Space Harrier

Released in 1985 for the arcades and 1987 for the Sega Master System, Space Harrier is an extremely imaginative shooter in which you play as Harrier, a man with superhuman powers as you laser blast your way through the Fantasy Zone to try and save Dragon World.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) Pretty unique way to control Harrier, you use a gyro flight stick to move around the screen with a button that makes Harrier shoot with his laser cannon. This method of controlling in the game will also appear in later ports of the game.
 * 2) The pseudo-3D graphics are gorgeous and incredible, especially by 1985 standards, as all areas have a vibrant color palette, much of the details look very well detailed, and the backgrounds look amazing for their time.
 * 3) Fast twitch game play.
 * 4) Trees that explode into TWELVE FOOT MUSHROOM CLOUDS!!
 * 5) Over-the-top enemies.
 * 6) Excellent sounds and music.
 * 7) Simple, easy to learn gameplay.
 * 8) The enemies send you tons of projectiles to dodge.
 * 9) Some ports even allow wider-screened gameplay.
 * 10) This is one of the few times that the Sega 32X port was good and actually makes this one of the bad console’s good games.

The Only Bad Quality

 * 1) Most stages recycle the same enemies and obstacles from other stages, though the game still gets harder the more you progress.

Trivia

 * The game can be played in all its glory at the arcade in Shenmue.