After Burner III

n/a

Title 1 (NTSC-U/PAL) Title 2 (NTSC-U/PAL) Title 3 (NTSC-U/PAL) Title 1 (NTSC-J) Title 2 (NTSC-J) Title 3 (NTSC-J)
After Burner III
System(s): Sega Mega-CD, FM Towns
Publisher: CRI (Japan) Sega of America (US) Sega Enterprises, Ltd. (Europe)
Developer: CRI
Licensor: Sega Enterprises, Ltd. (JP)
Peripherals supported: Six Button Control Pad, XE-1 AP
Genre: Shooting
Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code JP 1992-12-18 ¥8,400 (8,652)8,400e T-68014 US 1993-05 $49.9949.99 4415 EU 1993 4415 DE 1993-08 DM 99.0099.00 4415 FR 1993-09 4415 UK 1993-06 £39.9939.99 4415 JP 1992

After Burner III (アフターバーナーIII) is an aircraft combat game developed for the Sega Mega-CD and FM Towns. It is a port of Strike Fighter, which only saw release in Japanese arcades, adding a CD audio soundtrack (with the addition of music from After Burner II) and cinematic sequences. Though the original arcade game used sprite-scaling extensively, the Mega-CD port does not use the console's dedicated sprite-scaling hardware, instead using pre-scaled sprites.

As Strike Fighter was actually a sequel to G-LOC: Air Battle, it does not have a third-person perspective view like After Burner and After Burner II. After Burner III adds this view as an option.

Gameplay

Mega-CD version

F-14 Tomcat

The player pilots an F-14 Tomcat fighter jet. The jet flies itself through each stage, and the player can engage or evade the various enemies that appear, which include enemy jets as well as ground-based targets. The jet climbs with and dives with . It rolls with and . In the Western versions, the player can choose between two rolling modes in the options: free, where the jet maintains its angle after rolling, and limited, where the jet levels itself after the player releases the D-Pad. The jet can engage its afterburners with , which increases its movement speed. A meter appears to show the power of the afterburners. The afterburners can be used to dodge missiles or outmaneuver enemies. The player can slow the movement of the F-14 by raising its flaps with .

The jet fires its Vulcan cannon with (or ) and fires its Sidewinder missiles with (or ). Both weapons have unlimited ammunition. While the cannons are always fired in the same position in front of the jet, there is a square target zone in the middle of the screen with a crosshair for the missiles. The crosshair automatically moves to acquire the nearest target within this square and turns red when it has locked onto a target.

The jet has a damage meter that increases as it takes damage from enemy fire. The jet is destroyed if the meter fills. Enemy missiles destroy the jet regardless of how much damage it has taken previously. The player continues the mission with a new jet as long as there are extra jets remaining. If the player runs out of extra jets, the game can only be continued by using a continue. Each continue has 3 jets. The player gains an extra jet at 6,000,000 points and then every 3,000,000 points after that. There are three different difficulty levels (Easy, Normal, and Expert), selectable in the options before starting the game. On Easy, the game consists of 11 stages and the player has 2 continues. On Normal, the game has 15 stages and the player has 3 continues. On Expert, the game has 20 stages and the player has 4 continues.

There is an option for changing the perspective between the default cockpit view, as used in the arcade game, and a view from behind the jet, as used by other After Burner games. This option is immediately available in the Western versions but hidden in a special options menu in the Japanese version. When using the cockpit view, the game automatically switches to the back view when an enemy fighter or missile is on the jet's tail. The HUD has a compass and an altimeter in both views. In the cockpit view, there is also a radar and an artificial horizon. Only the Western versions of the game support the Six Button Control Pad, and these versions contain an additional setting to allow switching between the two views during the game with  MODE .

In addition the regular game, there are two competition modes: Time Competition, where the player has 90 seconds to hit at least 30 targets, and Hit Competition, where the player has 90 seconds to hit as many targets as possible. As with the regular game, the player has a limited number of spare jets available to use before the challenge is failed; the timer continues rolling if the player's jet is destroyed.

Stages

	Stage 1
	Stage 2
	Stage 3
	Stage 4
	Stage 5
	Stage 6
	Stage 7
	Stage 8
	Stage 9
	Stage 10
	Stage 11
	Stage 12
	Stage 13
	Stage 14
	Stage 15
	Stage 16
	Stage 17
	Stage 18
	Stage 19
	Stage 20

Production credits

Mega-CD version

Staff

• Chief Programmer: T.Kujirai
• Sub Programmer: S.Ikegami
• Map Design: A.Nagano
• Support: Y.Ishida, H.Ikebe, T.Miyamoto
• Opening Scenario: K.Arai
• Opening Graphics: Studio B.C
• Opening Program: M.Tanaka
• Title Logo Design: Avanti
• Title Logo Editor: H.Tanaka
• Title Back Picture: Kantousya
• Title Back Graphic Editor: K.Tsuchida, M.Yoneda
• Music Arranged by: Sol.Inc
• FM S.E. Programmed by: Cube
• Sales Dept.: S.Tanaka, T.Suzuki, K.Tanaka, T.Endo
• Public Relations Dept.: K.Maeda, T.Yasuda
• Thanks: S.Izumi, T.Nagasato, M.Sato, K.Yabuno, S.Endo, K.Fujita, H.Gunji, M. Sasaki, T.Kanou, N.Omoda, H.Yamashita, S.Take, E.Kurabayashi, T.Hashimoto, M.Suwabe, M.Koizumi, H.Tashiro, K.Iwanami, Y.Honda, Y.Ayabe

Sega CD/Mega-CD (Europe) Conversion Staff

• Director: H.Ohtaka
• Sound Support: A.Wada
• Graphic Support: M.Yanagida
• Special Thanks: S.O.A., Sega Enterprises
• Producer: T.Shimizu
• Executive Producer: T.Kobayashi
• Presented by: CRI

Source:

In-game credits

Magazine articles

Main article: After Burner III/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Main article: After Burner III/Promotional material.

Physical scans

Mega-CD version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average

Publication Version Score Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J 48 Console Mania (IT) PAL 65 Computer & Video Games (UK) 50 Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U 55 Mean Machines: The Essential Sega Guide (UK) 28 Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J 58 Game Players (US) NTSC-U 70 GamePro (US) NTSC-U 80 Hippon Super (JP) NTSC-J 40 Joypad (FR) 74 Joypad (FR) 48 Joypad (HU) 85 Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK) PAL 41 Mega Drive Fan (JP) NTSC-J 64 Mega (UK) NTSC-J 72 Mega Action (UK) NTSC-U 48 Mega Force (FR) 72 MegaTech (UK) NTSC 22 Marukatsu Mega Drive (JP) NTSC-J 63 Mean Machines Sega (UK) 22 Player One (FR) 60 Sega Magazin (DE) 38 Sega Power (UK) PAL 6 Sega Pro (UK) NTSC-J 55 Sega Pro (UK) NTSC-J 55 Sega Zone (UK) NTSC-J 67 Sega Force (UK) NTSC 63 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 58 Sonic the Comic (UK) PAL 75 Supergame (BR) 63 Video Games (DE) NTSC-U 43

	54
Based on 31 reviews

After Burner III

Mega-CD, JP
Cover
Spinecard Disc Manual Reg Card

Mega-CD, US
Cover
Manual

Mega-CD, EU
Cover
Disc Manual

Mega-CD, FR (Blister pack)
Cover

FM Towns version

FM Towns, JP
Cover

Technical information

Main article: After Burner III/Technical information.

External links

• Sega of America webpage: Mega CD

References

Games in the After Burner Series
	After Burner (1987) | After Burner II (home computers) (1987) | G-LOC: Air Battle (home computers) (1990) | Strike Fighter (1991) | Sky Target (1995) | Sega Strike Fighter (2000) | After Burner Climax (2006)
	After Burner (1987) | G-LOC: Air Battle (1991)
	After Burner (1988)
	After Burner II (1990) | G-LOC: Air Battle (1993)
	G-LOC: Air Battle (1990)
	After Burner III (1992)
	After Burner Complete (1995)
	Sega Ages After Burner II (1996) | Sky Target (1997)
	Sky Target (1997)
	After Burner II (200x) | After Burner II DX (2007)
	Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 10: After Burner II (2004)
	After Burner: Black Falcon (2007)
	After Burner Climax (2010)
	3D After Burner II (2013)
	After Burner Climax (2013)
After Burner related media
	Sega Game Music Vol. 3 After Burner (1987) | After Burner (1990) | Strike Fighter (1991) | Yu Suzuki Produce After Burner II (1997) | Yu Suzuki Produce G-LOC/R360/Virtua Racing (1998) | After Burner Climax Sound Track (2006) | After Burner 20th Anniversary Box (2007) | After Burner II (2018) | G-LOC Air Battle: Series Music Collection (2020)
	After Burner (1987) | After Burner / Super Hang-On (1987)