| British magazines described the arcade game's sit-in cabinet in 1987. In Sinclair User, Clare Edgeley wrote that the player straps in with a seat belt and that the cabinet tilts and rolls in whatever direction the joystick is pushed. Computer and Video Games wrote that the cockpit version's hydraulics throw the player around: the whole cabinet swings up and down and from side to side. | p. 14 (image 14), "Enter the Fantasy Zone with Space Harrier"p. 14 (image 14) | Magazine |
| Elite published the home computer versions in Britain. Computer and Video Games' January 1987 review lists versions for the ZX Spectrum (£7.95), Amstrad (£8.95), and Commodore 64/128 (£9.95, or £14.95 on disk), and tested the Spectrum and Amstrad ones. | p. 15 (image 15), review detailsp. 15 (image 15)p. 15 (image 15)p. 15 (image 15) | Magazine |
| Keith Burkhill converted Space Harrier to the ZX Spectrum. Computer and Video Games described him in January 1987 as a 20-year-old programmer who had done Elite's Spectrum versions of Commando and Ghosts 'n Goblins, learned in-house at Elite, and spent four months on the conversion. He had seen the arcade game in Rhyl and worked for months on the scrolling. Crash's review names him as the author. | p. 14 (image 14)p. 14 (image 14)p. 14 (image 14)p. 14 (image 14)p. 14 (image 14)p. 15 (image 15) | Magazine |
| Computer and Video Games reported that the Spectrum version has 15 levels, one fewer than the arcade game, and quoted Burkhill that the final stages run two and a half times faster than the first. Crash listed sixteen scrolling arenas and one skill level. | p. 14 (image 14)p. 14 (image 14) | Magazine |
| Chris Butler was converting Space Harrier to the Commodore 64 for Elite at the end of 1986: Zzap!64's Christmas Special of 1986 said he was then converting it, and Computer and Video Games looked forward in January 1987 to a finished Commodore 64 version from him. | p. 15 (image 15) | Magazine |
| Computer and Video Games' review of January 1987, under the name Tim, marked the Spectrum version 8 for graphics, 7 for sound, 9 for value and 10 for playability, and the Amstrad version 9, 7, 9 and 10. It called the Spectrum version "the most fun you'll have with your Spectrum this year" and the game "a sure fire smash", and found the Amstrad and Commodore 64 versions "equally as awesome". It found the scrolling smooth and nearly flicker-free, the Spectrum graphics sometimes hard to read, and sound the only thing lacking. The player starts with eight lives and gains one at the end of each zone. | p. 15 (image 15)p. 15 (image 15), marksp. 15 (image 15)p. 15 (image 15)p. 15 (image 15)p. 15 (image 15)p. 15 (image 15)p. 15 (image 15)p. 15 (image 15)p. 15 (image 15) | Magazine |