Space Harrier II is a rail shooter developed by Sega and designed by Yu Suzuki, released as one of the two launch titles for the Mega Drive in Japan on October 29, 1988, alongside Super Thunder Blade, before reaching North America the following year as one of the Genesis’s six US launch games. It is the direct sequel to the 1985 arcade original, keeping the same into-the-screen flying, shooting, and dodging gameplay while adding new stages and enemies built around the Mega Drive’s stronger hardware. Alongside Altered Beast, it was also one of the console’s early showcases for digitized voice samples during gameplay, with a soundtrack composed by Tokuhiko Uwabo. As a launch-window title, Space Harrier II played a meaningful role in demonstrating what the new 16-bit hardware could do compared to the arcade original it was built on.