Like with After Burner, I had practically forgotten about the Space Harrier series shortly after I had checked out the original game, which is a shame too, because I had a great time with that game when I played it. The game itself wasn’t all that complex or interesting, and it was pretty short, but like with After Burner, it kept things exciting with its blinding speeds and constant action, fun gameplay, and challenging scenarios which were pretty satisfying to overcome. It’s too bad there weren’t too many other games in this series that were released after the original, but there were a few, so I figured it’s about time I got to playing another one by completely ignoring the weird 3D one and moving straight onto Space Harrier II.
Unlike the original Space Harrier, this one was originally released exclusively for the Sega Genesis, made to be one of the launch titles released for the system right alongside others like The Revenge of Shinobi and Altered Beast, and when you learn that little tidbit of info about the game, you can pretty much figure out what you are getting into with this game. While a good number of these launch titles were original games, games like Golden Axe and Ghouls ‘n Ghosts were pretty much just home console versions of their arcade counterparts, so in many ways, Space Harrier II is essentially an at home version of the original game. It does feature some new elements, some that improved upon some small issues that the original had, but it is pretty much just the original game, except worse, to the point where I can only say it is ok and nothing more.
The story is as basic as sequels get, where Harrier gets a distress call from the 214th sector of space, and when he goes to investigate, he finds that Fantasy Land is being taken over by evil creatures once again, so it is to him to set off on his own to take them all out, which is an alright story, not doing anything new or exciting from the original, but it is a sequel to an arcade game, so I would’ve expected nothing less. The graphics are pretty good for a launch title, looking close enough to the arcade game’s graphics, but with an obvious downgrade in terms of both the animations and general visuals, the music is pretty good, having plenty of good tracks to listen to while blasting robots in the face, but nothing that leapt into my ear and decided to stay there for the rest of the day, and the gameplay/control is identical to that of the original, to the point where you wouldn’t be blamed if you just mistook this game for being a downgraded port of the original.
The game is a 3D rail shooter, where you take control of Harrier, go through thirteen stages through various very-similar lands full of dangerous baddies, dodge plenty of obstacles and enemy fire as you are flying forward at the speed of sound, shoot down as many things as you can, living or otherwise, while watching that score of yours soar higher than you ever thought it could possibly go, and take on plenty of bosses that have such mind-boggling tactics to beat such as shooting them in the face and… waiting a bit, and then shooting them in the face. Any veteran Space Harrier players (all two of you) will be all too familiar with this gameplay style, and be able to jump into it all too well, even if it will most likely make them just want to go back to the original game.
When this game is practically identical to the original, I mean it, as if you take a look at both of them side by side, you can barely tell them apart. This isn’t limited to just the visuals either, because nothing is changed about the gameplay at all, which can be good for those who just want a version of Space Harrier they can play at home without needing some 3D glasses, but it could be disappointing for those wanting some more out of the sequel. But hey, to the game’s credit, it doesn’t feel like a complete repeat, because it does improve on one aspect of the original game: the bosses. There were a good handful of bosses to take on in that original game, but a lot of them were repeated throughout the game, making them not as exciting to get to and take on. Thankfully though, with this game, not only are most of the bosses unique from each other, but a good handful of them do incorporate some challenging scenarios to overcome, which I did enjoy taking down. There is only one boss in the game that you have to take on again (aside from something I will mention in a second), which I am pretty grateful for, and thankfully, the boss that does get repeated is simple enough, so it doesn’t take too long to get through that.
If that doesn’t interest you at all, then I wouldn’t say anything else about this game will. Not only is it basically a worse version of the previous game, but it still has all of the same problems the original game had, such as being extremely repetitive and how the last stage is just a boss rush, even though there REALLY didn’t need to be one. Also, one other thing that did get on my nerves quite a bit with this game in particular is with the frame rate. I’m not the kind of guy that really tends to complain about frame rates in games unless the downgrade is pretty noticeable, and you can definitely see that with this game, as it is chugging along the most of the time, unable to handle a lot of what is going on on screen at once. Obviously, this was gonna be the case no matter what, given the limitations of the Genesis, but it is still something to point out just in case you wanna try this game for yourself.
Overall, despite having more boss variety and keeping the fun gameplay in-tact, Space Harrier II is pretty much a nothing sequel, doing nothing to make itself stand out as better or more original compared to its predecessor, and giving you no reason to check it out when the original is already accessible and readily available for people to play. I could only recommend it for those who LOVE the original game, and just want nothing more then just to play more of it, but for everyone else, you are much better off just playing the first one only, and nothing else from there. It’s no wonder why this series never managed to continue after the second game, only to be brought back for some obscure arcade spin-off game after a decade of nothing…………… although, now that I think about it, if there ever was a modern-day reimagining or remake of the original Space Harrier, that would be pretty cool. I’d be all over that shit, so Sega, if you are looking to revive any more of your dormant IPs, this one is just begging for another chance.
Game #547
Unlike the original Space Harrier, this one was originally released exclusively for the Sega Genesis, made to be one of the launch titles released for the system right alongside others like The Revenge of Shinobi and Altered Beast, and when you learn that little tidbit of info about the game, you can pretty much figure out what you are getting into with this game. While a good number of these launch titles were original games, games like Golden Axe and Ghouls ‘n Ghosts were pretty much just home console versions of their arcade counterparts, so in many ways, Space Harrier II is essentially an at home version of the original game. It does feature some new elements, some that improved upon some small issues that the original had, but it is pretty much just the original game, except worse, to the point where I can only say it is ok and nothing more.
The story is as basic as sequels get, where Harrier gets a distress call from the 214th sector of space, and when he goes to investigate, he finds that Fantasy Land is being taken over by evil creatures once again, so it is to him to set off on his own to take them all out, which is an alright story, not doing anything new or exciting from the original, but it is a sequel to an arcade game, so I would’ve expected nothing less. The graphics are pretty good for a launch title, looking close enough to the arcade game’s graphics, but with an obvious downgrade in terms of both the animations and general visuals, the music is pretty good, having plenty of good tracks to listen to while blasting robots in the face, but nothing that leapt into my ear and decided to stay there for the rest of the day, and the gameplay/control is identical to that of the original, to the point where you wouldn’t be blamed if you just mistook this game for being a downgraded port of the original.
The game is a 3D rail shooter, where you take control of Harrier, go through thirteen stages through various very-similar lands full of dangerous baddies, dodge plenty of obstacles and enemy fire as you are flying forward at the speed of sound, shoot down as many things as you can, living or otherwise, while watching that score of yours soar higher than you ever thought it could possibly go, and take on plenty of bosses that have such mind-boggling tactics to beat such as shooting them in the face and… waiting a bit, and then shooting them in the face. Any veteran Space Harrier players (all two of you) will be all too familiar with this gameplay style, and be able to jump into it all too well, even if it will most likely make them just want to go back to the original game.
When this game is practically identical to the original, I mean it, as if you take a look at both of them side by side, you can barely tell them apart. This isn’t limited to just the visuals either, because nothing is changed about the gameplay at all, which can be good for those who just want a version of Space Harrier they can play at home without needing some 3D glasses, but it could be disappointing for those wanting some more out of the sequel. But hey, to the game’s credit, it doesn’t feel like a complete repeat, because it does improve on one aspect of the original game: the bosses. There were a good handful of bosses to take on in that original game, but a lot of them were repeated throughout the game, making them not as exciting to get to and take on. Thankfully though, with this game, not only are most of the bosses unique from each other, but a good handful of them do incorporate some challenging scenarios to overcome, which I did enjoy taking down. There is only one boss in the game that you have to take on again (aside from something I will mention in a second), which I am pretty grateful for, and thankfully, the boss that does get repeated is simple enough, so it doesn’t take too long to get through that.
If that doesn’t interest you at all, then I wouldn’t say anything else about this game will. Not only is it basically a worse version of the previous game, but it still has all of the same problems the original game had, such as being extremely repetitive and how the last stage is just a boss rush, even though there REALLY didn’t need to be one. Also, one other thing that did get on my nerves quite a bit with this game in particular is with the frame rate. I’m not the kind of guy that really tends to complain about frame rates in games unless the downgrade is pretty noticeable, and you can definitely see that with this game, as it is chugging along the most of the time, unable to handle a lot of what is going on on screen at once. Obviously, this was gonna be the case no matter what, given the limitations of the Genesis, but it is still something to point out just in case you wanna try this game for yourself.
Overall, despite having more boss variety and keeping the fun gameplay in-tact, Space Harrier II is pretty much a nothing sequel, doing nothing to make itself stand out as better or more original compared to its predecessor, and giving you no reason to check it out when the original is already accessible and readily available for people to play. I could only recommend it for those who LOVE the original game, and just want nothing more then just to play more of it, but for everyone else, you are much better off just playing the first one only, and nothing else from there. It’s no wonder why this series never managed to continue after the second game, only to be brought back for some obscure arcade spin-off game after a decade of nothing…………… although, now that I think about it, if there ever was a modern-day reimagining or remake of the original Space Harrier, that would be pretty cool. I’d be all over that shit, so Sega, if you are looking to revive any more of your dormant IPs, this one is just begging for another chance.
Game #547
evy96
1 month ago