After Burner – stages 1 and 2 (sega master system)

The first couple of attempts I’m left feeling is that it? Is that worth considering for a top games list? Or am I simply remembering and romanticising the arcade version which was shaped like a fighter jet and bent and moved with the jet on the screen. And vibrated when your jet got shot.

I soon begin to realise that there is a certain amount of skill in getting to stage two without losing a plane. Or without losing more than one. To start with I just stay in first position and rapid fire at the wave of enemies like synchronised swimmers, darting back and forth in unison before me.

Then I dip to the left when they come by that side. Dip to my right as they are bound to go there next. This isn’t easy, only because the controls are clunky. The enemy lacks AI so I dare not call it intelligent, and enemy behaviour is designed so poorly I can predict even without having played it before, where their ships will go next and what maneuver they will try.

Despite this drawback, it is satisfying reaching stage two. And when I die and return to the beginning, I do still want to play again because I learned something from my mistakes. And I want to see how my new skills will be rewarded, how better I can play that first stage. Like fighting with the ghost of myself and winning.

The graphics are not so lacking. It’s not Tempest (Atari Jaguar), but the fighter jet animated, scratchy images take me back to a simpler time. The music and sound FX also remind me of that first time I played After Burner at the arcade in that massive Jet seat. Before big games like that cost $3 for one game and a game would last about ten seconds because they built them with the re-feeding of coins in mind.

So you pull up to tilt the plane upwards and climb, and you press down to tilt down and dip the front of the plane so you descend. A weakness I notice is that you can’t dip right down to the ground or climb so high you stall – lacking realism and potential for more interesting design elements.

This limits the game design, mainly because anything more would require a lot of programming to fill in all those extra design elements – the crashing of the plane into the environment, what the pilot would see if he was pointing straight up. This is a simple game, limitations are there to keep the scale down.

Shooting enemy is fairly simple. When they come into your crosshairs, press B (second action button.) You dip and tilt to aim. You also need to avoid or shoot missiles that are shot at you by some of the enemy jets and helicopters. This is easy to begin with, but the controls are a bit awkward so it can get more difficult the more enemies and obstacles you have to destroy.

Overall, it begins as a challenging and fun game for fans of retro. But it’s loaded with weaknesses, poor design and a big, dumb and clunky attitude.