Galaxy Force II

n/a

Y Board Mega Drive
Galaxy Force II
System(s): Sega Y Board, Sega Mega Drive, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, FM Towns, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Virtual Console, Steam
Publisher: Sega Sega (US/EU) CRI (JP) Activision (UK) MCM Software (ES)
Developer: Sega R&D 1 CRI Software Studios Probe Software Mak Computer Grafix M2
Peripherals supported: XE-1 AP
Genre: Shooting
Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code JP 1988-07"-beginning of month" ¥? ? US 1988 $? ? UK 1988 £? ? UK 1990-01 £24.9924.99 UK 1990-01 £24.9924.99 UK (Cassette) 1990-01 £9.999.99 UK (Disk) 1990-01 £14.9914.99 UK (Cassette) 1990-01 £9.999.99 UK (Disk) 1990-01 £14.9914.99 UK (Cassette) 1990-01 £9.999.99 UK (Disk) 1990-01 £14.9914.99 JP 1991-09-13 ¥8,400 (8,652)8,400e T-68013 US 1992-02 $59.9559.95 EU 1992 PT 199x UK 1992 £39.9939.99 AU 199x CA 199x BR 1992-07 JP ▼ 2009-02-03 600pts600 US ▼ 2009-05-11 800pts800 EU ▼ 2009-05-01 800pts800 AU ▼ 2009-05 800pts800 US ▼ 2010-09-13 $2.992.99 34310 EU ▼ 2010-09-13 €2.492.49 34310 DE ▼ 2010-09-13 €2.492.49 34310 UK ▼ 2010-09-13 £1.991.99 34310 AU ▼ 2010-09-13 $3.493.49 34310 US ▼ 2019-02-01 $0.990.99 34310 EU ▼ 2019-02-01 €0.990.99 34310 DE ▼ 2019-02-01 €0.990.99 34310 UK ▼ 2019-02-01 £0.790.79 34310 AU ▼ 2019-02-01 $1.351.35 34310 US ▼ 2019-02-01 $0.990.99 34310 EU ▼ 2019-02-01 €0.990.99 34310 DE ▼ 2019-02-01 €0.990.99 34310 UK ▼ 2019-02-01 £0.790.79 34310 AU ▼ 2019-02-01 $1.351.35 34310
VRC Sega

Galaxy Force II (ギャラクシーフォースII) is a 1988 arcade game developed by Sega. It is an update to Galaxy Force, similarly to After Burner II. It is a third person on-the-rails shoot 'em up, where the player controls a spaceship traveling across various planets destroying enemies. Like all Sega Y Board games, it is heavily reliant on sprite scaling and rotations to produce three-dimensional graphics.

Gameplay

Galaxy Force II adds two extra "Scenes", allows you choose the first five Scenes in any order, and addresses a number of bugs.

Levels

	Scene A/Level 1: Junos
	Scene B/Level 2: Velteor
	Scene C/Level 3: Malkland
	Scene D/Level 4: Orthea
	Scene E/Level 5: Ashutar
	Scene F/Level 6: Hyperspace
	Hyperspace can only be accessed once the previous five levels are complete. In the arcade version of Galaxy Force II, if you die on this level, the game is over — on previous levels you have the option to continue (except in the Japanese version), but this one will send you back to the title screen regardless of how many credits you have.

History

Legacy

Galaxy Force II was ported to the Sega Mega Drive in 1991, and a selection of computers including the Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum. Due to the inferior hardware of these systems, large cutbacks were made regarding detail and the reception has hence been mixed. There was a more respectable port to the FM Towns Marty in Japan however, which kept the sprite scaling, and there was a re-release for the Sega Saturn under the Sega Ages label. Many of the computer releases mis-label the packaging as "Galaxy Force" rather than "Galaxy Force II", but the in-game title screens retain the numbering. A port to NEC's SuperGrafx was also in development and shown in magazines, but never completed.

Sequels and re-releases

The arcade game has since been re-released in Japan as part of the PlayStation 2's Sega Ages 2500 series. More recently, the Mega Drive version of the game was brought to the Wii's Virtual Console service.

Updated versions of the game have been released, including Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 30: Galaxy Force II: Special Extended Edition for the PlayStation 2 in 2007 and 3D Galaxy Force II for the Nintendo 3DS in 2013.

Versions

In its original form, Galaxy Force II was designed to make maximum use of the Sega Y Board hardware, capable of rending vast amounts of sprites at 60FPS, all scaled and rotated natively by the hardware. At the time of release, no home consoles or computers could match this raw processing power, leading to significant downgrades in graphical quality.

A 1990 port to the FM Towns computer, then a relatively high-end Japanese-only machine was for many years the closest home conversion, retaining the majority of the arcade game's features but running at a lower resolution and frame rate. Fewer sprites are rendered on-screen (and rotations/scaling are estimated) causing noticable "pop-in" in places, however the release came with a remixed CD audio soundtrack exclusive to this version of the game.

The Sega Mega Drive version is the most widespread, having landed on the system in September 1991 before being included in several Mega Drive compilations and the Wii's Virtual Console service. On the Mega Drive, Galaxy Force II's frame rate is cut even more (leading to an artifically longer play time) and sprite rotation is entirely eliminated. Scaling, like many X and Y Board arcade conversions, relies on pre-rendered sprites of differing sizes being swapped in and out at runtime, leading to a "jerky" look. The slower pace of play compared to OutRun or After Burner and the more 3D-esque playfield exacerbates these concerns.

Interiors and textured surfaces (such as the lava in level 2) are simplified, becoming flat colours attempting to simulate movement in a similar manner to OutRun's road. Transitions between outside and inside portions of levels are removed, usually in favour of fade-ins/outs and black screens.

In the West, home computer ports were published by Activision, and all both drop the rotation effects and simplify the scaling in a similar manner to the Mega Drive. The Amiga and Atari ST versions are similar in nature to the Mega Drive, but run in a smaller window and are generally less responsive. Unlike their console counterpart, however, interior walls are textured (though floors and ceilings are still not). ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC ports take further cuts to resolution, colour counts and frame rates, resulting in ports more akin to the earlier Space Harrier than Galaxy Force.

The Commodore 64 resembles the arcade version the least, with very choppy scaling and busy graphics, making it difficult to judge what is going on.

Production credits

Main article: Galaxy Force II/Production credits.

Y Board version

• Designer: 8940 Kon, Lovely Mas, Itten, Kajinomoto
• Planner: Takoyaki Tomo
• Programmer: Justice 10 Joe (Project Leader), Nanno Kawa, Radical Yoko, Bad Boy 3284
• Musician: Funky Q Chan, Nami-Nami
• Special Thanks: Sea Monkey Kawa, 100 Kg Miya, Stepan Hon, Pochi
• Special No Thanks: Ippo Ogapi

Mega Drive version

• Producer: Tomoyuki Shimizu
• Director: Masayoshi Iwai
• Programmer: Tohru Kujirai
• Enemy Algorithm and Map: Shuichi Ikegami
• Sound Data: Yoshitoku Sunahara
• Data and Tool: Yukihiro Ishida
• Map Construction - Stage 5 -: Hajime Ikebe
• S.E. Music: M.Hikichi (Cube)
• Color Coordinator: Jiro Kurematsu
• Sales Dept.: Norio Miyashita, Taizan Suzuki, Hideaki Sasaki, Taketoshi Endo, Mari Ogasawara
• Public Relations Dept.: Keisuke Chiwata, Noriaki Hirai

Amiga version

Manufactured under license from Sega Enterprises Ltd. Japan

Galaxy Force & Sega are trademarks of Sega Enterprises Ltd.

• Code by: Bill Allen.
• Graphics by: Kevin Bulmer.
• Music by: Uncle Art.

A Software Studios Production.

Commodore 64 version

• Programming by: Neil Coxhead
• Additional Coding by: Probe Software Ltd.
• Graphics by: Mak Computer Grafix
• Music by: Martin Walker

A Software Studio Production

ZX Spectrum version

• Code by: Keith Burkhill
• Graphics by: Focus C.E. Ltd
• Music by: Paul Hiley

A Software Studios Production.

Digital manuals

• 

  Steam manual

Magazine articles

Main article: Galaxy Force II/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Main article: Galaxy Force II/Promotional material.

Physical scans

Sega Y Board version

Y Board, US

Y Board, JP

Mega Drive version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average

Publication Version Score 1700 igr dlya Sega (RU) 20 Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J 68 Consoles + (FR) 37 Console XS (UK) NTSC-J 40 Computer & Video Games (UK) 49 Mean Machines: The Essential Sega Guide (UK) 51 Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J 53 Game Informer (US) 65 Hippon Super (JP) NTSC-J 30 Hobby Consolas (ES) 58 Joker (SI) 35 Joypad (FR) NTSC-J 58 Joystick (FR) NTSC-J 58 Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK) PAL 30 Mega Drive Fan (JP) NTSC-J 62 Mega (UK) PAL 31 Mega Force (FR) 55 Mean Machines (UK) 59 Mean Machines Sega (UK) 59 Play Time (DE) 39 Sega Power (UK) PAL 45 Sega Pro (UK) NTSC-J 47 Sega Pro (UK) 47 Sega Pro (UK) PAL 20 Sega Force (UK) PAL 56 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 68 Supergame (BR) 86 Super Gaming (US) 43 Supersonic (FR) 58 Tilt (FR) 65 Tricks 16 bit (RU) 10 VideoGames & Computer Entertainment (US) NTSC-U 70 Video Games (DE) 29

	49
Based on 33 reviews

Galaxy Force II

Mega Drive, JP
Cover
Cart

Mega Drive, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, EU
Cover
Cart Manual PCB

Mega Drive, PT
Cover

Mega Drive, AU
Cart

Mega Drive, BR
Cover
Cart

Mega Drive, CA
Cover

Amiga version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

{{{{{icon}}}|L}}
Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score Amiga Action (UK) 36 Amiga Format (UK) 47 Amiga Joker (DE) 69 Aktueller Software Markt (DE) 33 Commodore User (UK) 80 The Games Machine (UK) 78 Micromanía (segunda época) (ES) 50 Power Play (DE) 43

	55
Based on 8 reviews

Galaxy Force II

Amiga, UK
Cover

Amstrad CPC version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

{{{{{icon}}}|L}}
Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score Aktueller Software Markt (DE) 53 Joystick (FR) 70

	62
Based on 2 reviews

Galaxy Force II

Amstrad CPC, UK (cassette)

Amstrad CPC, UK (disk)
Cover

Amstrad CPC, ES (cassette)

Amstrad CPC, ES (disk)

Atari ST version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

{{{{{icon}}}|L}}
Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score ACE (UK) 40 Aktueller Software Markt (DE) 35 Computer & Video Games (UK) 55 The Games Machine (UK) 86 Génération 4 (FR) 70 ST Action (UK) 50 ST Format (UK) 68

	58
Based on 7 reviews

Galaxy Force II

Atari ST, UK
Cover
Disk 1 Disk 2

Commodore 64 version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

{{{{{icon}}}|L}}
Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score The Games Machine (UK) 35 Zzap!64 (UK) 50

	43
Based on 2 reviews

Galaxy Force II

Commodore 64, UK

FM Towns version

FM Towns, JP
Cover

ZX Spectrum version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

{{{{{icon}}}|L}}
Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score Crash (UK) 79 The Games Machine (UK) 78 Sinclair User (UK) 50 Your Sinclair (UK) 78

	71
Based on 4 reviews

Galaxy Force II

ZX Spectrum, UK
Cover

Technical information

Main article: Galaxy Force II/Technical information.

ROM dump status

System	Hash	Size	Build Date	Source	Comments
✔	CRC32 d15f5c3c MD5 9fa0649fcb53963a432812254ccb4f02 SHA-1 db1615fc239cb0ed9fdc792217964c33e1e700fc	1MB	1991-10	Cartridge
✔	CRC32 cae883c5 MD5 00f475ac5e7a5c2f753bb14ef62a9d98 SHA-1 d4143bf5f49b0d03f4b8fe270c2ecc23fa6627e0	1MB	1991-06	Cartridge
?	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1			Virtual Console WAD file (JP)

External links

• Sega of Japan Virtual Console pages: Mega Drive
• Nintendo catalogue pages: US, AU
• Galaxy Force II on Steam

References

Games in the Galaxy Force Series
Galaxy Force (1988) | Galaxy Force II (1988) | Sega Ages Galaxy Force II (1998) | Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 30: Galaxy Force II: Special Extended Edition (2007) | 3D Galaxy Force II (2013)
Galaxy Force related media
	Galaxy Force (1988) | Galaxy Force II & Thunder Blade Original Sound Track (2007) | Galaxy Force II & Thunder Blade (2017)
	Galaxy Force (1988)