The 3DS version by M2 is brilliant. It's so much more than just a port, and yet the original version is there if you want it. Wish more ports were handled with such care. Hats off to M2 as always.
I just wish they would port it to Switch. I like Sonic, but we've seen like 200 something versions of Sonic The Hedgehog already. What about games like After Burner, Hang On, even Monaco GP?
It's truly a tragedy that we haven't received all of M2's great 3DS versions on other systems. They were on a good way releasing the usual classics we've seen for Switch, what is annoying is the fact that Sega didn't see it as lucrative to continue porting the rest of their titles, but if they were to release some of their other games rather than just relying on their usual Super Hang on, Outrun or Space Harrier id bet they would seen some different results. And they have so many more games they should have focused on releasing.
@@franciscor390 Well, porting those games with the care and attention that M2 usually provides does have a price and those games now have a market which size is way smaller than the mainstream so it seems reasonable for SEGA to limit those ports to markets where they know they will be profitable. This said, I agree with you, I would love to be able to buy those M2 ports on my Mac/PC. To Aaron AJ Knight: Sega/M2 have ported many SEGA AGES classic to the Switch (OutRun, SpaceHarrier and many more) so I am pretty sure AfterBurner will eventually arrive there.
no wonder this took him so long, look at all those ports. I forgot how much this game got ported when 99% of my experience with the game was the arcade cab. And the video's now in glorious 60fps.
A proper modern console or PC reboot through a big TV and a nice 7.1ch sound system might contend with that, if only Sega would do such a thing. Actually, speaking of, After Burner Climax is a thing on the XB360 and PS3 and it runs great in RPCS3.
Seeing Afterburner in an amusement arcade in 1987 was like watching a live sci-fi film: the arcade cabinet, the graphics, the speed... absurd! Then you came back home and the top of the technology was the C64...(ok, that year also Amiga 500 came out, but only from May on).
There’s really something magical about playing Sega’s super scaler arcade games in 3D-I was never that interested in the 3D craze from ten years ago, personally, but these really are an experience. I wish M2 had gotten the chance to do even more of them.
@@RetroCore Whenever I play on my 3DS, after 15 mins of cramped fingers, tired neck and strained eyes because of the small screen and short distance (not the 3D, I never tire of it), that's exactly what I tell myself : why O why can't I play this on a big screen? 😉 I would play Nintendo big money if they released an HDMI+Bluetooth extension for the 3DS, but apparently they are not interested. 😜
@@jmbenetti Same here. It is a bit sad that SEGA does not seem to show much love for the original Hang On, it's true that it is nowadays much less impressive than Super Hang On but they should still IMO include it as an unlockable bonus in their compilations.
Yet Tel is Dutch. I don't necessarly think it's rare for C64 American games to be better (the majority of C64 games in the earlier phase of its commercial life was primarily meant for the American market and run better on NTSC machines if slightly so) but there is really no comparison between European and American SID musicians, probably because the formers stuck more with the machine while the latter used the sound chip more by the numbers. In facts, American companies started hiring Europeans SID musicians for their C64 games. Like in this case of After Burner US, or Defender of the Crown, I think Richard Joseph (RIP) did the sound programming for that.
Looking at the Sega Ages version on the PS2... it just helps me prove a point I've been making for a while. There's something about 2D Scaling Sprites that gives a sensation of speed and urgency that 3D can't replace. I can't put my finger on exactly what's that, but 2D works so well when you want to really feel a high adrenalin rush of speed.
The PC Engine version is easily my favourite, accuracy be damned. Amazing PSG renditions of the soundtrack (Much better than the NES/Famicom and Master System ones), convincing software sprite scaling and it controls quite well. It's quite the achievement considering it was made for a console from 1987, and an 8-bit one no less
Ehh? The PC-ENGINE has a 16bit graphics chipset... No matter what delusions people claim, the CPU is not doing all the graphics work, the NEC/Hudson 16bit graphics chipset is. It's not that different from when Sega claimed the Dreamcast was a "128bit" console... when the SH4 CPU was just a super custom 32Bit CPU and the graphics chipset was 128bit
@@apollosungod2819 How the heck could the Dreamcast's GPU be 128 bit? We still only use 64 bit graphics cards, despite all the tecnological advancements
"Amazing PSG renditions of the soundtrack (Much better than the NES/Famicom and Master System ones)" Depends on if we count wavetable synthesis as PSG.
The GBA port is frustrating. We all know its capable of much more. Though I think the Out Run and Super Hang on ports were decent but could've been so much better.
Really amazing and huge BotP. It's a pleasure to see it another time with the improvements respect the original. Amstrad CPC port is really surprising cause of the habitual jerky scroll of most of the conversions to the system. They do a fantastic good job with Afterburner.
Excellent BotP, thank you for all the hard work. Clever and creative layout of all the screens with different aspect ratios at the end :) M2 going the extra mile as always
I loved the arcade culture. And Sega were the masters of this lost art. I used to go every first Saturday of the month at the Mall to burn my monthly allowance on After Burner, Rad Mobile and Mad Dog McCree in the early 90s. Good times. :)
Many thanks Mark for doing a remaster of this of awesome battle, the home computers just didn't stand a chance of replicating this but I did really like master system version in the day. Love the FM towns soundtrack. Damn that sharp 68000 version is a amazing port with ace tunes. The side by side part of this video is a joy to behold for a fan of this game, truly awesome thanks. I'm off to my garage to boot up the Japanese Saturn version which is still an amazing conversion.
Whoa... Talk about a lot of ports!!! Just looking at the beginning I can see this must have taken a ton of effort to make! Thanks for the awesome work once again man!
Great remaster, Mark! Absolutely no port touches playing the deluxe cab in an arcade which is amazing, but I did have fun with the Genesis version. Plus, I had a lot of fun with the 32X Afterburner Complete (this, Space Harrier, and VR Deluxe were why I picked it up) and with playing it in Shenmue on the DC. But, I'm a pud that listened to the sack of cack worker at the import shop I was going to in the late 90s/very-early 00s and didn't get the Sega Ages versions of anything on the Saturn because he said they were all crap...so, I didn't get those even though I was thinking about it. Idiot...The 3DS version is probably my favorite home version...I've always been a sucker for the 3D effect. I think Galaxy Force II on 3DS is a bit better looking, but Afterburner is mighty good too.
I was 13 I think when it came out, Afterburner. I remember being with my mom, we were at a mall type place, she was shopping. I didn't have the money to play it, but I remember it being so awesome looking, I talked her into letting me stay by the games until she got finished. Not sure how long she shopped, probably an hour or so. But, I stood there as other kids/adults would play, and watched din amazement. Even when no one was playing, I would just stare at the intro-ish/attract mode, totally sucked in 100%
This was absolutely awesome for its time with the nice visual and audio presentation. I would bet its still a fun thrillride when played in a proper arcade even today!
I did play the original arcade deluxe cabinet a few years back and yeah, it was still a blast. I loved the tipping forward and back more than the side to side as not may games move in that direction.
A great video as ever Mark. You put so much effort into these. Watching this makes me a little sad in some ways, as it takes me back to how exciting the arcades use to be, especially racing to my favourite at the Kent coast (Mr B's at Leysdown), and being so excited when Segas latest and greatest was on the Arcade floor. Any mention of After Burner, Outrun, or Space Harrier takes me back to those days, and of course when Sega really were king of the arcades, not the rather diluted down company they are now. Cheers Mark for helping bring back those feelings of nostalgia.
Ah those were the days. We had two arcades in Liverpool City center and a much better one over the water in New Brighton but the highlight was always going to the seaside resorts. Blackpool back in the day had so many amazing arcades and games. They had the lot even in the early to mid 90s with the super link Daytona or Ridge Racer Full scale with a real Mazda MRS. So cool those days were. They've long gone now.
@@RetroCore ahhhh I so remember the super link Daytona in Blackpool!! And the Ridge Racer, where you sat in a real MX5 and had the Galaxian 3 style projection screen I front of you as your display.....
That was an effort put into the video. Thanks for doing the remaster! I heard about Saturn version being the Best, and I surely have to check this out. Such a classic on my favourite console. As soon as I have any spare money that is haha.
Monumental job this week, Mark! It must have taken many hours to edit. Man, this is a true classic and iconic game, it held up well for so many years they never stopped porting it. OK, some ports are completely off (PAL Amiga and C64, ST, DOS, GBA) but most of them we can say they actually tried. All things considered the most surprising port to me is the PC Engine, I wouldn't really expect a 6502 based machine with tiny cartridges to be able to pull off a well running and dignified port of After Burner. While the most interesting is the 3DS one, with M2 going out of their way to enhance the game in their usual fashion.
Yeah, this was a big one to get done. Took many hours of gample capture and editing. That end section showing all the games side by side took 5 hours to render! 24 screens all at 60fps is quite a workload. I agree with the PC Engine port. Very impressive for the hardware.
Imagine playing the X68000 port with the Sharp CyberStick. It's like if you were playing the Saturn version with the Mission Stick controller. Also, with the 3D off on the 3DS, you get a natural "scanlines" effect for a lot of 2D games. Made games like Shovel Knight look so much more natural.
I played the Deluxe cockpit cabinet a lot in the late 90s at an arcade center close to my highschool. Great video man. I own the japanese Saturn game and the HSS-0114 and it's awesome to play like that
So for some reason, some ports don't use the melody versions of the After Burner theme. Below is a list of versions that did use it vs those that didn't: Ports that used Rhythm only: MS-DOS(?) NES/Famicom Sharp X68000 SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis SEGA 32X SEGA Saturn SEGA Dreamcast GBA PlayStation 2 Java JM2E 3DS Ports that include the melody: SEGA Master System Commodore 64 (both versions) Atari ST Amiga (both versions) FM Towns PC Engine/TurboGrafx Ports that don’t even feature the After Burner theme: ZX Spectrum Amstrad CPC MSX
Thanks for pointing this mark! I really wanted to hear your input on the 32X and Saturn versions! I'd love to get the ps2 version just for IT being different. Thanks again for this video !
@@RetroCore It's basically PCM made in software, which takes a lot of CPU cycles and memory for high quality samples (Despite the two 20MHz CPUs). I guess the code is extremely optimized
Thanks Adam. Yeah, the 3DS game is really good. It's my second favourite port. The only reason it's not first is because it is limited to the small screen. I'd love for someone to make VR versions of the Sega 3D AGES games.
for years the deluxe cab was the most expensive game in the arcades......It was 1.00 to start and .75 to continue ...and I dropped a small fortune on it
Fun Fact, the Amiga version was handed out by Arganout to a small german development house who basically did nothing but some artwork, Arganout took it back and had 1 month to get something coded, thats why its basically the same as the ST version. A cpl of years later a much better version appeared via the homebrew scene.
I was always impressed with the PC Engine version of After Burner. Here is a souped up 8-bit machine that has graphics and gameplay that is on par with the Genesis. Sound not so much but they gave it a great effort. A great port that I still play often. And yeah, the GBA version is dreadful. The only positive I can give it is that the music sounds pretty good and doesn't have the scratchiness you usually get with GBA games. But the rest of the game... Yeesh
It's a 16-bit gpu, though. And Afterburner's gameplay isn't asking much from a cpu, if you remove the requirement for true sprite scaling. The PC Engine was built for shallow thrills like this. I'm more impressed that Bits Lab squeezed all that arcade flash into a single ROM card. How big is it?
Cracking video fella! I remember seeing the sit down arcade version in a large motorway services the once, it looked amazing. Sadly I didn't get to play it that day and I've not seen it since. Shame about the Amiga version, it was more than capable of pulling off a decent port.
The zx version had a live studio version of the Afterburner theme on the B side of the tape. The music was from SEGA inhouse. Sometimes, very rarely a ZX game will have audio to be played back via tape during gameplay, this was one of those games.
Thank you for this video. As an original afterburner arcade player I can tell the differences too. In my opinion I like the PS2 version. Although the colors are not so colorful like the original I just like the way they upgraded it, the music, and the game play is fast and smooth. I just don't like the smoke of the missiles somehow they feel smaller. Also as a note the Climax version is also awesome. Best regards my Japanese friend
Just want to add that with the NES and Famciom Versions of the game the Famicom version when you pause shows you how many missiles you have the NES version does not. Also you can get into a sound test on the Famicom version on the title screen somehow by either pressing start and select.
You see I was introduced to all the Sega Super scalers on Sega Arcade Gallery on GBA (Other then Super Hang On). You see I loved those games on that and to me it doesn't suck, although after playing some of the better ports I see what you mean. Oh well.
The NES version ABII is awesome despite the limitations of the console. I've played heaps of hours and it was quite gratifying back then. The versions of the other contemporary consoles weren't able to cope up with that. The controls were awesome, the difficulty was good, fast paced and challenging. I've aways thought that I've had some kind of sentimental memory, but as I watch this video, I can see that the playability of the game was quite good and, as I remember, better that the mega drive, even though the graphics of the 16 bit Sega console were a way better.
C. C. I magazine were very fair on the Master System version, when they looked at it as part of a feature on the system. Stated it was asking too much for the system to match the speed of the coin-op, though a reasonable amount of the game had been retained, it was simplified and there was little game in there, but what there was, was enjoyable for a while.
Unless you count Shenmue, the PS2 version is the first and only version of Afterburner I ever owned. Though, I did have the promotional soundtrack Activision gave away to promote their horrible home computer ports so I had the Afterburner soundtrack playing for R-Type and various other games.
Analog joysticks are required to play After Burners I and II. So remember, kids, if you have them, you're good, but if not, that's okay, although I recommend using analog joysticks.
The Sega AGES PS2 port may lack the charm of the 2D graphics, but I gotta say that it's not half bad looking considering the budget nature of the title. I have always been quite fond of the Sega AGES games as they are simply unique & are something we probably won't see again for a long long time, if ever. I look at them as respectable additional versions of many titles that we already know & love.
I believe the PCE port was the first one that included the "Melody" versions of Final Take Off and After Burner songs. The 3DS version also included such option as well.
CSK/CRI handling the FM Towns version seems like they almost pulled a Sega Saturn Virtual On quality port... always makes me wonder if somehow the Sega internal CS dev teams would have handled Virtual On, Sega Touring Car Championship, ManxTT and The House of the Dead... but yeah it's almost like they love doing average ports on hardware that could have handled the conversion much more impressively.
Yeah, I wish CSK / CRI didn't handle Sega ports. Their Galaxy Force II port on the Mega Drive is bad. Denpa should have done that one but I think they'd left game development by that point. I think Manx TT was pretty good on the Saturn. Smooth and pretty looking. House of the Dead looks like crap but plays really well. If only that had been given more dev time. CSK were behind Sega Touring Cars on the Saturn though and that sucks big time. The framerate is the worst seen on the console.
@@RetroCore I actually completely beat Sega Touring Car Championship on Sega Saturn...the game at least does have tight gameplay if you can master it but that game features Bernie Stolar's name in the end credits and despite CSK/CRI being mediocre to average... I feel that played a big role as to where the pressure was coming from on the game to be released for the 1997 shopping season. I feel the Sega Saturn would have been far better if the 32X was never approved... that would have left CS-Team's Virtua Racing Deluxe to instead become a Sega Saturn launch game.. completely removing a lot of the pressure to have Daytona USA rushed for release probably since a theoretical VRD on SS by CS-Team would have been a far superior effort to Time Warner's version and would have completely battled and probably made it harder for Ridge Racer to be seen as better... Otherwise CSK/CRI should have made better efforts on their other games...even on Dreamcast with all that supposed power, they still could not beat certain problems like balancing gameplay and graphics properly.
My favorite port is definitely 3D AfterBurner by M²/Sega. The stereoscopic 3D effect on the superscalar games is a fantastic combo! I only wish I could play it on a bigger screen (than a New 3DS XL). Back when M² was working with Sega on the Sega Vintage Collection games, I thought we were going to get all of the scaler games on the PS3. They started with an excellent port of SUPER HANG-ON. Complete with a 3D option. Not only did it have the cyan/red 3D, but also an amazing stereoscopic 3D option, which ran at a blazing fast 120Hz (60Hz x2 screens). I used to (and still do) play this on the PS3 / PlayStation 3D Display. I would have gladly bought all of these games again. Also, I'd LOVE to see Sega/M² make a collection of the best Super Scalers, for current gen consoles, in an arcade setting (think Yakuza, with just a huge arcade, with amazing 4K renderings of their cabs), along with all of the M² extras (art gallery, jukebox, photo mode, online play, audio/video settings), and throw in a VR mode as well. If the PSVR 2 turns out to be as amazing as they are suggesting it will be, a game collection like this would be a killer app, for me. One can dream about Space Harrier in VR. I want to FEEL like I am in the sit down cabs for these games, and I want stereoscopic 3D separation of layers.
Great video as always and what a great choice to remaster. Thank you!! It’s a shame that the pre-smartphone era Java/imode games are getting lost forever to history and locked down feature phones. Do you have a link to the J2ME version, or can share where you got it from? I feel it’s important that these are preserved.
I know what you mean. Especially the Japanese games. I have so many locked on two devices I own. Incredible ports from arcade games in 2D to a 3D house of the Dead! Stuff that was never touched by western phone games. Luckily I made videos of many games back in the day but the quality sucks. I got the Afterburner from phoneky.com/games/
Okay, Afterburner for the GBA was Action 52 levels of broken. But Space Harrier? When that released, it was some of the most intense arcade action available in the backseat of a car. Especially since my other options for rail shooters were tech demos like Star X, Iridion 3d, and Flight of the Falcon. They all had great graphics engines...but not a single one of them learned anything about game design.
I have to agree. Afterburner wasn’t that great, but the others were quite nice, especially when you factored in how small the screen was, etc. Space Harrier and Out Run were never going to be better than their Saturn counterparts, but the were certainly serviceable for on the go. On another note, I think the pc-engine has better music here than the mega drive. I know I’m in the minority there. I don’t care much for the master system’s fm tunes either.
The PC DOS port, like Out Run on PC DOS, can be played with Tandy instead of EGA, which gives better music/sound (multiple instruments) but the colour palette isn't as good. And it doesn't run any better!
You got to give some of those home ports on weaker computers credit for trying to replicate the 3-D orb opening of the arcade game when they really didn't need to, as weird as they look.
That's actually a very simple mathematics trick. Even a GameBoy can do that. The more impressive point comes with the Mega Drive version managing to recreate the Arcade opening. Again, it's just mathematical equations but impressive due to the amount of sprites used.
The dream cast version is not so good on upscalong indeed but it seems more smoother, more colorful, more detailed. I can possibly be wrong, however it is what I can see from this video.
I spent so many hours on the CPC version as a kid , pretty nice port (and it retained all the bonus and refueling sections). Then more on the Megadrive, then more on the Amiga... Just kidding! I endured it for five minutes. I also spent some more hours on the 32X port (got a bunch of games and the unit at the flea market for 30 bucks in the early 2000. Good times...) I just love this game.
@@RetroCore ok now i know for sure. So far games that i know have analog support are Afterburner, Forgotten Worlds, Operation Wolf, OutRun, and Thunder Blade
The C64 UK Afterburner you could do a roll by going to the right of the screen then quickly pressing left and then right again. And so on on the other side. It was hard to do.
@@RetroCore Yes. In 2006, Sega released a new sequel on Sega Lindbergh hardware, After Burner Climax, the first arcade game to bear the brand since After Burner II.
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This was a huge work compiling all these versions all together. Congratulations for this, sir. You deserve a break now.
Thank you.
The 3DS version by M2 is brilliant. It's so much more than just a port, and yet the original version is there if you want it. Wish more ports were handled with such care. Hats off to M2 as always.
M2 mostly always go that step further.
I just wish they would port it to Switch. I like Sonic, but we've seen like 200 something versions of Sonic The Hedgehog already. What about games like After Burner, Hang On, even Monaco GP?
It's truly a tragedy that we haven't received all of M2's great 3DS versions on other systems.
They were on a good way releasing the usual classics we've seen for Switch, what is annoying is the fact that Sega didn't see it as lucrative to continue porting the rest of their titles, but if they were to release some of their other games rather than just relying on their usual Super Hang on, Outrun or Space Harrier id bet they would seen some different results.
And they have so many more games they should have focused on releasing.
@@franciscor390 Well, porting those games with the care and attention that M2 usually provides does have a price and those games now have a market which size is way smaller than the mainstream so it seems reasonable for SEGA to limit those ports to markets where they know they will be profitable.
This said, I agree with you, I would love to be able to buy those M2 ports on my Mac/PC.
To Aaron AJ Knight: Sega/M2 have ported many SEGA AGES classic to the Switch (OutRun, SpaceHarrier and many more) so I am pretty sure AfterBurner will eventually arrive there.
All M2 super scaler ports on 3ds they are really awesome. One of the best example on how to use the 3d effectively on the system.
no wonder this took him so long, look at all those ports. I forgot how much this game got ported when 99% of my experience with the game was the arcade cab.
And the video's now in glorious 60fps.
Yep, this took a long time to put together.
Nothing beats sitting in the full cabinet at the arcade across from the movie theatre.
A proper modern console or PC reboot through a big TV and a nice 7.1ch sound system might contend with that, if only Sega would do such a thing.
Actually, speaking of, After Burner Climax is a thing on the XB360 and PS3 and it runs great in RPCS3.
Seeing Afterburner in an amusement arcade in 1987 was like watching a live sci-fi film: the arcade cabinet, the graphics, the speed... absurd! Then you came back home and the top of the technology was the C64...(ok, that year also Amiga 500 came out, but only from May on).
Yeah, that was a time when Arcade games where years ahead.
There’s really something magical about playing Sega’s super scaler arcade games in 3D-I was never that interested in the 3D craze from ten years ago, personally, but these really are an experience. I wish M2 had gotten the chance to do even more of them.
I wish there was a way to play them on a big screen in 3D. That would be fantastic.
@@RetroCore Whenever I play on my 3DS, after 15 mins of cramped fingers, tired neck and strained eyes because of the small screen and short distance (not the 3D, I never tire of it), that's exactly what I tell myself : why O why can't I play this on a big screen? 😉
I would play Nintendo big money if they released an HDMI+Bluetooth extension for the 3DS, but apparently they are not interested. 😜
I'd have loved the original Hang-On (not super), Rad Mobile and Out-Runners for 3ds. They'd have been great.
@@jmbenetti Same here. It is a bit sad that SEGA does not seem to show much love for the original Hang On, it's true that it is nowadays much less impressive than Super Hang On but they should still IMO include it as an unlockable bonus in their compilations.
"The opening music is really good" (C64 US segment)
I mean, when you have Jeroen Tel behind the music the least you can have is an OST that's good.
He's certainly the master of SID sampled sound.
It's rare for the US release to better than the EU one.
It's even MORE rare for the "better" part to be music.
Yet Tel is Dutch. I don't necessarly think it's rare for C64 American games to be better (the majority of C64 games in the earlier phase of its commercial life was primarily meant for the American market and run better on NTSC machines if slightly so) but there is really no comparison between European and American SID musicians, probably because the formers stuck more with the machine while the latter used the sound chip more by the numbers. In facts, American companies started hiring Europeans SID musicians for their C64 games. Like in this case of After Burner US, or Defender of the Crown, I think Richard Joseph (RIP) did the sound programming for that.
Maniacs of Noise
@@jps6704 what about it?
I see you're still leaving the door open for the 4k hdr10 remastered version. Brilliant!
Lol, I could actually do a 4K one now but I think it's kind of pointless considering the source material is basically 240p.
Legend says that if you can finish this game up to its third loop deathless you will become the leader of the resistance against the machines. 🤖
Great vid, I only ever got to play on the arcade version once,it was mind blowing!
Looking at the Sega Ages version on the PS2... it just helps me prove a point I've been making for a while.
There's something about 2D Scaling Sprites that gives a sensation of speed and urgency that 3D can't replace. I can't put my finger on exactly what's that, but 2D works so well when you want to really feel a high adrenalin rush of speed.
The PC Engine version is easily my favourite, accuracy be damned. Amazing PSG renditions of the soundtrack (Much better than the NES/Famicom and Master System ones), convincing software sprite scaling and it controls quite well. It's quite the achievement considering it was made for a console from 1987, and an 8-bit one no less
Ehh? The PC-ENGINE has a 16bit graphics chipset...
No matter what delusions people claim, the CPU is not doing all the graphics work, the NEC/Hudson 16bit graphics chipset is.
It's not that different from when Sega claimed the Dreamcast was a "128bit" console... when the SH4 CPU was just a super custom 32Bit CPU and the graphics chipset was 128bit
@@apollosungod2819 How the heck could the Dreamcast's GPU be 128 bit? We still only use 64 bit graphics cards, despite all the tecnological advancements
"Amazing PSG renditions of the soundtrack (Much better than the NES/Famicom and Master System ones)"
Depends on if we count wavetable synthesis as PSG.
@@redbaron9420 Of course we do, duh
The GBA port is frustrating. We all know its capable of much more. Though I think the Out Run and Super Hang on ports were decent but could've been so much better.
Really amazing and huge BotP. It's a pleasure to see it another time with the improvements respect the original. Amstrad CPC port is really surprising cause of the habitual jerky scroll of most of the conversions to the system. They do a fantastic good job with Afterburner.
They sure do. I'd expect the Amstrad version to be much slower as well but no, it's not bad at all.
Excellent BotP, thank you for all the hard work. Clever and creative layout of all the screens with different aspect ratios at the end :) M2 going the extra mile as always
I'm just waiting for the Amiga fan boys to complain about me making their system one of the smallest. 😅
Excellent video! Thank you for your huge effort putting all these versions together.
Hell yes! I've been waiting for this remaster ever since I saw the original! Keep it up man!
I loved the arcade culture. And Sega were the masters of this lost art. I used to go every first Saturday of the month at the Mall to burn my monthly allowance on After Burner, Rad Mobile and Mad Dog McCree in the early 90s. Good times. :)
Ah, they were the days.
Many thanks Mark for doing a remaster of this of awesome battle, the home computers just didn't stand a chance of replicating this but I did really like master system version in the day. Love the FM towns soundtrack. Damn that sharp 68000 version is a amazing port with ace tunes. The side by side part of this video is a joy to behold for a fan of this game, truly awesome thanks. I'm off to my garage to boot up the Japanese Saturn version which is still an amazing conversion.
I love the Saturn version. Looking at all ports side by side to the Arcade the Saturn is the most accurate by far.
Ufff, that pc engine is mind blowing! Even with the weaker music and sfx, that smoothness makes it unbelievable
Most of the console versions are pretty good. Very impressive all around.
It pisses all over the NES/Famicom and Master System versions
Whoa... Talk about a lot of ports!!! Just looking at the beginning I can see this must have taken a ton of effort to make! Thanks for the awesome work once again man!
It sure did. Took me a few weeks to make this. Glad you enjoyed the show.
Great Remastered BOTP video Mark, even after 34 years this game still rocks!
It sure does. Playing the Saturn port with analogue controls was awesome.
Wonderful stuff, love these remastered videos! That Saturn port is a gift from the gods, and the 3DS ones no joke either.
Great remaster, Mark! Absolutely no port touches playing the deluxe cab in an arcade which is amazing, but I did have fun with the Genesis version. Plus, I had a lot of fun with the 32X Afterburner Complete (this, Space Harrier, and VR Deluxe were why I picked it up) and with playing it in Shenmue on the DC. But, I'm a pud that listened to the sack of cack worker at the import shop I was going to in the late 90s/very-early 00s and didn't get the Sega Ages versions of anything on the Saturn because he said they were all crap...so, I didn't get those even though I was thinking about it. Idiot...The 3DS version is probably my favorite home version...I've always been a sucker for the 3D effect. I think Galaxy Force II on 3DS is a bit better looking, but Afterburner is mighty good too.
I was 13 I think when it came out, Afterburner. I remember being with my mom, we were at a mall type place, she was shopping. I didn't have the money to play it, but I remember it being so awesome looking, I talked her into letting me stay by the games until she got finished. Not sure how long she shopped, probably an hour or so. But, I stood there as other kids/adults would play, and watched din amazement. Even when no one was playing, I would just stare at the intro-ish/attract mode, totally sucked in 100%
I can totally relate to your story 😀. I was exactly the same.
This was absolutely awesome for its time with the nice visual and audio presentation. I would bet its still a fun thrillride when played in a proper arcade even today!
I did play the original arcade deluxe cabinet a few years back and yeah, it was still a blast. I loved the tipping forward and back more than the side to side as not may games move in that direction.
Excellent... music made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck! Great stuff!
A great video as ever Mark. You put so much effort into these. Watching this makes me a little sad in some ways, as it takes me back to how exciting the arcades use to be, especially racing to my favourite at the Kent coast (Mr B's at Leysdown), and being so excited when Segas latest and greatest was on the Arcade floor. Any mention of After Burner, Outrun, or Space Harrier takes me back to those days, and of course when Sega really were king of the arcades, not the rather diluted down company they are now. Cheers Mark for helping bring back those feelings of nostalgia.
Ah those were the days. We had two arcades in Liverpool City center and a much better one over the water in New Brighton but the highlight was always going to the seaside resorts. Blackpool back in the day had so many amazing arcades and games. They had the lot even in the early to mid 90s with the super link Daytona or Ridge Racer Full scale with a real Mazda MRS. So cool those days were. They've long gone now.
@@RetroCore ahhhh I so remember the super link Daytona in Blackpool!! And the Ridge Racer, where you sat in a real MX5 and had the Galaxian 3 style projection screen I front of you as your display.....
That was an effort put into the video.
Thanks for doing the remaster!
I heard about Saturn version being the Best, and I surely have to check this out. Such a classic on my favourite console. As soon as I have any spare money that is haha.
Monumental job this week, Mark! It must have taken many hours to edit. Man, this is a true classic and iconic game, it held up well for so many years they never stopped porting it. OK, some ports are completely off (PAL Amiga and C64, ST, DOS, GBA) but most of them we can say they actually tried. All things considered the most surprising port to me is the PC Engine, I wouldn't really expect a 6502 based machine with tiny cartridges to be able to pull off a well running and dignified port of After Burner. While the most interesting is the 3DS one, with M2 going out of their way to enhance the game in their usual fashion.
Yeah, this was a big one to get done. Took many hours of gample capture and editing. That end section showing all the games side by side took 5 hours to render! 24 screens all at 60fps is quite a workload.
I agree with the PC Engine port. Very impressive for the hardware.
One of the best VGM songs ever composed.
For sure!
A fantastic job on this video
Thanks 👍
I dig the Java music, it's like some dude in a lounge is just having fun on their bass
Thank you for this remastered. I happen to come across old videos, and I miss your voice.
Ah, the old videos were a much simpler tome 😅
Imagine playing the X68000 port with the Sharp CyberStick. It's like if you were playing the Saturn version with the Mission Stick controller. Also, with the 3D off on the 3DS, you get a natural "scanlines" effect for a lot of 2D games. Made games like Shovel Knight look so much more natural.
Can't say I've noticed the natural scan lines on my 3DS LL. Then again my eyes aren't as good as they once were.
Bring more remasters, Mark. This was great!
Ah, nevermind.... Now I know where that song is from! Shame on me for not recognizing that track in the last video!
I played the Deluxe cockpit cabinet a lot in the late 90s at an arcade center close to my highschool.
Great video man. I own the japanese Saturn game and the HSS-0114 and it's awesome to play like that
Yep, that's the best way to play.
So for some reason, some ports don't use the melody versions of the After Burner theme. Below is a list of versions that did use it vs those that didn't:
Ports that used Rhythm only:
MS-DOS(?)
NES/Famicom
Sharp X68000
SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis
SEGA 32X
SEGA Saturn
SEGA Dreamcast
GBA
PlayStation 2
Java JM2E
3DS
Ports that include the melody:
SEGA Master System
Commodore 64 (both versions)
Atari ST
Amiga (both versions)
FM Towns
PC Engine/TurboGrafx
Ports that don’t even feature the After Burner theme:
ZX Spectrum
Amstrad CPC
MSX
It strange that some do and some don't.
Thanks for pointing this mark! I really wanted to hear your input on the 32X and Saturn versions!
I'd love to get the ps2 version just for IT being different.
Thanks again for this video !
No worries. The thing that surprised me the most about the 32X version is the audio. It's very well done.
@@RetroCore It's basically PCM made in software, which takes a lot of CPU cycles and memory for high quality samples (Despite the two 20MHz CPUs). I guess the code is extremely optimized
Great video Mark! Must have taken an age to capture and edit that lot!!!
It sure did. Been working on this one for a few weeks.
Love the Sega 32x and Saturn version great video 👍
Bit late in watching, wow so many ports. I have the 3DS XL and enjoy playing. Love the title music. Keep up the good work. Adam from the UK
Thanks Adam. Yeah, the 3DS game is really good. It's my second favourite port. The only reason it's not first is because it is limited to the small screen. I'd love for someone to make VR versions of the Sega 3D AGES games.
By far the 3DS version kick asses and is a permanent game in my console. Amazing comparison as always Mark!
The Sega 3D Ages series is the only reason I own a 3DS XL
@@RetroCore I don't know if a handheld is not your thing, but is full of amazing games!!
for years the deluxe cab was the most expensive game in the arcades......It was 1.00 to start and .75 to continue ...and I dropped a small fortune on it
Yeah but it was so worth it.
Yeah, I waited till years later, and it was set to 50 cents per play. And absolutely loved it. Amazing game.
Fun Fact, the Amiga version was handed out by Arganout to a small german development house who basically did nothing but some artwork, Arganout took it back and had 1 month to get something coded, thats why its basically the same as the ST version. A cpl of years later a much better version appeared via the homebrew scene.
Afterburner 2 was one of the first games I got with my mega drive back in the day, along with mystic defender, altered beast and sonic 2. Great game.
All good games. Yep, even Mystic Defender is okay.
Thanks! You really make my Saturday's lunch time better
I was always impressed with the PC Engine version of After Burner. Here is a souped up 8-bit machine that has graphics and gameplay that is on par with the Genesis. Sound not so much but they gave it a great effort. A great port that I still play often.
And yeah, the GBA version is dreadful. The only positive I can give it is that the music sounds pretty good and doesn't have the scratchiness you usually get with GBA games. But the rest of the game... Yeesh
It's a 16-bit gpu, though. And Afterburner's gameplay isn't asking much from a cpu, if you remove the requirement for true sprite scaling.
The PC Engine was built for shallow thrills like this.
I'm more impressed that Bits Lab squeezed all that arcade flash into a single ROM card. How big is it?
The Mega Drive has a 32biy GPU but it's still a 16biy system 😊
@@RetroCore Which only proves the point about how stupid and misleading those bit-competitions were back in the 90s.
“Crap on this… from a great height.” LOL
That Italian made After Burner 3D looks like it could have been made for the 3DO or Atari Jaguar.
Lol, it's about Jag standards.
Cracking video fella! I remember seeing the sit down arcade version in a large motorway services the once, it looked amazing. Sadly I didn't get to play it that day and I've not seen it since. Shame about the Amiga version, it was more than capable of pulling off a decent port.
That's such a shame you never got to play it. The deluxe arcade cabinet was quite the experience.
A 2MB Amiga 1200 would have enough horsepower for a good conversion
Excelent and exhaustive job Mark!.Greetings from Argentina.
Thanks for watching.
The zx version had a live studio version of the Afterburner theme on the B side of the tape. The music was from SEGA inhouse. Sometimes, very rarely a ZX game will have audio to be played back via tape during gameplay, this was one of those games.
Much better than the awful out of key and tune rubbish the the game gave us. Im sure the Amstrad version also had that option.
@@RetroCore Sounds like the 3d version at the end was using the same audio, it was mental too haha, well good at time.
Thank you for this video. As an original afterburner arcade player I can tell the differences too. In my opinion I like the PS2 version. Although the colors are not so colorful like the original I just like the way they upgraded it, the music, and the game play is fast and smooth. I just don't like the smoke of the missiles somehow they feel smaller. Also as a note the Climax version is also awesome. Best regards my Japanese friend
Climax is awesome. Its the only Afterburner follow-up worth playing after Afterburner II, IMO
Just want to add that with the NES and Famciom Versions of the game the Famicom version when you pause shows you how many missiles you have the NES version does not. Also you can get into a sound test on the Famicom version on the title screen somehow by either pressing start and select.
Some good info. Thanks for sharing.
Great episode Mark!
Thanks!
You see I was introduced to all the Sega Super scalers on Sega Arcade Gallery on GBA (Other then Super Hang On). You see I loved those games on that and to me it doesn't suck, although after playing some of the better ports I see what you mean. Oh well.
The NES version ABII is awesome despite the limitations of the console. I've played heaps of hours and it was quite gratifying back then. The versions of the other contemporary consoles weren't able to cope up with that. The controls were awesome, the difficulty was good, fast paced and challenging. I've aways thought that I've had some kind of sentimental memory, but as I watch this video, I can see that the playability of the game was quite good and, as I remember, better that the mega drive, even though the graphics of the 16 bit Sega console were a way better.
C. C. I magazine were very fair on the Master System version, when they looked at it as part of a feature on the system.
Stated it was asking too much for the system to match the speed of the coin-op, though a reasonable amount of the game had been retained, it was simplified and there was little game in there, but what there was, was enjoyable for a while.
Mark Smith: Rutubo Games developed After Burner Complete, released in July 13, 1995.
Me: That's January 13, 1995.
Unless you count Shenmue, the PS2 version is the first and only version of Afterburner I ever owned. Though, I did have the promotional soundtrack Activision gave away to promote their horrible home computer ports so I had the Afterburner soundtrack playing for R-Type and various other games.
At least having the soundtrack back in the late 80s would have been cool.
Oh yes! Here we go! Love After Burner!
I'm surprised Argonaut couldn't make a good port of After Burner
Wow. I didn't realize there were quiet so many ports of Afterburner.
Yep. I'm sure there are more homebrew versions out there too.
Analog joysticks are required to play After Burners I and II. So remember, kids, if you have them, you're good, but if not, that's okay, although I recommend using analog joysticks.
The Sega AGES PS2 port may lack the charm of the 2D graphics, but I gotta say that it's not half bad looking considering the budget nature of the title. I have always been quite fond of the Sega AGES games as they are simply unique & are something we probably won't see again for a long long time, if ever. I look at them as respectable additional versions of many titles that we already know & love.
I believe the PCE port was the first one that included the "Melody" versions of Final Take Off and After Burner songs. The 3DS version also included such option as well.
Interesting fact. The FM Towns does too but that features all new arranged music anyway.
14:26 a famicom port of a sega game that i might actually like? amazing.
Dude, this was a huge battle of the ports. Thank you for your hard work Mark 💕
You're very welcome. Glad you enjoyed it.
Oldies, but goodies from the archives Mark. 8^)
Anthony..
Indeed.
CSK/CRI handling the FM Towns version seems like they almost pulled a Sega Saturn Virtual On quality port... always makes me wonder if somehow the Sega internal CS dev teams would have handled Virtual On, Sega Touring Car Championship, ManxTT and The House of the Dead... but yeah it's almost like they love doing average ports on hardware that could have handled the conversion much more impressively.
Yeah, I wish CSK / CRI didn't handle Sega ports. Their Galaxy Force II port on the Mega Drive is bad. Denpa should have done that one but I think they'd left game development by that point.
I think Manx TT was pretty good on the Saturn. Smooth and pretty looking. House of the Dead looks like crap but plays really well. If only that had been given more dev time.
CSK were behind Sega Touring Cars on the Saturn though and that sucks big time. The framerate is the worst seen on the console.
@@RetroCore I actually completely beat Sega Touring Car Championship on Sega Saturn...the game at least does have tight gameplay if you can master it but that game features Bernie Stolar's name in the end credits and despite CSK/CRI being mediocre to average... I feel that played a big role as to where the pressure was coming from on the game to be released for the 1997 shopping season.
I feel the Sega Saturn would have been far better if the 32X was never approved... that would have left CS-Team's Virtua Racing Deluxe to instead become a Sega Saturn launch game.. completely removing a lot of the pressure to have Daytona USA rushed for release probably since a theoretical VRD on SS by CS-Team would have been a far superior effort to Time Warner's version and would have completely battled and probably made it harder for Ridge Racer to be seen as better...
Otherwise CSK/CRI should have made better efforts on their other games...even on Dreamcast with all that supposed power, they still could not beat certain problems like balancing gameplay and graphics properly.
What a great job. I really enjoyed this one👍🏻
Thanks!
One of the songs in the UK After Burner C64 port does sound actually quite good
Great comparison video! I’m surprised there isn’t a SEGA Ages version for the Switch.
That is a surprise. Guess they decided the 3DS would be the better choice.
The PC Engine Version was analog control compatible too. :)
I just played the original arcade version last night and yeah it hasn’t aged well. Jumped into the Outrun cabinet next to me and had much more fun.
Did you shout Feck as you jumped out? 😁
Goddamn, that Saturn port.
And since after Burner 1 and 2 are nearly the same, it won't matter which version he covers.
Yep.
Whoa! I had no idea there were so many ports of this game .
Yep. I'm sure there are some homebrew ports that I misses out on. There's also a Tiger LCD game and some video tape version.
Speccy pulling out another miracle.
My favorite port is definitely 3D AfterBurner by M²/Sega. The stereoscopic 3D effect on the superscalar games is a fantastic combo! I only wish I could play it on a bigger screen (than a New 3DS XL). Back when M² was working with Sega on the Sega Vintage Collection games, I thought we were going to get all of the scaler games on the PS3. They started with an excellent port of SUPER HANG-ON. Complete with a 3D option. Not only did it have the cyan/red 3D, but also an amazing stereoscopic 3D option, which ran at a blazing fast 120Hz (60Hz x2 screens). I used to (and still do) play this on the PS3 / PlayStation 3D Display. I would have gladly bought all of these games again.
Also, I'd LOVE to see Sega/M² make a collection of the best Super Scalers, for current gen consoles, in an arcade setting (think Yakuza, with just a huge arcade, with amazing 4K renderings of their cabs), along with all of the M² extras (art gallery, jukebox, photo mode, online play, audio/video settings), and throw in a VR mode as well. If the PSVR 2 turns out to be as amazing as they are suggesting it will be, a game collection like this would be a killer app, for me. One can dream about Space Harrier in VR. I want to FEEL like I am in the sit down cabs for these games, and I want stereoscopic 3D separation of layers.
Playing these games on a big screen in 3D or in VR would be amazing.
Great video as always and what a great choice to remaster. Thank you!!
It’s a shame that the pre-smartphone era Java/imode games are getting lost forever to history and locked down feature phones. Do you have a link to the J2ME version, or can share where you got it from? I feel it’s important that these are preserved.
I know what you mean. Especially the Japanese games. I have so many locked on two devices I own. Incredible ports from arcade games in 2D to a 3D house of the Dead! Stuff that was never touched by western phone games. Luckily I made videos of many games back in the day but the quality sucks.
I got the Afterburner from phoneky.com/games/
Thanks for sharing the site!! I do remember seeing some footage from a Japanese phone you kept and thought that was so cool you kept it around.
I wish the Switch could've had the M2 3DS version. There's G-LOC, but it's just not the same. :)
G-Loc was more about the cool 360 cabinet than anything else.
after burner should get a remaster with its old 2d graphics with raytracing lighting and widescreen
Now that would be very cool.
The MSX version really needs to be done as a better MSX2/2+ or Turbo R version.
Okay, Afterburner for the GBA was Action 52 levels of broken. But Space Harrier? When that released, it was some of the most intense arcade action available in the backseat of a car.
Especially since my other options for rail shooters were tech demos like Star X, Iridion 3d, and Flight of the Falcon. They all had great graphics engines...but not a single one of them learned anything about game design.
I'm a big space Harrier fan so for me the GBA version is not good.
@@RetroCore
Not seeing it. We would have killed for something that close, back in the 80's.
I have to agree. Afterburner wasn’t that great, but the others were quite nice, especially when you factored in how small the screen was, etc. Space Harrier and Out Run were never going to be better than their Saturn counterparts, but the were certainly serviceable for on the go. On another note, I think the pc-engine has better music here than the mega drive. I know I’m in the minority there. I don’t care much for the master system’s fm tunes either.
The PC DOS port, like Out Run on PC DOS, can be played with Tandy instead of EGA, which gives better music/sound (multiple instruments) but the colour palette isn't as good. And it doesn't run any better!
You got to give some of those home ports on weaker computers credit for trying to replicate the 3-D orb opening of the arcade game when they really didn't need to, as weird as they look.
That's actually a very simple mathematics trick. Even a GameBoy can do that. The more impressive point comes with the Mega Drive version managing to recreate the Arcade opening. Again, it's just mathematical equations but impressive due to the amount of sprites used.
The dream cast version is not so good on upscalong indeed but it seems more smoother, more colorful, more detailed. I can possibly be wrong, however it is what I can see from this video.
Another excellent video, you obviously put a lot of effort into making it. Is 24 the greatest number of ports you have ever featured in one video?
Ms. Pac-Man had 26, if memory serves?
Bubble Bobble came close and I'm sure Frogger and Pac-man had more but not by much.
I wish we'd have gotten a physical release of After Burner Climax :c
I would have loved that.
I wish m2 would bring their gigadrive 3d emulated 3ds games to vr and the few 3d tvs
That would be amazing.
There's a game called After Burner Climax on ps3, it's great.
I have it on the 360. Its a great game but not related to this one.
If you have the chance to play the arcade version with moveable chair, play it.... its a great experience.
Yep, did that back in 1988
I spent so many hours on the CPC version as a kid , pretty nice port (and it retained all the bonus and refueling sections). Then more on the Megadrive, then more on the Amiga... Just kidding! I endured it for five minutes.
I also spent some more hours on the 32X port (got a bunch of games and the unit at the flea market for 30 bucks in the early 2000. Good times...)
I just love this game.
Lol, 5 minutes is a lot for the Amiga version.
Love this feature retro games are so much more interesting.
Tell me about it. I've been playing Psychonauts 2 recently and man, that game bored me so much that I uninstalled it from my Series X.
@@RetroCore Twitter will have your head for that opinion
I think that the pc-engine port has an analog option via the Micomsoft XHE-3 ,the cyber stick should also work.
Oh, I wasn't aware of that. Cool if it does. But then again, maybe not because dempa didn't do the port.
@@RetroCore ok now i know for sure. So far games that i know have analog support are Afterburner, Forgotten Worlds, Operation Wolf, OutRun, and Thunder Blade
The C64 UK Afterburner you could do a roll by going to the right of the screen then quickly pressing left and then right again. And so on on the other side. It was hard to do.
It must be very poorly implemented. I tried that but it didn't work for me.
@@RetroCore It was more a case of accidentally doing it than intending to do it. I always got better results doing it in the bottom corner.
After Burner for the Xbox 360...Best Version. :-) And for the PSP too!
That's afterburner Climax, a totally different game. It is good though.
@@RetroCore Yes. In 2006, Sega released a new sequel on Sega Lindbergh hardware, After Burner Climax, the first arcade game to bear the brand since After Burner II.
@@Vegan_Lifting too bad those games are tied to licences. sega doesnt offer them anymore . same goes for outrun . outrun 2006 and climax are good