is a
3D rail shooter
Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs
) are a Video game genre, sub-genre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certai ...
arcade video game
An arcade video game takes player input from its controls, processes it through electrical or computerized components, and displays output to an electronic monitor or similar display. Most arcade video games are coin-operated, housed in an arc ...
published by
Sega
is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...
, developed by its
Amusement Vision
is a video game developer housed within the Japanese video game company Sega as part of its division. It is known for developing the games in the ''Yakuza'' series, which the studio is named after, since ''Yakuza 5''.
The studio's origins can b ...
division. It is part of the ''
Space Harrier
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 techni ...
'' series. It was produced both as a sit-down twin cabinet and a stand-up single cabinet.
Gameplay
The game is based around a twin
cabinet
Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to:
Furniture
* Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers
* Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets
* Filing ...
, which allows for two seated players to play simultaneous single-player games, or a networked two-player game. Control is through a joystick with a missile and bullet trigger, and view-change and bomb buttons on the main panel.
A player may select one of four characters: Glenn, X, Cory, or Nick. The character flies from an into-the-screen perspective, shooting oncoming enemies and missiles. In a two player game, the two characters may dock together in order to recover life.
Opa-Opa appears spinning above a defeated player offering a continue. This character is made playable with the
Easter egg
Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs, are eggs that are decorated for the Christian feast of Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. As such, Easter eggs are common during the season of Eastertide (Easter season). The oldest tr ...
of moving the player selection over X, then Nick, Cory, Glenn, Cory, Nick, Cory, Glenn, X, Cory and then Glenn again.
Reception
In September 2000,
IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
described ''Planet Harrier'', running on the
Sega Hikaru
Sega is a video game video game development, developer, video game publisher, publisher, and Arcade cabinet, hardware development company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, with multiple offices around the world. The company's involvement in the arca ...
arcade system board
An arcade video game takes player input from its controls, processes it through electrical or computerized components, and displays output to an electronic monitor or similar display. Most arcade video games are coin-operated, housed in an arc ...
, as "the unrivaled champion of
videogame graphics ... there's never been as visually impressive a videogame as this", praising the long
draw distance
In computer graphics, draw distance (render distance or view distance) is the maximum distance of objects in a three-dimensional scene that are drawn by the rendering engine. Polygons that lie beyond the draw distance will not be drawn to the ...
, "clean and crisp" image quality, speed of movement, large number of fast-moving objects, and "amazing" graphical style. They also praised the gameplay as "the fastest, most intense 3D shooter ever crafted".
In Japan, the February 1, 2001 issue of ''Game Machine'' lists it as the eleventh most-successful dedicated arcade game of the month.
A rumored
GameCube
The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the Wii ...
port never materialized.
See also
* ''
Space Harrier
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 techni ...
''
* ''
Cyber Troopers Virtual-On Force
is a 3D mecha fighting game developed by Sega AM3 (formerly Hitmaker) and published by Sega. It was released in Japanese arcades only on the Sega Hikaru arcade system board in 2001. Following its initial release, there was initially no home c ...
'', another arcade game based on the same arcade system.
References
Further reading
''Planet Harriers'' cabinet manual''Planet Harriers'' promotional brochure
External links
*
''Planet Harriers''
at Killer List of Videogames
Killer List of Videogames (KLOV) is a website featuring an online encyclopedia devoted to cataloging arcade games past and present. It is the video game department of the International Arcade Museum, and has been referred to as "the IMDb for pla ...
{{Space Harrier games
2000 video games
Amusement Vision games
Rail shooters
Sega arcade games
Arcade video games
Arcade-only video games
Video games developed in Japan
Cooperative video games
Video game spin-offs