After Burner II

Exatamente como na versão Master System, você está no comando de um caça supersônico f-14 Thundercat. E deve destruir os aviões da esquadrilha inimiga para passar de fase.

Der Letzte wird der Erste sein: Dieses alte Sprichwort trifft auf die fabelhafte PC-Engine-Adaption des 3D-Action-Spektakels "Afterburner" ohne Einschränkung zu. Nach der katastrophalen Computer-, der ordentlichen Master-System- und der guten Mega-Drive-Version schießt die PC-Engine-Umsetzung den Vogel ab. Was NEC Avenue aus dem kleinen Wunderkästchen herausgeholt hat, ist sensationell. Von gelegentlichen Flackereien abgesehen, kommt diese Version dem Spielautomatenoriginal am nächsten.

Es ist rational nicht ganz erklärbar, aber "Afterburner" macht trotz seiner Ansätze zur Sprite-Konfusion auf dem Bildschirm einen Heidenspaß. Das Gefühl, im Sturzflug unter den ankommenden Raketen hinwegzutauchen und anschließend eine Salve Missiles abzufeuern, umgeben von Explosions- und Rauchwolken, ist schlichtweg atemberaubend. Die Mega-Drive-Umsetzung ist mit großem Abstand die bislang technisch und spielerisch beste Heimversion.

When Sega decided to bring its arcade hit home, you know it wanted it to be good. And despite being a small 4Mb cart, After Burner II manages to be exactly that. It's a toned down port that lost some punch visually and aurally, but the core gameplay is intact, it has a great sense of speed when things start heating up, and it pulled off some above-average 3D on a system with no scaling capabilities whatsoever. It may not a perfect port like the Saturn version, or a really close one like the 32X version, but it's a respectable take on an arcade classic that'll likely please fans of Sega's 16-bit system.

I Arkadien gick de gamla grekiska fåraherdarna omkring och pssade sina små lamm, "som vita moln på ängens gröna klorofyll".

The Genesis doesn't have any built-in scaling capabilities and it really shows in the choppy animation. The land below is flat and uninteresting - mostly a bunch of bushes. The planes don't look half bad, but the scaling is rough. A dot in your crosshairs can transform into a huge plane in split secord. But the graphics are actually good compared to the gameplay. Pressing up and down on the pad changes your altitude (fine), but pressing side-to-side moves your plane in a semi-circle shaped arc. This makes it really difficult to target anything. Your machine guns shoot automatically, so you just need to fire missiles whenever you hear "fire." As a result the gameplay simply requires moving around like crazy to avoid incoming fire and firing missiles on cue. Even if you have no clue as to what you're doing, you'll probably rack up 2 million points. This is a really bad game. Sega released a much better version later for the 32X, although that wasn't anything to write home about either.