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What happened to....Omega Boost?
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The continuing series looking at great games and/or franchises that existed briefly and then disappeared. The first game was Einhander, the second one was Colony Wars. Next up in the batter's box, Omega Boost.
1999 was a rolloercoaster year for video games and if you were like me, you spent most of that year obsessing over the Dreamcast (and it's catchy release date: 9/9/99). It took up a lot of the media's attention, but that's didn't mean that the Playstation was stuck in the backseat. It was one of the best years for the Sony's first console. The release of Gran Turismo 2, Final Fantasy VIII, and Medal of Honor showed the legs that the Playstation brand can have. But one of the best games that year that isn't well known was (you guessed it, a shmup) Omega Boost.
Hailing from the same developement studio that created Gran Turismo, Polyphony Digital, the only thing that it had in coming with that racing series, was the mere fact that it had an obscenely high amount of production values. It was a third-person, on-rail shooter, the closest game that comes close to it's description is Panzer Dragoon. Which isn't surprising considering the lead designer and programmer of Omega Boost, Yuji Yasuhara, was a member of Team Andromeda, developers of the Panzer Dragoon franchise.
Like many shmups, it didn't do anything innovative. And it was really, really short.. But it had some solid action, kickass mecha designs, and a great soundtrack, which is really rare to find. It's was really easy to ignore this game: it came out around the same time that the Dreamcast launched and Final Fantasy VIII, possibly the only game with enough hype to rival the Dreamcast. But that doesn't excuse the lack of marketing behind this superbly polished game.
What happened? You may have heard of that other series Polyphony Digital works feverishly on called Gran Turismo. After life on Sony moved to the PS2, they made Gran Turismo 3 & 4 and are at work on Gran Turismo 5. Those GT games take a lot of people to work on and probably doesn't allow the team to do to much outside of games about vehicles (they did make Tourist Trophy, a mototcycle simulation). It also takes a lot of time and money, so don't expect Sony to greenlight any updates to Omega Boost. It wouldn't hurt to put this game on the PSN.
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