Space Harrier II was one of the launch titles for the Sega Genesis. It is a third-person shooter where you control a guy wearing a red jumpsuit. He also has a futuristic vacuum cleaner. It is a little weird, but it can be a lot of fun.
This game does a better job of showing off what the Genesis can do than Altered Beast did. It is a visually impressive game, especially when you look at the other launch titles for the system. None of the six games would’ve made me want to buy the console.
The launch titles for the Genesis were arcade games and one baseball game. Since I didn’t live near an arcade and didn’t like baseball, none of the games appealed to me. It wasn’t until Sonic the Hedgehog that I got into the Genesis. It also helped that my friends all got that system instead of an SNES. Coming back to play games like this is a lot of fun.
TLDR: A Style over Substance game
Narrative
There isn’t much of a story in this game or the series. The first Space Harrier was released in the arcades in 1985. The Genesis got an in-name sequel to it, much like they did with other arcade games. A few of the launch titles were like this.
According to the manual, the game takes place in the year 6236. Your character travels to “Fantasyland” to fight “enemy forces.” You don’t know who the enemies are, or why this is your problem to deal with. Sega, or the localization team, tried to add a story to this game.
This story isn’t anything special. It is more bare bones than other games. I get the feeling that this was only meant to explain things to a player who looked in the manual. Most arcade games didn’t have much of a story to begin with, and this is no exception.
Gameplay
Space Harrier II is a space shoot’em up. It resembles a rail shooter, but doesn’t have to “stop to shoot” mechanic that you might see from one of the light gun games in the 1990s. It looks and plays like a flight simulator, which was the original plan for the arcade game.
There are thirteen stages, and you can tackle them in any order. It is a nice way to go through the game. Each stage has a boss fight.
You have to navigate a level, like other shoot’em ups. There will be obstacles and enemies for you to deal with. Each stage looks unique and has cool looking enemies. The controls are also very good.
It is easy to do in this game. This causes a little level memorization, which isn’t too different from any other shoot’em up. The only thing that separates this game from others is the perspective and graphics.
There is no variety in the gameplay. Each level plays the same. The layouts are a little different, and the stage bosses are different. Space Harrier II is a solid shoot’em up, but the gameplay doesn’t stand out from a very crowded field.
Visuals
This is a visually impressive game for the time. The levels are bright and colorful, the developers did a great job of faking parallax scrolling, and I like how the enemies look.
This is a standard shoot’em up that got creative with the perspective. It is a third-person view from behind the character. It isn’t exactly an over-the-shoulder perspective, but it’s something similar to it. I’ve seen this used in a few flight simulators over the years.
The graphics and animations are very smooth. This is a huge step up from the Master System version, which is painful to play at times. I also didn’t notice any sprite flickering.
The enemies look very good. Each boss looks really good, and they have clear patterns for you to exploit. Space Harrier II is simply a wonderful-looking game.
For me, the graphics are the major reason to play this game. It is a much better-looking game than some of the other launch titles. This is the game that I would’ve chosen to be the pack-in for the Genesis instead of Altered Beast.
Reviews at the Time
Space Harrier II was seen as an above-average game when it was released. The scores were between a 5 and an 8/10. I didn’t find anything from the late 1980s or early 1990s where the reviewer hated the game. I looked at three publications for this.
The Game Machine gave the game an 85/100. They praised the technical achievements of the game, namely the speed and graphics. The reviewer also noted that there was “zero flicker” and that the game was smooth.
Mega Tech gave it a 76/100. In a short review, the reviewer mentions the good graphics, but adds that the “gameplay gets pretty dull.” They point to a lack of variety in the gameplay. This is something you can say about most shoot’em ups.
I had to go to MobyGames for this next one because it isn’t well archived. Mean Machines gave the game a 77/100. Much like the other reviewers, they talked about the graphics while criticizing the gameplay.
I didn’t notice any reviewer trashing the game. They mentioned much of what I thought while playing the game. I do wish more of these reviews were archived better, or that those archives were more user-friendly.
6/10. Space Harrier II is all style over substance. It looks wonderful, but there isn’t too much to this. The gameplay doesn’t stand out from the other shooters that are made in a similar style.
Pros
- Graphics are beautiful
- Good Controls
Cons
- Too Repetitive
- No story
Conclusion
Space Harrier isn’t really a series of games. It is a series of slight improvements to the same game. Sega, for the most part, has abandoned this in favor of other series.
There is a spin-off rail shooter called Planet Harriers. That game was only released in the arcades. This is such a strange set of games for me to go over. I’m a little surprised that Space Harrier II wasn’t released in the arcades.
While this is a solid shoot’em up, it isn’t one I would want to come back to. I would rather play Burning Force, which plays like Space Harrier II, but is much better. Space Harrier II looks wonderful, but doesn’t offer much more than a feast for the eyes.
If you liked this post, please check out my other posts about Genesis games. Here are some examples: Altered Beast and Golden Axe.