Developed and published by Sega as one of the two launch titles for the Mega Drive in Japan on 29 October 1988 (alongside Super Thunder Blade), Space Harrier II is a pseudo-3D, on-rails shooter and the sequel to Sega’s 1985 arcade hit. You control Harrier, a laser-armed hero who runs and flies over a scrolling checkerboard landscape, answering a distress call to defend the surreal Fantasy Land from another alien invasion. Unlike the original, this sequel skipped arcades entirely and was built specifically for the console.
How to play
Your objective is to blast your way through waves of enemies and destroy the boss guarding the end of each stage. There are 14 stages in total: the first 12 each culminate in a unique boss, stage 13 pits you against all 12 of those bosses again in a row, and stage 14 is the final showdown with your evil mirror image, the Dark Harrier.
- Move: Arrow keys
- Fire: S, X, or Z (any of the three action buttons fires the same laser)
- Start: Enter
- Mode: Shift
Any action button fires your cannon, and holding it down unleashes rapid fire, so there is no need to mash the keyboard. The game also lets you flip the vertical control axis in the options if you prefer an inverted, flight-stick-style feel.
Tips
- Keep moving in wide loops rather than dodging side to side โ enemy fire tracks your last position, so a continuous circular path is harder to hit.
- Destroy ground obstacles and turrets as soon as they appear; the scroll speed ramps up as a stage goes on, and objects you ignore early become much harder to avoid later.
- Save your reflexes for stage 13’s boss-rush gauntlet โ going in with full lives matters more there than on any single earlier stage.
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