As they flew above Yu Suzuki’s innovative, psychedelic 3D landscapes combating space dragons and alien rock monsters, the moving arcade cabinet would fling players around and physically involve them in the actionDuring our family’s holidays in the 1980s, most of which were spent at classic English seaside resorts, I spent all my time and pocket money trawling the arcades. From Shanklin to Blackpool, I played them all, attracted by those vast bulb-lit frontages, the enticing names (Fantasy Land! Treasure Island!), and of course by the bleeping, flashing video machines within. And while I spent many hours on the staple classics – Pac-Man, Galaxian, Kung Fu Master – there was one particular game I always looked out for. A weird, thrilling design classic. A total experience, operating somewhere between a traditional arcade game, a flight sim and a rollercoaster. At the time, it seemed impossibly futuristic. Now, it is 40 years old.Released by Sega in 1985, Space Harrier is a 3D space shooter in which you control a jetpack super soldier named Harrier, who flies into the screen blasting surreal alien enemies above a psychedelic landscape. When designer Yu Suzuki was first tasked with overseeing its development, the game had been conceived as an authentic military flight shooter, but the graphical limitations of the day made that impossible – there was too much complex animation. So Suzuki, inspired by the flying sequences in the fantasy movie The NeverEnding Story, envisaged something different and more surreal, with a flying character rather than a fighter plane and aliens resembling stone giants and dragons. It was colourful and crazy, like a Roger Dean painting brought to life by the Memphis Group. Continue reading...
Thursday 16 October 2025
theguardian - 2 days ago
Space Harrier at 40: how Sega’s surreal classic brought total immersion to arcades in the 80s
Latest News
Catalonia’s Socialist president: tackling inequality can blunt separatist and far-right voices
- theguardian The latest Prince Andrew abuse claims are a new low for the Royal Family. In this form, it can’t survive | Simon Jenkins
- theguardian British Library reissues Oscar Wilde’s pass 130 years after it was revoked over gay conviction
- thejournal Indigenous and environmental leaders in Ecuador say they are facing state intimidation
- theguardian Mohammed Ben Sulayem set to remain FIA president after Tim Mayer fails to meet requirements
- theguardian ‘Inherently cruel’: Canadian parents say citizenship bill erodes rights of children adopted abroad
- theguardian Bill Belichick built an empire on control. But UNC is letting chaos reign | Andrew Lawrence
- theguardian Pop-rock wizard Todd Rundgren: ‘When I met John Lennon, he was a bundle of rags with nothing to say’
- theguardian US military plane forced to return to Shannon Airport after engine troubler over the Atlantic
- thejournal ‘When I was a child, everyone used it’: woman blames Johnson Johnson talc for her cancer
- theguardian ‘I can breathe again’: Israel’s Zikim beach open for first time since 7 October attack
- theguardian Hugh Cutting: Refound album review – an idiosyncratic and profoundly satisfying collection
- theguardian Irish Dancing governing body may have to tap out if all possible legal cases against it proceed
- thejournal ‘Just have fun. Smile. And keep putting on lipstick’: 10 ways to master Diane Keaton’s style
- theguardian Hekate by Nikita Gill review – the ancient Greek goddess works magic in this retelling
- theguardian When my daughter eats, it is with joyful abandon. Her behaviour is helping me unlearn toxic standards for women | Léa Antigny
- theguardian My sister-in-law won’t let anyone hold her new baby. It feels extreme. Is it? | Leading questions
- theguardian ROG Xbox Ally X review – like nothing handheld gaming has seen before, for better or worse
- theguardian Barrister found to have used AI to prepare for hearing after citing ‘fictitious’ cases
- theguardian Local Authorities to implement 30km/h speed limits in urban areas ‘where appropriate’ from 2027
- thejournal ‘People’s opinions aren’t going to pay me’: Ireland’s Shane Ryan on his decision to join Enhanced Games
- theguardian While the eyes of the world are on Gaza, Israeli settlers in the West Bank still behave with impunity | Ofer Cassif
- theguardian Gardaí to investigate Airbnb profits from Israeli settlements after conceding High Court case
- thejournal Spotify partnering with multinational music companies to develop ‘responsible’ AI products
- theguardian Different croaks: new frog and gecko species discovered on remote island in Australia’s north
- theguardian My teachers had no idea I was homeless. People like me hide in plain sight in the UK | Isra Sulevani
- theguardian ‘Explicit and outrageous’: South Park is back with its most gratuitous episode since naked Trump
- theguardian ‘Some of the best facelifts money can buy!’ The madness and millionaires of Frieze art fair – review
- theguardian Social Democrats TD says Tusla will have questions to answer after tragic Donaghmede stabbing
- thejournal ‘Maybe it’s the most difficult recovery in history’: Gerard Deulofeu’s battle to play football again
- theguardian My mum died this year. And the glut of apples from her tree has brought with it a new kind of grief | Zoe Williams
- theguardian At 12 an Israeli missile ‘ripped off’ her face. Now Mazyouna is safe in the US – but not all the scars have healed
- theguardian UK ministers met fossil fuel lobbyists 500 times in first year of power, analysis shows
- theguardian In Gaza, we are picking up our lives amid the remnants of war, fear of Israel’s return haunting every step | Sondos Sabra
- theguardian Bottom-half budget, top of the table: how Stevenage made English football’s best start
- theguardian Lyra’s last story – exclusive extract from Philip Pullman’s final installment in The Book of Dust trilogy
- theguardian
I spent years trying to avoid Vinted. It turns out I was right to be afraid | carys afoko
- theguardian‘I wanted to write more than I wanted to have children’: author Sarah Perry on rejecting motherhood
- theguardianRecord number of babies born to foreign parents in Japan amid political row over migration
- theguardianInvestigation after more than 30 acres of native trees - some centuries old - felled in Co Cork
- thejournalHow smoking a bong brought back the trauma of being shot by the Taliban – an exclusive extract from Malala Yousafzai’s memoir
- theguardianChina’s Temu more than doubles EU profits to nearly $120m despite having only eight staff
- theguardianUefa plans to relex multi-club ownership declaration rules after Crystal Palace furore
- theguardian‘Rashes, pain, blisters and bleeding’ … are we glossing over the dangers of manicures?
- theguardian
Jim Bolger, former New Zealand prime minister who drove reconciliation with Māori, dies at 90
- theguardian Average settlement for minor neck injuries 4.9 times higher in Ireland than England and Wales
- thejournal The Diplomat season three review – Keri Russell’s nail-biting political thriller is a ludicrous treat
- theguardian Scrooge gets a hip-hop spin and the RSC does the BFG: 20 of the best UK stage shows this Christmas
- theguardian ‘When I pass piles of fishing nets, I see piles of money’: a one man recycling revolution on the Cornish coast
- theguardian On a sunny day, my ex came to the hair salon where I worked – and shot me at close range
- theguardian South Korea bans travel to parts of Cambodia amid deepening scam crisis that has left 80 missing
- theguardian AI might be creating a ‘permanent underclass’ but it’s the makers of the tech bubble who are replaceable | Van Badham
- theguardian Ukraine war briefing: ‘Bit of a process’ but India will give up Russian oil, Trump claims
- theguardian Trump news at a glance: Court halts mass firings threatened by White House as shutdown enters third week
- theguardian Hamas says all reachable hostage bodies recovered amid Israel threat to resume Gaza fighting
- theguardian Trump confirms he greenlit covert CIA ops in Venezuela - and is considering land attacks
- thejournal Faulty engineering led to implosion of submersible headed to Titanic wreck, report says
- thejournal Judge dismisses suit by young climate activists against Trump’s pro-fossil fuel executive orders
- theguardian ‘They murdered my soul’: thousands attend first Israeli funeral since bodies of hostages were returned
- theguardian ‘Prince Andrew believed having sex with me was his birthright’: Virginia Giuffre on her abuse at the hands of Epstein, Maxwell and the King’s brother
- theguardian The people of Ireland will decide : Connolly and Humphreys take campaigns to Meath and Cavan
- thejournal ‘Theatre is an elitist artform for privileged people’: Daniel Day-Lewis talks class, cinema and his crush on Mary Poppins
- theguardian The Guardian view on the China spy trial: an opportunity for Labour to prove it understands the threat from Beijing | Editorial
- theguardian The Guardian view on EU accession for Ukraine: Orbán must not be allowed to call the tune | Editorial
- theguardian A leaked memo, a Maga-style hat and a trail of broken pledges – it’s Labour’s great housing betrayal | Aditya Chakrabortty
- theguardian From glorified sheds to sleek sci-fi palaces: how architecture put the zing into football grounds
- theguardian Another Guardian link to the Keira Knightley film The Woman in Cabin 10 | Brief letters
- theguardian Kemi brings a shovel to a gunfight, and Starmer lets her dig her own hole | John Crace
- theguardian Sources