I finally played Space Harrier for the first time and I don't get the cult around it. It's almost unparsable. There's no reason to be playing Space Harrier for fun unless it's 1985–1990.
Space Harrier and the Hang-On games weren't designed as just video games, they were designed as physical rides that included a video game element.
For example, here's Hang-On's purest form, the "Ride-On" cabinet. It's a combination of a mechanical ride AND an arcade machine! To play the motorcycle racing game, you actually have to ride the motorcycle. And this thing will tilt when you take sharp turns! If you were to remove this element, you'd still have a decent motorcycle racing game, but adding in that mechanical interactivity really adds a unique layer that makes it stand out.
But to the subject at hand, here's Space Harrier's "Rolling" cabinet. This iterates on Hang-On's design to add more directions of movement, to make it feel like you are the player character in the game, flying through the Fantasy Zones! Weaving around obstacles is much more of a thrill in this case, since your own body is also weaving around the obstacles as well. It adds that extra level of immersion that you can't really capture with emulation. Outside of the ride element, yeah it's basically a decent 3rd-person shooter. (Though it being a 3rd-person shooter with digitized speech in 1985 really made it stand out!) This is why, when I want to play Space Harrier, I need to go up to Funspot in New Hampshire, because they have this cabinet (and Hang-On as well!) and I make it a point to get the high score on it every time I go there.
Oh and as for OutRun, it's not supposed to be a racing game, it's a driving game. You're not trying to beat racers, you're just trying to get to a destination. The thrill is in the journey!
(FYI: all photos taken from Sega Retro)
one of my favorite bits of trivia about Space Harrier is that it was originally supposed to feature a futuristic jet fighter instead of the dude with the rocket-propelled gun (???) seen in the final game, and this is still reflected in both the game title and the cabinet design. utterly baffling
