ULTIMATE GUIDE SPACE HARRIER
“ALERT! FANTASYLAND FALLS INTO CRISIS NOW.” WITH THAT MANGLED MESSAGE, THE HEROIC HARRIER RETURNS TO FACE A NEW WAVE OF INTERSTELLAR INTERLOPERS – WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY CARRYING THE HOPES AND DREAMS OF SEGA’S NEW 16-BIT CONSOLE
Space Harrier II was precisely one half of the Mega Drive’s launch line-up when it debuted in Japan in October 1988; the other was Super
Thunder Blade. Such was Sega’s success in the arcade sector at the time, it had a vast reserve of titles to draw from, yet it chose to adapt two of its arcade heavyweights for one clear reason: to demonstrate that the Mega Drive was the first console to truly deliver the ‘arcade at home’ experience. There was an issue, however. Both Space Harrier (1985) and Thunder Blade (1987) were built on Sega’s sprite-scaling technology, and the Mega Drive was good but not that good. In fact, the first arcade-perfect port of Space Harrier wouldn’t arrive until 1996 on the next-generation Saturn. So with a sleight of hand, Sega developed the games as sequels rather than conversions. This served to reduce unfavourable comparisons with the original coin-ops, while at the same time promising something fresh and exciting. The jury’s definitely out on whether this worked for Super Thunder Blade. New minibosses were added and one of the stages was reworked, but crucially the top-down sections where you could control the chopper’s altitude (a real showcase for the sprite-scaling graphics) were removed. For Space Harrier II, 12 new stages were devised, each with new enemies and bosses, plus two remixed bonus stages where you jumped on a jet board. To achieve the 3D effect, the sprites were drawn at a variety of different sizes – typically nine variations, from small to large – to give the impression that they were zooming towards or away from you. As a result, the game lacked the silky smooth 3D movement of the coin-op, but the speed at which the sprites were cycled, coupled with the sheer number of sprites on-screen, ensured that the choppiness was quickly overlooked. The technical limitations also resulted in more creative and varied boss battles. Most of the original game’s bosses were simply giant beasties that filled the screen, whereas in the sequel their visual impact was lessened so they had to work harder to impress. New guardians like Medusa, Paranoia and Mantichora made for more challenging showdowns.
In a neat touch, Squilla, the dragon boss from the coin-op’s opening stage, returned in the sequel – but was demoted to a miniboss that appeared before new monster Trimuller. As this was a home console game, Sega added several configurable options. You could toggle rapid fire, choose from three difficulty levels and, crucially, select which stage you started from. This was useful for practising stages, but regardless of where you began, you still had to fight though all 12 regular levels before you unlocked
the 13th final stage. Here, you battled all of the bosses again before facing Dark Harrier, your evil doppelganger who was just as quick and agile as you. Defeat him and this short but effective blaster was spent. Space Harrier II didn’t present a long-term challenge, being barely removed from the coin-op, but it did show off the latent potential of the Mega Drive. If there’s any doubt about this, you only have to look at some of the early press reaction to the console and Space Harrier II in particular. In December 1988, weekly tech magazine New Computer Express got hold of what it believed to be the only Mega Drive in the UK and crowned it ‘Sega’s 16-bit sensation’. “Space Harrier II looks more than stunning,” buzzed the respected Tony Takoushi. “We were left wondering how much massive screen sprites could be shifted at ultra-high speeds without any discernible loss in the velocities of other animated objects.” No slowdown, in other words. “The feature which knocked us out the most was the perspective change when [Harrier] rises into the sky. The ground falls away beneath you and the horizon drops accordingly to give you a true perspective viewpoint. The Mega Drive is straight out of the future.”
The import version was reviewed in the June 1989 issue of The Game Machine. “Space Harrier II is a truly awesome piece of coding,” summarised the review, where it scored 85%. “The speed of the game is insanely fast, the graphics are excellent, and the ferocity of enemy attacks makes other versions look positively passive.” The mention of other versions is appropriate, as Sega clearly wanted the game to be the best home version available – especially as the original Space Harrier had been ported to multiple systems with a surprising amount of success, including Sega’s own Master System (twice), the rival PC Engine console and a whole range of home computers courtesy of Elite Systems. The sequel also benefitted Sega in that European publishers flocked to bag the rights. Grandslam Entertainment won out and commissioned Teque to produce the home computer versions. These generally turned out well, particularly the 16-bit versions, but they were difficult to recommend on release as Elite cunningly reissued its original
“12 new stages were devised, each with new enemies and bosses, plus two remixed bonus stages where you jumped on a jet board”
“Space Harrier II didn’t present a long-term challenge but it did show off the latent potential of the Mega Drive”
conversion as a budget title at precisely the same time. Beyond fans, who was going to pay around three times more for an update? Following its release, Sega overlooked Space Harrier II in favour of the first game. Versions for the Sega 32X, Saturn, Dreamcast, Game Boy Advance and Playstation 2 followed. That changed in 2005 with the release of Sega Ages 2500 Volume 20 for the PS2. Dubbed Space Harrier Complete Collection, the Japanese pack contained Space Harrier II alongside the arcade, Master System and Game Gear versions of the original, plus the Master System exclusive Space Harrier 3D. This was easily one of the highlights of the Sega Ages 2500 series. Elsewhere, the game was missing from both the 2006 Mega Drive Collection for PS2 and PSP, and the 2009 Mega Drive Ultimate Collection for PS3 and Xbox 360 (bizarrely the coin-op was included as an unlockable extra). It was a case of third time lucky as the game was finally featured on the 2018 Mega Drive Classics compilation for PS4, Xbox One and Switch. It was also one of the games included on last year’s Mega Drive Mini console. Revisiting Space Harrier II today is a slightly sobering experience. At the time it succeeded in showing off the Mega Drive’s arcade credentials, yet it now struggles to be anything other than a relic from the console’s earliest days, alongside Super Thunder Blade and Altered Beast. But if you were a Sega kid, weaned on the Mega Drive, it can be difficult to resist the occasional nostalgia-fuelled trip to Fantasyland.