Arrow Flash
Arrow Flash — frequently asked questions
- What platforms is Arrow Flash on?
- Arrow Flash was released on Sega Mega Drive/Genesis.
- When did Arrow Flash release?
- Arrow Flash was first released on October 20, 1990.
About Arrow Flash
Arrow Flash is a side-scrolling space shooter. The player controls a female spaceship pilot who is sent on a mission into deep space to save the Earth from an assault by an evil dragon from another galaxy. Moving vertically or horizontally, players must avoid or kill the enemies and make it to the end of the level alive where a boss battle awaits. During gameplay, the player can switch at any time between two modes: normal spaceship and flying robot. The two forms use different weapons and also have different special abilities, called Arrow Flash. While the spaceship can fire destructive lasers for major damage, the robot can raise a shield that will protect from enemy attacks for some time and instantly kill anything that touches it. The Arrow Flash attacks can be charged by holding a button for several seconds, or collect icons during your flight to release it quickly afterwards.
Summary via IGDB.
Game details
- Developer
- I.T.L
- Publisher
- Tec Toy
- Game modes
- Single player
- Themes
- Science fiction
Details via IGDB.
Reception
Every version compared
Prices, contemporary reception and the studio credited for each release
| Platform | Year | Loose | Complete | Sealed | Period reviews | Fake risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sega Genesis | 1990 | $39 | $83 | — | 15 reviews | Low |
Also released on: Sega Mega Drive/Genesis. We haven’t priced or authenticated that version yet.
Collector value & authenticity
Sega Genesis · PriceCharting sold data · Verified 2026-10-29
Other releases and variants
| Release | Loose | Complete | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|
| European (PAL) release | $31 | $117 | $321 |
| Japanese release | $46 | $120 | — |
How often it sells
- Loose: about 2 times a month
- Complete: about 2 times a month
- Sealed: about once a year
Sales frequency from PriceCharting's completed-sale records, as of 2026-10-29.
Price over time
- Loose
- Complete
A loose copy sold for about $2.99 in Oct 2008, $30 five years ago, and $39 as of Oct 2026.
Show as table
| Month | Loose | Complete |
|---|---|---|
| Jan 2009 | $2.25 | — |
| Jan 2010 | $4.96 | — |
| Jan 2011 | $6.99 | — |
| Jan 2012 | $10.59 | — |
| Jan 2013 | $11.47 | — |
| Jan 2014 | $12.95 | $45 |
| Jan 2015 | $16.00 | $40 |
| Jan 2016 | $18.00 | $76 |
| Jan 2017 | $24 | $76 |
| Jan 2018 | $25 | $67 |
| Jan 2019 | $30 | $70 |
| Jan 2020 | $33 | $85 |
| Jan 2021 | $41 | $99 |
| Jan 2022 | $40 | $130 |
| Jan 2023 | $54 | $179 |
| Jan 2024 | $33 | $127 |
| Jan 2025 | $37 | $120 |
| Jan 2026 | $40 | $90 |
| Oct 2026 | $39 | $83 |
Monthly price estimates from PriceCharting's completed-sale records, sampled quarterly, through Oct 2026.
Release record
| Territory | Date | Barcode |
|---|---|---|
| North America | December 1990 | 720238100401 |
| Europe / PAL | 1991 | — |
| Japan | 20 October 1990 | — |
- Region
- NA+EU+JP
- Released
- 1990
- Authenticity
- Low
An easy horizontal shooter with a good soundtrack, and one of the pricier US carts.
Arrow Flash is a horizontal shooter from Imaginative Technology Land. Sega published it in Japan on 20 October 1990 and in Europe in 1991, and Renovation Products released it in North America in December 1990. The heroine pilots a transformable fighter-mecha left to her by her grandfather and fights off an alien attack on humankind; the game is mostly horizontal, with a single downward-scrolling stage.
Critics at the time were not kind. Mean Machines Sega called it dull and uninteresting, with no challenge, and Sega Pro thought the graphics and sound poor and the game far too easy to finish. Video Games & Computer Entertainment agreed that it had little to offer but singled out the music as its saving grace, with a sound test in the options screen and adjustable difficulty, lives and rapid fire.
What the press said at the time
| Beep! MegaDrive | 5.8/10 | |
| Electronic Gaming Monthly | 6/10, 7/10 / 6/10, 6/10 | |
| Famitsu | 4/10, 6/10 / 7/10, 5/10 | |
| Games-X | 3/5 | |
| Mean Machines Sega | 46% | |
| Raze | 73% | |
| Video Games & Computer Entertainment | 5/10 | |
| Zero | 69/100 | |
| Console XS | 59/100 | |
| Game Zone | 2/5 | |
| Mega | 24% | |
| Mega Drive Advanced Gaming | 52% | |
| MegaTech | 46% | |
| Sega Power | 60% | |
| Sega Pro | 39/100 |
“But regardless of the option settings, Arrow Flash has little to offer: a ho-hum shooter with poor graphics and no lasting power. Unless you simply must have every game released for your Genesis, pass this one by.”
“One of the oldest shoot-em-ups, and (it must be said at this point) quite possibly one of the worst.”
Undated scores are from the review table in the game's Wikipedia article, limited to reviews of the Genesis version.
Before you buy
Among US carts it sits well above the middle for its loose price. The European loose cart usually costs less than the US one, but a complete European copy usually costs more. The Japanese cart usually costs somewhat more than the US one in both conditions, and its cartridge has a different shape from a Western one.
Arrow Flash screenshots
Watch on YouTube
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