When did Galaxy Force release?

Galaxy Force was first released on December 31, 1989.

Galaxy Force

Dec 31, 1989ShooterSimulatorSega Master System/Mark IIIArcadeAmigaAmstrad CPCAtari ST/STE

Galaxy Force — frequently asked questions

What platforms is Galaxy Force on?: Galaxy Force was released on Sega Master System/Mark III, Arcade, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST/STE, Commodore C64/128/MAX, ZX Spectrum, FM Towns, Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, Sega Saturn, PlayStation 2, Mobile, Nintendo 3DS.
When did Galaxy Force release?: Galaxy Force was first released on December 31, 1989.

About Galaxy Force

CAUTION: FOUR MEGA POWER! Not double, not triple, but FOUR times the playing power of a regular cartidge. You get the hottest space combat, the baddest explosions, and the coolest sounds ever! Journey to four different planets, each with stunning but deadly landscapes. There's so many awesome enemies, you won't have time to stargaze!

Summary via IGDB.

Galaxy Force on Wikipedia

Galaxy Force is a 1988 rail shooter video game developed and published by Sega for arcades. The player assumes control of a starship named the TRY-Z, as it must prevent the Fourth Empire from taking over the entire galaxy. Gameplay involves shooting down enemies using either a laser shot or a limited supply of heat-seeking missiles, all while avoiding collision with projectiles or obstacles and making sure the ship's energy meter doesn't fully deplete. It ran on the Sega Y Board arcade system, and was released with a motion simulator cockpit arcade cabinet like previous Sega Super Scaler games.

Source: Wikipedia (text under CC BY-SA 4.0).

Game details

Platforms: Sega Master System/Mark III, Arcade, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST/STE, Commodore C64/128/MAX, ZX Spectrum, FM Towns, Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, Sega Saturn, PlayStation 2, Mobile, Nintendo 3DS
Developer: Sega Enterprises, Ltd.
Publisher: Activision Publishing
Game modes: Single player
Themes: Action, Science fiction

Details via IGDB.

Reception

IGDB rating

60/100

from 5 ratings

Every version compared

Prices, contemporary reception and the studio credited for each release

Platform	Year	Loose	Complete	Sealed	Period reviews	Fake risk
Sega Master System	1989	$26	$55	—	2 reviews	Low (look-alike)

Also released on: Sega Master System/Mark III · Arcade · Amiga · Amstrad CPC · Atari ST/STE · Commodore C64/128/MAX · ZX Spectrum · FM Towns · Sega Mega Drive/Genesis · Sega Saturn · PlayStation 2 · Mobile · Nintendo 3DS. We haven’t priced or authenticated those versions yet.

Collector value & authenticity

Sega Master System · PriceCharting sold data · Verified 2026-10-28

Loose

$26

Complete

$55

Sealed

—

Other releases and variants

Release	Loose	Complete	Sealed
European (PAL) release	$8	$24	—

How often it sells

Loose: about 6 times a year
Complete: about once a month
Sealed: about once a year

Sales frequency from PriceCharting's completed-sale records, as of 2026-10-28.

Price over time

Loose
Complete

A loose copy sold for about $10.00 in Jul 2009, $26 five years ago, and $26 as of Oct 2026.

Show as table

Month	Loose	Complete
Jan 2010	$10.00	—
Jan 2011	$9.56	—
Jan 2012	$8.31	—
Jan 2013	$11.97	—
Jan 2014	$19.99	$6.99
Jan 2015	$12.50	$11.49
Jan 2016	$17.00	$25
Jan 2017	$30	$40
Jan 2018	$17.97	$37
Jan 2019	$16.20	$36
Jan 2020	$22	$47
Jan 2021	$23	$60
Jan 2022	$38	$84
Jan 2023	$30	$64
Jan 2024	$30	$64
Jan 2025	$23	$57
Jan 2026	$32	$70
Oct 2026	$26	$55

Monthly price estimates from PriceCharting's completed-sale records, sampled quarterly, through Oct 2026.

Release record

Territory	Date	Known board
North America	October 1989	—
Europe / PAL	1989	171-5559-01D · 315-5235

Source: Product numbers: MAME's Master System software list and the No-Intro serial records in the libretro database, published only where both agree on the same cartridge dump; Japanese numbers also checked against Sega Japan's software list. Board and ROM numbers: MAME's software list

Region: NA+EU
Released: 1989
Authenticity: Low

Modern re-releases, such as Sega Ages and Virtual Console, are not tracked hereLow look-alike risk

Sega Master System prices, all games & how to spot a fake

A rebuilt Sega rail shooter that looks closer to Space Harrier than to its arcade parent, and a good cart to own.

Galaxy Force is a rail shooter from Sega's arcades in which you pilot the starship TRY-Z to stop the Fourth Empire from taking over the galaxy. The Master System version was developed by Sega, published in North America by Activision and in Europe by Sega, in October 1989 (North America) and 1989 (Europe).

The Master System port was completely redone to fit the console's limits, so it looks much more like Space Harrier than the arcade game does. Every other home version was based on the sequel, Galaxy Force II, which makes this version different from the rest.

What the press said at the time

Mean Machines Sega Issue 3	December 1992	OVERALL 85%
Sega Pro Issue 34	July 1994	86%

“Featuring four levels of 3D shooting action, truly marvellous graphics and gameplay that's challeng¬ ing enough to keep you occupied for weeks, this is the best game of its type on the Sega.”
— Mean Machines Sega, December 1992

“This coin-op game is excellent fun. Some hideous enemy sprites but it only makes you 5 more determined to blow them to bits.”
— Sega Pro, July 1994

How the Sega Master System version differs

Mean Machines called the Master System conversion a miracle considering the limitations of the machine.

Also on other platforms

Arcade · Amiga · Amstrad CPC · Atari ST · Commodore 64 · ZX Spectrum · FM Towns · Genesis · Sega Saturn · PlayStation 2 · Mobile · Nintendo 3DS

Genesis. Mean Machines panned the Mega Drive Galaxy Force II as a lame effort, with lackluster, jerky animation and unresponsive controls.

Before you buy

Two releases exist, the US cart and the European cart. The European cart costs much less than the US one, loose and complete. The US cart sits above the middle of the US-released carts on price, and the look-alike risk is low. Check the manual is there on a complete copy.