Astro Boy: Omega Factor 2003

Is it still worth playing?

In this 2003 beat em up for the Game Boy Advance, Astro Boy fights through stages full of characters from Osamu Tezuka's manga. All of the action takes place on a single plane. He punches, kicks enemies across the screen and fires a weak laser, and damage fills a gauge that powers a super laser, a charge or a machine gun attack. Jet boosts let him fly forward and change direction several times, in place of a double jump, and can be upgraded. Every character he meets is added to the Omega Factor, and some give a point to improve his health, strength or flight speed, or help him find hidden areas. A few stages are flying shoot em up levels. It takes two playthroughs to see the true ending, and the second one unlocks hidden characters and stages. Meeting characters that upgrade your stats and a second run with new stages still give you reasons to replay it.