After Burner

About This Game

Gameplay

The game allows the player to control an F-14 Tomcat jet airplane. At the start of the game, the player takes off from an aircraft carrier called the SEGA Enterprise on a mission to destroy enemy jets over 18 stages. In the arcade version, the jet employs a machine gun and a limited number of heat-seeking missiles (in the Master System version the player has unlimited missiles). These weapons are replenished by another aircraft, after beating a few stages. The aircraft, cannon and missile buttons are controlled from an integrated flight stick. The game was released in two variations in the US: a standard upright cabinet and a closed, rotating-cockpit deluxe version. In the cockpit version, the seat tilted forward and backwards, and the cockpit rotated from side to side. It featured two speakers at head-level for stereo sound, and had a seatbelt to hold the player when the cockpit moved. Both cabinets contained a grey monitor frame with flashing lights at the top that indicated an enemy's "lock" on the player's craft. Japan also received a commander cabinet that moved left and right. A third variation, called commander, released elsewhere, featured an open cabinet.

History

After Burner was designed by Yu Suzuki, with assistance from programmer Satoshi Mifune and composer Hiroshi "Hiro" Kawaguchi. Development of the game began in early December 1986, shortly after Out Run was completed, with much of the development team having worked on Out Run. After Burner was intended to be Sega's first "true blockbuster" video game; the project was a closely guarded secret within the company during its development. When the game was in its initial concept stages, Sega had adopted a flextime work system, allowing development of games to be done outside the company; After Burner was one of the first games to be produced under this new system, with development taking place in a building named Studio 128.