Space Harrier

Released in 1985 to the arcades, Space Harrier was a unique third-person shooter made by Sega. The game was a hit and quite popular and it spawned a number of sequels as well as ports to several home consoles. Until the 32X version, however, none of the home ports had quite replicated the arcade experience well enough. In Space Harrier to play the role of Harri, the last of the Sentinels in charge of protecting Dragonland.

Unfortunately, the evil forces of Velda had invaded Dragonland and eliminated all the Sentinels. Harri, as the last Sentinel, is the last hope Dragonland has to be free once again. Harri makes use of a special jetpack that gives him the ability to fly but that is also equipped with powerful laser weapons. Harri must travel through the various provinces of Dragonland to reach the capital city and defeat Valda. As he travels through the provinces, Harri will have to face many dangers, dangers that get worse as he nears the capital.

This port of Space Harrier really captures the action from the arcade and is able to replicate the scaling from the original quite well. The music, speech, and sound effects are all here making this a very accurate translation. The action in Space Harrier is fast and frenetic but the excellent response from the controllers makes it fun. There are four levels of difficulty to choose from and you can even select the number of lives you want to have (3 or 5). Fans of Space Harrier should not miss this version of the game. If you’ve never played Space Harrier, this is the version you need to try.