After Burner II

After Burner II is an arcade-style flight game released by Sega in October 1987.[1] It is the second game in the After Burner series. In the game, players fly an F-14 Tomcat jet fighter, gunning down enemies while avoiding incoming fire. After Burner II came both a standard arcade cabinet and a servo actuated, sit-down version which moved according to the motion of the plane onscreen. The cockpit would bank in the same direction the on-screen aircraft was banking.

After Burner II
European box art (note erroneous use of F-15)
Developer(s)Sega AM2
Publisher(s)Sega
Designer(s)Yu Suzuki
Programmer(s)Satoshi Mifune
Composer(s)Hiroshi Kawaguchi (Arcade)
Noriyuki Iwadare (Genesis)
Naoki Kodaka (Famicom)
Platform(s)Arcade, Amiga, Atari ST, MS-DOS, Famicom, Sharp X68000, Video Challenger, Mega Drive/Genesis, PC Engine, Saturn, FM Towns
Release
Genre(s)Combat flight simulator
Mode(s)Single-player
CabinetStandard upright, hydraulic cockpit
Arcade systemSega X Board
DisplayRaster

Development

Development of After Burner II commenced after Out Run was finished. The game was mostly created by three men, Yu Suzuki, Satoshi Mifune, and Kawaguchi. During development, it was codenamed Studio 128 to specify the secrecy of the project.[2] The primary influence of After Burner II was Top Gun, although an art style in the vein of science fiction anime films like Laputa: Castle in the Sky was considered but scrapped due to team wanting to appeal to a western audience. After Burner II was considered to be a reissue of After Burner, that included minor improvements such as a throttle that was absent in the original game.

Ports
Arcade version screenshot.

After Burner II has been translated and ported to numerous home systems: PC Engine, Sharp X68000, Genesis, Famicom, FM Towns Marty, Atari ST, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, and Sega Saturn.[3]

The game was rebuilt with stereoscopic 3D feature as one of 3D Classics for Nintendo 3DS.

Reception

Mega placed the Genesis/Mega Drive version at number 38 in their Top Mega Drive Games of All Time.[4] MegaTech magazine praised the smooth and fast gameplay, as well as the sound.

Reception
Review scores
PublicationScore
IGN5/10 (Mobile Phone)[5]
MegaTech90%[6]
Compute's Guide19/25[7]

Legacy

In Japan, After Burner II was released on the PlayStation 2 as part of the Sega Ages classic series.

M2 ported After Burner II in Sega's 3D Classics series to the Nintendo 3DS eShop in Japan on 2013 and worldwide in 2015. This version is faithful to the original arcade game with additions, including Touch Controls and screen layouts that resemble the Upright as well as the Commander and Deluxe cabinets. An unlockable new Special mode was also added, which used a time-slowing "Burst" system similar to After Burner Climax, and featured a different story and altered stages. This mode has no stage select or continues, and instead depends on frequent acquisition of extra lives over the course of the game in order to complete it.[8]

References
  1. "After Burner II". The International Arcade Museum. Retrieved 1 Nov 2013.
  2. blackoak. "shmuplations.com". shmuplations.com. Retrieved 2019-09-01.
  3. "FM Towns ROM Archive". After Burner II FM Towns ROM.
  4. Mega magazine issue 1, page 76, Future Publishing, Oct 1992
  5. After Burner II - IGN
  6. MegaTech rating, EMAP, issue 5, page 78, May 1992
  7. Compute's Guide to Sega, Steven A Schwartz, 1990, ISBN 0-87455-238-9, p5
  8. Sega 3D Classics After Burner II page (Japan) Archived 2015-02-11 at the Wayback Machine
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