Omega Race

Gameplay

Omega Race took place in a bounded rectangular arena with a smaller rectangle in the center, creating a track-like playing field. The player's ship had thrust and rotate controls similar to Asteroids, but confined within the bounded space — no wraparound. Enemy droid ships and mines populated the arena. The ship bounced off the walls, and mastering the bounce physics was key to survival.

Historical Significance

Omega Race was Midway's only vector arcade game. While it resembled Asteroids in control scheme, the bounded arena and bounce physics gave it a distinctly different feel. The game was moderately successful and was later ported to several home platforms. It represents a unique entry in the vector canon — a game from a major manufacturer that chose to make exactly one vector title before moving on.

Fun Facts & Legacy

The Commodore VIC-20 port of Omega Race was one of the few VIC-20 cartridges that included an extra 4KB of RAM built into the cartridge itself to compensate for the VIC-20's limited memory. The arcade cabinet featured a unique two-button spinner control for rotation and a separate thrust button.