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Space Harrier

aka: 3D Space Harrier, Sega Ages: Space Harrier

Description official descriptions

Run… fly… dodge those obstacles, but return fire on wave after wave of attacking aliens. Armed with a really big gun, you have to defend yourself against the alien hordes using your wits to navigate around the screen. But watch out for those end of level bosses!

Originating in the arcades, Space Harrier is a third-person rail shooter with pseudo-3D graphics, set in the same world as Fantasy Zone. The lone titular hero fights aliens with a fireball-launching cannon, which can also be used to transform the hero into a flying rocket. The protagonist is constantly in motion, but the speed of his movement can be regulated by the player.

Spellings

  • 3D スペースハリアー - Japanese Nintendo 3DS spelling
  • スペースハリアー - Japanese spelling
  • 스페이스 해리어 - Korean spelling

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Credits (Arcade version)

8 People

Staff
US Product Manager

Reviews

Trivia

1001 Video Games

The Arcade version of Space Harrier appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Missing ports

Space Harrier was advertised for the Commodore 16/Plus 4 computer, and the (multi-platform) manual also had loading instructions for BBC and Electron computers. For reasons unknown, those ports never did appear.

Setting

Space Harrier originally mentioned that it took place in the Fantasy Zone just as the game of the same name, (remember the "Welcome to the Fantasy Zone! Get Ready!" intro?) and many have claimed that the games take place in the same universe considering the similarity in graphic design. While SEGA never made any official statement they did try to capitalize on the similarities with Space Fantasy Zone. An unreleased Fantasy Zone sequel for the PC Engine CD was developed that used the pseudo 3D gameplay of the Space Harrier series but used Opa-Opa and his gang of cute characters and levels.

It is unsure why the game never got released, but several beta copies have been leaked and you can easily find them around the net and run them with an emulator.

Super Scaler technology

First Sega game to come out that used "Super Scaler" technology.

Game Art Beyond

In 2018, Space Harrier was selected as one of the biggest classics on the Commodore 64 by the creators of the C64 graphics collection Game Art Beyond. Space Harrier was honoured with a high resolution title picture in a special C64 graphics format called NUFLI, along with a new C64 SID interpretation of the Space Harrier (arcade level 1) theme, which is much longer than the conversion originally done for the C64 port in 1986.

Information also contributed by Zovni

Related Games

Space Harrier 3-D
Released 1988 on SEGA Master System
Space Harrier II
Released 1988 on Genesis, 2010 on Windows, 2018 on Linux...
Harrier Mission
Released 1987 on DOS, Amiga, Atari ST...
Harrier Attack!
Released 1983 on ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, 1984 on Amstrad CPC
Strike Force Harrier
Released 1986 on Commodore 64, Amiga, Atari ST...
Task Force Harrier
Released 1989 on Arcade, 2021 on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4
2 Games: V-Rally: 97 Championship Edition / Eagle One: Harrier Attack
Released 2002 on PlayStation
Jump Jet
Released 1992 on DOS, 2022 on Windows
Space Raiders in Spaaace!
Released 2020 on Windows, Nintendo Switch, 2022 on Xbox One

Related Sites +

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 1434

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Macintrash.

Sharp X1 added by Trypticon. NES added by Max Tikhonov. Commodore 64 added by PCGamer77. Nintendo 3DS added by Michael Cassidy. Nintendo Switch added by Rik Hideto. PC-6001 added by Infernos. Amiga, Atari ST added by Rebound Boy. TurboGrafx-16 added by RKL. ZX Spectrum added by Martin Smith. Arcade added by Pseudo_Intellectual. Game Gear, SEGA Master System, SEGA Saturn added by Satoshi Kunsai. Sharp X68000 added by Terok Nor. Amstrad CPC added by Игги Друге. FM-7 added by Unicorn Lynx. SEGA 32X added by quizzley7. PC-88 added by j.raido 【雷堂嬢太朗】. Wii added by samsam12.

Additional contributors: Satoshi Kunsai, chirinea, Robbb, Игги Друге, Thomas Thompson, Rik Hideto, Malte Mundt, FatherJack, ZeTomes, Harmony♡.

Game added May 13th, 2000. Last modified February 22nd, 2023.