Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee [to be continued]
…eeeeeeeeee!
Sega released the original After Burner to Japanese arcades in July 1987, and launched a sequel just three months later. As you might expect based on the release dates, the games are extremely similar, to the point of After Burner II being arguably more of a re-working than a sequel. Some of the arcade versions did have a cockpit that moved along with the steering wheel, though, which totally rules.
Even the guy in the art gives this one a thumbs up. Both games are pretty straight forward – you play as a fighter pilot who has to speed through a series of levels, taking down as many enemy planes as possible in the process (though realistically, simply surviving is measurably more important than racking up kills).
The Genesis version of After Burner II, released in 1990, is a decently faithful adaptation of the original, save for the lack of a cool cockpit for me to sit in. The most important difference between this game and its predecessor is the ability to either speed up or slow down your plane. This is a subtle but extremely welcome addition, as the game is very, very fast-paced, and being able to slow down to dodge projectiles is a big deal. You also have a limited supply of powerful missiles, but are otherwise always firing automatically.
At first the constant fire seemed like a weird/lazy choice, but then I considered how arcade-style shooters tend to get played. even if I had to fire manually, I’d probably just be doing it all the time anyway. With shooting taken care of, you can spend more time focusing on the important act of “not dying.” The aforementioned ability to control your speed is huge here – the game is fast paced enough by default that I found myself slowing down more often than not. As I also mentioned before, there’s no minimum threshold for destroying enemies, so survival is what really matters. Knocking out a bunch of bad guys in quick succession still feels great, though, and if done quickly enough it can make surviving a bit easier.
If I could describe After Burner II in one word, it would probably have to be “frantic.” It doesn’t really let up, practically to a fault. Some might find it frustrating because of that, but it’s ultimately what one should expect from an arcade shooter – it’s fast, challenging, and pretty darn fun. Also, at one point I did a barrel roll. I don’t know how, but it was cool.
Another sequel, After Burner III, is a Sega CD exclusive. That’s pretty weird! As with a surprising number of games I blog about, the most recent game in the After Burner series is far more recent than I would’ve guessed – After Burner: Black Falcon was released in 2007 an exclusive to the PSP – again, that’s weird! Apparently it’s not great.
If you want to check out this one, it’s a relatively cheap pickup. Despite having a different title, the Tengen NES game After Burner is actually based on After Burner II, so you can play it there, too.
We’re sticking with the theme of “shooting-related titles on the Genesis” next week, to see what else it does that Nintendon’t. I’ve heard great things about this game, and hope to see you then.