I tried to play it. I didn’t like it.

Space Harrier II is a terrible excuse for a sequel and absolutely pales in comparison to the Arcade original in every way imaginable.

Not only you can freely select any stage that you want at the game’s main menu (completely butchering any kind of challenge), but these are super boring ones, with even more boring music and weird controls, all on top of a very choppy performance.
The original Space Harrier is, basically, the very antithesis to all of that.

Go ahead if you consider yourself a huge Space Harrier fan. Otherwise, I’m pretty sure there are much nicer things to expend your time with.