After Burner II

After Burner II
European boxart
Developer(s)	Sega-AM2
Publisher(s)	Sega
Designer(s)	Yu Suzuki
Platform(s)	Arcade, Amiga, Atari ST, DOS, Famicom, Sharp X68000, Mega Drive/Genesis, PC Engine, PlayStation 2
Release date	1987 (Arcade) 1989 (Amiga) 1989 (Atari ST) 1989 (DOS) 1989 (Famicom) 1989(Sharp X68000) 1990 (Mega Drive/Genesis) 1990 (PC Engine) 2004 (PlayStation 2)
Genre(s)	Shoot 'em up
Mode(s)	Single player
Input methods	Joystick, trigger, missile button, throttle
Cabinet	Standard upright, sit-down hydraulic cockpit
Arcade system	Sega X Board
Display	Raster

After Burner II is an arcade-style flight game released by Sega in 1987. It is the second game in the After Burner series. In the game, you fly a F-14 Tomcat jet fighter, gunning down enemies while avoiding incoming fire. Like Out Run, another Sega arcade game, After Burner II came in several versions, the most famous being a large, servo actuated, sit-down cabinet which resembled a cockpit and moved according to the motion of the plane onscreen. The cockpit would bank in the same direction the on-screen aircraft was banking. There was also a much less thrilling upright version.

The differences between After Burner and After Burner II are very small, and it is easy to confuse the two. The differences included:

• The waiting-for-start sequence (the screen/music after a player inserts credits but before starting the game) is different.
• After Burner II added a throttle to the controls, allowing players to vary their speed while flying.
• After Burner has 18 stages; After Burner II has those same stages but adds three additional stages that make 21 stages total.
• After Burner II added a few minor enemy changes to introduce new speed-based challenges (missiles/aircraft behind the player aircraft) to account for the use of the new throttle control.
• The player's missiles in After Burner II could be fired considerably more frequently.
• Musical compositions were the same for both games, though After Burner's instrumentation is different in spots.

Translations and Ports

After Burner II has been translated and ported to numerous home computers and consoles, including versions for the PC Engine, Sharp X68000, Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis, Famicom, FM Towns Marty, Amiga, Commodore 64, Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Sega Saturn and, in Japan, the PlayStation 2 as part of the Sega Ages classic series.

It is notable that the version released for Sega Saturn is a nearly direct port of the arcade code, which before consoles like the Saturn and PlayStation was largely unheard of for a home version.

Trivia

• After Burner II was originally planned to have a World War II theme and make it a realistic flight sim but was dropped because Yu Suzuki states that "It would not have fit the arcade scene." A pure dogfighter was not his intention.
• Although the plane you pilot is a variation of the F-14, the cover art for the Mega Drive version uses an F-15E Strike Eagle.
• Shenmue II features a full playable version of After Burner II.

External links

• After Burner II at the Killer List of Videogames
• After Burner II at MobyGames
• After Burner II at Arcade-History