After Burner 2 appreciation

[pixeljunkie]

So, I just recently got my hands on a Cyberstick and an XHE-3 and I can't stop playing After Burner 2. This really takes me back to spending all my birthday cash playing the giant arcade version with the moving seat way back when.

So, how many levels are in the PCE version? It's starting to get really difficult around stage 15 for me.

[Mathius]

It's a good port. I've been playing it via the ED and really enjoyed a lot of the scaling effects. Even the refueling ship scales in which is the only 16-bit port that does this I believe. One weird thing is the canyon level where the walls are choppier than Thunder Blade on the Master System yet the inner floor is smooth as silk. It's kinda jarring.

[lukester]

Amazing port considering the hardware.

There's 21 levels. The highest I could ever get was 15. I don't know how different the Easy difficulty is either.

[Digi.k]

It's a good port. I've been playing it via the ED and really enjoyed a lot of the scaling effects. Even the refueling ship scales in which is the only 16-bit port that does this I believe. One weird thing is the canyon level where the walls are choppier than Thunder Blade on the Master System yet the inner floor is smooth as silk. It's kinda jarring.

yup that canyon level... yuck

I certainly think this is one of the better ports NEC Ave have done.  Only downside is that it's not full screen.

[roflmao]

This is one of my favorite games to pop in when I only have a handful of minutes to play. I *love* the soundtrack. I listened to it at work today, as a matter of fact.

[VenomMacbeth]

I love all the super scaler PCE ports, especially After Burner.  I'd like to get one of those controllers you mentioned, as adjusting the throttle with the select button is awkward.

[Gredler]

This has always been one of those games that was magical in the arcades, but when I got home to play it I was disappointed. The entire experience of the arcade helped me see past my vast inadequacies in ability to play this game, so when I get home and try and play it I get no where. Back in the day I mostly played the SMS and NES ports, later the Genesis one, and now only recently tried the turbo version and it's still not grabbing me like the arcade did.

Recently I was at a nephews birthday party at a Chuck-E-Cheese and they had the most recent After Burner there, Climax I believe it was called, how appropriate for a children's birthday party restaurant. Needless to say I stole tons of tokens from the kids and played the game excessively, and loved it. So much fun, and I really think it might be the flight stick. The chair and experience outside of the controller were nothing to write home about, and one of the two cabinets had a broken arcade stick from the youngsters hanging off of it, but it was still a blast to play.

It was after this that I thought "maybe now is a good time for the turbo version to get a try" and I fired it up on my EverDrive. I just wish I could get halfway decent at the game, it just feels so random and fast, I must be a sluggish dullard to not be able to memorize or react to the patterns. Fun, but not like those arcade experiences for me.

[johnnykonami]

I love the soundtrack too.  I was kind of a Space Harrier kid (my absolute favorite), but Galaxy Force 2, Power Drift, and Outrun didn't escape my attention.  Power Drift has some amazing music too.  I think between the Afterburner II, Power Drift, Space Harrier and Outrun ports, the AB2 one is one of the better ports.  I think we've had the discussion before here, but Space Harrier was a super disappointment to me when I had it on the TG-16.  As others have pointed out, it was a pretty good job considering, but I think AB2 and Outrun probably have it beat.

A couple years later I picked up Sega Ages for the Saturn and got my itch scratched, probably played those versions more than any other home ports.  I think they are fairly arcade perfect, but I have come to realize that something is always different that you may not have realized.  Damn close if they aren't.

Oh, and did anyone play Afterburner Climax?  I remember wanting to play the arcade one but never got the chance, I was stoked when it came out on Xbox 360.  I had a decent time with that one too.

[Mathius]

I really REALLY need to get an arcade flight stick for my Saturn. I've put that off for far too long. I have the US Sega Ages and with two full arcade flight stick experiences on there there just isn't any excuse. Especially with prices becoming more inflated.

[johnnykonami]

I'd still love to pick up some Twin Sticks for Virtual On.  I'm sure I don't even wanna know what they are going for now...

[imparanoic]

yes, afterburner 2 was excellent during 1990, best for 8 and 16 bit era

but retro modding a flight stick from saturn or ps2 is a bit extreme

maybe get the ps2 ages sega 2500 remake ( it's ok, but a bit low budget looking) and use a hori analog twin stick or maybe the hori analog flight stick

[pixeljunkie]

Yeah, I've maxed out at Stage 15 so far on AB2. I am gonna' give it another go today and see what I can do. The soundtrack is great as mentioned.

I realllyyyy wish Power Drift worked with the cyberstick. I think analogue controls would help that one. Such an ambitious port.

[Bonknuts]

So, I just recently got my hands on a Cyberstick and an XHE-3 and I can't stop playing After Burner 2.

 Most people don't know that AB on the PCE supports analog controllers (well, a specific one). Are either one of these two sticks able to run PCE AB in analog controller mode?

[pixeljunkie]

So, I just recently got my hands on a Cyberstick and an XHE-3 and I can't stop playing After Burner 2.

 Most people don't know that AB on the PCE supports analog controllers (well, a specific one). Are either one of these two sticks able to run PCE AB in analog controller mode?

Cyberstick does support it...it's an x68k stick..the XHE-3 is the adapter micomsoft made so x68k controllers could be used with the PCE.

[Bonknuts]

Space Harrier doesn't support it, right? It would be nice to hack in analog controls for it. Though I don't own, so I can't test it out. I do have a PCE mouse, which would make SH and other similar games more fun to play IMO (if hacked for it).