Space Harrier: История аркадного шутера 1985 года.

1985 video game

Space Harrier (スペースハリアー, Supēsu Hariā) is a third person arcade rail shooter game developed by Sega and released in 1985. It was originally conceived as a realistic military themed game played in the third person perspective and featuring a player controlled fighter jet, but technical and memory restrictions resulted in Sega developer Yu Suzuki redesigning it around a jet propelled human character in a fantasy setting. The arcade game is controlled by an analog flight stick while the deluxe arcade cabinet is a cockpit style linear actuator motion simulator cabinet that pitches and rolls during play, for which it is referred as a taikan (体感) or "body sensation" arcade game in Japan. It was a commercial success in arcades, becoming one of Japan's top two highest grossing upright/cockpit arcade games of 1986 (along with Sega's Hang On). Critically praised for its innovative graphics, gameplay and motion cabinet, Space Harrier is often ranked among Suzuki's best works. It has made several crossover appearances in other Sega titles, and inspired a number of clones and imitators, while Capcom and PlatinumGames director Hideki Kamiya cited it as an inspiration for his entering the video game industry. Space Harrier has been ported to over twenty different home computer and gaming platforms, either by Sega or outside developers such as Dempa in Japan and Elite Systems in North America and Europe. Two home system sequels followed in Space Harrier 3 D and Space Harrier II (both released in 1988), and the arcade spin off Planet Harriers (2000). A polygon based remake of the original game was released by Sega for the PlayStation 2 as part of their Sega Ages series in 2003.

Space Harrier is a fast paced rail shooter game played in a third person perspective behind the protagonist, he is named "Harri" in several United Kingdom home releases of the game. while utilizing an underarm jet propelled laser cannon that enables Harrier to simultaneously fly and shoot. The objective is simply to destroy all enemies—who range from prehistoric animals and Chinese dragons to flying robots, airborne geometric objects and alien pods—all while remaining in constant motion in order to dodge projectiles and immovable ground obstacles. Both spellings appear in the latter game: "Dark Uriah" serves as the final boss, but "Euria" is seen in the game's ending text.|group="note" whom the player maneuvers to smash through landscape obstacles and collect bonus points. After all lives are lost, players have the option of continuing gameplay with the insertion of an extra coin.

The game was also positively received upon its home releases. The home computer conversion of Space Harrier was in the top five of the UK sales chart in December 1986, and was tied as runner up with the Commodore 64 title Uridium for Game of the Year honors at the 1986 Golden Joystick Awards. Ed Semrad of The Milwaukee Journal gave the Master System port a 9/10 rating, and Computer Gaming World deemed it "the best arcade shoot 'em up of the year  as exciting a game as this reviewer has ever played". Phil Campbell of The Sydney Morning Herald praised the 1989 Amiga conversion as "absorbing" and "a faithful copy of the original". Computer and Video Games called the port "an entirely unpretentious computer game full of weird and wacky nasties". GamePro commented that the 32X version had "straightforward controls", graphics relatively close to the arcade version, and was "a nice trip down memory lane", while Next Generation dubbed it as decent, solid game. AllGame called the game "a must have" title for 32X system.

The game continues to garner praise for its audio, visual, and gameplay features. GameSetWatch's Trevor Wilson remarked in 2006: "It's easy to see why the game is so well loved to this day, with its blinding speed and classic tunes". In 2008, Retro Gamer editor Darran Jones described the game as "difficult", but "a thing of beauty [that] even today  possesses a striking elegance that urges you to return to it for just one more go". That same year, IGN's Levi Buchanan opined: "Even today, Space Harrier is a sight to behold, a hellzapoppin' explosion of light, color, and imagination". In a 2013 Eurogamer retrospective on the series, Rich Stanton observed: "The speed at which Space Harrier moves has rarely been matched. It's not an easy thing to design a game around. Many other games have fast parts, or certain mechanics tied to speed—and it's interesting to note how many take control away at this point. Every time I play Space Harrier  the speed blows me away one more time. It is a monster". Eric Francisco of Inverse described the game's visuals in 2015: "Imagine an acid trip through an '80s anime, a Robert Jordan novel, and early Silicon Valley binge coding sessions". GamesRadar ranked the arcade original's bonus stage among the "25 best bonus levels of all time" in 2014, likening it to players piloting The Neverending Story's dragon character Falkor. Kotaku named the Space Harrier tribute stage from Bayonetta in their 2013 selection of "the trippiest video game levels". Also in 2013, Hanuman Welch of Complex included Space Harrier among the ten Sega games he felt warranted a "modern reboot", citing its "kinetic pace that would be welcome on today's systems".

Space Harrier spawned two home system sequels in 1988. The Master System exclusive Space Harrier 3 D utilized Sega's SegaScope 3 D glasses, and featured the same gameplay and visuals as the port of the original game while containing new stage, enemy, and boss designs. In December 2000, fifteen years after the original game's debut, Sega released the loose arcade sequel Planet Harriers, which again continued the gameplay style of the franchise but featured four new selectable characters each possessing distinct weapons, in addition to five fully realized stages and a new option of purchasing weapon power ups. In 2003, a remake of the original Space Harrier was developed by Tamsoft as part of the Japanese Sega Ages classic game series (Sega Classics Collection in North America and Europe) for the PlayStation 2. The original Space Harrier was packaged with three of Yu Suzuki's other works—After Burner, Out Run, and Super Hang On—for the 2003 Game Boy Advance release Sega Arcade Gallery. The Space Harrier Complete Collection (Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 20: Space Harrier II in Japan), developed by M2 for the PlayStation 2, followed on October 27, 2005 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the franchise, and was composed of all the official series releases "to go with the various generations of our customers", according to Yosuke Okunari. Bonus content included a record and replay feature and an arcade promotional material gallery, in addition to images of Hiroshi Kawaguchi's sheet music and notes for the original game's soundtrack. The 1991 Game Gear port is hidden therein as an Easter egg. Space Harrier was re released for Nintendo Switch, as part of the Sega Ages lineup.

Space Harrier has shared an unofficial connection with another Sega shooter franchise, Fantasy Zone, which debuted in Japanese arcades in March 1986. Both series are believed to be set in the same universe; A 1989 port of Fantasy Zone for the Japan exclusive Sharp X68000 contains a hidden stage called "Dragon Land" that features Space Harrier enemy characters and is accessible only by following a specific set of instructions. In 1991, NEC Avenue developed Space Fantasy Zone for the CD ROM, featuring Fantasy Zone's main character Opa Opa navigating nine levels of combined gameplay elements and enemies from both franchises. Despite a December 1991 preview in Electronic Gaming Monthly and advertising designed by artist Satoshi Urushihara, However, bootleg copies were produced after a playable beta version of the game was released on the Internet. The arcade version of Space Harrier is included in the 1999 Dreamcast action adventure title Shenmue as a minigame, and as a full port in the 2001 sequel Shenmue II. Sega Superstars Tennis and the 2010 action adventure game Bayonetta feature Space Harrier inspired minigames. The title is available as an unlockable game in Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection (2009), for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, though with sound emulation differences. In the 2012 title Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed, a remixed version of the Space Harrier main theme plays during the "Race of Ages" stage, in which a holographic statue of Harrier and a flying dragon appear in the background. Sega included an emulation of the original title as a minigame in several titles of their Yakuza series, such as the 2015 release Yakuza 0, and the 2018 releases Yakuza 6: The Song of Life, Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise and Judgment.

The success of Space Harrier resulted in the development of other first/third person rail shooters that attempted to emulate its three dimensional scaling, visuals, and gameplay capabilities, causing them to be labeled "Space Harrier clones". One of the most notable examples was the 1987 Square title The 3 D Battles of WorldRunner for the Famicom and Nintendo Entertainment System, which was followed by Pony Canyon's 1987 Famicom release Attack Animal Gakuen and other Japan exclusive games such as Namco's Burning Force, Asmik's Cosmic Epsilon, and Wolf Team's Jimmu Denshō, all released in 1989. According to AllGame, Nintendo's Star Fox (1993) "was influenced by early first person 3D shooters such as" Space Harrier. According to The One magazine in 1991, Sega "arguably pioneered the deluxe ground ride cabinet cum video game with classics such as" Space Harrier. Sega went on to produce "bigger" and "better" motion simulator cabinets for arcade flight games such as After Burner (1987) and the R360 cabinet for G LOC: Air Battle (1990). Hideki Kamiya, the director of PlatinumGames and creator of the Devil May Cry series, cited Space Harrier as an inspiration for his entering the video game industry in a 2014 interview: "There were so many trend setting definitive games that came out [in the 1980s], like Gradius and Space Harrier. All these game creators were trying to make original, really creative games that had never existed before". Game composer Yuzo Koshiro was a fan of the game's music. He said Space Harrier was the first time he had heard FM synthesis music, and the game inspired him to become a video game music composer. He considers Space Harrier composer Hiroshi Kawaguchi to be one of Sega's best ever composers.