Game Master Alice in Board Game Land

Omicron (Atari 2600 homebrew)

Omicron is a fun little shooter/arcade game released in 2011. It is the result of a test which the programmer called “hostile playfield” test. Included is the main game with multiple levels and stages, and a modification of the original 2k version which is essentially a never-ending survival mode.

This game features nice music both for the title screen and in-game. Finding this game after trying to search for a homebrew for Robotron 2084 on the Atari 2600, this game is in various ways like Robotron.

You could play with either 1 or 2 joysticks. If playing with 1 joystick, the 2nd joystick port could be used for highscore saving.

You control a ship, trying to avoid collision with the alien viruses that are closing in on you around the screen. If you use only 1 joystick, the joystick button reorientates your ship/shifts your angle of shooting. With 2 joysticks, the right joystick determines your firing direction, while the left joystick moves your ship.

There are 4 stage types: Resist, Absorb, Rescue, and bonus stages. In Resist stages, you try to shoot away at the enemy viruses that seek you out. In Absorb stages, they are a bit more like defensive stages, if Resist stages are going to be considered offensive ones. You have no main mode of attack in Absorb, and must stay alive by avoiding the viruses. But, you are allowed to use “virus cores” you collected to create a shield around your ship, which would destroy any viruses it touches. Rescue is like Resist, except the stuff you need to collect will always be surrounded by viruses.

To complete a stage, you need to capture a number of flashing blocks which are supposed to help fight the virus. After you complete all the stages in a level, you would move on to the next, which would be based off of a different element (in the Water level, the viruses behave like water droplets and are blue, in the Fire level, the viruses start spreading everywhere and are red, etc.).

All in all, this is a fun little game, and certainly gives a feeling of being able to play Robotron on the 2600, and it doesn’t require any flickering which many people seem to dislike. (And some of the sprites flash so it’s not the seemingly dull colours you see in the screenshot the whole time, if you’re looking for good visuals)