| Sub-Terrania | |
|---|---|
 North American cover | |
| Developer(s) | Zyrinx |
| Publisher(s) | Sega |
| Producer(s) | Tony Van |
| Programmer(s) | David Guldbrandsen Karsten L. Hvidberg Jens Bo Albretsen Thomas Risager |
| Artist(s) | Jesper Vorsholt Jørgensen Mikael Balle Karsten Lund |
| Composer(s) | Jesper Kyd |
| Platform(s) | Mega Drive/Genesis |
| Release | |
| Genre(s) | Multidirectional shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Sub-Terrania is a 1994 multidirectional shooter developed by Danish studio Zyrinx and published by Sega for the Mega Drive/Genesis. The game takes place in the future, where a deep-space mining colony has been invaded by an unknown alien race. The player assumes the role of a lone pilot who must defeat the alien forces and rescue the trapped miners. During the course of the game, the player controls a rotatable craft with thrusters that is constantly subject to gravity and the craft's inertia. Using the ship's "rotate-and-thrust" capabilities, the players must aim, shoot, dodge and carefully maneuver their way through the hazardous landscape while constantly taking gravity and refueling needs into account.
It was the first game developed by Zyrinx, a small studio formed by people who had been active in the demoscene during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Upon its release, Sub-Terrania gained a reputation as an "overly difficult" game and suffered from poor sales. However, critical reception was positive with game journalists describing it as an evolution of gravity-based shoot 'em up games like Gravitar (1982) and Thrust (1986). Critics praised its originality, graphics and soundtrack, while noting that getting used to the game's control system and physics-based gameplay can take some time.