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Commodore VIC-20 enthusiast and coding guru Robert Hurst has released Omega Fury, an apparently improvised sequel to Bally-Midway's Arcade 1981 game Omega Race, which is considered as something of a classic on the VIC itself. It tells of the Omegan empire encroaching on the borders of the Thargoid Territory, home to an advanced civilisation who plan to expand their own empire. Amassing their deadly forces, the Thargoidians prepare for attack, and you've just volunteered to stop them single-handedly as is usually the case with such games.

Like the original, Omega Fury is a shoot-'em-up played on a static screen with the enemy vessels roaming within. There's no 'wrap around' here as found in Asteroids, as your ship will bounce off the edges of the play area. In the centre is a graphical image showing what level you're on; the original Omega Race displays the player's number of remaining ships and score here. Your energy meter and score have been moved to the bottom of the screen.

Robert has done an impeccable job with Omega Fury. It requires a 16KB RAM expansion for the old VIC-20, though the multi-platform VICE will emulate this accurately (available from www.viceteam.org). This game can be downloaded from robert.hurst-ri.us/commodore/vic20.html.

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The software group known as the Mojon Twins has recently released two games, one each for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC. Starting with the Speccy, Biniax 2 sees our heroine Nanako's home in a constant power struggle between four powerful queens. Utterly fed up with this destabilising situation, she decides to end this battle forever.

Consulting with the great Oracle, she learnt of an ancient game called Biniax, which could potentially resolve the conflict without further bloodshed. Played on a board, the contender had to remove a certain number of coloured blocks by following simple rules. Within the play field lies five by seven pairs of elements designated by colour. It's simply a case of matching the elements up, and if you manage to get the quota in time, that round is won.

Based on the game Biniax created by Jordan Tuzsuzov, this puzzle game also includes graphics of an adult nature, although the colour palette and resolution of the Speccy is hardly going to worry any censors out there. You have been warned though. Head over to www.mojontwins.com/juegos/biniax-2 to grab this game.

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And finally for the Amstrad is a related title called Nanako In Classic Japanese Monster Castle. This production features Nanako's younger sister and Witch Mya who is trapped in an enchanted Castle on the 25th floor. Nanako must get to the top and free her sister.

Again, this is a puzzle game with the player having to place boxes to create stairwells upwards while avoiding the evil roamers within. To grab this CPC game, point your web browser to www.mojontwins.com/juegos/nanako-in-classic-japanese-monster-castle-v2.

It's getting to that time of year when traditionally news from the retro scene quietens down for a few weeks while people take their one or two weeks in the sun, or somewhere in the UK hoping that the weather will hold. So if you have any news or views, then why not contact me? My e-mail is shaunf@MicroMart.co.uk, or you can send any snail mail to Micro Mart's address with Retro Mart at the top. As for me, well I won't be going anywhere this year except for the few upcoming retro events, which I'll tell you about next week. See you then.