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Players move a targeting system over on-screen enemies before locking on and firing the correct number of missiles to bring down the craft. This is not a game of cagey one-on-one encounters – it involves battling relentless waves of enemy fighters as they swoop into a hit zone. Explosions dominate the screen – great billowing cascades of orange pixels bursting across deep blue skies. Instead, he wanted the airborne equivalent of Out Run – a joyous, exhilarating thrill ride. I learned some tactics for dogfighting and then I got to fly an aircraft.’īut he had little interest in creating a specialist flight simulation which would be inaccessible to casual players. We were given this great opportunity to take part in a dogfight simulation by flying an actual aircraft in Florida. ‘We explored literature, interviewed pilots, watched movies, and we also went to a US base to see fighter planes. ‘Every time we started making a new game, I carried out research in the field first,’ he says. Just as he drove exotic cars and motorbikes to understand the true road-handling experience, Suzuki also went to great lengths to experience the sensation of air combat. Now the player would be piloting an F-14 Tomcat in a frantic real-world setting. If Sega wanted a global hit, authenticity and high-octane action seemed a more pertinent concept. Then came Top Gun, the Tom Cruise action movie juggernaut that hit box-office gold by mixing state-of-the-art military hardware with blistering machismo. The idea for a flight shooter had been around for a while and, inspired by the anime Laputa: Castle in the Sky, Suzuki was initially thinking of something with a whimsical, fantasy feel. In early December, development on After Burner began. The success of Hang-On, Space Harrier and Out Run had caught everyone by surprise, but now it was time to truly capitalise on the innovative game design skills of Suzuki and his team. It was the winter of 1986 and, in an increasingly competitive market, Sega was looking for an arcade hit or, rather, a blockbuster.