After Burner II on the Genesis is pure arcade adrenaline—you’re thrown straight into the cockpit of an F-14, blasting off from an aircraft carrier before the title screen even finishes. No tutorials, no fuss—just you, a sky full of enemy jets, and that iconic Sega soundtrack screaming in the background.

The controls are dead simple: throttle up, shoot missiles, and dodge like crazy when the lock-on warnings start blaring. The first time an enemy plane spirals past your canopy trailing smoke, you’ll grin like an idiot. It’s got that classic ‘80s arcade feel where everything moves way too fast, and somehow that’s exactly why it works.

Yeah, the graphics are pixelated as hell by today’s standards, but there’s something about barrel-rolling through missile explosions that never gets old. Just don’t expect deep strategy—this is all about reflexes and that sweet, sweet rush of clearing a screen full of bogeys before your fuel runs out.

If you’ve got a Genesis plugged in somewhere, this one’s still worth a spin for the nostalgia alone.