and forth shooting as much as possible. The red lasers are easily avoided by moving in a circular direction, and the powerful yellow lasers can be avoided by keeping to the centre. Watch out for when the boss begins to curl up - it'll use its extremely powerful laser, just keep to one side and it's easily avoided. Occasionally the boss fires rings of energy that take up the outside of the tunnel, making them easy to avoid, but the fact they appear suddenly and the way the boss can often fire several rings in succession is something to beware of. ZONE 6 - Approach to Alpha Core / Metal Eta ====== ================================== Time Limit: 4:10 No. Enemies: 81 Now things begin to get difficult. The waves of enemies come thick and fast, so be ready to destroy them. Watch out for attacks coming from the side, and the mechs that attack. When the fleet appears you have two options, either take out each escort carefully, or if you want a quick completion time, try using the viper boost, to destroy all of them. Then prepare for.. MINI BOSS: Heavy Cruiser Destroyable parts: Gun Emplacements, Missile Ports This is one boss where simply being on the move is not even remotely going to be enough to see you through. After you destroy the last of the escort ships the cruiser fires a huge blast of energy disrupting its energy shield. Now you can do damage to it. get as many lock-ons as you can whilst it's still inactive, then start blasting at the ship. Move to the top or bottom of the ship and avoid the sides at all costs (If you approach the sides the missile ports will fire an endless stream of homing missiles). This way only the guns can hit you. Quickly get to work hitting the guns with your rifle until the whole side is clear. The cruiser will most likely still have half of its energy bar left, but as it's now a sitting duck you can easily destroy it with your rifle or targetting the missile ports with your own missiles. Once it disappears get ready to move - FAST! Otherwise it appears behind you and blasts you with energy causing serious damage (remember the intro?) . *BOSS BATTLE* MECHA WORM """""""""""""""""""""""" Destroyable Parts: Body Segments This can be one of the toughest bosses in the game. The idea is to destroy all the segments of the worms body before destroying its head. This would be easy if it weren't for the fact the boss does ridiculous damage when it hits you. To begin with as it approaches, keep out of its way, and at the last minute get as many lock-ons as possible before letting rip with your missiles. The boss constantly turns round trying to get a bead on you. When it does this don't bother attacking, concentrate on keeping out of the way, or it WILL hit you. Keep back and only attack when the worm is facing away to minimise damage. When you eventually destroy the tail the boss goes mad firing randomly. Use this to your advantage and fly by hitting it with 2 or 3 missiles before boosting out of the way and turning back for more. (Actually, forget that. My most recent tactic on the last part is simply sitting toe to toe with the boss and filling it full of lead. The random gunfire from the boss means it will almost never hit you). Found that too hard? A.J. Morgenthal sent me a suggestion for a better tactic: "Um... ok, I have a much easier stratagy to beat the mecha worm in zone 6 in omega boost. With this, you can beat it without getting hit once, with or without using the viper boost. When it appears, lock on with missles, and fire. Repeat until it opens its mouth. Now use the boosters four times to get pretty far away. Scan back around, and use missles when you pass. After you fire the missles, boost four times again. Repeat until its head is all thats left. Now boost away a few times turn, fire the vulcun cannon for a split second then boost past it, scan around fire again and boost past. If you do this correctly, you wont be touched. To speed it up, don't us the viper boost until this battle, and it should be full." Thanks A.J! Hopefully some people will find this an easier method. ZONE 7 - Alpha Core / Eta Surface ====== ======================== Time Limit: 4:10 No. Enemies: 43 A useful thing to remember here is that the huge APC transports can be destroyed before they drop off the squad of robots. Hit them with all your lock-ons to take them out before they get a chance to make trouble. The fighters are easy to take out, but make sure you get two lock-ons. And get out of the way! Eventually you'll reach.. MINI BOSS: Moto-Angle Grinder :) This strange boss is quite easy as long as you keep moving. Circle round the boss firing and launching missiles and you can kill it without any damage. Otherwise avoid its laser beam, and pay particular attention to the missiles it launches. Just when you thought it was all over.. MINI BOSS: Wheel Mech (x2) The wheels now transform into giant robots !? Hover in front of one of them as it 'transforms' and hit it with two complete sets of lock-ons to kill it. Get a distance away from the other one and get as many lock-ons as possible to easily dispatch it. Just be careful to stay above the laser beam. *BOSS BATTLE* ALPHA BOOST (2) """"""""""""""""""""""""""""" Destroyable Parts: NONE Similar to your previous encounter, but this time he's learnt some new tricks. Avoid the laser fire and head-on collisions as before, but be on alert for when he starts spinning round opening fire. Keep above the oncoming lasers and you have a perfect opportunity to hit him with missiles. After a while of flying around and spinning the boss will start using his strange 'karate lasers'. Keep moving and dodging to avoid the lasers and you should be able to finish him off... Now he uses his own Viper Boost! This WILL kill you, so as soon as he starts looking like he's about to explode then start boosting away from him and don't stop till he's dead. If you want an alternative method of killing him, try using your own viper boost as he powers up... Zone 8 - Alpha Core Internal ====== =================== Time Limit: 1:20 No. Enemies: 2 The game takes a dramatic change from now on. Instead of hundreds of small enemies you have to fight a series of difficult boss enemies, so don't use up any boost power too soon. This level is pretty special, as it features an actual time limit. Fail to destroy the Alpha Core in 2 minutes, and your history (Actually, the game dosen't make it clear quite why there is a time limit, or why you die when it runs out). MINI BOSS: Alpha Core Sentinel Destroyable Parts: Head, limbs Fly away from the boss and try to stay at middle distance away, so you can get as many lock-ons as possible. Only fire when you have at least half your missiles locked on, or you'll never do enough damage to destroy the boss. When the boss starts to split up, head round to it's back and blast away at the pyramid thing. This does a huge amount of damage, but when the boss joins back together it regains some energy. Keep firing missiles and avoiding its fire when it starts moving around. Then when it stops and splits apart go for the pyramid again to finish it off. After the explosive interlude it's time to face: *BOSS BATTLE* ALPHA CORE """""""""""""""""""""""" Destroyable Parts: Tentacles (Hard Mode) This is incredibly easy. Your only enemy is how much time you have left from the previous fight. As soon as the boss appears, boost towards the core so you can lock on and smother it with missiles. 10 seconds later, it's all over. ZONE 9 - Timeshaft / Alpha Core ====== ====================== Time Limit: 4:30 No. Enemies: 3 The final level, and predictably, the hardest (And also, in my opinion, blessed with the best music). MINI BOSS: Alpha Core Destroyable parts: Orbitals The second this level starts, begin firing a constant stream of laser fire dead centre. This will hit the Alpha Core as soon as it appears, and if you've got a fast trigger finger you can do more than half damage to it before the battle even begins. Once the orbitals appear STOP FIRING! You must understand the 'rules' for the battle. You can only harm the Alpha Core by using your rifle. You CANNOT use your missiles as they will simply rebound back at you. However, the orbitals can ONLY be destroyed by missiles, and any damage done to them or the Core with you laser will reflect back at you. Therefore, you must use you missiles to destroy the orbitals, and THEN shoot the Alpha Core again. When the Core generates the orbitals, move in an anticlockwise motion to get as many lock-ons as possible and destroy all the orbitals. Once you've done this you have about five seconds to do damage before the orbitals re-generate. Then you must destroy the orbitals again, etc. When you've destroyed the orbitals once, the Core starts firing energy waves at you making it even more difficult (Now you probably appreciate why you should try to hit it hard at the beginning..). If you find this part difficult it is possible to cheat... See Section 5: cheating on how to make this battle easy (especially in hard mode). Eventually you'll take it out and the core disappears for yet another battle.. MINI BOSS: Alpha Core Dragon Destroyable Parts: Armoured segments Just as the music gets going it gets drowned out by gunfire.. Take immediate evasive action to avoid the dragons constant strafing. You must destroy each section of armour on the dragons body before taking on the head. The back sections fire lasers and a couple fire missiles. Stay on the opposite side of the tunnel to the dragon to avoid its missiles, and lock-on your own missiles. If you find yourself being brought along side the dragon when there is still armour behind you, try using the brake button to get back behind the tail and do some pounding. Once all the segments are destroyed, you'll move up to the head. Dodge past the glowing spheres on the dragons head and move like crazy to avoid the incoming fire. Once again, you can only damage the Alpha Core by using you rifle. When it's safe blast like crazy at the core, but watch out for the dragon moving you back. If this happens, dodge the spheres again and get ready for more blasting. The next attack pattern the dragon takes is to hit you with 2 different types of energy blasts. The purple ones move straight down the centre of the tunnel, and the yellow ones move down the outside of the tunnel. Keep shooting and moving back and forth to avoid the blasts and it'll soon be over. Or you die horribly. One or the other. Phew, That's it, right? Not by a long stretch, now it's time for: *BOSS BATTLE* ALPHA CORE FINAL """""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Destroyable Parts: NONE Don't be intimidated by its appearance, this is actually quite an easy boss, and compared to the last 2 enemies it's an absolute pushover. keep moving and you should easily avoid its shots, as well as hitting it with all the lock-ons you can. If you have any viper boost power left you may as well use it up as this is the final battle. (One thing to be wary of is that if you take to long, it'll turn into a fireball and do serious damage, so be quick) Keep moving and blasting and it's game complete. ------------------- *4. Extended Zones* ------------------- A quick guide to each of the extra zones/levels that can be earned. I have finally earned all the secret levels/zones, but am still none the wiser as to exactly how.. I had played through the game several times on normal mode achieving scores of 96 pts on average, but I couldn't seem to get any more zones/levels. I began playing hard mode until I had completed hard mode virtually perfectly. I received a few more zones, but zones U1, U7 and level B were still not available. I decided to have a quick go at Omega Boost a few weeks later after not playing it for a while, and started on normal mode. I played through the game without once dying and got an average score (91 pts). To my suprise I now had all the zones/levels! I had completed most levels with A or S rank, but one was a low B rank, so why did it give me the new zones? It really dosen't make any sense as to how you can earn new zones/levels but if you get stuck then try playing normal mode again. It seems that i'm no closer to solving the mystery of the extra zones/levels.. Level Select """"" """""" The different levels refer to different abilities of the Omega Boost. As you progress through the game in campaign mode, the level of your mech goes up each zone. This results in an increase in the maximum number of missile lock-ons, up to 16. The level select works in the same way, except for the levels over 9 (e.g level one starts the zone with 6 lock-ons possible as if the game started at that level, level 9 starts the zone with all 16 missiles available). The levels over 9 work by giving you new abilities, as listed below: A. Infinite Energy B. Infinite Viper Boost energy C. Faster Omega Boost D. Lock-on lasers (Four lasers fire from the Omega Boost each time the trigger is pressed. They automatically fire at the nearest enemy. Note that you lose your missiles in this mode.) E. Instead of barrel rolling, the Omega Boost quickly moves laterally in the direction held down when boost is pressed. ZONE U1 - Fighter Cull ==== == ======= ==== No. Enemies: 201 Time Limit: Objective: Destroy all enemies as quickly as possible. *THIS ZONE RUNS AT 60 FRAMES PER SECOND!!* You have to see this - hopefully OB 2 will run this fast :). Simply keep blasting at the waves of enemies until they are all destroyed. Try out some of the extra levels here to see how they work. The Zone ends once all enemies are destroyed. ZONE U2 - Mech Battle ==== == ==== ====== No. Enemies: 3 Time Limit: Objective: You must destroy all mechs as fast as possible. The Alpha Boost and two new mechs attack. Same as Zone 2 Boss, only with 2 extra enemies. ZONE U3 - Fighter Cull 2 ==== == ======= ==== = No. Enemies: 101 (201 Hard) Time Limit: Objective: Destroy all fighters as quickly as possible. The level keeps going until all 101 fighters are destroyed. (201 in hard mode). Try this zone with level D! ZONE U4 - Worm Surfing.. ==== == ==== ========= No. Enemies: 64 Time Limit: Objective: Catch the worm, then eliminate all enemies as quickly as possible. This is by far one of the strangest extra levels. First, wait for the worm to get over to you and then boost into its head. Hold down the brake button. The worm should have stopped, so boost into its head again and with some practice you will appear on top of it, riding it! when riding the worm the controls are the same as the normal game, but you MUST keep the brake button held down to stay on the worm. If you let go of brake or press the scan button you fall off, so don't! Once you're on the worm you get attacked by waves of rat-catchers, so waste them with missiles to end the stage. Try doing some stunts, in particular, try boosting and twisting round or using the L3 button (on the left analogue stick) to do some strange looking quick turns. ZONE U5 - Timeshaft Run ======= ========= === No. Enemies: 0 Time Limit: Objective: Negotiate obstacles and reach the end of the timeshaft as quickly as possible. Note you can actually stop and even turn round on this difficult level. ZONE U6 - Mech Battle ==== == ==== ====== No. Enemies: 1-1000 (infinite?) Time Limit: 1:45 Objective: Destroy enemy mech as possible This is by far the hardest level in the entire game. The enemy mech uses simple laser attacks on you, but is made impossibly difficult by the waves of satellites it launches. The intense crossfire generated by the satelites means they should be your primary targets. Don't even bother with anything less than level 9, but if you can complete this zone without cheating then you're a real Omega Boost master. ZONE U7 - Mech Battle 2 ==== == ==== ====== = No. Enemies: 1 Time Limit: Objective: Destroy enemy mech as quickly as possible Yet another Mech battle. This one is a little different, though. You have to fight the OMEGA BOOST! The Boost that you are fighting against appears to be at about level 1, but that dosen't make it easy. You have to keep moving fast to avoid his lock ons and his laser, but as long as you keep boosting it isn't too hard. HINTS: (Try using your viper boost and see what happens.. The replays of this zone look very nice too, like some sort of anime mech showdown. Also, a fair fight can be much more fun..) ZONE U8 - Alpha Core Battle ==== == ===== ==== ====== No. Enemies: 1 Time Limit: Objective: Destroy Alpha Core head as quickly as possible. This isn't really a level, but a demonstration of the cool morphing techniques possible with the game engine. As you shoot the head it turns from a weird bald man to a long haired woman, to a strange cow/demon thing. Try watching in replay mode to make most sense of it. ZONE U9 - Mech Battle 3 ==== == ==== ====== = No. Enemies: 1 Time Limit: Objective: Destroy enemy Mech as fast as possible. Same as boss battle 2, only in a tunnel. Notice the Gold Omega Boost as in the end of the game. ZONE V5 - Timeshaft Run 2 ==== == ========= === = No. Enemies: 21 Time Limit: 0:50 Objective: Get to the end of the time shaft and collect or destroy all beacons. =-----------= *5. Ratings * =-----------= Depending on your performance in the game you will be awarded a ranking based on the AP points you earned by e.g destroying all enemies, or beating the time limit. It therefore does not necessarily follow that someone who reaches say, level 7 will have a higher rating than someone who managed to reach level 6. Remember that like the game Einhander you are only ranked on how well you performed before you continue. To get the best ranks you really need to be able to complete the whole game without once continuing. The rating is the same in normal and hard modes. Rank / Rating / AP required 15.Drunkard March 0 14.Green Decoration 10 13.Country VIP 20 12.Model Pilot 25 11.Pawn Abyss 30 (N.B. The prefix 'Pixy' is added from here on) 10.Rook Abyss 35 9.Queen Abyss 40 8.King Abyss 50 7.Galactic Magician 55 6.Galactic Warrior 60 5.Galactic Revolutionary 70 4.Galactic Maestro 75 3.Eniac Mania 80 2.Omega Hades 85 1.Omega Zeus 95+ How AP Works """""""""""" AP is calculated by taking the average of your overall score from each level. The numbers are added together and then divided by nine. This even happens if you don't complete the game, so if you get, for example 95 pts overall on zone one, and then died at the start of zone two then the calculation would be: 95+0+0+0+0+0+0+0+0/9 = 10.5 = 11 AP (Green Decoration) Then again, if you completed the game then you might get something like: 95+89+92+90+87+90+100+96+100/9 = 93.22 = 93 AP (Pixy Omega Hades) =--------------= *5. Cheating...* =--------------= Although I have yet to find any actual cheats for the game, there is an easy way to 'take advantage' of the way the tunnel levels work. On the final stage when fighting the first incarnation of the Alpha Core, boost towards it and try and get as close as you can. Then move to the side whilst holding the 'scan' button and you should be able to gradually edge past the core and end up on the other side of it! Now you can shoot it as much as you want and nothing can touch you. This is makes it a breeze even in hard mode. (This can actually be pretty hard to do. Well VERY HARD in hard mode.. But it CAN be done. Practice in the zone play with level C to see that it is possible. The trick is to make the camera begin to slide down the wall. ) =-----------------------= *6. Version Differences * =-----------------------= Although I only own the Japanese NTSC version of Omega Boost, I recently bought Official UK Playstation Magazine and found some interesting changes in the early PAL version. *. Predictably, the PAL version is slightly slower. The action seems to be at the same pace (movement speed, etc) but the frame rate is slightly ragged. The PAL version also has small borders (Not as bad as say, Tekken 3). *. The PAL version now has a new gallery option. I can't tell if this is only in the demo or in the full game, but it contains 10 pictures of the Omega Boost with annotated notes (usefully in Japanese..) in the style of Einhander. *. Much slower rifle fire rate (initially I thought this was because of the usual PAL speed lag, but I think it may have been done intentionally to make the game harder). *. Menu options now in English (obviously). *. After examining the demo gallery program it seems there are 30 gallery pictures in Omega Boost PAL version. Gallery Pictures: (256 colour .TIM files) 1. Coloured Omega Boost facing forwards 2. Same as 1, but outline only (no colour) 3. View of Omega Boost from behind 4. Front/rear view plus profile view sketches 5. Detailed head sketch 6. Rear of head 7. Sketch of arms 8. Sketch of Assault rifle (interestingly it's a dual vulcan/laser cannon thingy) 9. Sketch of how gun parts work 10. Sketch of jetpack front/back It will be interesting to see if these exist in the NTSC American release as well as so far I have heard little or no information on it, whereas the PAL version is out now. =---------= *7. Misc. * =---------= *. In case you didn't know, pushing the d-pad moves the weird squares that appear when loading. *. Pause Menu Fun When the game is paused, the camera can still be moved left and right (reminds me of the 'flo-mo' effect seen in 'The Matrix'). Pressing the L2 and R2 buttons increases and decreases the sound effects volume (you can't change the music volume, though). *. It's mentioned somewhere, but pressing Start after a zone will save the flight data to memory for watching in a replay. *. The term 'Pixy' in the ranking screen refers to the model type of the Omega Boost. Quite what other models there could be I don't know, but I'd like to see :) *. Now, for your amusement, and for the sheer hell of it basically, here is the complete lyrics to the song Shade by Feeder (it's the music in the intro and title screen/end game in case you didn't know). SHADE """"" Will it always be the same? Give it all a reason, Put me down, watch me drown, I can not exceed Holding out, I can't explain, Though I never could, that's the problem, Burning back the pain again, Climbing up to free myself I don't need this, innovation comes, (Do you really know? I'm falling..) I just fall into shade All I want to do is pray, Give me back the freedom, It becomes the only way, Clear, it sets me free State of mind is twisted too, Looking at the same thing, Flicking back the pages, just enough for me to see myself I don't need this, innovation comes, (Do you really know, What you're seeing?) I'm trying to believe this life goes on (Do you really know? Do you see it?) Do you see it, do you really know? (Do you really know? I'm falling..) I will fall, into space.. It's funny how it seems, Now I can dream a little, It's pulling me inside, The wheel still turns, Remember how the sun, Touched my face, see it, Lighting up the way back home.. I don't need this, innovation comes, (Do you really know, what you're seeing?) I'm trying to believe this life goes on, (Do you really know? Do you see it?) Do you see it, Do you really know? (Do you really know? I'm falling..) I will fall into shade.. That's all for now. Have fun with this great game! =----------------------------------------= *8. Credits/Copyright Notice/Thanks/etc..* =----------------------------------------= This FAQ was written totally by Andrew Dean. This guide is all my own work and is simply a compilation of everything I have found. As such it may not necessarily be accurate, and so does not claim to be 100% correct, although the upmost measures were taken to be accurate. FAQ ©1999 Andrew Dean ([email protected]) Omega Boost and Playstation are Copyright of Sony Computer Entertainment International ©1999 Omega Boost is ©1999 Polyphony Digital All other trademarks (if any) are acknowledged. This FAQ can be freely distributed AS LONG AS it is done so in IT'S ENTIRETY and is unaltered. This FAQ CANNOT be used commercially or otherwise reprinted or incorporated into any commercial medium. It is FOR PRIVATE USE ONLY. CONTACT INFORMATION ^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^ Found something amazing in your battles against the Alpha Core that I don't know about? Then you can send me mail at: [email protected] Please bear in mind that I cannot afford constant internet access and so may only be able to check my mail once a week. You will get a reply! This is my first FAQ so feedback would be appreciated. Whats good, bad or indifferent? Tell me! Thanks To: Polyphony Digital: (predictably) for teaching the old Playstation Dog even more new tricks. It will be interesting to see if Gran Turismo 2 pushes the Playstation any further. Or even a possible Omega Boost 2... Everyone who sent me mail about this FAQ. A.J. Morgenthal: For a boss suggestion Natalie: You know why... :)