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So I'm finding myself severely out of practice with the SMS version, I'm pretty sure I'd routinely reach stage 7 and now I'm dying on stage 4 more often than not... but I managed to recapture some of my past skills and reach stage 8 on my last try for the night! My current high score is 6,905,870. Of course, score doesn't really matter too much in this game - I guess if someone wanted to beat the world record, they could just hang out at the first boss and dodge his fireballs forever and their score would keep increasing...

I also looked up the game on GameFAQs and actually found out that you can continue 9 times in the game! I've never really cared because the later levels are basically the same as the earlier ones with different colors and more stuff to kill you, but maybe I'll see if I can beat the game within the month?
There's one "cheat" which is to have every name in the high-score list as "ERI" which gives you a strange message. I saw that tonight for the first time and it's certainly a strange one! (It's about how you can mail a letter to Sega and they will respond to the first 10 letters they receive. I really want to know how many people ACTUALLY mailed letters to Japan and if any responses are online somewhere!

So the version on Sega Arcade Gallery (GBA) has quite a few differences -

1) Scoring severely bork-ed. You don't score nearly as many points as you would in the arcade with the same progress. I say it's about a 10:1 difference from arcade-GBA.

2) With each new game you get a 60-second timer in which any lives you lose will not be counted against you. Good idea for getting used to the smaller screen, but that's something Sega used in the past (the original arcade Thunder Blade for example). After the 60 seconds are up, you get 5 lives.

3) "YOU'RE DOING GREAT" voice after every stage has been cut down to just "GREAT"

4) No "READY? MORE BATTLE SCENES WILL SOON BE AVAILABLE!" message after dying.

5) On the stages with the double ceilings (stage 4 for example), the indestructible "Binsbein" enemies don't have their signature sound effect and also don't animate and are much smaller in size.

I notice these things because I've played it in Shenmue so many times.

Anyways, here's a score from the Retron 5 (enlarged). Notice that on Stage 8 you'd probably have around 10 million points on the original version.

Well, Space Harrier 3-D (it's a totally different game but relevant enough for TR) arrived... and I can't get a good setup with both a CRT for 3D *and* sound. So I won't be playing it "for reals" anytime in the foreseeable future.
But from the couple minutes of fooling around I can say:
1) THIS GAME IS FRIGGIN' HARD. Okay I wasn't seriously playing but normally I can breeze through the first couple levels in Space Harrier or even Space Harrier II... I didn't even reach the first boss.
2) UGH THE MUSIC IS TERRIBLE. Maybe it gets better but trying to play without 3D glasses is an awful experience... but you need to get on the high-score list before you can turn off 3D mode. And the base-score you'll need to get on the list is higher than in the original version.
3) THE 3D MAKES IT WORTH PLAYING if you're into that kind of thing. Seriously, it's cool looking. Someday I would like to get a nice-sized CRT TV and waste a lot of time looking at the 3D. Yeah, it's a novelty, but it's a pretty awesome one.

Well I finished the arcade version (18 levels) but had to use more continues than I'd like to admit. I'll play it a few more times until I feel that I turned in a respectable performance and then I'll toss it on my Games Beaten list.

I don't know about you all, but most of my deaths are caused by scenery, not enemies or projectiles. The trees and buildings come at you fast and furiously during those final few levels.

On the flipside, the bosses are easy as hell! All boss attacks can be avoided simply by flying in a clockwise or counterclockwise circle, and it's easy to hit the bosses multiple times when they take their occasional breaks from attacking. The final stage - which is nothing but a boss run - is one of the easiest in the game!

As Nemoide previously stated, high scores are rather pointless. You get points simply for existing in Space Harrier. One could avoid the first boss' projectiles for an hour (easily done if you have the patience) and rack up an absurd score. I wonder if the counter rolls over eventually...

In the original version for SMS, there's a cheat to let you continue 3 times (in the manual), a cheat to let you continue 9 times, and a cheat to let you continue unlimited times. I CANNOT FRIGGIN GET ANYTHING BUT THE "CONTINUE THREE TIMES" ONE TO WORK.
The others both involve fairly elaborate D-pad combinations and I feel like the controller just isn't reliable enough to accept the directions. OR MAYBE you're supposed to do them REALLY REALLY FAST or something.
I don't know but it MAKES ME ANGRY. We'll see how far I can get on 3 continues by the end of the month. I INTEND TO PRACTICE LOTS.

Played some more of the TG16 port as well as the Sega Ages (PS2) remake last night.

TG16 port looks decent enough and the music sounds pleasant. I do find the game unplayable unless you have the controller set to autofire. In one sense it's "easier" than the arcade original as everything moves slower. I can get much further in the game before I take my first hit. The problem is that with no continues there's very little room for error. I can only make it about halfway through the game.

PS2 remake looks kind of crappy, honestly. The unique checkerboard landscapes have been replaced with brownish slop. The Harrier also looks goofy as hell. Bosses take a ton of hits to kill this time around. Oh, and there's no continues here either. Yup.

MyLifeInGaming did a nice little retrospective on this series if you guys want to check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UR_sMdqQPfY#t=88

They're a couple of guys from the backloggery and their videos are high quality and good stuff. Our own Redifer makes an appearance too!

BoneSnapDeez wrote:One could avoid the first boss' projectiles for an hour (easily done if you have the patience) and rack up an absurd score.

Bosses time out so this isn't possible. Some time out very quickly too and I don't think any of them gives more points if you time them out than if you actually kill them.

Interesting. Thanks for the info. There were a couple of boss battles that seemed to end abruptly for me, but I figured the boss must have just expired amid all the chaotic explosions. I wonder if they time out in all ports.

Right guys, but how many trees did you mow down with the white centipede hamster-dragon? That's the true variable of success, no?