After Burner is Sega at its most spectacular in the late 80s: an on-rails shooter where you pilot an F-14 Tomcat dodging missiles and downing enemy fighters at full speed, with the camera always behind the plane to sell the sense of vertigo. The deluxe cabinet, which physically tilted the player with every turn, became as iconic as the game itself and helped establish the idea of the arcade as a bodily experience, not just a visual one. It remains a required reference for the 80s flight shooter: the Cold War aesthetic with no defined sides, the wall-to-wall music, and that pure sense of speed explain why it's still cited as one of Sega arcade's great hits, right alongside Out Run.
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