That FM synth lead rips through the main theme like a fighter jet with a guitar solo strapped to it. Hiroshi "Hiro" Kawaguchi composed Space Harrier's 1985 arcade score on Yamaha hardware, trying to recreate a full rock band with raw synthesis, and honestly he pulled it off.
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"Squilla" bounces on this impossibly catchy bass line while "Ida" shifts into something almost prog. The way each stage theme keeps the energy at redline without repeating itself across eleven tracks is wild for mid-80s arcade.
This 2022 remaster cleans everything up without killing the grit. If you grew up pumping quarters into SEGA cabinets, this still sounds exactly as triumphant as you remember.