19 Facts About Space Harrier

Space Harrier is a third-person arcade rail shooter game developed by Sega and released in 1985.

Space Harrier has been ported to over twenty different home computer and gaming platforms, either by Sega or outside developers such as Dempa in Japan and Elite Systems in North America and Europe.

Space Harrier is a fast-paced rail shooter game played in a third-person perspective behind the protagonist, set in a surreal world composed of brightly colored landscapes adorned with checkerboard-style grounds and stationary objects such as trees or stone pillars.

The title player character, simply named Space Harrier, navigates a continuous series of eighteen distinct stages while utilizing an underarm jet-propelled laser cannon that enables Space Harrier to simultaneously fly and shoot.

Space Harrier then rewrote the entire original proposal, changing the style of the game to a science-fiction setting while keeping only the "Harrier" name.

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Space Harrier utilized an analog flight stick as its controller that allowed onscreen movement in all directions, while the velocity of the character's flight is unchangeable.

Space Harrier has been ported to numerous home computer systems and gaming consoles for over a quarter of a century, with most early translations unable to reproduce the original's advanced visual or audio capabilities while the controls were switched from analog to digital.

The first two-megabit cartridge produced for the console, the game was given a plot in which Space Harrier saves the "Land of the Dragons" from destruction, with a new ending sequence in contrast to the arcade version's simple "The End" message.

The home computer conversion of Space Harrier was in the top five of the UK sales chart in December 1986, and was tied as runner-up with the Commodore 64 title Uridium for Game of the Year honors at the 1986 Golden Joystick Awards.

That same year, IGN's Levi Buchanan opined: "Even today, Space Harrier is a sight to behold, a hellzapoppin' explosion of light, color, and imagination".

The Master System exclusive Space Harrier 3-D utilized Sega's SegaScope 3-D glasses, and featured the same gameplay and visuals as the port of the original game while containing new stage, enemy, and boss designs.

Space Harrier II was one of six launch titles for the Japanese debut of the Mega Drive, and released as such in the United States in August 1989.

In 2003, a remake of the original Space Harrier was developed by Tamsoft as part of the Japanese Sega Ages classic-game series for the PlayStation 2.

Original Space Harrier was packaged with three of Yu Suzuki's other works—After Burner, Out Run, and Super Hang-On—for the 2003 Game Boy Advance release Sega Arcade Gallery.

Space Harrier was re-released for Nintendo Switch, as part of the Sega Ages lineup.

Space Harrier has shared an unofficial connection with another Sega shooter franchise, Fantasy Zone, which debuted in Japanese arcades in March 1986.

Arcade version of Space Harrier is included in the 1999 Dreamcast action-adventure title Shenmue as a minigame, and as a full port in the 2001 sequel Shenmue II.

Space Harrier said Space Harrier was the first time he had heard FM synthesis music, and the game inspired him to become a video game music composer.

Space Harrier considers Space Harrier composer Hiroshi Kawaguchi to be one of Sega's best ever composers.