YMMV / After Burner

• Awesome Music: Final Take Off, Red Out and After Burner. The music from II was so awesome that it was put in Climax in case the players didn't like the new music or wanted the nostalgia value.
• Demonic Spiders: Missiles and enemies that appear from behind. You can't damage them; all you can do is evade them until they clear out.
  • Or just slow down and let them overtake you. Then blast the suckers when they're in front.
• Narm: Sky Target delivers us this line: There is a big missile heading up from below. Make dessert of it.
  • Also stage 04A in an Arctic level on Climax, one of your squad members has this gem: "Next time, I'm here on vacation!.
  • Also in Climax, your (justifiable) Voice with an Internet Connection. The guy who delivers the objectives sounds so over the top.
• Polished Port:
  • The Nintendo 3DS version of After Burner II by M2 is not only an Arcade-Perfect Port that perfectly replicates the arcade game to a tee (even having a mode that allows you to experience the game as if you were playing from an arcade cabinet), but it also contains new music, reimplements cut content such as dogfights and adds in mechanics from Climax in the form of Burst, which will allow to slow down and hit other planes easier once you fill up the burst meter.
  • The SEGA AGES version of G-LOC on the Nintendo Switch is a solid emulation port of the original, featuring convenience features like remappable controls, assist features to help out newer players, and the AGES Arrange Mode with much faster-paced gameplay.
  • The XBLA and PSN ports of Climax qualify as well. Not only they retain the same graphics and gameplay of the arcade version, but also added extras such as online leaderboards and EX options, unlockable cheats that significantly alter gameplay.
• Scrappy Mechanic: The barrel roll mechanic. Triggered by jerking the stick from extreme right to extreme left or vice versa, it is often done on accident, and once you start rolling you have no control over your ship until the rolling stops. The result? A lot of barrel rolling into missiles.
• So Okay, It's Average: The consensus for Afterburner: Black Falcon. It's the same premise as any of the previous games but now has a contrived plot with added characters and mission-based gameplay added in. It also looses the original cheesy "top gun" charm the arcade games had. Besides this, it's the same game as the arcades and plays very nicely for a spin off.
• Spiritual Successor:
  • The first two games are seemingly inspired by Top Gun, being released just one year later with a similar soundtrack style and the player's fighter being an F-14 Tomcat.
  • Gameplay-wise, G-LOC: Air Battle, Sega Strike Fighter, and Sky Target are After Burner spinoffs, sharing the same licensed aircraft and rail-shooter gameplay, only with Serial Numbers Filed Off.
• That One Level: Sleepless Sanctuary, the 12th stage of Climax. Streams of missiles, hooray!